What size drill do you all use with your barley crusher, I tried it for the first time tonight.

I always just went the manual labor route, but decided to give the drill a try. Man, I was loving life during the 2 row pale, but it wouldn't get through roasted barley and some of my other specialty malts. Even tried straight from the plug, so it wasn't the battery. It is only a 12 volt, I guess I need to go bigger?

I just bought a Ryobi 3/8's 6 Amp for $39.00 at Home Depot today.
By the way go Corded not Cordless....

Just tried it out on my Malt Mill.
It works great

Def use corded drill.

I use a DeWalt Hammer Drill with the hammer function switched off and it mauls up pretty much anything. Never tried to use a cordless drill though.

Dewalt corded drill. Bought at the local pawnshop for 30 bucks.

Pawnshops are great for tools.

@Zane, never thought of going to the pawnshop!

I use an old ass craftsman VSR 3/8" drill I bought as a kid 20+ years ago. Still mauls the shit out of grain.

PUI is coming, about to step in the hot tub with wifey and get our snowload going. Expecting 18" tonight....

Geez, we're only getting like 6" over here in Schuylkill Cty.

" PUI is coming, about to step in the hot tub with wifey and get our snowload going. Expecting 18" tonight.... "

WOW Frank, pretty confident in yourself anticipating 18". Way to go big guy!!!

Well, in that respect, the forecast is closer to Angler's.

Knew you would chime in on this!!


Moving to PUI forum!

hummmmm my wife said that eight inches is what she was expecting

I knew you were on the thread tonight ,BB

i disagree a little bit on using a corded drill

, for the first time i crushed a batch (approx. 13#s) i used my 18v B&D cordless, worked like a champ in low gear (400 rpm). used it for 3 batches till i fell off the counter and exploded, then used my corded one for 1 batch and it stalled out bad, no torque. had to pour it in the hopper reallllly sloooooow.

YMMV

DeWalt corded 90 deg drill. Check it out here:
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=30296253&l=3e962d5b84&id=1251544861

My 18 v can make it through but does a serious battery drain. I have a corded drill with variable speed. I get it started at a medium speed and then lower until I'm still crushing without straining the drill too much. I was a big fan of the hand crank until last fall when I started brewing every weekend for about 6 weeks, it got old quickly.

Do you guys find that going from manual to drill driven affects your efficiency? By how many points? Kinda hate to mess with the gap width since the factory setting on the BC works so well manually with a consistent 74% efficiency for me, no more stuck runoffs, and crystal clear runnings.

My 30 RPM gear motor is so slow it's just like hand cranking, but it takes about an hour and a half to crush 20+ pounds. I've thought of changing, but it works so well, why bother. I just plan ahead.

I don't think the speed at which you crush will affect your efficiency.

What affects you efficiency is the gap you have set.
I've got mine set to scared...LOL

I agree with you ,Dave....
Don't mess with a good system, Unless you know your making it better

If you are worried about the drill not crushing as well just run it all through again.

I just use my 18v dewalt drill on low gear, no problems. I can grind like 18-20lbs on one charge.