THE BARLEY CRUSHER

[BILLY BREW]

Ladies and gents, this is a great product! Stainless components for using prewetted grains, and somewhat precise control of roller gaps.
I have use mine now for about 12 batches and one thing I noticed is the reduction of spooge at the bottom of the carboy that i got with my Victoria Masa Harina grinder.
Hooled up my drill to it and was able to do 15 lbs in 5 minutes! I got the 15# unit, it was worth the extra sheckles.

 

[brewnut]

I agree. My Barley Crusher was one of the best Christmas presents I ever asked for. It brought us to a new level of brewing.

 

[mikec1115]

I wish that I could give them a good review after the endorsement on Beersmith and the great reviews but I never received mine.  I ordered it on the 6th of May and didn't hear anything from them other than the Paypal receipt.  Wrote them an email on the 9th asking what the status was and got this reply:

<<  thank you for your email, Sorry for the delay on getting your order out we have been very busy here try to get all the orders out I will let you know when your order goes out as soon as I do .

Thank you
Kellie
B  C Products Enterprises inc>>

I wrote back to them on the 12th asking for an updated status and didn't hear anything.  So today, May 15th I cancelled the order.  This has really screwed me up because I have a big brew planned for this weekend and now I've got to use the Corona again and have my efficiency all over the board.

 

[happy hillbilly]

ole Happy here. Are you serious? You could only wait 9 days for the mill to arrive. Probably the most important thing to learn in brewing is PATIENTS. Don't mean to come down on ya but 9 days ain't even a good primary. If the guy says he's that busy I'm glad to here it in our poor economy. After it would have arrived you would have gotten many years of use out of that tool. Happy brewin

 

[merfizle]

Don't mean to come down on ya but 9 days ain't even a good primary.

I beg to differ.  Many of my beers are done in 3-4 days. 

Mark

 

[SharpsRifle]

I have to agree.  I love my barley crusher.  I don't live near the beer store so buying crushed grains when I'm ready to brew isn't an option for me. 
This thing works great.

As for the side argument about 9 days in the primary, there are plenty of beers that finnish out fast.  Not really any that I brew but a low gravity beer with no complexity can finnish out pretty fast with a healthy yeast pitching.

My buddy didn't understand when I told him that my stout won't be ready to drink in a month when he has his big BBQ bash planned. 

 

[kalbo]

Hello I come from Slovenia. Over here home brewing is not as knovn as in US,  in fact it is still fiction. I am in the process of building my home brewery for some time now. I have ordered Barley Crusher and I can tell that it was delivered in quite reasonable time with apologies from them for the delay. I am sure it was worth to wait for this product well made. I haven`t used it yet, but I will soon brew my first batch.

Greetings from Slovenia

kalbo

 

[SharpsRifle]

Kalbo;

Welcome to the brewing world!  You should post in the introduction section.
I'm sure that there are many who would love to hear about your brewing adventures.  I know that I would.
Good choice on the mill.  It's the same one that I have.

As you get going in brewing, keep buying good equipment like that and you will save yourself money in the long run.

David

 

[BILLY BREW]

Well folks after this amount of time I have an update on the crusher...IT IS KICK ASS! Did a barley wine that took 24lbs of grains...Would have taken me 9 days just to crush it all. The mill did it in 8 minutes flat.
Regarding the delay in delivery, I got the same thing when I ordered mine...They were having "family issues" at that time, which leads me to believe that they are s very small family run cottage industry. And as we all know, we are all very PRO COTTAGE INDUSTRY, right? ;D
I have done @ 30 batches with this and have had "0" problems with it.
Fact is here is a little hint. Get a 5 gallon pickle bucket. the feet of the crusher fit perfectly inside the rim. When you crush, you don't have to worry about the damn thing scootin' all over the place and it cuts way down on the dust.
billy

 

[grathan]

I keep a butter knife handy for when mine stops crushing with a hopper full of grain. I fish out the gap and then try again. I'm gonna try to find a rubber gasket to go around one of the rollers to help the free one spin.

 

[Wildrover]

Here here, the barley crusher is great in the beginning but after some time, it takes a lot of work to keep crushing

 

[jomebrew]

Here here, the barley crusher is great in the beginning but after some time, it takes a lot of work to keep crushing

How long is "some time".  I am going on 4 years now without any problems.

 

[Wildrover]

I've had mine I believe for 6-7 years.  I brew a lot too.  I know some people who brew maybe once a month for 12 batches a year.  I'd have to look but I bet I'm up to maybe 30 or on the really high side 40 bathes a year.  I'll have to look when I get home, I'm curious as to how much I've actually been brewing. 

 

[grathan]

I've got maybe 20 batches total from mine. It performs poorly because the roller diameter is too small.

 

[mbg]

I've got maybe 20 batches total from mine. It performs poorly because the roller diameter is too small.

Curious - how does diameter affect crush?

Thanks,

Mike

 

[Beer_Tigger]

I'm on 120+ batches on mine and it has recently first started to show signs of slippage.  I find that using my drill on high speed is most likely the culprit.  If I start the crush with a short slow pulse after I put a couple punds of grain in (but not the whole grain bill), the rollers "grab" the grain, then I stop and fill the hopper, then I go at a slower speed.

I'm thinking the high speed "glazes" the grain and rollers.

Will try 120+  more batches with my new technique.

 

[grathan]

I've got maybe 20 batches total from mine. It performs poorly because the roller diameter is too small.

Curious - how does diameter affect crush?

Thanks,

Mike

You have to envision the surface area that is grabbing the grain. If 2 knurls have the grain in grasp it will pull it down. The likelihood of 2 knurls grasping the husk on a small diameter roll is less likely because of the angle of the arc on the roll that quickly move away from the grain kernel when compared to a larger diameter roll.

This is especially true if the malted barley has lots of plump kernels and you set your gap for a fine crush.

 

[BILLY BREW]

Careful discussing quantities boys and girls...Elliot Ness might be reading...