How do I speed up my crush time?

[fuzzybee]

I have a Barley Crusher two-roller mill that I've used for a while. I drive it with a low-RPM corded drill When it works fine, it's good. Often when I'm crushing, though, I can tell there is no resistance to the drill. I have to reverse the drill for a couple of seconds and then hope the rollers catch. I sometimes also pick up the whole setup and tap it on the ground. I have my rollers close (about 0.65mm) for my BIAB setup.

Are my issues an unfortunate function of my mill, or is there something I can do differently to speed up what ends up taking about an hour of frustration for a 12 pound malt bill?

 

[IslandLizard]

Could the knurl on your rollers have worn out, not gripping the kernels? I've read many times that being one of the reasons for what you just described.
Has it always been like that or just lately? How many pounds of grain do you estimate have gone through that mill?

Any clue what the actual rpm is while it's crushing? As with many drills, it may start out much too fast, then once it grips (and starts actually milling) it slows down dramatically due to the exerted load.

An hour is surely excessively long to crush a 12 pound batch. I've been using a 2-roller Monster Mill (MM2) at low speed (around 150rpm under load). It chews through 12 pounds within mere minutes. I use a 550 rpm, Harbor Freight Low Speed drill at less than half its speed/power, I'd say.

0.65 mm (0.025 inch) is not crazy tight, I mill wheat and rye on a gap like that.
You could try milling more coarsely first, then a second time at your tighter setting. See if it improves.

 

[balrog]

An hour is surely excessively long to crush a 12 pound batch

That's putting it mildly. That's crazy.

 

[balrog]

@fuzzybee , are you able to see the mill's output and tell there's nothing coming through when the drill is experiencing no-load but still rotating? Are you certain there's not slippage on the shaft maybe? Grasping at straws here. But I'm pretty sure @IslandLizard has it right -- the knurling has been worn to where it won't engage/grab the kernels as well. I don't use a two-roll, but for those that do, might "conditioning" the grain help? (spray bottle, lightly spritzing and mixing grain before milling)

 

[Broken Crow]

I don't yet have a mill, but I read all these posts to help me choose one and I see the 'worn-out' rollers come up a lot...
Because of other pastimes/work I proabably have 100 or so files.. wood, metal.. whatever.. And my habit for saving a dulling file has always been to set it in a tray of sulfuric acid to sharpen it.. Has anyone tried this with mill-rollers?

 

[BongoYodeler]

Just for reference, I have the same mill, set to .022" (biab), and can crush 12 lbs. of grain in under 5 minutes. I use a non-locking variable speed 1/2" drill that I try to keep engaged at a lower speed.

 

[Deadalus]

I detailed my issues with my Barley Crusher in another thread and the corrections I made. I crushed for a batch after doing that and no problems. I wasn't paying attention and loaded my hopper up for a batch yesterday and had some more issues specifically exactly as you were, stops crushing. Yesterday's batch was set at 0.028"(0.71mm). I dumped the hopper and reset the gap on both ends. I still had a little bit of missing but I was able to get through the batch. I had conditioned the grain at 2% water added and let it sit for about 15-20 minutes. It was a big batch and I had the grain split in half to be added to the hopper. My current opinion is that with tighter gap settings, if the rollers aren't perfectly gapped exactly on both ends, the slot may form a V from end to end and that potentially the grain may get pushed slightly horizontally and not get grabbed. A second idea yesterday was that the grain may be sticky on the outside and so not fall in. My wife bought a sort of flat whisk, flat spiral metal on a wooden handle. This was strong enough to push down with and so I used that to crush the batch.

Easier to adjust the thing now that I know about the screw loosening it! If you reverse the rollers, you'll need to reverse the drill motion. Forgot that on startup but only wasted a minute or so before recall kicked in.

 

[fuzzybee]

Thanks y'all. You've given me something to chew on.

 

[Derp]

Might want to take it apart and make sure everything is clean and lubricated. I've had to do that a few times, and it seems to give me another 20+ uses before it acts up again.

 

[balrog]

something to chew on.

Oh, I do hope that pun was intended!

 

[fuzzybee]

Oh, I do hope that pun was intended!

 

[Zambezi Special]

That's putting it mildly. That's crazy.

I mill close to 2 kg by hand in 5 minutes

But that's not helping you.
I recently saw a thread where the problem was actually in the hopper. The gap wasn't big enough. They stated that the gap should be around 1.5 cm. (Thats that gap the grains fall though on the rollers?

 

[day_trippr]

I still have my old Barley Crusher with the stock hopper and that gap is a solid 3/4" or ~1.9 centimeters.
I also checked my current Cereal Killer and its gap is a full inch or ~2.5 centimeters.

I have a Cereal Killer because the Barley Crusher's knurling was worn out in one direction. I reversed the rollers and it works great turning in the opposite direction. I use the Barley Crusher for malted wheat and oats and use the Cereal Killer for only base malts so I don't have to change its gap...

Cheers!

 

[fuzzybee]

To finally follow up:

It appeared my non-powered roller was sticking. Using the instructions here (A Guide to Cleaning your Grain Mill) I disassembled and cleaned the mill, and now it seems to be crushing like a champ. Looking forward to finally brewing again!

 

[fuzzybee]

Finally brewed today and crushed an 11 lb bill in about 9 minutes. Hallelujah!