Bar;ey Crusher! Barley Crusher! Barley Crusher!

As most of you know I was whimpering about my low efficiencies and asking for advice. Several people suggested that it might be my grain crush so I went and bought a Barley Crusher. My last two batches had an average efficiency of 58.18%. With my new Barley Crusher I jumped up to 76.94%! I didn't change anything in my process other than to crush my own grain instead of letting my LHBS do it.

Out of the box my rollers were crooked so they needed to be reset. Not really having a gap number in mind I set it at .035 because, well, actually I don't know why I chose that setting. But after the crush I got a little nervous because it was a noticeably much finer crush than what I was used to getting from my LHBS. At this point it wasn't like I could glue all the little grains back together so I just went ahead with brew like normal.

Before I started my boil my refractometer confirmed that I had some pretty good efficiency. My target OG was 1.062 and I actually came in a little high at 1.065. In any case, I am totally ecstatic with the improvement in my efficiency, thanks to my Barley Crusher. Also, thanks to all of you that advised me to examine my crush. Here's a few photos from today's brew.

I've been struggling to get ~60-65% with my LHBS crushes. Posts like this make me want to invest in a barley crusher.

Nice. Looks like a good day! What did you brew? How hard is it to adjust the barley crusher?
I am hoping to get a barley crusher for father's day, but for now I got grain for 2 all grain brews from Brewmasters warehouse this time. His crush looks finer then any of the crushes I've used so far!
I'm hoping to squeeze a brew day in tomorrow while working from home.

Dave258 said:

Nice. Looks like a good day! What did you brew? How hard is it to adjust the barley crusher?
I am hoping to get a barley crusher for father's day, but for now I got grain for 2 all grain brews from Brewmasters warehouse this time. His crush looks finer then any of the crushes I've used so far!
I'm hoping to squeeze a brew day in tomorrow while working from home.

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I brewed a SnowPlow Milk Stout. It was pretty easy to adjust the roller, two screws and a knob. I could have simply asked my LHBS to do a finer crush, or run it through twice. But milling the grain is part of the process that I wanted to get involved with anyway. Actually, it is kind of fun too.

Good to hear you got the Effeciency up to where it neds to be. Makes for a better final product.

Gritsak said:

I've been struggling to get ~60-65% with my LHBS crushes. Posts like this make me want to invest in a barley crusher.

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Do it!!! It will basically pay for itself over time. Better efficiency = less grain used (aka, money savings). Also, you can then buy grain in bulk, saving even more money!

I don't know why anyone would do all grain without one. Why go to a process where you have complete control, then short change yourself by not controlling one important aspect?

My Barley Crusher is no the way. After several years of reading posts on here, and sitting on the fence, I finally took the plunge as well. I already have 150lbs of grain in my garage, painful to look at it sitting there and not be able to use it!

I got one about 6 months back and I love it. Great crush and it has improved my efficiency from mid 60s to low 80s.

It's next on my list of "Honey, I know I said I had everything I needed, but I really need this..."

I love mine also. I don't care much about high eff. But as long as I know ahead of time what I'll be getting in terms of numbers it's perfect. It's predictability that you're after. Right now, my system is dialed in to 72%, give or take 1% each way.

Same here. I've had mine for about two years now and it works great. I typical get 75% to 78% efficiency. It pays for itself in what you save buying sacks of grain and crushing it yourself.

Well I think I'm going to have to get one. I've been having all sorts of issues and I think the crush is really whats keeping me irregular with my mashes, everything else seems to be ok. Good thing I have a gift cert to blow at northern brewer

What's the best / cheapest place to buy a Barley Crusher??

I used to get 65% with my LHBS crush. After getting a BC using factory settings, I consistently get 81-83%. Worth every penny.

lombo34 said:

What's the best / cheapest place to buy a Barley Crusher??

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I got mine right from Barleycrusher.com, no middlemen involved when you go right to the source!

This item is number 2 on my list. After I locate a good chest freezer on CL I'm ordering a Barley Crusher and making sweet love to it.

lombo34 said:

What's the best / cheapest place to buy a Barley Crusher??

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Austin Homebrew Supply claims to have the cheapest shipped price (since they have flat rate $7.99 shipping)

Yeah, we just ordered one...from Norther Brewer...wasn't much more than direct. Friend of mine owns a liquor store and sells Homebrew Supplies, so it's going to pretty much pay for itself.

AZ_IPA said:

Austin Homebrew Supply claims to have the cheapest shipped price (since they have flat rate $7.99 shipping)

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supposedly, except that they're not in stock, and for the extra couple bucks, Northern had them in stock w/ the same shipping.

AZ_IPA said:

Austin Homebrew Supply claims to have the cheapest shipped price (since they have flat rate $7.99 shipping)

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For me to buy direct with shipping would be $132.00.

I would pay $122.00 shipping included from Austin Homebrew.

This is the 7lb hopper option.

Edit: there's the not-in-stock issue, which seems to be a problem of inventory at BarleyCrusher.

lombo34 said:

supposedly, except that they're not in stock, and for the extra couple bucks, Northern had them in stock w/ the same shipping.

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of course they're not in stock at AHS - they don't keep them in stock, it ships from Barley Crusher....

Jdecarol said:

...I'm ordering a Barley Crusher and making sweet love to it.

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I'm begging you, please, DO NOT post any pictures of that!

I agree that it is a great investment. I had my efficiencies diving down into the mid-50s for a while and it was driving me nuts especially since I thought I was doing everything right. I got a mill and my efficiency immediately went up to 80%. I thought I was milling the grain too small since it looked nothing like what I was getting from the local shop.

lombo34 said:

What's the best / cheapest place to buy a Barley Crusher??

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From whoever has one in stock. I ordered direct, and although I was warned that they are 2 weeks + behind on orders, I ordered anyway. I am starting to get impatient as it has been 27 days with no BC, email, or anything. I am an unusually patient man, but with about 175 lb. of grain and not brewed in 3 weeks its wearing thin.

JakeTheHopDog said:

I'm begging you, please, DO NOT post any pictures of that!

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Pffft. I have this nice cam corder just itching to be set up.

LMAO!

The Horror!

I ordered a BC today. Though, from the looks of some of these posts, I may not be getting it for a while.

In any case, I plan on hitting up Rochester Mills to see if they will sell me a bag of 2-Row. However, I would also be interested in splitting some bags of specialties. Hit me up if you are interested.

If there is any other Michigander interest perhaps I can start up a bulk buy thread.

I built my own and considered it a necessary part of going AG. The bulk purchase of grain was a huge bonus in terms of cost and I usually have grain hanging around, whereas before, I usually ended up having to buy everything just before brewing.

My crusher is a bit smaller than the store-bought, but I just used whatever scrap metal was laying around at work. But I love it, especially since work gave me an old gearmotor that they are not going to use.

My BC arrived today! It took 33 days but now I'm happy.

For those considering this, I ordered one from Northern brewer along with a new better bottle, banjo burner, and a new flask for starters... plus a few odds and ends. Showed up in 5 different boxes via fed ex, was here in 3 days, and only cost me 7.99 to ship everything! They have both the 7lb and 15lb models in stock most of the time.

I was so bummed out when I ordered my BC from Austin Howebrew, because it seemed that I would be waiting forever to get it. I guess I got lucky, however, since I received it within 6 days of my order. Maybe the dudes at BC are cranking them out quicker now.

lombo34 said:

supposedly, except that they're not in stock, and for the extra couple bucks, Northern had them in stock w/ the same shipping.

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We have them in stock all of the time. On a product we make $5 on it is best for us to ship it direct from the manufacturer. We dont want to pay shipping to us and then shipping to you. I know we collect $7.99 for shipping but we would pay about $13. We do this so we can have the best price.

Forrest

I posted on the first page about my frustration with mediocre efficiency from LBHS crushes. This thread inspired me to bite the bullet and buy a barley crusher. My first time using the crusher was today on a batch of continuously hopped rye IPA. Happily overshot my OG and ended up with 82% efficiency! My previous best using identical methods was under 65%. Feels good knowing i can now brew a good IPA for right around $20 using my bulk hops and grain. Next on the agenda is a SMaSH centennial IPA.

Gritsak said:

I posted on the first page about my frustration with mediocre efficiency from LBHS crushes. This thread inspired me to bite the bullet and buy a barley crusher. My first time using the crusher was today on a batch of continuously hopped rye IPA. Happily overshot my OG and ended up with 82% efficiency! My previous best using identical methods was under 65%. Feels good knowing i can now brew a good IPA for right around $20 using my bulk hops and grain. Next on the agenda is a SMaSH centennial IPA.

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Congrats! And it's fun to do the crush yourself too.

So I have an idea for a DIY version, trying to hammer out the details. Are both rollers driven or is one passive and only rotates when the grain passes through?

If a passive roller works then great. I can't seem to figure out a gear set small enough to drive both 2" rollers.

Sorry to hijack.

dex0807 said:

So I have an idea for a DIY version, trying to hammer out the details. Are both rollers driven or is one passive and only rotates when the grain passes through?

If a passive roller works then great. I can't seem to figure out a gear set small enough to drive both 2" rollers.

Sorry to hijack.

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On the Barley Crusher one roller is driven and one is free wheeling and only moves when grain passes through it.

I got the approval from the wife to buy a bunch of other equipment including a boilermaker so I snuck one of these into the order as well.

Ordered mine the other day.

Going to give my pasta mill to a buddy who does extract/partial mash. Going through a ~13lb grain bill in forty minutes+ was getting too tedious even though I regularly hit 80%+ efficiency, so I figured that my time IS worth money, and my crusher should be paid for in twelve batches.