The Barley Crusher Malt Mill & 3/8" Drill Question

[I_Brew_Therefore_I_Am]

So I am looking at picking up the The Barley Crusher Malt Mill and was wondering if anyone could recommend a good cordless drill for the unit? I'm sure I could use any 3/8" drill but if anyone has any recommendations that would be great!

 

[bigdongsr94]

Whatever is on sale at Lowes or HD. Craftsmen arent bad either. In truth i would get one with a metal chuck an you have to go atleast mid level for that. I have Dewalt XRP stuff. I have never had it slip on the mill so my mill still looks nice and is not chewed up. But if you dont already have a drill and dont have much use for it after milling then just what is on sale will work. I think the RPM range was like 350RPM or something so i generally run not full speed on the low gear (500RPM on my Dewalt).

 

[I_Brew_Therefore_I_Am]

Good information to know, thank you. It will be used exclusively for the drain mill so it won't ever be removed.

 

[solbes]

I used to run my Craftsman 18V cordless, but got tired of having to charge the battery with 1 lb left to crush. Now if I had remembered to charge up the batteries before brew day this would not have been an issue. Also the chuck would sometimes slip on hard to mill malts like white wheat or carapils.

Bought a corded Black and Decker 7 amp. No more waiting on a battery to charge on brew day. It also has a keyed chuck, so no more slipping. I think I payed maybe $35, and it has been well worth it.

 

[wilserbrewer]

I vote for a 1/2 inch slow speed corded drill, harbor freight has a couple models for 35 - 50 bucks that work well. Some 3/8 " drills spin pretty fast, and may not have the nads to hold up for large grain bills.

Also might check craigslist for an older 1/2" drill, I have seen some decent ones cheap.


Wilserbrewer
Http://biabbags.webs.com/

 

[Clonefan94]

I have a 14.4 V Rigid 1/2" drill. It has 2 settings on it. 1 is a low speed, high torque, the other is fast. I have tried it both ways and the crush on the low speed is much better than blasting through it fast. Anything will work, but I personally would look for a low speed drill.

 

[I_Brew_Therefore_I_Am]

So I'm slightly confused. The site says you need a 3/8" drill but a 1/2" will work just as well?

 

[blizz81]

We bought something like a $7 Harbor Freight corded drill for ours. Still working 7 years later. The fuss of a cord is much less than the fuss of having batteries and keeping them charged for me.

 

[Hotspur]

I vote for a 1/2 inch slow speed corded drill, harbor freight has a couple models for 35 - 50 bucks that work well. Some 3/8 " drills spin pretty fast, and may not have the nads to hold up for large grain bills.

Also might check craigslist for an older 1/2" drill, I have seen some decent ones cheap.

Seconded. I picked up a 1/2" Black and Decker refurbished drill for $30 about six years ago, and it's still working great. I have a great cordless, but I can control the speed really easily with the regular drill, and never run out of charge.

 

[I_Brew_Therefore_I_Am]

The only reason I want a cordless drill is because we are brewing in our garage and have one power outlet and we don't want to draw a lot of power from it. We already have a fridge and a mini AC hooked up to it.


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[wilserbrewer]

The only reason I want a cordless drill is because we are brewing in our garage and have one power outlet and we don't want to draw a lot of power from it. We already have a fridge and a mini AC hooked up to it.

Given the circumstances, I would still advise a corded drill for milling, unplugging the fridge for a few minutes beats the heck out of running out of battery and not being able to mill at all. Milling requires a fairly powerful drill, a cordless drill capable of powering a mill well will be real $$$.

 

[solbes]

So I'm slightly confused. The site says you need a 3/8" drill but a 1/2" will work just as well?

The sizes you list above are maximum chuck capacities. You can easily close a 1/2" chuck down onto the Barley Crusher drive shaft. But you can't make a 3/8" chuck handle anything larger than 3/8". Typically 1/2" chucked drills have more torque than a 3/8" (exceptions of course), so another reason to go 1/2" if you are on the fence.

As far as corded vs. cordless. If you don't currently own a cordless, there are definite advantages when you are outside or far from a power outlet. If you go that route, I might suggest an 18volt minimum. Pay attention to torque ratings and battery capacities. And Lithium Ion batteries beat Nickel Cadmium. NiCad's are kinda fussy and you will be buying replacement batteries every 2-3 years. LiIon's are the real deal, but more pricey. The only time I use my corded is for milling, for the reasons I initially stated. Very handy tool to have IMO.