Which grinder should I get?

[brewinhard]

Definitely go with the Barley Crusher. A great deal for a quality product. Comes ready to use with a good setting for a good crush. I too get around 80% efficiency! Love it!

[BigNastyBrew]

Ordered the Barley Crusher with 15lb hopper on Sunday. Looking forward to using it and dialing it in.

[MattSF]

yeah the BC is nice; I've had good results with it. I did like the doc sheet suggests and obtained some feeler gauges (pretty cheap down at your local auto parts store..be sure to wipe off the factory packing oil). These allow you to set and re-set your favorite crush diameters. I use the factory default for my normal crush. But if I'm crushing wheat or something a bit smaller, I might narrow the gap .001 or .002 inches. And if I'm crushing Carafa Special II or some other malt that JZ likes to use in a near-powder form, I'll narrow the gap even more

You'll notice it comes with a rubber o-ring on one of the rollers. This will eventually wear off and like some other brewer once mentioned (I forget where), might end up crushed and mashed with your grains. it's small, though, and shouldn't impact the flavor of the brew. From what I can tell, the rubber o-ring makes it easier to clean/dust the rollers, since turning one roller turns them both. With the o-ring gone, it makes it less convenient to clean the rollers, but not impossible. just turn them a few times by hand, and brush away.

[BigNastyBrew]

yeah the BC is nice; I've had good results with it. I did like the doc sheet suggests and obtained some feeler gauges (pretty cheap down at your local auto parts store..be sure to wipe off the factory packing oil). These allow you to set and re-set your favorite crush diameters. I use the factory default for my normal crush. But if I'm crushing wheat or something a bit smaller, I might narrow the gap .001 or .002 inches. And if I'm crushing Carafa Special II or some other malt that JZ likes to use in a near-powder form, I'll narrow the gap even more

You'll notice it comes with a rubber o-ring on one of the rollers. This will eventually wear off and like some other brewer once mentioned (I forget where), might end up crushed and mashed with your grains. it's small, though, and shouldn't impact the flavor of the brew. From what I can tell, the rubber o-ring makes it easier to clean/dust the rollers, since turning one roller turns them both. With the o-ring gone, it makes it less convenient to clean the rollers, but not impossible. just turn them a few times by hand, and brush away.

Thanks for the advice! Wealth of info for me to start with there.

[BigNastyBrew]

Came in today. Pretty excited about it. Gonna try it out this weekend!

Wife calls grains "oats" regardless of whether they're oats or not. So, we're gonna call the barley crusher The Oat Muncher

[Elbone]

I've got a 2-roller Monster Mill. Easiest hopper in the world is a plastic 5-gallon water bottle with the bottom cut off with a jigsaw.

[BigNastyBrew]

Used it this morning. What a workout! I'm in no fucking shape to be exercising so I will be attaching a drill very soon!

Left it at the factory settings and got 63.9% efficiency. I'm going to tighten them up a little (.35) for the next brew.

[MattSF]

Used it this morning. What a workout! I'm in no fucking shape to be exercising so I will be attaching a drill very soon!

Left it at the factory settings and got 63.9% efficiency. I'm going to tighten them up a little (.35) for the next brew.

yeah you can easily break a sweat just grinding a few pounds. I've used my cordless Makita to drive it but the motor gets really hot and the battery is not into the load. So I use a cheap corded Craftsman but it's kinda hard to control the speed. Then I let it run free for a minute and the hot air coming out the vents is impressive

re: efficiency, really? Maybe I just lauter/sparge too slowly. For a while I was diluting the mash tun too fast and was getting low efficiency numbers. So I really slowed it down now my numbers come out pretty high. I want to strike a balance somewhere but since I just ordered a brew system I'm hoping I can have more consistency there.

Anyway, that was with the default .039" setting. Maybe my malt is bigger than your malt (overheard on the BN playground?) ?