Proud New Owner of a Barley Crusher!

Just got my barley crusher delivered by UPS today, and just had to share my joy!
There is nothing like getting a new, dreamed about piece of brewing equipment. Well, maybe when my first child was born, but it's a close second.
Better efficiencies, here I come! :rockin:

You will love it, Randy the owner stands behind his product too.

Congratulations..

I should have mine by tuesday I hope

what company did you get it from?

don't forget to snap the rubber gasket!!!!

Kilted Brewer said:

don't forget to snap the rubber gasket!!!!

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Don't tell me I already screwed up
What exactly do you mean by this? Did I need to read the instructions?

enderwig said:

Don't tell me I already screwed up
What exactly do you mean by this? Did I need to read the instructions?

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Not sure what he means, but I can say that I love my BC!!!

Man I want one so bad!!!! If Lil Sparky didn't let me bum his now and again I would probably suck up the cash and order one now!

As for the o-ring, RDWHAHB. I just ran grain through mine until it came off on its own after crushing grain for the third brew. It isn't going to hurt anything in the mash tun if you don't catch it.

Are ya'll talking about the o-ring that is on one of the rollers? I saw that one, didn't know that you're supposed to remove it though. If I knew thats what was being talked about, I would have just gone back to my home brews!

Welcome to the BC nation. I read people saying to remove the o-ring from the one roller. I haven't yet but probably will today. They say it breaks and falls off eventually, so not a big deal.

That's the O ring. You'll should clip it and take it off as it can cause the mill to bind when grinding until removed. Kilted Brewer speaks from personal experience and I watched him spill a couple of cups of grain when it locked up and his power drill caused it to tip.

McKBrew said:

That's the O ring. You'll should clip it and take it off as it can cause the mill to bind when grinding until removed. Kilted Brewer speaks from personal experience and I watched him spill a couple of cups of grain when it locked up and his power drill caused it to tip.

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All right, thanks, I'll remove it tomorrow!

+1 for the Barley Crusher - and welcome to the club.

Brad

I will be using my BC for the first time tomorrow. Do any of you adjust it for a finer crushor is the factory set good?

Congrats on the purchase. I see one of those in my future this summer some time.

I actually am a recent owner of a BC too. I have yet to actually use it. Maybe next weekend.

I left my adjustment as-is. I used feeler gauges to make sure the rollers were parallel, and they were. My efficiency has been 78-80% with the factory settings, which is much better than the 60-65% I was getting pre-BC. I'm not going to go finer since the few points of efficiency I could get might bring on stuck sparges.

BrianP said:

I left my adjustment as-is. I used feeler gauges to make sure the rollers were parallel, and they were. My efficiency has been 78-80% with the factory settings, which is much better than the 60-65% I was getting pre-BC. I'm not going to go finer since the few points of efficiency I could get might bring on stuck sparges.

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I did the same, and that was my thought exactly. I went from 68-69% to 81% for my first batch with the barley crusher. I don't think I'm gonna mess with a good thing. :rockin:

My Barley Crusher arrived Friday, and as some others have mentioned, the rollers were adjusted unevenly. I set them to the default .039" which couldn't have been easier, and tried milling a handful of 2 row. The crush is visibly better than what I get from the mill at my LHBS, with each and every grain nicely split open. I'm looking forward to checking efficiency with my next brew.

Another new owner here. UPS delivered mine yesterday!

My LHBS didn't seem too happy when I told them that I would be cutting a 1/2 - 1 lb off of each of my recipes because of my increased efficiency!

enderwig said:

My LHBS didn't seem too happy when I told them that I would be cutting a 1/2 - 1 lb off of each of my recipes because of my increased efficiency!

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When I go into mine, they get kinda confused when I only ask for a couple small quantities of specialty grains and some yeast each time

brewt00l said:

When I go into mine, they get kinda confused when I only ask for a couple small quantities of specialty grains and some yeast each time

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Most of the LHBS shops I've been dealing with don't want to sell me hops if I don't buy my grain there. Can't wait for harvest season in August will be doing a bulk hop buy. I'll let you know what the prices are then.

Mine just arrived yesterday and I have to say it looks pretty awesome. I can't wait to re-crush my grains from midwest.

I'm also a new owner of the BC. I won't use it until next week. I'm going to cut the oring, check to see if the rollers are parallel, run 1/2 lb. of 2 row through it & discard, then go for it.

Being new to AG, I currently have my recipe calcs. set to 65% efficiency. Do I need to change this to maybe 75% or leave it alone until I learn what happened first? I guess I could always add top off water if I overshoot my target OG.

Soperbrew said:

Being new to AG, I currently have my recipe calcs. set to 65% efficiency. Do I need to change this to maybe 75% or leave it alone until I learn what happened first? I guess I could always add top off water if I overshoot my target OG.

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I left everything as is for the first batch. I was getting 68-69% eff., after the first batch I got 81-82%. After that batch I adjusted my recipes for 75%, if after 2-3 more batches I get the same efficiency numbers then I will adjust my recipes for 80%.

mine is on the way as well

Warrior said:

Most of the LHBS shops I've been dealing with don't want to sell me hops if I don't buy my grain there. Can't wait for harvest season in August will be doing a bulk hop buy. I'll let you know what the prices are then.

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Luckily I did my hop shopping before the price increase. If you get pinched, let me know..I might be able to throw you a few.

BC check completed today. Oring removed, gap checked to be factory 0.39 with feeler gauge, and 1 lb. 2 row crushed to remove any debris. Also blew out good with air compressor. Ready for Wed. lager.

Got mine today, will use tomorrow!

Did a test run on mine and adjusted the gap to .035 for a better crush. Using it in 30 minutes.

Brewing my second beer with my barley crusher today, hopefully I get 80+ efficiency again!

Used it yesterday, did a 10 gallon Phat Trye Amber Ale. Adjusted to .037, great crush, hit my numbers dead on. Used on 20# of grain. I love it!

I used my crusher for 1st time today. For some reason, the factory default of 0.39" was too close & would not grab any of the kernels. I had to adjust it to 0.43" before it would work. After crushing it looked ok with no whole kernels remaining.

I used a feeler gauge to adjust it.

I'm right there with ya, man. I got mine a few weeks ago and still haven't had time to use it. I'm brewing this weekend though so I'll get to break it in properly. :rockin:

Word to the wise, don't hook up a cordless drill and leave unattended. I used mine for the first time last week and when I went to get my grains I heard a loud crash!
The sound of my new barley crusher flipping out of the bucket and onto the cement floor. No damage done, but it will not hold up a drill without the hopper being full first. Learn from my stupidity.

wildwest450 said:

Word to the wise, don't hook up a cordless drill and leave unattended. I used mine for the first time last week and when I went to get my grains I heard a loud crash!

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I went old school for my first brew with my barley crusher...hand crank!! Milling 11 pounds of grain required a lot more effort than I thought, and it was a little tricky to keep the mill steady while I cranked. But what the heck, exercise is a good thing, and I figured I burned enough calories to enjoy another pint while I brewed.

BlindLemonLars said:

I went old school for my first brew with my barley crusher...hand crank!! Milling 11 pounds of grain required a lot more effort than I thought,

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You're a better man than me. I had the same thought, gave it about 10 cranks, then went and got the corded drill. I am entirely to lazy for that hand crank!