Black Walnut Cracking With a Shop-Vac - Chocolate Brownies with Black Walnuts!
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- Опубліковано 5 лис 2020
- How to make chocolate brownies with Black Walnuts. First - collect a lot of walnuts. Second - remove the outer hulls. Third - crack them, that's what this video is about. A shop-vac makes it easy. Enjoy!
BigD's air-powered cracker: • Air Powered Nut Cracker
nut walnut cracker sheller - Навчання та стиль
A follow up... Yep, works for me! Briefly here's my steps. (1) cleaned out my 5.5 HP Shop-Vac. Installed a new filter (needed one anyway.) Not sure if the unit is made of food grade plastic-might check on that. (2) I used a plastic tee and fittings. Spent around $25 for fittings and pipe Used full 10' of pipe as chute. (3) Used a 7/16 bolt/nut I had lying around. Bent a couple of washers to fit curve of pipe. (4) Finally realized that the I.D. of the 2" Tee would hold the O.D. of my vacuum hose without fittings. Just a little duct tape to secure fitting. (5) Decided not to use pipe cement so I could return to Lowes for credit if needed. Duct tape on joints worked well. (6) Found 1.5" pipe worked best. Our nuts here in Southwest Virginia are just too big for 1.25" pipe. (7) Conclusion: Large percent of nuts cracked very well- re-ran some. Well worth the hour or so of construction. Hint: Shelled nuts that float most often contain bad nut meat. Comments welcome.
That's awesome Robert! I was actually going to do the plastic tee + bolt thing when I found the galvanized tee at the HfH Restore for a couple bucks. Glad to see it would have worked. Also I think floating the nuts asap after cracking is best, less oil will transfer to the shells and they'll be less likely to float.
My mom grew up on a farm. There was a black walnut tree right in front of the house, not more that 20 feet from the kitchen door. Grandma's baked goods usually had the home grown black walnuts in them. Mm, mm good.
Great idea for the home once in a while nut cracker. Think I'll make one....
This is brilliant and simple elegance well done.
Thanks for a less physically demanding way! Wasn't wise enough to care when I was younger.... not as strong now.
There may be a simpler option than even this one. There is a US patent application submitted by Grover Britt, Jr of Richfield, North Carolina titled "Vacuum-Assisted Nut Cracker" that is worth a look. His solution is to put a "hard target" (bolt) inside the shop-vac on the intake port. The port normally directs the air sideways in the canister. With the "hard target" installed the vac will crack nuts. The advantages to this method are one less 90-degree turn in the suction path so less resistance seen by the vacuum blower, and fewer parts.
Google search turns up nothing about the invention other than the patent application.
The status of the application is "Abandoned" meaning it has not been granted by the Patent Office. Even if it were, patents generally don't prevent persons from making their own copies, just from making financial gain from them.
The link to the patent is: patents.google.com/patent/US20170231263A1/en
thanks for clearing that for me just did think vac would be that strong those shell are tough
Show me more of the sorting buckets
Paul, Thanks for the video. I'm going to build one. Suggestion if you haven't done it already is use an old windsheild wiper motor for an agitator for a self feed hopper. They spin nice and slow. Next the hull is useful. It contains Juglone which is one of the strongest natural antil fungal and anti parasitics. Also good for the digestive track including constipation. Many uses. Juglone is toxic to some trees and vegitation. That is why you can't grow apple or pear trees near a black walnut. It can also be used as an herbicide when you want a safe natural solution. Luckily here where I live people hate the mess they leave and that makes them free for the taking most of the time.
Hey BigBlueDog, thanks! Use a more powerful shop-vac and start with the narrowest pipe that works to get more crack on the first pass :) Good luck!
Thank god I've got a European walnut tree!
This is wonderful news.
I've been dreading the arm pull nut cracker for a couple 5 gal buckets of black walnuts I got from my two little trees.
One question. Have you determined an "optimum length" for the feed chute pipe?
For my 3.5 HP shop-vac I know five feet is too short, 8-10 feet works well. Please give it a try and let us know how it turned out for you :)
As ironic as it sounds, I am experimenting with an "arm-pull" cracker this year to save waste. Though I have about 5 of those buckets full so we'll see how well that works :)
@@paulkline515 So far, finding pipe parts is a challenge! I already have two shop vacs at least.
It takes a "heavy duty" arm pull cracker.
we will make this tomorrow, thanks for the idea.
Awesome! One thing I would recommend is to drill a hole near the input end of the pipe, maybe 1/4" about 1" from the end. That way when a nut gets stuck because it's too big the suction won't be so strong and you can pull it out easier. Good luck!
Hey Paul! Not sure if you're still around, but I am still wondering how you separate the shell from the meat with water!
Lots of salt. The meats all float and most of the shells sink, I use a small mesh strainer to skim the meats off into a pan of clean water for a rinse and then onto newspaper to dry. I have some vid segments, I'll try to make them into something and upload it.
For most of the year I had about 100 views. Suddenly it's 3000, guess it's walnut season again :)
I use a Back To Basics sauce-maker/strainer with a large round hopper, enabling me to pour quarts of cooked apples or other fruits or vegetables into it, then turn the crank and let the auger do its job. Sir, you need a hopper into which you can pour the nuts instead of feeding them one at a time by hand. Presort them by size first, then pour the appropriate ones in the hopper. The bigger nuts can be poured into the hopper and cracked using your larger pipe, then put through the hopper and smaller pipe. Seems a lot faster and easier to me, but what do I know - I'm just a dumb blonde woman!
Awesome, Becky! I will add a hopper to the list of improvements to be tried next year. This year, 2021, is a miss - I've just had too much else to do. And all the blonde women I worked with over the last 50 years were amazing :)
Hello, After watching and reading. I had a couple ideas. Take them for what they are worth. :-)
the guy with the 2 t's idea. every 90 degree or T will drop your suction pressure.
What you really need is a air lock. On this system and the two T;s system. This will allow your suction to build up, so when the nuts go through they will hit harder.
Also you may want to use unions on your connections. It would be easier and faster and cheaper in the long run then the tape.
I was wondering. What is your brine solution mix with the salt and water? Are you using the brine over and over? No need to waste it. speaking of the waste. What do you do with your shells?
they are used for sand blasting. Make or buy a mill to grind them up. All that work and a little more for a better pay off. You might even find some one to buy them as they are. That would be a lot better then dumping them. :-)
Also you may want to make a thing to sort the lager from the smaller. Like take a wooden box and drill 1 1/4 in" holes in the bottom and shake them or sit them on a shaker. check out how they pan for gold for the shaker ideas. :-)
I have unions, but I use tape insead of glue so I can break everything down or open a joint to get out a stuck nut. I use the same salt water for all the nuts. Walnuts are not very spherical, are covered in rock-hard ridging, and will drop through a sizing hole and still stick in the pipe. I haven't worked out a good sorter or hopper that doesn't jam.
The air lock has merit. I'll put it on the list :) I like to collect ideas and doodle on them through the year. Hmm, close one second, open one second, repeat. Or a normal-closed flap with some kind of release.
:34 You scared the hoot's out of me
Where is the "Force" that actually cracks the Black Walnuts?
How do you separate the meat from the shell fragments?
I finger pick the larger pieces, dump the rest in salt water and strain off the floating meats. Rinse in fresh water and put them to dry on papers. Then put handfuls on a paper plate and push out the remaining tiny shell bits using a small pick..The last is the most time-consuming but can be done sitting at a table with a movie or game on the tv. There is a diminishing return as the pieces get smaller so at some point I give the remains to my neighbor for his chickens. Chickens are very effective at picking meats out of shells by the way, but they don't share.
use a small screw driver just pry them out you can get a tiny screw driver at any hardware store
how much damage does that do to the fan inside the vac
Just like anything else you run into your shop-vac, it never gets to the fan because of the filter.
@@paulkline515 what brakes the shell that filter want do it
The nuts accelerate down the pipe and impact the two-inch cast iron tee before being sucked into the vac.
@@paulkline515 I successfully used a 2" plastic tee.
I think 2-3 self tapping screws at the intersection of the "T" with 3/32"-1/8" of the tips protruding into the interior would increase/improve cracking efficiency.
i am of the old school ------place walnuts with hulls in gravel driveway drive on them a few days to remove the hulls then take them to the garage shop anvil use a hammer crack what you need leave the rest for later use a sharp tool to remove chunks of fresh and dry black walnuts .
That is laborious way to Crack walnuts however it works
If you have a less laborious way please please share with the group!
It looks worse that it should. I should have run the 1-1/4 pipe first and set the larger nuts aside, most of the cracking would have been done in the first pass. Then run the bigger nuts through the larger pipe and re-crack with the smaller one. Lessons learned :)
Also my vac is probably at the low end of the power range, a stronger one would make a difference. I have a bigger one with a 3-inch hose and even tried a bounce-house blower, they both pull more air but at lower speed, so not useful. I picked up a leaf blower which is a high-speed, low-volume device to try next year. It's also super-LOUD.
haha!
cracking them with this system may seem slow
I could crush them faster with my hands and have them separated in the same time,
Just as fast as I put them in my hand
Haha CMAenergy! That would be an interesting video indeed.
Have you actually ever cracked a black walnut? They are MUCH harder than some other nuts.
@@tomfuelery2905 Not black walnuts really, But the 2 legged ones are the hardest to crack !
WE had nice sized mild tasting walnuts, and I used to crack them quite easily, with each hand. Haven't tried it for a while. Gotten lazy and weak recently.
IDK... work 1 extra hour at job....go buy walnuts at store...i know not black walnuts...but come on man...
Haha! rick you are absolutely right. The walnuts are definitely at the far end of the spectrum of things we do for food, like raising and canning tomatoes, tending a garden of peppers, pumpkins, cucumbers, cabbages and a large raised bed of herbs. All good stuff. It's a lifestyle. And now that I'm retired there's nothing like being my own boss and doing things I like on my own schedule.