New Barley Crusher Owner

Ok, I got it a few weeks ago, but life's been kicking my ass and I haven't had a chance to brew. At any rate, the instructions say to grind 1/2 lb of grain and toss it. I'm sorry, but I don't think I can do that... Will it explode a rip into the space-time continuum if I don't? Maybe I"ll just grind up some rice

That is to get any metal shavings and oil that are on the rollers cleaned off. You could make a beer with those if you want, personally I wouldn't.

Mine is hopefully waiting for me at home....
Good thing I have some random grains laying around...some rather old...

bradsul said:

That is to get any metal shavings and oil that are on the rollers cleaned off. You could make a beer with those if you want, personally I wouldn't.

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You'll go though that much just fine tuning your crush. It will clean the rollers for you.

+1 on what bradsul says.

Rolled oats through the rollers would probably work just fine.

Well, I do have 1/5lb of rauchmalt that's almost 2yrs old now... that'll have to do...

OOPS...I guess if I had read the instructions I would have seen that.
I didnt crush and throw away, I crushed and went straight into the mash tun.
Oh well, I didnt notice any metal shavings or off flavors...maybe I got lucky.

I ordered a barley crusher today, which I consider to be a milestone in my brewing career. A boy never forgets his first mill...

I've got some funky old Crystal 30L that's been sitting in my garage for a year...that ought to suffice for cleaning the rollers.

Sherpa FE said:

OOPS...I guess if I had read the instructions I would have seen that.
I didnt crush and throw away, I crushed and went straight into the mash tun.
Oh well, I didnt notice any metal shavings or off flavors...maybe I got lucky.

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Yeah I did the same thing. Pulled it out of the box, ran 28# thru it and into the mash tun.

Your got instructions with yours?!? Do they provide any useful/meaningful information?

I just got mine a couple weeks ago from NB. No instructions.

Same here, I recieved no instructions and purchased it from nothern brewer. Whatever it puts in the beer must not hurt you too bad..

Did you remove the o-ring?

No. Was I supposed to?

+1 for the Barley Crusher - I love mine.

Brad

Yeah I got one too, but NB sent me my allgrains kit precrushed

I just checked and I did not remove the o-ring either.

Oh the O-Ring...yeah, remove it. I learned the hard way. Crushing grains for my stout last weekend darn thing locked up on me and while using a drill and it tipped over. Lost a little grain. Live and learn I guess.

Kilted Brewer said:

Oh the O-Ring...yeah, remove it. I learned the hard way. Crushing grains for my stout last weekend darn thing locked up on me and while using a drill and it tipped over. Lost a little grain. Live and learn I guess.

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I witnessed the whole event described above, we tried to get him to sweep it up off the garage and put it back in the grinder. Hey, that guy in that video did it and his beer turned out alright.

Definately take the O ring out, it makes a big difference.

HA HA HA....It was the lack of bird feathers that had me worried. I thought they were an important part of the "off the floor" method.

Kilted Brewer said:

Oh the O-Ring...yeah, remove it. I learned the hard way. Crushing grains for my stout last weekend darn thing locked up on me and while using a drill and it tipped over. Lost a little grain. Live and learn I guess.

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I also ordered from Northern, so in case mine arrives sans-instructions, where is this evil o-ring?

I think this is the o-ring. See below

That is the correct O-ring, wrapped around one of the rollers. Just cut it on one side and crank it through.

Hehehe, I didn't know to remove it, I thought it was supposed to be there. And I got/read the instructions. It broke on it's own, though, after a few runs.

Thanks guys, I'll do an o-ringectomy as soon as my mill arrives.

The guys at Barley Crusher emailed me the instructions as a pdf this morning (within 90 minutes on a saturday - awesome customer service).

The important points:

The o-ring can, and eventually will, go. It is not necessary.

To adjust the mill, loosen the screws on the end and turn the knobs on the side; counterclockwise closes the gap. The default spacing in 0.039 inches and can be adjusted with the help of a feeler gauge. Get the spacing where you want and then retighten the screws.

Use a few drops of vegetable oil on the bushings a couple times a year.

Clean off with a new, unused paint brush.

Feel free to use a power drill in the 300-500 rpm range. they recommend against pulley setups.

McKBrew said:

I witnessed the whole event described above, we tried to get him to sweep it up off the garage and put it back in the grinder. Hey, that guy in that video did it and his beer turned out alright.

Definately take the O ring out, it makes a big difference.

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It's still good, just use it anyways!

So I just finished the mash for my oatmeal stout, the first batch with my new barley crusher. Holy cow...my efficiency into the boiler was 91%, a huge jump from the 75-80% I'm used to getting with the LHBS mill.

Looks like my stout is going to have a bit of a kick to it. I think I'll up the hops a bit to match. If my next batch achieves the same efficiency, I'll have to go back and tweak all my recipes.

EDIT: OK, I made a minor mistake in my math. 87% is closer to the truth. Still, nothing to sneeze at!

So why does removing the o-ring make it better? Why do they put it there to begin with? Why would it cause you to spill a bunch of grain??

mykayel said:

Why do they put it there to begin with?

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I believe it's there to confirm, during assembly, that the passive roller is turning freely and correctly. Normally the grain turns the second roller, but obviously they don't want or need to test with grain present.