I f'ing love my barley crusher

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moosetav

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Used my BC for the first time today. Brewed a big IPA with 18# of grain. Loaded up the hopper and started cranking. Yes, I tried using the crank handle. Lasted about a minute before I chucked up my drill and motorized the sucker. Went through 18# in just a few minutes with a beautiful crush on factory settings. 80% efficiency straight out of the gate. I could not be happier.
 
Agreed, my first brew after crushing my own grain was 80% with the BC, and I was super happy with it!

Ironically enough, I had my first probelm with it last brew day, the secondary roller was binding, and I have no Idea why, I had to remove the set screws and tinker with it to free up, I assume some grain got bound up between the roller and the "box", regardless after reassembly it was all better.

Don't listen to the Monster Millers, and Crankendsteiners that think their mills are superior, they are only more expensive! the BC is awesome!

Like you said factory setting are great, but I was thinking of tightening it up slightly for a little more flour in my mix, I think it will increase my efficiency a couple points maybe up to 82-85%, and that is about as high as I would wanna go.

Anyhow +1 to the BC and it's value!

Cheers!:mug:
 
Yup...

Ground up 12 lbs last night for a brown ale I brewed today, and 25lbs tonight for a 10-gallon batch of IPA I'm brewing tomorrow!

Love the Barley Crusher!
 
Lol well I'm buying my keezer stuff first then maybe three more better bottles to get my brewery (as of yet still unnamed) fully stocked. Then I will get a crusher and start buying bulk. I got the wife a soda making kit today so she is pleased as hell with me. It's a Dang beverage factory in my house!!
 
It is one of the best pieces of equipment I have ever bought!! I am getting 85% on the factory setting. It is also nice being to buy grain in bulk and save some money.
 
getting the BC is a game changer, man. I love mine. Have never had to adjust it since getting it in the mail.
 
AZ_IPA said:
IP - you could probably sell it right now for $300-400.....from what I've seen on other threads, no one has any.
Click to expand...

I just bought mine yesterday and was sold the floor model/open box at 10% off. This was because the LHBS didn't have any new ones built! They had an entire box of parts to assemble probably 5 BC's at least...They must have put in a bulk order and they didn't come pre-assembled.
 
Still waiting for mine. Company person (Randy) emailed me Thursday and said it was shipping on Friday. No confirmation yet even though they said they would provide tracking info. Waiting to get that so I can do my bulk grain order.
 
used mine for the first time yesterday on two brews...hit 86% and 85%...definitely pleased.
 
I got mine a few days ago. Took a couple of weeks to get it, but it's here now. It arrived just in time for me to head out to sea again to play navy. I won't get to play with it for a few more weeks.
 
I love mine too. I have done one batch with it so far, but the thing I like the most about the BC is the flexibility it gives me when brewing. I can buy the specialty malts in advance and store them until I need to brew. Instead of going for each batch now, I plan ahead about a month's worth of brews and buy at one time. Saves some trips to the LHBS.

Also, nothing better than buying in bulk and saving a $h!t load of money!!
 
AZ_IPA said:
I hand cranked until a couple night ago. Keep hand cranking or you'll never go back once you hook up the drill!
Click to expand...

Eff, hand cranking, when i purchased mine, the first thing I did was take the crank off, and chuck on the drill...FTW!!!
 
I love mine too. But I still havent learned my lesson.... HOLD THE BASE when drilling! I must have pulled the trigger and had the whole thing flip upside down onto the floor 3-4 times now. DOHHHH!
 
Beer_Maker said:
I got mine a few days ago. Took a couple of weeks to get it, but it's here now. It arrived just in time for me to head out to sea again to play navy. I won't get to play with it for a few more weeks.
Click to expand...

when did you order and from whom?

im still waiting for mine to ship but would like to see how long the lag time is...

thanks!:mug:
 
I ordered one on Jan 4th and if this was a perfect world it would of showed up today. As it is, I will be happy if I get it by Febuary!
 
I got a BC for xmas. I loved the look of the crush. Then I got a stuck sparge. Then another stuck sparge, and a third as well... I think the factory setting is a pretty fine crush compared to what I'm used to. Maybe will be adding a couple handfulls of rice hulls for each batch...???
 
Fly. The grain set really well, almost like concrete... it really put a damper on my day. Twice. EDIT: or thrice? I couldn't keep track. It was really annoying. But I confess it could just be me trying to figure out my new system.
 
Frodo, if it set up like concrete and you are using the factory setting, I would try slowing down your runoff speed. When I batch sparge, my valve is never more than halfway open....no rice hulls, just a few more minutes
 
Frodo said:
Fly. The grain set really well, almost like concrete... it really put a damper on my day. Twice. EDIT: or thrice? I couldn't keep track. It was really annoying. But I confess it could just be me trying to figure out my new system.
Click to expand...

Sounds like a MT issue...a pic of your set up?
 
wilserbrewer said:
Sounds like a MT issue...a pic of your set up?
Click to expand...

It's a 10 gal round cooler w/false bottom. Like Riv mentioned I was probably running off too fast. I might actually try conditioning the malt next time; have wanted to do that anyways.
 
Mustangj said:
One of my fav brewing tools!

Did you guys cut the thick black ruber band off?
Click to expand...

Mine came off after crushing about 3 to 4 lbs maybe. I think it's supposed to just come off itself rather than needing to be cut off.
 

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