Using a Grain Mill: When You Own a Corona

By Ernest J. Karhu
Published on January 1, 1971
article image
Photo by Keith Shoemaker
To have the most fun using a grain mill, ask a family member for a little help.

Our Corona grain mill was quite greasy and dirty when we unpacked it, and this momentarily gave us second thoughts about the sanity of our decision to mill our own flour. These doubts grew as we tried — without success — to remove the protective coating with several different cleaning compounds. Then we chanced upon the magic combination:

We filled a sink with hot water and added a cup of vinegar. The vinegar cut the grease and, after a 15 minute soak, the surface of the water was covered with numerous dirty globules. A little scrubbing of every unassembled part of the machine with a steel-wool soap pad was next, and a dry towel finished the job. Our Corona mill was sparkling clean.

The design of the Corona is very simple and straightforward and a quick glance at the enclosed parts diagram was all we needed to assemble the little grinder. After a few minutes we stepped back to admire our handiwork: There it was! Our own Corona grain mill in all its shining glory. Imagine that! We were excited — and we hadn’t even begun to realize the many ways that little machine was going to enrich our lives.

The mill was somewhat heavier than we had anticipated and that presented some problems when we began looking for a suitable place to mount it. Our old kitchen table wouldn’t do because it wasn’t sturdy enough. We finally decided to clamp the Corona to the counter top of our sink and we removed a drawer so that we could securely tighten the clamping wing nut on the base of the mill. It was at this point that we realized the counter top was being dented by the clamp! A scrap of wood under the base of the mill soon remedied the situation.

If you use a Corona as much as we use ours, the machine should be permanently secured to a solid surface with screws, or bolts and the base of the mill is designed for mounting in this manner. If lack of space forces you (as it does us) to store your mill when it’s not in use, however, you can satisfactorily use the quick-clamp arrangement also built into the mill’s base. To keep the Corona from slipping during heavy grinding, in this case, you may find that you have to tighten the clamping wing nut with a wrench — so don’t forget to insert that piece of wood to protect your table or counter top.

Before we attempted to grind our first batch of grain we poured some old dry cereal into our Corona’s hopper for a test run to familiarize ourselves with the mill’s operation. It was adjusted too tightly, the crank would barely turn and the “flour” was full of tiny specks of metal. The grinder itself was being milled! We readjusted the mill and continued grinding cereal until it came out clean.

Comments (0) Join others in the discussion!
    Online Store Logo
    Need Help? Call 1-800-234-3368