Barley Crusher failing to "grab" grain

[kombat]

Just wondering if anyone else is having this problem, and what they've done to fix it. The last couple of brews, my Barley Crusher mill has been finicky. In the past, I could just dump in all the grain at once, fire up the drill, and it would chew through the whole hopper.

Recently, however, when I run the drill, the main roller will just spin and spin and spin, without grabbing any grain. If I start out super slowly, and agitate the grain with a spoon, I can eventually get it to "catch," at which point it will run fine for a minute or so, then lose "traction" and spin freely again. I repeat the exercise (crank the mill sloooowly, agitate the grain), until it catches again, then I can mill a few more ounces.

Needless to say, this is very frustrating. I've adjusted the rollers in both directions (tighter and wider) and it doesn't seem to make a difference. This past weekend's brew, I actually ended up with the rollers set slightly wider than the factory default, and it was still acting up, as described above.

I recently cleaned my mill, so the rollers have relatively little dust on them. I fear that maybe the knurling on the rollers is finally getting worn down (I've run almost 100 batches through it) and need to be replaced, but the website assures me that they should last a lifetime.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? How did you resolve it?

 

[flars]

Try slightly wetting the grain with a mist from a spray bottle. This may help provide a stickier surface for the rollers to grab.

 

[PGEduardo]

I did a search on this recently as I had the same issue. Other than cleaning the rollers and wetting the grain, not much else to go on.

What's interesting is that it works like a charm when using the hand-crank, but with my corded drill they just spin. I'm guessing it just tries to spin it too fast? I tried to go as slow as possible, but gave up and just cranked by hand...

 

[hunter_le five]

What's interesting is that it works like a charm when using the hand-crank, but with my corded drill they just spin. I'm guessing it just tries to spin it too fast? I tried to go as slow as possible, but gave up and just cranked by hand...

I've had this happen to me before. My BC is flawless using the hand-crank, but it got finicky when I attached the drill. I had to periodically stop and shake the hopper a little bit, and then resume. It seemed to work better if I ran the drill slowly.

These days I just use the hand-crank. I only do 5 gallon batches, so hand-milling 7-15lbs of grain isn't that big of a deal to me.

 

[blizz81]

Is the slave roller still rolling freely?

 

[joyceman]

Id suggest taking it apart and cleaning the bushings. You probably have some built up grain dust jamming the rollers.

Mine started slowing down & taking 8-10 minutes to crush 10+ lbs with a drill. I ripped it apart cleaned out all the dust and lubed the moving parts with mineral oil. Worked like a charm.

Theres a pretty good guide on the main page here...

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/grain-mill-cleaning.html

 

[MaxStout]

Try reversing the drive roller a couple turns, then resume forward. Sometimes it's just a few finicky grains that need to be repositioned.

 

[kombat]

Yep, the slave roller rolls just fine.

 

[blizz81]

I've come across some posts where the knurling has been evidently worn after a lot of use. Is it right that it is supposed to be warrantied, but customer service has been poor? I know I saw a post from the guy recently saying there were some issues for a while but they are hoping to improve service going forward. I forget if they're supposed to be "lifetime" as in replacement...if they are, it might be worth a shot.

 

[b-boy]

It's lifetime replacement. I had the same issues.

My unit started acting up after ~2 years. I tried disassembling, cleaning, and flipping the rollers, but the problem kept coming back.

I ended up sending the unit in for repair. It was repaired and returned, but the process was not easy. The rollers appear to have worn down. I think he replaced them.

I ended up selling mine afterwards.

The owner did post on here about issues he was having. He promised to be more responsive, so I'd give him the benefit of the doubt.

Try emailing him first. If he doesn't respond, just send the unit back to him with a note. It will take a few weeks, but you should get it back in good shape.

 

[Hopper5000]

How many RPMs are you going at it with your drill? If you go too fast I would imagine it doesn't grip that well. I think the max they recommend is about 500.

 

[kombat]

In the beginning, it would mill the whole hopper while running the drill at pretty much full speed. Now, I have to start out VERY slowly (1-3 RPS) until it catches, then I can run it at about half speed (5-20 RPS, I'd guess?) and it will keep grinding grain for a few seconds before it goes back to just spinning freely.

 

[Hopper5000]

huh, seems like maybe the rollers are worn out then. Only other thing is if there is a bunch of gunk on them and they can't catch but I doubt that is the problem.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I was at a friend's house recently and he had this issue. He fixed the problem by verifying the gap between the two ends of the rollers were the same.

 

[Rev2010]

Needless to say, this is very frustrating.

Tell me about it. Here's my thread from December: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f11/ma...sher-today-common-single-roller-mills-508830/

I now have a Monster Mill 2.0 (though standard 1.5" rollers) and a new drill (Harbor Freight low speed high torque model #60436 - love it) and am much happier with this combo! I've also had my efficiency jump from a constant 81% with the Barley Crusher to a constant 86% with the Monster Mill, though I'm trying to get back down to the 81% range since I'm so used to it.

The knurls wear down. In my case my BC had only about 700lbs of grain through it before the knurls wore down and that is unacceptable. If you calculate the cost of the unit when I bought it, nearly $150, and roughly averaging around 10lbs of grain per batch (being some higher and some lower) that equates to a cost of $2.14 per batch to crush my own grains! That's nuts. Of course, the longer something lasts the lower the overall cost per crush. So I'm glad I moved away from the BC and went with the Monster Mill. Plus, I wouldn't doubt if the rollers wore out I might be able to just buy the rollers from them. BC never responded to my asking about buying just the rollers. They told me the usual maintenance routines and that if that didn't work to send it in. This response also took a few weeks to receive.


Rev.

 

[b-boy]

BC does honor the lifetime warranty. The process just takes a while and can be a little frustrating.

Honestly, I really I liked my mill for 2 years until I started having this problem.

I bought a MM3 because the BC got to the point of being unusable right in the middle of 15 gallons of RIS (~100lbs of grain). It almost ruined the brew day.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Oh I remember 6-7 years ago my perception was that all the Barley Crusher owners put their noses up at the inexpensive corona mill option....just sayin my cast iron corona mill hasn't missed a beat....likely a couple thousand pounds crushed and still working great.

Disassembled the corona a while ago thinking there surely must be some wear, and found NONE....cast iron is some hard stuff.

 

[kombat]

*sigh*

I just put in an order for a MonsterMill 2. I'll send my BC back to be repaired/replaced, but I need something in the meantime. I guess I'll sell the BC when it comes back, if they honour the warranty.

Why wouldn't they use a material that can stand up to even moderate use? It's not like I'm trying to run an industrial-scale operation with it and it's only designed for homebrew use. I was only using it for home brewing! I got 2 years out of it, but why would they warranty it for life if the knurling wears down so quickly with simple run-of-the-mill (tee hee) home brewing use?

 

[Rev2010]

I just put in an order for a MonsterMill 2.

You're gonna love it, it's a beast. It's larger and heavier. Eventually when you pick up the BC it will feel like a toy lol. Though lighter is nicer to handle. Again, just be sure you have a strong enough drill to drive it.


Rev.