Country Living Grain Mill - anyone use it for de-hulling?

I have three different brands of grain mills - all expensive. None of them will crack soybeans or de-hull buckwheat reliably.  I make a lot of tempeh and soy milk products and so far haven't been impressed with trying to get these jobs done with the mills I have; which run the gamut from electric to manual.  I ran across an article where a guy uses the Country Living Manual Mill to de-hull buckwheat and wondered if any of you have used this mill for this purpose.  

My old old corona hand crank mill splits soybeans for tempeh nicely.  We have never tried to dehull buckwheat but do grind hulled buckwheat for flour in it among many other things.  

We just replaced a few parts on it after years of use.

The soybeans split well with a few crushed beans.  I had a batch recently where the beans were too varied in size and I could not split them all without crushing a lot of the larger beans so we sat and sorted out the smaller ones.

...and the skins float off the split beans perfectly.  Before using the mill we would soak and split by hand and never get them all split nor remove nearly as much of the skin.  

The company still produces the same mill as always  and has parts sold separately.

I've never had any other type so have nothing to compare

Hi Judith.  I have the Corona - it does an alright job on the soybeans - when I make Tempeh or milk, not to picky whether the soybeans crack in half or quarters.  It just takes soooo long to dehull or crack anything, then sort, etc..  Single woman farmer, already working 10-12 hours a day and I tend to not get to making tempeh or milk in summer - and end up buying Eden.  I did watch the Lehman video on modifying the Corona to crack better, I probably will give that a shot.  This last year I have been buying cracked chickpeas from Mantra, they are very small and are making nice Tempeh.  I use my chicken egg incubator and it works excellently. It surprises me that no one here in the U.S. has addressed this situation.....I would like to grow more grains than I do now but I need to find an easier way to thresh and winnow, or crack.  In the end, probably will end up in the goat pen for feed.

I've been experimenting with those tiny black soybeans and they seem to be a whole lot less bitter than the yellow and the skin comes off easier.

Rather perplexed as to why a company like Laura Soybeans doesn't sell split soybeans. Seems like there would be a pretty good market for it. Even for those not using them to make tempeh, still, cracked de-skinned soybeans would entice more people to make their own soy milk.

Thanks for giving feedback!

I haven't made soy milk in a long time other than for use for pre treating cloth for natural dyes.  
When I make it I soak the beans overnight and then run through the blender and strain....then the mash that's left is the okara or something?  It's been awhile and I don't remember the name?

The dry soybeans for tempeh, once run through the mill, seem to very easily lose their skin and what's left floats to the top of the cooking water.

...and yes, garbonzos don't split in the corona, just crush...and they make such delicious tempeh so I sometimes add a few crushed to the soybeans.

To crack the soybeans in the corona I completely removed the center screw that tightens the plates.  Ours has burrs and I imagine stone plates would not crack them as well?

Hulling buckwheat though? ...sounds like one would need something specialized

Judith Browning wrote:My old old corona hand crank mill splits soybeans for tempeh nicely.  We have never tried to dehull buckwheat but do grind hulled buckwheat for flour in it among many other things.  

We just replaced a few parts on it after years of use.

The soybeans split well with a few crushed beans.  I had a batch recently where the beans were too varied in size and I could not split them all without crushing a lot of the larger beans so we sat and sorted out the smaller ones.

...and the skins float off the split beans perfectly.  Before using the mill we would soak and split by hand and never get them all split nor remove nearly as much of the skin.  

The company still produces the same mill as always  and has parts sold separately.

I've never had any other type so have nothing to compare

Good day mate

I too am very tired of hand-splitting my beans and have just heard of the Corona in a video "Brad Builds A Fermentation Chamber & Makes Tempeh "

If you do not mind I would like to ask is this your model? And your opinion on this model as well

https://www.amazon.ca/Corona-Cast-Iron-Grain-Hopper/dp/B0B2FLH9HC/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3EYQGFTSVJU62&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.MrJhpuZCpPMcwiL-n4rDvNGWbWWQZ7Plm1g_9RWpOzzNIT3XEO4_liSHoK98MgKy2dU2XS3LQPq3ByLNYiSucKr_p7rx6gcU9r-JNY-JG1WMiuKsBpSHcizmd6DUTaPNP_lgp54Ye58CayinZ7MlgXn4rq5Y2vsfvZOZXbWw2nq2cYVdfQy-oS1CrvTu4uYYAV261ecoPTFVG-VXSpnTeTup1mOkpdTivWcp9Y8KOqW3n8S9qrYI-NQKuHGZvlF0eZiMrRzCs-O28UOzXhNePg.Mws5fEJ2t0PhnOMrFp0QkASzJxLJ9A17x2Z5EoSfkI4&dib_tag=se&keywords=corona+grain+mill&qid=1709688233&sprefix=corona+grain+mill%2Caps%2C100&sr=8-3

Thank you mate