104 replies to this topic

[Bklmt2000]

Mine adjusts a bit differently. I eyeball it bit it isn't difficult to see tightest and loosest.

 

My eyeballs aren't that good, so i need all the help i can get. 

[ChicagoWaterGuy]

My eyeballs aren't that good, so i need all the help i can get. 

[JMcG]

I use a BC and have found that conditioning has cut down the dust produced.  I also haven't needed to clean the bearings now for over a year, I guess because there is less dust.  Before I started conditioning I needed to clean every few months.  A feeler gauge makes adjustments more even/precise, but I have it adjusted to a smaller gap than before and it does a nice job, so I haven't needed to change it.

I usually just spray/mist the grain after I weigh it out as I'm pouring it into the bucket and mix it around a bit by hand right before I mill.  If you let it sit for a while before milling it won't stick, and the husks stay intact.

[Big Nake]

I use a BC and have found that conditioning has cut down the dust produced.  I also haven't needed to clean the bearings now for over a year, I guess because there is less dust.  Before I started conditioning I needed to clean every few months.  A feeler gauge makes adjustments more even/precise, but I have it adjusted to a smaller gap than before and it does a nice job, so I haven't needed to change it.
I usually just spray/mist the grain after I weigh it out as I'm pouring it into the bucket and mix it around a bit by hand right before I mill.  If you let it sit for a while before milling it won't stick, and the husks stay intact.

You make a good point because if you condition you'll get less dust (which is good) but you may also get some amount of "paste" from the wet/damp grain getting squeezed through the rollers. I typically measure out my grains the day before brewday and as my strike water is heating I go and mist/mix the grain and then immediately mill it. Should I be waiting a little bit before milling it? I don't think it's an issue of me using too much water for the conditioning but I'll admit that I'm not measuring... I'm just misting with a fine sprayer and making sure I don't see much dry grain.

Also... I always just fill my hopper with the entire grist when I mill. That could be 9-10 pounds of grain. Is that typical or do people pour the grain in while they have the rollers going? I am just using a drill so it would be mildly tricky for me to drill with one hand and pour (holding the bucket) with the other and I envision some hilarious sitcom-looking scene where I'm spilling grain all over, etc.

[passlaku]

This seems like it's less about the malt and more about the lifecycle of the barley crusher. I had one and sent it back to the guy twice before I just said to heck e with it and forked over the money for a c&s intro unit. I've been pretty satisfied with the c&s so far

[denny]

I find myself amused and mystified at all the effort you guys put out!  Double crushing at 2 different settings?  Conditioning the malt?  I mean, if you've tried it other ways and determined you have to do those things, great.  But I find it odd that I don't do any of that and have no crush related issues.  I can't explain why other than to wonder if all that rigamarole is really necessary.

[macbrak]

I had this problem with my barley crusher. I took it apart and cleaned it. I then used an triangle file to sharpen the burls. After that it was back in normal shape again. Recommended this to others and they also had similar success.

[Genesee Ted]

Ken, I have had this issue with my BC before. What I have found to work is start the mill rolling slowly and put a little grain in. Don't cover the rollers, just enough to see that it is feeding through. Then once it is crushing, add more grain.

I actually had to turn the one roller around the other way at one point too. You can adjust the gap with the little knobs on the side of the mill.

[Big Nake]

As I was on my bike ride this morning, I realized that I need to lube it up too. I miraculously found the original documentation which just says, "Occasionally place a few drops of vegetable oil on the brushings" which I took to mean bushings. So I took the housing off of it but didn't really see exactly where the oil should go. I placed a couple drops on the "stem" of the rollers (does that make sense?). I looked for a video on how to do this but couldn't find one. Anyone know specifically where to lube things? The roller does seem a little freer now and that may have been my issue all along.

I find myself amused and mystified at all the effort you guys put out!  Double crushing at 2 different settings?  Conditioning the malt?  I mean, if you've tried it other ways and determined you have to do those things, great.  But I find it odd that I don't do any of that and have no crush related issues.  I can't explain why other than to wonder if all that rigamarole is really necessary.

* looks down his nose at Denny... *

Listen... I'm not trying to convince anyone. This is based on years of experimentation and you just have to trust me and try it for yourself! Sound familiar?

[djinkc]

As I was on my bike ride this morning, I realized that I need to lube it up too. I miraculously found the original documentation which just says, "Occasionally place a few drops of vegetable oil on the brushings" which I took to mean bushings. So I took the housing off of it but didn't really see exactly where the oil should go. I placed a couple drops on the "stem" of the rollers (does that make sense?). I looked for a video on how to do this but couldn't find one. Anyone know specifically where to lube things? The roller does seem a little freer now and that may have been my issue all along.

* looks down his nose at Denny... *

Listen... I'm not trying to convince anyone. This is based on years of experimentation and you just have to trust me and try it for yourself! Sound familiar?

 

When I clean the mill I take it completely apart.  It's easy to see if there is any buildup in the bushings that needs to be cleaned before lubricating.  Once you've done it it's not that tough.

 

[denny]

* looks down his nose at Denny... *

Listen... I'm not trying to convince anyone. This is based on years of experimentation and you just have to trust me and try it for yourself! Sound familiar?

 

If you've convinced yourself it's a better way for you to do things, it's the right thing to do.  I've tried it both ways and found that conditioning the malt and multiple crushings at different settings made no difference in my beers.  I'm unable to explain why there's a difference between what works for you and what works for me.

[Steve Urquell]

Ken I went back to my old forum and read a couple threads where different people had BC feeding issues. The cosensus was that the BC was designed too light for long term use. The mill is so lightly designed that problems surface after the rollers wear a little. The mill flexes and puts pressure on the bushings making the slave roller bind. Not a problem when new b/c the slave has enough traction to feed grain and turn.

Some people got around it as mentioned above with 2 stage milling. One wide pass and one smaller pass putting less pressure on the rollers. Could probably also add a little grain at a time with the drill spinning. You could zip tie your drill trigger down and let the handle rest on the bench allowing 2 free hands to slowly add grain. Others said they blew the thing clean after each use with compressed air and had no issues.

My brewing buddy had a BC and went thru all the rigamarole of trying to get it to work. Finally warrantied it and sold it on HBT's classifieds and bought a MM2. I picked his BC mill up one day and was shocked at how light that thing was compared to my JSP. Probably 1/3 of the weight of my mill due to 1.25X5" rollers vs my 1.5X10".

Edited by chils, 28 August 2016 - 02:57 PM.

[Big Nake]

Ken I went back to my old forum and read a couple threads where different people had BC feeding issues. The cosensus was that the BC was designed too light for long term use. The mill is so lightly designed that problems surface after the rollers wear a little. The mill flexes and puts pressure on the bushings making the slave roller bind. Not a problem when new b/c the slave has enough traction to feed grain and turn.

Some people got around it as mentioned above with 2 stage milling. One wide pass and one smaller pass putting less pressure on the rollers. Could probably also add a little grain at a time with the drill spinning. You could zip tie your drill trigger down and let the handle rest on the bench allowing 2 free hands to slowly add grain. Others said they blew the thing clean after each use with compressed air and had no issues.

My brewing buddy had a BC and went thru all the rigamarole of trying to get it to work. Finally warrantied it and sold it on HBT's classifieds and bought a MM2. I picked his BC mill up one day and was shocked at how light that thing was compared to my JSP. Probably 1/3 of the weight of my mill due to 1.25X5" rollers vs my 1.5X10".

Randy: Thanks for that. Today when I went to lube the mill, I noticed that it was a little tough for me to turn the active roller with my fingers on the "stem"... the part where you would put your drill. I took off the panel that houses the rollers and then the roller spun more freely and I noticed that the inside part of the panel had some scratches on it as if the roller was hitting that panel. But the bottom line is that my active roller is spinning but the rollers are not grabbing the grain and passing it through. It's as if the surface of the rollers is the root of the problem... they're dull. I still haven't run grain through it but I'll try it tomorrow and see what it does. If it doesn't work, I can't see any way to fix it unless I contact BC and ask them to replace or rough up the rollers.

[macbrak]

You can sharpen the burls yourself. I filed along them and revived my bc mill. I mentioned this to others in my brew club with similar issues and they also got things back into usable condition. 

 

I used a triangle file along each burl diagonally both directions. We posited that you probably could just wack at it an mar the surface and get similar results but that would probably cause husk shredding.

[Big Nake]

You can sharpen the burls yourself. I filed along them and revived my bc mill. I mentioned this to others in my brew club with similar issues and they also got things back into usable condition. 
 
I used a triangle file along each burl diagonally both directions. We posited that you probably could just wack at it an mar the surface and get similar results but that would probably cause husk shredding.

Good to know too. I don't have a file like that but I would be willing to get one and try it. Cheers.

[Big Nake]

I just took about a half pound of honey malt, threw it in the hopper and milled it. It worked like a charm. It's possible that it just needed a cleaning and some oil. I did not condition the grain so there is still a question of whether the damp grain would compound that problem or not. Hopefully I'm good for my next brewday and many after that...

Which leads me to: A question.

[neddles]

Is there a generally accepted procedure for conditioning malt? Is there a recommended amount of water per pound of grist? Just take some from the strike water and pour it in the unmilled grist and mix?

 

Have you seen any difference in runoff clarity or lauterability (sp.?) of your grist Ken? Do your husks remain more intact?

[Big Nake]

Is there a generally accepted procedure for conditioning malt? Is there a recommended amount of water per pound of grist? Just take some from the strike water and pour it in the unmilled grist and mix?
 
Have you seen any difference in runoff clarity or lauterability (sp.?) of your grist Ken? Do your husks remain more intact?

The husks do seem to remain intact better and there is less dust. One benefit is supposed to be that the husks are not obliterated and so you would be less likely to extract a lot of tannins. It could be complete juju. In the GBF paper there was a formula and I somehow came to the conclusion that if I had 10 pounds of grain that one ounce of water (maybe it was between 1 and 3 ounces) was good. I fill a spray bottle with distilled water. My grain is measured and in a 6.5 gallon bucket. I tilt the bucket to expose more of the grain and I mist it. Then I shake it around and mist it again. I look for dry areas and keep misting until I see less dry kernels. I mill it within 5-10 minutes of doing that and the mist will get onto the sides of the bucket which means that grain will stick so you have to scrape it off and into the mill hopper... so it's mildly messy. Again... when I read about some of the things that supposedly make better beer, this was one of the things where I said, "Oh I can do that!".

[mabrungard]

Conditioning made a big difference in my system. I RIMS, so having a low degree of husk shredding was very helpful to improving the flow. It also allowed me to tighten the gap a bit and I get a lot of flour in the grist. My extraction efficiency is now typically around 90 percent...which actually might be a little too high for optimum beer quality. 

 

I don't think that proper malt conditioning effects a mill. However, improper malt conditioning will. One time I used just a little too much water and got the grain a little too wet. All that nice flour stuck to the rollers and made a huge mess for me. Took a lot of work to clean all those grooves. Lesson: mist water onto the grain sequentially and mix by hand. As soon as your hands come out without dust on them, STOP the misting!!!!

[Big Nake]

Conditioning made a big difference in my system. I RIMS, so having a low degree of husk shredding was very helpful to improving the flow. It also allowed me to tighten the gap a bit and I get a lot of flour in the grist. My extraction efficiency is now typically around 90 percent...which actually might be a little too high for optimum beer quality. 
 
I don't think that proper malt conditioning effects a mill. However, improper malt conditioning will. One time I used just a little too much water and got the grain a little too wet. All that nice flour stuck to the rollers and made a huge mess for me. Took a lot of work to clean all those grooves. Lesson: mist water onto the grain sequentially and mix by hand. As soon as your hands come out without dust on them, STOP the misting!!!!

Thanks Martin. I never got to the point where I had flour stuck in the grooves of my rollers and my guess is that the amount of water I use is on the low side. Glad to hear you're seeing a benefit to it.