I have a Cereal Killer (like the Barley Crusher). 1 stationary, 1 rotating roller. I run it with a wired drill. I used it a couple of months ago to run my precrushed grain through (I bought the grain before the mill, and I was getting low efficiencies so I wanted to run it through). It was slow, but it worked. The other day, I tried to crush three pounds of uncrushed grain to add to a grist, and after running for 10 minutes, I had about 1/4 cup of crushed grain that had gone through. (0.030inch spacing). I widened it to 0.054inches, still very little, 0.100 inches. Still very little. I poured out the grain, put a few kernals in the hopper and turned it on. The grains would bounce around on the rollers, roll between them, but not get crushed or go through. If I pressed a grain with my finger down between the rollers, it will catch and be crushed (the grain, not my finger). I cleaned the rollers with a brush, but it didn’t help. Any idea why this might happen?
Try blowing the bearings out with compressed air or one of those office dust-spray cans.
+1
Or you may have to disassemble the mill to more throughly clean the bearings. In the 2 years I have had my barley crushed I have had to disassmble and clean it twice.
Also, it helps to blow or vacuum out the mill after each use.
I think the op is saying this mill doesn’t work “out of the box”.
My friend borrowed my mill, when he was mashing I saw all the grain was still in tact. When questioned he said he milled the grain and it took about 30 minutes(for 7 lbs of grain). Wayyyy to long.
Turns out the drill we was using was going backwards…so the rollers were not spinning the right way. Maybe this is what’s happening to you.
When I have trouble getting the mill to grab the grain, I stop and manually turn the mill backwards and forwards until I feel it grip. Then hit it with power again. Once it grabs, it should keep going fine. I use a .039" gap with great efficiencies.
I found what works best for me is to turn on the motor and add the grain when it’s already running. I’ve never had a problem since I started doing it that way.
+1. I mill at 0.026" with conditioned grain, and turning on the mill, first, before adding grain is key.
+2 to the mill turning backwards as a guess for what’s wrong with this new mill.
Since I got my BC, turning in reverse for a few rotations has always fixed it. But the problem was getting steadily worse, so much so that no amount of backwards turning would get it going. I took the barley crusher apart and noticed a large amount of flour caked onto the rollers, filling in all the small crevices between the knurls. I thoroughly cleaned them with a stainless wire brush and now it’s back to original condition. I condition every crush and the gap is .025", so I expect that’s why my flour is a little sticker than most.
Never tried adding grain to a running mill, I’ll have to give that a try.
Mine is always running when I add grain.
Never had a problem with my Corona mill. :oops:
:lol:
Have you got good knurled rollers or are they rather smooth?
The knurls should be grabbing the grains and pulling it through when you spin the one roller with crank or drill.
When you say one stationary roller not real sure what you mean, it’s either a roller and should turn or it’s not really a roller LOL
Does that other roller turn easy and free by hand? Should be able to just run your finger over it and it roll/ turn freely (with machine off of course) if it’s a roller.
Unload the machine and see if the stationary roller turns, if it don’t then look to see if it’s got stuff jammed in there.
Maybe floured up as been mentioned or could even be grain jammed in between roller and sides perhaps.
First of all, you have to accept that the barley crusher is a piece of crap. After you accept that fact, you can apply the following fix.
When you take the mill apart for cleaning, take the dead roller to the hardware store. Go to the drawer that contains the LARGE O-rings and find the ring that slides perfectly onto your roller. These rings are strong…much much stronger than the soft, pliable, breakable junk that originally comes with the mill. Assemble the mill with the new O-ring on the dead roller. Set the mill at 0.40…don’t go lower. After you finish milling the grain, YOU MUST OPEN THE ROLLERS all the way until the next use, to prevent excessive squeeze on the O-ring.
I have been using the same O-ring for over a year. It shows no signs of wear.
(The barley crusher supposedly comes with a lifetime guarantee, but the cheapskate that makes it won’t replace your worn rollers for free. The soft O-ring that he provides will last just long enough for him to cash your check…then it breaks. The least he could do is provide a dozen O-rings with the purchase.)
[quote=“T Liza”]First of all, you have to accept that the barley crusher is a piece of crap. After you accept that fact, you can apply the following fix.
When you take the mill apart for cleaning, take the dead roller to the hardware store. Go to the drawer that contains the LARGE O-rings and find the ring that slides perfectly onto your roller. These rings are strong…much much stronger than the soft, pliable, breakable junk that originally comes with the mill. Assemble the mill with the new O-ring on the dead roller. Set the mill at 0.40…don’t go lower. After you finish milling the grain, YOU MUST OPEN THE ROLLERS all the way until the next use, to prevent excessive squeeze on the O-ring.
I have been using the same O-ring for over a year. It shows no signs of wear.
(The barley crusher supposedly comes with a lifetime guarantee, but the cheapskate that makes it won’t replace your worn rollers for free. The soft O-ring that he provides will last just long enough for him to cash your check…then it breaks. The least he could do is provide a dozen O-rings with the purchase.)[/quote]You are dead on correct with everything you said here. The BC is made just a few miles from me and it is a POS.
I have not had a problem with my Barley Crusher. What made you notice that there was a problem with the crusher? Were you not getting a good enough crush? Or were the rollers sticking. I have been using mine for almost a year with no problem, and it was a hand me down too. Who knows how long the last guy used it.
They usually have a tough time feeding or getting started. The rollers are not knurled as sharp as some other rollers and they seem to wear. Couple that with a sticky set of bushings and its a recipe for trouble. Best bet is to have compressed air to blow everything clean after each use.
I’ve never cleaned mine and it came to me dusty. I always give the loose roller a spin before I crush. I would find it very interesting if the roller teeth were wearing because of the grain, my mind has a hard time getting through that. The only issue I have noticed is that sometimes the last 10 kernels won’t grab and will bounce around. I usually just toss them. Another thing is that the 7 lb hopper does not safely hold 7 lbs.
I fortunately either got a great crusher or the product is good for my needs. Probably both when I am looking at it, considering I paid 75 for it.
[quote=“brans041”]I would find it very interesting if the roller teeth were wearing because of the grain, my mind has a hard time getting through that.[/quote]Me too but I have friends with the BC and they all have the same problems. I agree that grain should not wear steel teeth. Maybe the knurl job sucked from the get go.
If the teethe wear on the knurls maybe a soft steel was used and or not heat treated or case hardened properly.
Do you really need that o-ring? I thought I read on some crushers the O-ring is more trouble than it’s worth and people toss it. Maybe not that unit?
