What crushed grain looks like

[Andy]

OK, that's what I found also. Keeping the rollers spinning without stalling the drill became an art form Definitely glad I got the large hopper version, two hopper loads was enough for my 10 gallon brew and it crushed it quickly.

[SteveD]

Do Barley Crusher users using a power drill find you have to give the drill some "beans" to get the rollers to spin ? That's what I found to be the case last Saturday (first time I've used the crusher in anger with a drill)

Not really, I use my my 18v cordless on the medium out of its 3 speed settings, and it chugs through it fine. Default crush setting works perfectly, no need to tweak. Crushed 9kgs pale in no time at all this morning, well, a few minutes.

[Andy]

My cheapy cordless wouldn't start the rollers, had to resort to the mains drill Have you applied veg oil to the crusher bearings ?

[Aleman]

I must admit that I am looking to drive mine with a motor and pulley arrangement, and somehow mount a larger hopper

The one thing I'm currently looking at is what the ideal roller speed is. Not in RPM as obviously a roller with 1.5 inch dia rollers will be running faster than a mill with 3in dia rollers for the same rpm. I know someone has posted it in feet per second on the HBD, but I'm having difficulty in finding it now

[steve_flack]

OK, I've crushed my malt for tomorrow's brew - Jamil's 'West Coast Blaster' American Amber ale. Here's the mill just before I started.



...and the crush

[delboy]

I must admit that I am looking to drive mine with a motor and pulley arrangement, and somehow mount a larger hopper

The one thing I'm currently looking at is what the ideal roller speed is. Not in RPM as obviously a roller with 1.5 inch dia rollers will be running faster than a mill with 3in dia rollers for the same rpm. I know someone has posted it in feet per second on the HBD, but I'm having difficulty in finding it now

I remember reading somwhere on another forum about somebody with a similar motor and belt setup, IIRC they saw no real difference in the crush no matter what speed the rollers were going.

I'll see if i can find it.

[StrangeBrew]

Correct me if I'm wrong but (if possible) wouldn't the crusher start easier if the drill got it to speed before slowly adding grain?

[steve_flack]

I don't have any problems with this drill UNLESS I have a lot of wheat malt in the grist.

[SteveD]

My cheapy cordless wouldn't start the rollers, had to resort to the mains drill Have you applied veg oil to the crusher bearings ?

My cordless is quite macho. 18v Ryobi 3 speed with variable trigger. £130 when I bought it.

Nope. Am I supposed to? The idea of veg oil getting into the grain isn't appealing.

Ideal speeds? Just bleedin' crush the stuff! This discussion is starting to sound 'American'

[Andy]

My cheapy cordless wouldn't start the rollers, had to resort to the mains drill Have you applied veg oil to the crusher bearings ?

My cordless is quite macho. 18v Ryobi 3 speed with variable trigger. £130 when I bought it.

OK, easily £100 more than mine then, that explains it!

Nope. Am I supposed to? The idea of veg oil getting into the grain isn't appealing.

I take it you didn't read the little sheet of paper which came with the mill then

Ideal speeds? Just bleedin' crush the stuff! This discussion is starting to sound 'American'

Seconded!

[SteveD]

I take it you didn't read the little sheet of paper which came with the mill then

Yeah, I did, but the paper got lost and I've forgotten what it said. What did is say? Please?

[Andy]

Basically, use a brush to clean the rollers and periodically (every year) apply a few drops of veg oil to the bearings. Plus instructions on how to tweak the roller gap (for those Americans amongst us concerned with the gap/roller speed cubed ratio )

[Martin the fish]

I got more interested when power tools started getting a mention...

Sorry

[NzDan1]

I tightened the gap beyond factory setting on my barley crusher after many months of quite a bit of un-crushed grain getting through, result was a finer crush with little or no uncrushed grains, downside was quite often now mid milling, the roller spins but no grains are going through, lifting the mill and manually moving the idle roller or tipping the grain out and back in seems the only way to finish the job, its a pain b hind!

[delboy]

I tightened the gap beyond factory setting on my barley crusher after many months of quite a bit of un-crushed grain getting through, result was a finer crush with little or no uncrushed grains, downside was quite often now mid milling, the roller spins but no grains are going through, lifting the mill and manually moving the idle roller or tipping the grain out and back in seems the only way to finish the job, its a pain b hind!

I would run it through twice on the factory settting if i was concerned about badly crushed grain, the second time through the rollers it positively whizzes through so it only takes a min or so