Grist Case / Hopper

[goldstein114]

Looking to find a way to efficiently cut down on Brewday labor. My 10 BBL Hinged Top Mash Tun has a Grist Hydrator with a 4" Tri-Clamp but I haven't exactly figured out my method of getting grain to the hydrator just yet. I'm not sure whether I want to throw a Plastic grist case on the ground and build a platform to mill down into the case and then auger up to the Mash Tun or if there is a better way such as Hanging a Grist Case from the Ceiling beams (seems like a lot of weight to me to just hang from steel support beams). Or if there is a forkliftable option that can have me just move a hopper with a dump port right over the hydrator?

I realize I could manually dump this amount of grain into the tun but it'd be a hell of a lot nicer to use the grist hydrator as well as less back breaking having a machine do the work. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.

[dick murton]

I would be a bit wary of hanging anything from the roof beams, but that is not to say it can't be done, but you just have to ensure the loading is acceptable. This is likely to require a structural engineer to calculate.

A fork liftable grist case would also work, but I suspect will be a bit of pig to position correctly, and no-one else can use it for a while then, though this shouldn't be a problem normally, but you can bet your life, on occasions a delivery will arrive just as you are about to mash in.

I think you would be better with your suggestion of a floor mounted grist case, with mill on a platform above, and then auger the grist up to the mash mixing device. The auger capacity should be slightly greater than that required to mash in in say 20 minutes, and then control the grist flow with a slide valve at the bottom of the grist case. I have also seen designs for milling and augering up, to feed into the grist case, also sited on the ground, which means that everything is at ground floor, perhaps with just a low platform to pour malt easily into the mill feed hopper.

[TiminOz]

Take a look at http://www.choretime.com/Fill-Systems-Feed-Bins-1 hanging an auger from above the mash/lauter is pretty standard stuff. You can also attach it to cross beams if they are available. You could also fabricate a funnel to attach to your hydrator and had pour the milled grain through that but it would be a pain. The augers can be used with a grist case of from a mill stand.