Barley Crusher owners - please read.

any grain falling through the gaps in the corner of your mill?






Last night I was crushing up some grain for a starter and when I poured it into the hopper I heard grain falling in the bucket. I was like wth? so I started gently moving the hopper and heard more hitting the bucket. After raising it up I realized it was coming though those gaps in the corner and falling over the back side of the roller. Quite a bit came out so I started thinking, how much of grain is making it through not crushed? I noticed last weekend I had some un-crushed grain in my mash and now I know why.

Just wondering if any other BC owners have noticed this or maybe you can test it and see if you get the same results.

I only get a few grains falling through when I first fill the hopper. once there is at least an inch depth of grain this stops unless I move the rollers backwards.

It seems to me that they could have turned the bottom edge of those side panels inward by 1" above the two longer sheet bends to avoid the whole problem. I bet starting the rollers turning before dumping in the grain would help.

k1v1116 said:

I only get a few grains falling through when I first fill the hopper. once there is at least an inch depth of grain this stops unless I move the rollers backwards.

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Same here. A few grains out of 25 pounds (even 10 pounds) though is a drop in a bucket.

mine does the same thing but it doesn't seem to really matter. I usually hit around 80% efficiency.

FireBrewer said:

Same here. A few grains out of 25 pounds (even 10 pounds) though is a drop in a bucket.

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Literally...

+1 on 80% efficiency with the BC.

The only time I had a big problem with the BC was when I accidentally ran my drill backwards.

I am not saying it's not doing its job but I was a little surprised to see so many grains slipping through. I would be nice thought if it was sealed up all the way across.

stever said:

It would be nice thought if it was sealed up all the way across.

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If it bothers you that much . . . .
Duct tape!

Hve you tried recovering these grains to see if they are a little smaller than the other grains?

I have a few grains fall thru too. I'm still using factory gap setting, and hit about 75% efficiency. I do plan to narrow the gap a tiny bit so I push in to 80% though.

I've had a few drop through but not that many to be concerned about.

I was thinking about taking the hopper off and using some tin foil + duck tape to cover it up some more.

I've had a barley crusher for about a week, planning to use it for the first time in about another week. I was setting the gap at 0.037" and because of this thread put some masking tape over the corners of the bottom of the hopper.

RobertHSmith said:

I've had a barley crusher for about a week, planning to use it for the first time in about another week. I was setting the gap at 0.037" and because of this thread put some masking tape over the corners of the bottom of the hopper.

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I posted the duct tape reply in jest. I'd rather have a few uncrushed grains than ground up tape in my mash.

It's more than a few and there is nothing wrong with covering those gaps with some tape. I am going to take some flashing and cut it to size then fasten it to the under side of the hopper. There is nothing wrong with wanting your equipment to perform its best.

You may have posted in jest, but duct tape makes EVERYTHING better, why not homebrew!!?!??!

Just sayin

send the nice folks at BC an email They really stand behind their products, and may fix your mill.

I love my Barley Crusher. I've been consistently hitting 84% with mine, and on Saturday I hit 89%.

slyngshot said:

send the nice folks at BC an email They really stand behind their products, and may fix your mill.

I love my Barley Crusher. I've been consistently hitting 84% with mine, and on Saturday I hit 89%.

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What do you have the gap in your mill set to and do you use rice hulls?