Hand Cranking a Barley Crusher?

njnear76 · Jul 9, 2008

How long does it take to plow through 10-12lbs hand cranking a Barley Crusher?

For some odd reason, my corded old school drill can't take a 3/8" bit. Even if it could, I doubt that it would be up for the task. The thing might be made in the 60s.

Maybe I should just get a $30 corded drill and be done with it.

Thanks,
Mike

bradsul · Jul 9, 2008

njnear76 said:
...Maybe I should just get a $30 corded drill and be done with it.

Not sure how long it would take by hand, but I second this option!

ohiobrewtus · Jul 9, 2008

I did 14# by hand just to see how long it would take and trust me, you'll want to invest in a drill.

Beerthoven · Jul 9, 2008

It only takes a few minutes with the handcrank. It's not difficult; my 5 year old can do it.

Sheesh, you people are either lazy or out of shape.

njnear76 · Jul 9, 2008

Beerthoven said:
It only takes a few minutes with the handcrank. It's not difficult; my 5 year old can do it.

5-10 minutes?

rabidgerbil · Jul 9, 2008

Beerthoven said:
It only takes a few minutes with the handcrank. It's not difficult; my 5 year old can do it.

Sheesh, you people are either lazy or out of shape.

You use your 5 year old for slave labor, and we are the lazy out of shape ones??? :drunk:

bradsul · Jul 9, 2008

Beerthoven said:
It only takes a few minutes with the handcrank. It's not difficult; my 5 year old can do it.

Sheesh, you people are either lazy or out of shape.

I hated it so much I built this.

Displaced MassHole · Jul 9, 2008

bradsul said:
I hated it so much I built this.

Thats an awesome idea, having grain storage and your mill all in one spot, nicely done sir.

Buford · Jul 9, 2008

I always just use the handcrank. It only takes a few minutes and you can say you got your exercise for the day.

Displaced MassHole · Jul 9, 2008

I think you're forgetting about all the 16oz curls that we do. Those alone might be too much for some people.

balto charlie · Jul 9, 2008

bradsul said:
I hated it so much I built this.

Very nice. There are so many projects on my table and you just added another. :mug:

Charlie

njnear76 · Jul 9, 2008

If it's under 10 minutes, I'll hand crank it. Anything more, I will get bored.

AnOldUR · Jul 9, 2008

Beerthoven said:
. . . Sheesh, you people are either lazy or out of shape.

It took about 10 manual spins and I was off to the shop for my pistol drill.

But Im a runner. Dont want to take a chance of getting any of that upper body bulk

k1v1116 · Jul 9, 2008

Ive only been using a barley crusher for a month now but I would say crushing by hand at a relaxed pace its still only 2 minutes per pound. Plus it keeps me occupied while my strike water is getting up to temp.

cubbies · Jul 9, 2008

Just a few minutes. It is not that big of a deal for me.

WBC · Jul 9, 2008

Get the drill. You will sooner or later anyway.

Soulive · Jul 9, 2008

Its not that bad hand cranking it, but I recommend the drill for two reasons. First, because you will need it for other things at some point in life. Second, because you can clamp the trigger and go do something else while its plowing through the grain...

The Drizzle · Jul 9, 2008

I've never had good luck using a drill. The crush always seems less even to me, I just hand crank. I had a lot of practice in high school.

brewt00l · Jul 9, 2008

Since the purchase of my barley crusher this past winter, I have milled every batch manually...I don't think it's that much work so I do no plan on powering the mill (and I have several drills I could employ if desired). YMMV.

rod · Jul 9, 2008

on the wish list is a better mill, but for now it takes 35 minutes for 12 lbs on my corona clone mill by hand.

wehumble · Jul 9, 2008

I hand cranked the first pound or so of grain I ran through my shiny new BC per the instructions. The 10 or so pounds for my first AG - 18V Ridgid cordless, Baby. Smooth and so quick, I almost missed it by blinking.

In other words, I vote for drill. :ban:

<---- My first dancing 'nana!

korndog · Jul 9, 2008

Instructions:

Step 1. Throw out the hand crank

Love your Barley Crusher.

ajf · Jul 9, 2008

I don't have a barley crusher, but I do have a JSP (which is probably similar in effort).
Crushing with the hand crank gives my drinking arm a good warm up for the 20 oz curls that follow. Anybody doing 16 oz curls should try brewing English ales. The crush is completed a long time before the sparge water is up to temperature.

-a.

ohiobrewtus · Jul 10, 2008

Beerthoven said:
It only takes a few minutes with the handcrank. It's not difficult; my 5 year old can do it.

Sheesh, you people are either lazy or out of shape.

It's not about it being difficult, I just don't want to spend extra time doing it.

If I use the same drill to put put screws in my deck rather than using a manual screwdriver is that lazy? No, it just saves time.

When I'm ready to brew I'm ready to brew. If I can use my drill and get through grain in 1/3rd the time it would take me to do it by hand then I'm sure as heck going to use my drill.

korndog · Jul 10, 2008

By the way.....

I've been letting my drill go pretty fast and was wondering if anyone has a good reason to crush at slow rpm. So far, I can't think of any.

KD

Cookiebaggs · Jul 10, 2008

ohiobrewtus said:
It's not about it being difficult, I just don't want to spend extra time doing it.

If I use the same drill to put put screws in my deck rather than using a manual screwdriver is that lazy? No, it just saves time.

When I'm ready to brew I'm ready to brew. If I can use my drill and get through grain in 1/3rd the time it would take me to do it by hand then I'm sure as heck going to use my drill.

+1

I'm brewing 10 gallon batches.

I have other things to get set up while the strike water is heating rather than sit there and hand crank through a 20-25 lb grain bill.

brewt00l · Jul 10, 2008

ohiobrewtus said:
It's not about it being difficult, I just don't want to spend extra time doing it.

If I use the same drill to put put screws in my deck rather than using a manual screwdriver is that lazy? No, it just saves time.

When I'm ready to brew I'm ready to brew. If I can use my drill and get through grain in 1/3rd the time it would take me to do it by hand then I'm sure as heck going to use my drill.

I crush my grain while I am heating up my water for my dough in...I suppose I could find something else productive to do during that time but I honestly don't need to be that productive

Beerthoven · Jul 10, 2008

ohiobrewtus said:
It's not about it being difficult, I just don't want to spend extra time doing it.

If I use the same drill to put put screws in my deck rather than using a manual screwdriver is that lazy? No, it just saves time.

When I'm ready to brew I'm ready to brew. If I can use my drill and get through grain in 1/3rd the time it would take me to do it by hand then I'm sure as heck going to use my drill.

Wow, sorry to cause offense. Grinding up grain for a 5 gallon batch is so easy I usually can't bothered to walk out to the garage and get the drill (though I do sometimes). The 6 minutes I save by drilling is usually wasted on something else anyway.

anderj · Jul 10, 2008

We have a JSP at my work, the boss isn't really into springing for a dedicated drill so we have to do it by hand all the time. Once you get a method down it doesn't take much longer than 15 to run through 20 lb. Most of the time the customers want to do it themselves.
-ander

Got Trub? · Jul 11, 2008

Another handcranking barleycrusher here. I'm usually doing 5g batches and usually session beers so I'm only doing ~ 10# at a time.

GT

BlindLemonLars · Jul 11, 2008

I think a grown man ought to have a good drill or two around the house anyhow, you may as well get one. But I've hand cranked a few 12lb grain bills, it doesn't take very long and is definitely a viable option.

conpewter · Jul 11, 2008

My mill is not a big nice BC it is only 2 inches long (the mill, not that other thing...) so it is run by a drill since it takes a while to go through all that grain. I built a grain mill cabinet anyway to make it really easy to just set up and mill.

Hand Cranking a Barley Crusher?

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