I bought The Barley Crusher last year because it was the cheapest I could find and the only one I could afford at the time.. It worked great for about 10 batches then the drive roller stopped catching grains and the slave roller hardly spins. I've cleaned it, disassembled it, oiled it (food grade mineral oil) and I still struggle with it. I've been eyeing up the Monster Mill 3 roller as a replacement.
The Barley Crusher........it's a complete piece of crap IMHO.
My Barley Crusher has been working fine for a year now, and it had been sitting in stock T my LHBS for quite some time before I bought it. I know it was the same one as there was a dent in the hopper which I got a discount for on the purchase. Point being,that if they have gone down hill, I must have been lucky to get an older model. It will get a workout today as a prep for brew day tomorrow.I bought The Barley Crusher last year because it was the cheapest I could find and the only one I could afford at the time.. It worked great for about 10 batches then the drive roller stopped catching grains and the slave roller hardly spins. I've cleaned it, disassembled it, oiled it (food grade mineral oil) and I still struggle with it. I've been eyeing up the Monster Mill 3 roller as a replacement.
The Barley Crusher........it's a complete piece of crap IMHO.
I bought the cereal killer from my lhbs AHS.
https://www.austinhomebrew.com/Cereal-Killer-Grain-Mill_p_4432.html
It seems to have issues like what @^Tony^ had. Sometimes it just doesn't want to mill the grains. I'm going to take it apart, clean it, oil it, and adjust the gap. Then I'll see if purchasing a new one is warranted.
thanks again for all the great info!
I have a Hullwrecker. It wrecks hulls very nicely.
I've got one of these too, the only complaint is one corner of the hopper is dinged from when some idiot dropped it...I almost had to fire me over that(it was BRAND NEW)...
Just chuck it up to my Milwaukee cordless drill set on "1" and it blasts through malt like a trooper.
That's the one I purchased, and I also got it from AHS. While they aren't local by any means to me here in Colorado, they've always offered me excellent customer service. That aside, the mill works great for me. It does take some time to get the gap setting just right, and it took me a few brews to get it there, but after that it works just fine. Initially, I practiced with old extra grains I had to get a feel for it and in the general ball park. I will say my gap markings on both sides are not the same so I couldn't rely on setting it up that way. A large part of my job has me balancing and aligning hydronic pumps, so I have stainless shims that really came in handy to get the gap set just right on both sides. It definitely helps having something to set each side at the same time vs each side independently. At least it was for me.
Is your cereal killer new or have you had it awhile and now you're having issues and looking for another? I guess I have just assumed you just purchased the mill but maybe not.
The knurling on the rollers is getting worn. If you're using a reversible drill, reverse the drive roller end to end and run the mill in reverse.
Even if there were, you'd still be turning in the reverse direction. The point is to have the opposite, and unworn, side of the knurled bumps pull the grain through,