Combines Peeled and Broken Malt Barley

[tbran]

1. Is the cylinder levelIJ 2. Are the concave bars (2) worn in a 'W' shapeIJ 3. Is the grate in acceptable condition, bolted up properly without damageIJ Either case could cause this. IF all this is ok and the Barley is dry and fairly easy to thresh one can remove one or both of the channels. IF this results in too many 'whitecaps' there are filler plates that can be installed in the first, second and third openings in the grate to give a more gentle threshing action than the door concaves. Finally there was an option of a "high profile" concave 71178136 that we used one time in popcorn. Conventional thinking was this would hurt rather than help but one customer tried this and found the higher profile bar backed up material and resulted in a grain on grain action which proved better for him. After the grain did pass the single lip channel it had greater clearance the rest of the passage through the grate. Installation of this or these bars requires resetting the guages on each side as the zero point will now be higher. As to your question of going faster. Try it. It won't cost a thing unless you start having separator loss. Finally don't forget the possiblity of auger damage as this can scuff grain as well as the cylinder can. let us know if you find a solution.

 

[Burbert]

tbran, Thanks for your input, all good ideas. To date, moisture conditions, as well as the variety of malt barley being grown seems to make all the difference in the world. I've started to combine prior to the 13.5% moisture demanded and then try to aerate the malt to get it into the right moisture content. Some barley hulls seem to be tougher than others, and you can get away from peeled and broken that way. Demand though seems to be the key, when malt barley is in short supply, they take more damage grain and blend it I guess!! Who knows, the world of malt barley is mysterious at the best of times. You sure earn any premium that is generated.

 

[tbran]

do they pay premium and what constitutes a 'premium'IJ

 

[Burbert]

tbran, The malt premium is often quoted at $1.00 per bu. (top grade I guess). But nobody ever gets Special Select grade. Standard Select grade usually means anywhere from .10 cents - .25 cents per bu. over feed barley. Storage is also paid from the date of selection till delivery, so I guess if that is calculated in, it means a bit more. Plus of course the bragging rights, "I got malt". Great how the system manipulates us isn't it! l2 is a great machine for doing barley, when it is combined with a rigid air foil top seive, capacity is increased a lot.

 

[NDDan]

It is almost imposible to check back of concave to cylinder bar clearance without removing thresher beater. If your part monkey you can crawl in onto seperator raddle and reach in with some pieces of tin of varied thickness and test clearance all the way across back bar of concave. I'm bring this up because I've seen alot of l2s that had thresher raddle housings with right mount mislocated. This could allow nearly as much as 1_4" gap on one side while other is touching. Don't forget Gleaner bars can look good when very shot. I'd suggest to zero her out good and maybe bars are still good enough so they can be turned. Excess cylinder bar tip speed and condition of cylinder bars which affects suction would be main reasons for damage. limit return as much as possible and I believe two or three kernals still hooked together is acceptable without dockage. Good luck.