Barley Crusher Issues

[Owly055]

I'm basically satisfied with my BC barley crusher. It's not perfect, and I occasionally have feed issues that are resolved simply by spinning the non-driven roller momentarily with my finger...............this is a problem that will always exist in a rolling mill that drives only one roller. It doesn't matter who makes it. The O-Ring wrapped around the non-driven roller eliminates this problem. It ultimately fails after 20 or so batches, but replacing it is easy., and O-rings are cheap. You get what you pay for........ or so they claim. If both rollers are NOT driven, you are going to have this problem.

H.W.

 

[j1n]

Well, i guess i shouldn't be surprised when this eventually happens to my Barely Crusher.

 

[W0GWT]

Well, i guess i shouldn't be surprised when this eventually happens to my Barely Crusher.

Kind of thinking the same thing...

 

[Owly055]

Unfortunately, the BC issues are not easily solved. Rotational resistance in a sleeve bearing is a given, once it get's a bit of powder on it. Ball or needle bearings must be sealed, or they will be far worse..... It's best that they be well away from the grain dust. They are also much more expensive. The best solution is two driven rollers......... also more expense.

With the BC, compromises were made to keep it affordable. It's extremely easy to dismantle and clean and lubricate, so I find those compromises good ones under the circumstances. As a BC owner, I have also had this problem, and it is annoying. I could easily "upgrade" to sealed torrington bearings by just drilling the aluminum blocks out to fit them. (using a milling machine). The easiest fix is simply to replace the O-ring....... a very inexpensive item, and clean and lubricate regularly.

My own crusher has gone to the back burner .......... the BC was too cheap to pass up. Mine will use 3.5" rollers, and those big rollers would suck the grain in far better. I have the rollers built, and will someday build it using them. I wouldn't even consider building it without driving both rollers..... More work and expense, but worth it. It also will use "farmer bearings"....... double sealed ball bearings with flangettes. And it will be pedal powered. It's a fairly big project, and not high on my list of priorities.

H.W.

H.W.

 

[b-boy]

Well I got a response to my email. Actually I got a response to each and every email I sent. It was the exact same response. Each email had the previous email in the thread. It was obvious he didn't even notice that I had sent multiple emails. I'm guessing they were never read.

This was the response:

Thank you for your email, A couple things I would suggest to try is to take a wire brush to the rollers.This will remove any residue that may have built up over past batches.You can also try to take the mill apart and give it a good cleaning. ( no water) try wiping the end of the rollers and the side plates off and reassembling the mill. sometime dust and residue will build up between the rollers and the side plate that will make the idle roller stick. If you do take the mill apart to clean it, one other thing you can do is spin the idle roller 180 degrees, so the side that's on the right is now on the left.If the knurl on the roller is starting to get dull they tend to dull more on one side than the other. So spinning the roller around will give that roller a somewhat fresh knurl.

If after you try these things and if you are still having problems please email me and we will see what we can do to get your mill back to the way it should be.

I emailed him, but I'm just going to send the unit in for repair and cross my fingers.

 

[Owly055]

Well I got a response to my email. Actually I got a response to each and every email I sent. It was the exact same response. Each email had the previous email in the thread. It was obvious he didn't even notice that I had sent multiple emails. I'm guessing they were never read.

This was the response:



I emailed him, but I'm just going to send the unit in for repair and cross my fingers.

My discovery when I took my mill apart was pretty much as he described...... grain chaff builds up between the ends of the rollers and the end plates. Remember that O-rings are cheap........it takes only a few minutes to take a BC apart and replace the O-ring. It's not a great drive system, but it DOES help.

H.W.

 

[b-boy]

My discovery when I took my mill apart was pretty much as he described...... grain chaff builds up between the ends of the rollers and the end plates. Remember that O-rings are cheap........it takes only a few minutes to take a BC apart and replace the O-ring. It's not a great drive system, but it DOES help.

H.W.

Yes - I've done this a few times. It seems to fix the problem for 5-10 minutes, then it spins again. I'm starting to think the rollers may just be worn down. That worries be a little since I don't use it 'that' much. Maybe 10-12 brew days per year at ~60 lbs per batch on average. That's about 30-35 brew sessions. I do use wheat, but rarely. That doesn't seem excessive to me. I don't think I should be wearing anything out that quickly. Especially an item designed for my exact application. It's not like I'm abusing it or using it as a hammer between brew sessions.

 

[wilserbrewer]

Must say I'm feeling much better about my $25 Corona mill...likely spend that much sending a B/C in for regular servicing.

All kidding aside, they work pretty darn well.

 

[b-boy]

Never tried one, but during my last brew session I thought maybe I should have one as a backup.

I was at a big swap meet a few weeks ago and saw dozens of them for salee. My wife said I should buy one and I said - why?, I already have a mill.

Next time I see one for a few bucks I'll probably grab it.

 

[Owly055]

I discovered the other day that grain dust is NOT the culprit. My second roller developed so much drag that I took it all apart and cleaned it again, and re-assembled it. It was still stiff. I began unbolting it from the base, and noticed that the roller had freed up to the extent that it would free spin and coast! I fiddled a bit, and ultimately left one bolt slightly loose, and it worked like a dream.

H.W.

 

[b-boy]

I discovered the other day that grain dust is NOT the culprit. My second roller developed so much drag that I took it all apart and cleaned it again, and re-assembled it. It was still stiff. I began unbolting it from the base, and noticed that the roller had freed up to the extent that it would free spin and coast! I fiddled a bit, and ultimately left one bolt slightly loose, and it worked like a dream.

H.W.

Won't this mess with your gap. or am I misunderstanding what you're doing? I'd think a loose screw would allow the roller to get out of alignment.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I discovered the other day that grain dust is NOT the culprit. My second roller developed so much drag that I took it all apart and cleaned it again, and re-assembled it. It was still stiff. I began unbolting it from the base, and noticed that the roller had freed up to the extent that it would free spin and coast! I fiddled a bit, and ultimately left one bolt slightly loose, and it worked like a dream.



H.W.

Very interesting! Perhaps leaving the side plates in the mill a little loose will allow the bushings to "self align" and not bind.

There really is no reason why the plates can't have a little float.

Are sealed bearings that expensive purchased in bulk?

I guess a gear driven slave roller is the answer, or larger rollers.

Or even one roller against a fixed plate works with a large enough roller, or so I've been led to believe.

B boy,

I think the gap will remain true, this is just freeing the connection at the base mount of the mill....

Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[Owly055]

Won't this mess with your gap. or am I misunderstanding what you're doing? I'd think a loose screw would allow the roller to get out of alignment.

No, it doesn't effect roller gap. That's set by the two thick end plates, and the side plates. The loosened bolt only effects the vertical parallel plane of the two thick plates. It could in theory allow the whole thing go out of parallel as a "box", but the bushings themselves prevent that. A little float is a good thing in this case........


H.W.

 

[Owly055]

Oops............ I misread your post. You said the same thing I did.

If I owned BC, I would offer a bushing that was slightly thicker than the base material and fit somewhat loose in a 1/2" hole. One bolt hole would be drilled out to 1/2", the bushing inserted in the hole, and the bolt tightened down. This would allow one to float.


H.W.

 

[bja]

Oops............ I misread your post. You said the same thing I did.

If I owned BC, I would offer a bushing that was slightly thicker than the base material and fit somewhat loose in a 1/2" hole. One bolt hole would be drilled out to 1/2", the bushing inserted in the hole, and the bolt tightened down. This would allow one to float.


H.W.

Why not just make the thin sheet metal end plates from thicker stock. This way it can't go out of square when tightened down.

 

[acidrain]

Why not just make the thin sheet metal end plates from thicker stock. This way it can't go out of square when tightened down.

Besides the thin sheet metal plates, the ends are only fastened to the base with one screw each... they tend to twist and bind the bearings.
Next time I have to disassemble and clean mine, I am going to add more fasteners and beefier plates.
Also, a little grease on the bearing shafts helps a lot, but eventually that gets gunked up with grain dust.
Really unhappy with the overall design... in hind sight I should have bought a MM.

 

[Owly055]

Why not just make the thin sheet metal end plates from thicker stock. This way it can't go out of square when tightened down.

Changing the design would call for thicker plates, and aligning dowels, and everything would have to be indexed so it always went back the same way. It would require 8 bolts to hold it together, plus the two bolts that lock the adjusters. Ultimately it would have to be very rigid. All that would add considerable machining and parts cost.

Retaining the same design, simply having one of the hold down bolts with a bushing in a slightly oversize hole would allow things to float enough that they would not bind....... How much machining do you want to pay for?

If the desired result can be obtained in two ways, and one costs a fraction of what the other costs, which would you choose?

H.W.

 

[bja]

If the desired result can be obtained in two ways, and one costs a fraction of what the other costs, which would you choose?

H.W.

I would rather pay a little more and have it done right.

 

[b-boy]

Yep. Agree 100%.

 

[day_trippr]

I would rather pay a little more and have it done right.

Yep. Agree 100%.

Cue the Monster Mill...

Cheers!

 

[b-boy]

Well I disassembled everything and shipped the BC back. I'm anxious to see what needs to be fixed. I did take a closer look at the rollers. They appear to be pretty worn down. I'm starting to think this may be a big part of the problem.

In the mean time I went ahead and got a MM3. This thing is a beast! It's built like a tank.

I put the 2 grain mills next to each other and all I could think of was that it's like putting a full-sized Snickers bar next to a fun-sized Snickers bar. The difference in the size of the rollers was surprising.

I guess that's what an extra $100 will buy you. I'm hoping I made a good choice for the extra $$.

 

[Owly055]

Won't this mess with your gap. or am I misunderstanding what you're doing? I'd think a loose screw would allow the roller to get out of alignment.

This is only one bolt in the particle board base, and only slightly loose so it doesn't bind, and no, it will not throw anything out of alignment. Mis-alignment was caused by the base not being perfectly level. The bolt forced the end plates to be out of alignment vertically, which caused the binding.


H.W.

 

[b-boy]

Still waiting on my Barley Crusher. Sent it out. No email, no communication of any kind. I'm just assuming they got the mill. Weird way to run a business.

On the other hand I got to use my new MM3 the other day. Wow - it is an awesome piece of equipment. It chewed through 12 lbs. of grain in under a minute.

 

[b-boy]

Looks like my repaired Barley Crusher will be sent out today. He didn't say what the problem was.

So, it takes 3-4 weeks if you include the shipping to get one fixed in case anyone is interested. That's about what everyone predicted.

 

[j1n]

If my BCer goes south like yours ill probably do the same thing. Get the MM3 and send in the BCer and sell it when it gets back.

That is really weird with the lack of communication.

 

[b-boy]

Got my mill back yesterday. No note or any correspondence about what was done to fix it. It looks like new rollers and a new o-ring. I've seen posts talking about the elusive o-ring. Mine never had one, so I wasn't sure what it was for. Looks like it is a way to drive the other roller if the grain doesn't work. I hope that wasn't planned as a permanent solution for this mill. Well I'm going to give this a try on Saturday and make sure it's fixed.

 

[hunter_le five]

Got my mill back yesterday. No note or any correspondence about what was done to fix it. It looks like new rollers and a new o-ring. I've seen posts talking about the elusive o-ring. Mine never had one, so I wasn't sure what it was for. Looks like it is a way to drive the other roller if the grain doesn't work. I hope that wasn't planned as a permanent solution for this mill. Well I'm going to give this a try on Saturday and make sure it's fixed.

Mine came with the o-ring. You're right, it helps prevent stoppages, but isn't itself entirely necessary to the function. Even with the o-ring I have had *minor* stoppages, though nothing a slight backward rotation wouldn't fix immediately.

If the BC fails though, I'm just going to buy a mill with 2 driven rollers, attempt to get the BC fixed, and give someone else a good deal on it.

 

[b-boy]

Sold my refurb'd barley crusher on e-bay. Got $110 for it. That covers about half of my MM3. I'm good with that.

 

[BCProducts]

My name is Randy I own B C Products where we make the Barley Crushers. I would like to take a minute and apologize for the lack of communication we have shown over the last couple years.
We are a family business, Recently i went through an ugly divorce. The ex wife was working here up till almost the end. This in hindsight was a bad idea. Toward the end i tried to keep distance between the two of us, i was going to do my job and let her do hers. She wasn't. She wasn't responding to emails or letting me know that there was issues to deal with. It took a while to realize what was happening when i did she no longer worked here. I was married for 20 years when this occurred. I lost focus for a while.
I realize personal issues are no excuse in business and not trying to use it as an excuse, just an explanation. Since this time has past i have made many changes, taken on a new role in the company and have been making sure emails and repairs are done on a timely manner.

I care deeply about this business and making a quality mill at an affordable price. I will continue to try to regain the name we had before this happened.

If anyone has any issues with their mill please email me at [email protected]. I will answer your emails in a timely manner and we will get your mill back to running the way it should be working.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and if there is anything i can help you with please email me at [email protected]

Randy
B C Products Enterprises Inc.

 

[smizak]

Thank you Randy. My mill has been great for me since 2007. Good luck.