Grain mill abrasion measurement experiment
I do not have a grain mill yet, but I have noticed that many of you who own one are concerned about the abrasion effect, which might add unwanted compounds from the milling stones, burrs, etc. to your flour. I have an idea which all of you who already own one, can apply to effectively measure the consumption of your grinding mechanism. My suggestion is to periodically weigh the grinding mechanism (stones or burrs) with one of those highly sensitive digital scales which measure even in milligrams. All you have to do is keep accurate notes about the quantities that you grind and clean it really well (brush, cloth or even water if it does no harm) before each measurement. These digital scales seem to be relatively inexpensive from what I have seen, and their benefit might outweigh greatly their cost.
If any of you decides to do it, please post your results here. I think it would be very interesting for many of us.
Sonika, I don't have that concern, because I feel confident that the stones are much harder than the wheat berries. While I agree it would be an interesting experiment, I am not sure it can be measured. Most of the machines have one fixed stone and one rotating stone. On the All Grain, which I have, the fixed stone is epoxied to the upper hopper, so it can't be removed to be weighed. The lower, rotating stone, is fixed by epoxy, to a drive assembly, and likewise can't be removed to be weighted on its on. I have an extremely sensitive scale that measures to the .001 grams, however, the upper limit is 20 grams, which is far to low to be able to weigh either assembly. My regular digital scale goes to 11 pounds, but is accurate only to 1 gram, which is not sensitive enough.