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Author Topic: Recommendation for a barley crusher?  (Read 8692 times)

Offline hamiltont

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #15 on: August 22, 2013, 07:40:13 am »
For those of you using a Barley Crusher... I made a hopper extender using a bucket. It will hold ~20 lbs. of grain. Here are a few pics.



The Base the bucket is attached to:


Looking inside the bucket:


Cheers!!!
If Homebrew & BBQ aren't the answer, then you're askin' the wrong questions... Cheers!!!

Offline BrewingRover

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #16 on: August 24, 2013, 09:24:05 pm »
For those of you using a Barley Crusher... I made a hopper extender using a bucket. It will hold ~20 lbs. of grain.
Cheers!!!
That's very slick. Is that a 1 gallon bucket?
It's such a fine line between stupid and clever.

Offline micsager

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #17 on: August 26, 2013, 11:06:47 am »

I have the "Barley Crusher" as mentioned above. It's okay. Yes, it crushes grains. But it also gets jammed occasionally, isn't gear driven (the second roller just free spins) and sometimes just seems to skip through the grains. This is probably due to the free spinning second roller and the fact that mine (and other club members' BC) doesn't seem to want to stay at the gap setting I put it at. Five or so batches and it needs to be put back into place.

I have the same Barley Crusher. I recently noticed a dip in my efficiency on my past couple of batches. I had attributed it from switching from a hand crank to a drill, but now I'm wondering if it is simply because of the mill gap loosening up. I'll have to check it out tonight.

Do finitely check the gap setting periodically but also be sure you are using a variable speed drill and set it to go as slow as you can.

When I first used a drill I found a dip also and it turned out I was milling too fast.

I've always set me drill in highest speed, and locked it so I didn't have to stand there.  But after reading your post, I tried the last batch of my Amber while milling the grain at about half speed. 

No difference in OG.  I brew this same beer once or twice a week, and I nail 1.060 exactly every time.  And this time as well.  All water volumes and mash temperature were the same. 

I'm going back to high speed milling. 

Offline blatz

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #18 on: August 26, 2013, 11:37:25 am »


I'm going back to high speed milling.

AFAIK, the main concern with high speed versus low speed milling was not any change in efficiency, rather the higher speeds had a greater propensity to tear and shred the husks, leading to a risk of tannin extraction. 

I'm not certain - I've never had a tannin problem, and running my drill wide open versus as slow as possible only saves a minute or two, so i've not minded running low and slow. 
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Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #19 on: August 26, 2013, 07:27:06 pm »
You can get 2 roller Monster mill for about the same price as Barley crusher.
MM is much better mill to my opinion.

I did have BK but now I have MM 3 roller.
This year I will put thru it about 16000 lb of grain.
Na Zdravie

Lazy Monk Brewing
http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com

Offline scottNU

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #20 on: August 27, 2013, 08:32:37 am »
This year I will put thru it about 16000 lb of grain.

16000 lb of grain?!?  Wow!  Clearly you are man with brewing skill and size.  As a curiosity, what size brewery are you running?

Offline blatz

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #21 on: August 27, 2013, 08:35:34 am »
This year I will put thru it about 16000 lb of grain.

16000 lb of grain?!?  Wow!  Clearly you are man with brewing skill and size.  As a curiosity, what size brewery are you running?

scott - he's a professional - Lazy Monk Brewing in Wisconsin  ;)
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Offline scottNU

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #22 on: August 27, 2013, 12:43:36 pm »
scott - he's a professional - Lazy Monk Brewing in Wisconsin  ;)

Thanks blatz.  That makes sense and since I am in the neighborhood, I need to plan a visit to sample the results of all that grain!

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #23 on: August 27, 2013, 02:28:56 pm »
scott - he's a professional - Lazy Monk Brewing in Wisconsin  ;)

Thanks blatz.  That makes sense and since I am in the neighborhood, I need to plan a visit to sample the results of all that grain!
My brewhouse is 5.5 BBL.
Stop by I will show you around.

I still think that MM is better mill.
Na Zdravie

Lazy Monk Brewing
http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com

Offline hamiltont

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #24 on: August 27, 2013, 02:29:09 pm »
For those of you using a Barley Crusher... I made a hopper extender using a bucket. It will hold ~20 lbs. of grain.
Cheers!!!
That's very slick. Is that a 1 gallon bucket?
It's an icing bucket. 3.5-4 gallons I guess.
If Homebrew & BBQ aren't the answer, then you're askin' the wrong questions... Cheers!!!

Offline aveteto01

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #25 on: August 27, 2013, 02:37:43 pm »
You can get 2 roller Monster mill for about the same price as Barley crusher.
MM is much better mill to my opinion.

I did have BK but now I have MM 3 roller.
This year I will put thru it about 16000 lb of grain.

Do you recommend the MM3 or the MM3 - 2.0? (http://www.monsterbrewinghardware.com/products_main.html)

Offline rjberry

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #26 on: August 27, 2013, 04:24:01 pm »
You can get 2 roller Monster mill for about the same price as Barley crusher.
MM is much better mill to my opinion.

I did have BK but now I have MM 3 roller.
This year I will put thru it about 16000 lb of grain.

Good to know that the 3 roller Monster Mill is adequate for pro-level brewing!  Not that I'm anywhere close, but I've been wanting to invest in a good mill and I'm sure it's more than adequate for what I'm doing.
“We’re not here for the game. The game is nothing. The game is crap. The game makes me sick. The real reason we Americans put up with sports is for this: Behold, the tailgate party. The pinnacle of human achievement. Since the dawn of parking lots, man has sought to fill his gut with food and alcohol in anticipation of watching others exercise.” - Homer Simpson

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #27 on: August 27, 2013, 08:30:50 pm »
You can get 2 roller Monster mill for about the same price as Barley crusher.
MM is much better mill to my opinion.

I did have BK but now I have MM 3 roller.
This year I will put thru it about 16000 lb of grain.

Do you recommend the MM3 or the MM3 - 2.0? (http://www.monsterbrewinghardware.com/products_main.html)
I think that 2 roller is just fine for homebrewing.
When you have MM3 you need to have at least 1/2 hp motor.
Get a base and hopper with it and you are ready.
Na Zdravie

Lazy Monk Brewing
http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com

Offline Thirsty_Monk

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Re: Recommendation for a barley crusher?
« Reply #28 on: August 27, 2013, 08:34:05 pm »
You can get 2 roller Monster mill for about the same price as Barley crusher.
MM is much better mill to my opinion.

I did have BK but now I have MM 3 roller.
This year I will put thru it about 16000 lb of grain.

Good to know that the 3 roller Monster Mill is adequate for pro-level brewing!  Not that I'm anywhere close, but I've been wanting to invest in a good mill and I'm sure it's more than adequate for what I'm doing.
It is not the fastest option for pro-brewing but it does just fine job.
I have it geared up to 280 rmp and I think that I should speed it up to 400 rmp.
It takes me about 1.5 hour to mill 600 lb for one brew day.
Na Zdravie

Lazy Monk Brewing
http://www.lazymonkbrewing.com