I have a Barley Crusher that is 4 years old, I have oiled her and taken great care of her but now she won’t crush. The free wheel won’t spin to get the crush started. I help the dead wheel and then she works for awhile, but It is a bit to ask to keep the dead wheel running with your hand. I’m sure a few of you have had this problem what have you done to eliminate it. I love my Barley Crusher but not now.
I also have a troublesome BC. The grain won’t feed easily. Perhaps it is time for an upgrade.
I was having the same problem and found the alignment on the free wheel to be the problem. I had tightened the bolts holding the sides to the base too much and tweaked it just enough to cause a problem. Try making a new base out the hardest wood or plastic you can find and use the old base as a template. I did this about 3 weeks ago and I have put over 100 pounds of grain through and knock on wood (pun intended) not one problem so far.
If this does not help, right the guy from Barley Crusher bcproducts@peoplepc.com As it says on their website. “Precision machining with Quality Control and a LifeTime Warranty assures the homebrewer that this will be the only grain mill they will ever purchase!”
Matt
Mine’s worn out too. I turned the free side around an it helped. I still have to reach under to help it grab from time to time.
Mine was doing that same thing after about 3 batches. I pulled it apart, cleaned the bearings up on the rollers, and once back together, good as new.
Did you take it completely apart? How did you get the knurled knobs off? They must unscrew.
I have posted before on several forums about the great BC. I loved my old BC, but they do wear out over time. My Knurling was simply to the point of being smooth and the dead roller was simply that, dead… I have flopped it several times. It’s not a base adjustment, it is simply worn out. I moved on… But I will not take away from all the great years and batches my old BC gave me. At the same time, I am LOVING my new getup…! This thing is a hawg!
Euge,
The phillips head type screws along the back plate basically lock in your mill gap knobs (which are basically eccentric cams).
You need to unscrew all the screws on both faceplates (those would be the thinner sheets of aluminum), i.e., front and back sides.
You need to unscrew the two larger hex screws on the undersurface of the particle board base.
Then you should be able to disassemble the box-like mill housing.
Then do as weaze suggests and clean the axle and sides of the rollers.
You can get cheap o-ring rubber gaskets to put on the rollers so that the free roller will be driven by the drive roller, the problem is that the rubber tends to get cut up and eventually breaks off and ends up in the mash. (doesn’t seem to cause any untoward efects though). It gets dumped out with the spent mash.
ditto lonniemac - get a Monster. Best new tool of the decade for my brewhouse. BC had around 2tons through it, but its been decommissioned.
I have more than 2 tons on mine, I’l give those boys a chance to help out. The Monster looks good though, maybe the hardened rollers that are 2" in diameter.
yeah, that’s what I got - they are sweet. I do my “Tim Allen/Tool Time” grunt when I crush grains now. That helps I think.
You can purchase new rollers from BC Products for $50.00. The roller knurls are all that really wear out. Fifty bucks is a lot cheaper than buying a new mill.
The BC touts a lifetime warranty. Should not need 50 bucks, although that is a pittance really. I gave the mill to a friend that didn’t have one and told him to pay the 50 and get new rollers, and basically have a new mill that will last a long time for his brewing needs. I have not heard any great stories of folks trying to get new rollers under the warranty, actually, I have heard otherwise… You can’t beat 2" hardened steel or stainless on the MM, but some don’t need a MM.
The rubber “O” ring on the free roller works wonders for this problem.
My old Automatic grain mill did the same thing after the first year.
Probably put ten more years on that old mill using this trick.
I pulled it apart, cleaned, oiled and reassembled the BC. Had to tweak it so everything spun freely. The mill works better but still won’t grab grain if the gap is narrowed anything past a hair wide open. The crush isn’t optimal, leaving a goodly proportion barely crushed.
To me the culprit is the knurling on the rollers. The knurls aren’t as sharp as they once were and are pretty rounded. Comparing them to the adjustment knobs I see a huge difference.
I’ll try the o-ring approach for the time being. Maybe investigate the lifetime warranty, but I refuse to buy more rollers for this mill. Haven’t run half a ton through this unit yet, so if it gets worn out this easily then switching manufacturers is a must.
yep - sounds exactly like what I experienced.
I just ordered 3 roller MM.
BC is starting to act up. It does not like harder malts.
If you’re feeding grain into your 2 roller mill via a funnel, make sure that the spout of the funnel is not too close to the rollers. It has to be high enough so the grain can distribute itself over the entire length of the roller gap. I had this problem and almost never figured out what was causing it.
Also, especially when you’re first getting started, you might need to give the non-driven roller a little nudge.With the motor running and being very careful, just take your fingers, lay them on the outside of that roller and pull up on it, IE start it spinning it in the correct direction. It doesn’t take much force and that will usually get it going. It may stop again, but if so, just repeat this step, just get those fingers out of the way once it gets going.
I can mill 25# of grain and never have it stop and other times it stops 3-4 times during that same size batch. IMO it has to do with the moisture in the grain, but that’s just a guess on my part.
I am glad to see that others have had this issue as well. I thought my BC problems were just me doing something dumb. I have had my BC for about 4 years and have brewed almost 25 batches per year with it (average grain per batch is about 14 lbs). So what is that? 1,400 lbs… Not bad, but the BC is showing its age. I have to take it apart every other brew and clean it and then brush the rollers with a metal wire brush and this “seems” to help. Eventually, I will buy a monster mill.