Problem With My Barley Crusher

[simonrutten]

i have had a barley crusher maltmill for a few years and it has become difficult to get the second roller to turn. i have to jab it with a stick to get a half a second of crushing then it stops. i have pulled it apart and can't see anything that drives the second roller other than the grain going through. has anyone had this problem and overcome it?
i really need to brew tomorrow!

 

[Duff]

Hi Simon,

I had the same problems with my BC and posted a few queries about it if you do a search.

I crushed this afternoon for my Damnation clone tomorrow. Last week I stripped my BC down and was amazed at the amount of grain dust built up which was affecting the idle roller. The crush today was great, just as if it was brand new. Did you have everything apart? It is very easy. PM me if you need.

Cheers.

 

[jimidee]

Hey Simon, I have a Barley Crusher and it is set at the factory 0.39". The rubber o ring that drove the second roller has long gone, however I don't have any problem when I run my malt through. The 'slave' roller rotates perfectly due to the grain flowing though. I would think that either you have something that is jamming the 'slave' roller or alternatively, you don't have enough 'head' on the malt that you are wanting to crush. By 'head' I mean enough malt piled up above the rollers just like a low pressure hot water system. I am getting around 80% extraction with my BC and considering what is involved, ie: 2 rollers and one crank handle, there shouldn't be a problem.

Cheers

 

[bigfridge]

Hey Simon, I have a Barley Crusher and it is set at the factory 0.39". The rubber o ring that drove the second roller has long gone, however I don't have any problem when I run my malt through. The 'slave' roller rotates perfectly due to the grain flowing though. I would think that either you have something that is jamming the 'slave' roller or alternatively, you don't have enough 'head' on the malt that you are wanting to crush. By 'head' I mean enough malt piled up above the rollers just like a low pressure hot water system. I am getting around 80% extraction with my BC and considering what is involved, ie: 2 rollers and one crank handle, there shouldn't be a problem.

Cheers

After crushing a few tonne through mine I found that the flour had clogged the slave roller exactly as SImon described. At first as long as there was some grain in there it would 'bite' and turn without problems, but if I let the grain run out I couldn't just tip some more in as it would just slip. I had to stop the motor and put some more grain in and then re-start it. But it got to the point where it was always slipping.

My Barley crusher came with an instruction sheet that advised that you lubricate the rollers regularly so what I did was remove the eccentric adjusting bushes at each end of the slave roller (you just remove the screws holding the side plate on) and the roller falls out. You can see all the flour gumming up the bearing.

A quick clean and lube and it was spinning freely again.

HTH,

David

 

[oldbugman]

A quick clean and lube and it was spinning freely again.

sounds like a girl I once knew.


/me looks around for SWMBO