New mill - one man operation?

[Malty_Dog]

Hey just got a new Barley Crusher grain mill for Christmas, pretty stoked. More control and tightening up my process. One question I came up with pretty quickly was: do you crush solo or have someone help? I'm assuming most go solo and I just wanted to make sure I understood how. I was under the impression that pouring the grain in before starting the rollers was a no-no. True? If so, how do you manage to get the rollers going with one hand on the drill, and pour in 10+ lbs of grain with the other? Maybe I'm just uncoordinated, lol. Anyway, thank goodness for my assistant brewer (14 year old daughter).

Good news is that out of the box I got about 7% higher efficiency

 

[Zepth]

A few grains will drop through if you fill the hopper before turning. No big deal.

 

[Malty_Dog]

A few grains will drop through if you fill the hopper before turning. No big deal.

Thanks Zepth, guess I was wrong about pouring the grains in before running it. They don't like that at the LHBS and I assumed it was potentially damaging to the mill or compromised the crush in some way. Anyway I appreciate the quick response

 

[Gduck]

I pretty much always get my mill running before adding the grain. The drill I have has a trigger lock so that it can run without me having to hold the trigger down. But if you didn't have a drill that did that, or if you hand cranked, yeah, just pouring in a small handful of kernels to get it going will work.

Though having a second person is always nice so that you can have a hand free for your beer!

 

[Gduck]

Also, forgot to add, I have added the grain before I started the mill before with my old barley crusher. Sometimes it would run fine, other times I had to reverse the drill for a pulse or two then shift it back in to forward before it would get going. I'd really be surprised if you could ruin your mill doing it either way.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Pouring grain in before starting mill has a chance to seize the rollers and cause the drill to round over the shaft, or, just not start if the torque is low. Releaseable zip ties can hold the trigger at speed if full throttle is too fast for you with the lock on.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Appreciating all the responses, this is good stuff. Thinking of how I want to handle it (no pun intended).

 

[atoughram]

I weigh all of my grain in a Homer bucket. I first start the mill and then take a large enameled steel cup and feed it into the mill.

 

[Rev2010]

I do it myself. I pour in the grain then run the drill. Sure a few kernels fall through but it's literally an extremely tiny amount that makes no affect on efficiency. Just ordered a Monster Mill myself. Had a Barley Crusher for 3 years and it finally won't pull grain anymore, apparently the rollers wore down. For what I would estimate I put through, probably around 700 or so pounds of grain, and having paid $135 for it with averaging batches at 10lbs each that's $1.92 cost per batch to crush. That sounds quite high to me. Really hoping the Monster Mill lasts longer.

Congrats on the mill though, it did indeed work great for me all those years and my efficiency has been great. Just wish it would last longer or that they'd offer replaceable rollers. I read they do but I emailed BC and haven't yet heard back which I hear is pretty common.

Oh! One last word of advice... the mill is a bit off centered on the base so be very careful when it's full and a drill is attached that you don't even bump it slightly, it can topple right over. Can even happen when pouring in the grain if you're filling the hopper all the way up. I've only had it tip one time - because after that I was extra careful.


Rev.

 

[LLBeanJ]

I do it myself. I pour in the grain then run the drill.

Same here. I have a Monster MM2 with the gap set to .030" and nothing falls through before I engage the drill.

 

[Zepth]

Pouring grain in before starting mill has a chance to seize the rollers and cause the drill to round over the shaft, or, just not start if the torque is low. Releaseable zip ties can hold the trigger at speed if full throttle is too fast for you with the lock on.

I took a file and "rounded" the round shaft so that it was more triangular at the end for my drill chuck to bite onto. Think of all those Hex-drive bits that are all the rage now. Would have done that but didn't need to.

Oh! One last word of advice... the mill is a bit off centered on the base so be very careful when it's full and a drill is attached that you don't even bump it slightly, it can topple right over. Can even happen when pouring in the grain if you're filling the hopper all the way up. I've only had it tip one time - because after that I was extra careful.

Or if you mill half your grain then leave it unattended with a drill chuck clamped onto the shaft. Have another bucket kicking around to rest that off-centre weight on while you refill the hopper.

 

[Gduck]

I do it myself. I pour in the grain then run the drill. Sure a few kernels fall through but it's literally an extremely tiny amount that makes no affect on efficiency. Just ordered a Monster Mill myself. Had a Barley Crusher for 3 years and it finally won't pull grain anymore, apparently the rollers wore down. For what I would estimate I put through, probably around 700 or so pounds of grain, and having paid $135 for it with averaging batches at 10lbs each that's $1.92 cost per batch to crush. That sounds quite high to me. Really hoping the Monster Mill lasts longer.

I have the 3 roller monster mill and it's been a champ for about two years and still going strong. I had a Barley Crusher before it and had a similar experience to yours. As an extra endorsement of the MM we run one in a 2bbl brewhouse and have probably put around 15,000lbs. of grain through it thus far and hasn't shown any wear yet.

 

[Rev2010]

As an extra endorsement of the MM we run one in a 2bbl brewhouse and have probably put around 15,000lbs. of grain through it thus far and hasn't shown any wear yet.

Man, I'd be happy with even half that!! As mentioned, I didn't even hit 1000lbs with my BC. I do however do wheat beers relatively often, so I'm thinking the harder kernels added to the wear. But I recounted and I definitely didn't run more than 700lbs through it and it won't pull anymore. So even if I were to get 7000lbs through the MM2 that would still be 10x the BC. Anyhow, glad to hear the good feedback.


Rev.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I would suggest attaching your mill to a bucket with the bottom cut out, then place that inside a full bucket.

Drill a few small holes in the mill base plate and zip tie it to the bottomless bucket, more stability, less chance of dumping a load of grain while milling.

 

[Conan]

I use a DeWalt $100 corded drill on my BC and always start it with a full hopper. It works like a champ, but is also mounted to a dedicated stand so there's no worry of tipping over buckets. I haven't filed any flats on the shaft and only spun it once. After 2 years of 5 gallon batches I now double crush...once to crack and a second run through to get a finer crush. It still only takes me 15 minutes to weigh and crush for a 5 gallon batch of 1.060+ wort...which is about right to measure and heat strike water. Kyle

 

[RedIrocZ-28]

I do it myself. I pour in the grain then run the drill. Sure a few kernels fall through but it's literally an extremely tiny amount that makes no affect on efficiency. Just ordered a Monster Mill myself. Had a Barley Crusher for 3 years and it finally won't pull grain anymore, apparently the rollers wore down. For what I would estimate I put through, probably around 700 or so pounds of grain, and having paid $135 for it with averaging batches at 10lbs each that's $1.92 cost per batch to crush. That sounds quite high to me. Really hoping the Monster Mill lasts longer.

Congrats on the mill though, it did indeed work great for me all those years and my efficiency has been great. Just wish it would last longer or that they'd offer replaceable rollers. I read they do but I emailed BC and haven't yet heard back which I hear is pretty common.

Oh! One last word of advice... the mill is a bit off centered on the base so be very careful when it's full and a drill is attached that you don't even bump it slightly, it can topple right over. Can even happen when pouring in the grain if you're filling the hopper all the way up. I've only had it tip one time - because after that I was extra careful.


Rev.

Would you be willing to part with the barley crusher? PM me a price if you are willing to sell it.

 

[bbrim]

I use a BC. I always load it then hand crank. Mine has worn down quite a bit but its about 6 years old and has run about 1500lbs of grain. It stopped grabbing the grain at the tight gap I like running. Now I need to open up to the factory setting and run the grain, then tighten it down and run in it again. That works like a charm. I always run it solo. I think the BC is not extremely solid and am very hesitant to use a drill. I used one in the past but I don't think my crush was good going that route.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

I have never had any problems with filling the hopper and then starting the Barley Crusher. My BC is mounted to a table and attached to a 1/3 HP electric motor with step down pulleys to about 300 RPM. It has been going like a champ for over three years now and has perfectly crushed well over 3000 lbs of grain. I would not hesitate to fill the hopper and then engage the rollers. In my experience in homebrew shops, they say that just to make sure that nothing has the possibility of getting jammed. I have seen on a few occasions where someone has added a few pounds of unmalted wheat (that stuff is really dense and hard!) to the LHBS mills hopper, then turned it on instantly jamming it.