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Submitted by edh on May 4, 2008 - 8:14am. Question about millingI've been grinding much of my own flour lately, but I have a question for the more experienced millers here. Do you pick over the grain before you mill it? I've been carefully picking it over first to remove grains that still have the hull on them, small seeds of some unidentified type, stones, and the occasional piece of field corn. 14# of spelt produced a couple of tablespoons (at most) of this mixed detritus, so I'm wondering if I'd have even noticed if I'd just left it be. I'm using a hand-crank mill made by Porkert. It produces a pretty coarse flour that works best when soaked overnight, but the price was right ($60.50). On the other hand, picking over adds a lot of time to a process that's already slow by nature; I have to run the flour through 3 times to get it to a fineness I can live with. Thanks for any advice anyone cares to offer! edh
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Bits of "not wanted" in grain
I remember this coming up a long time ago on another list.
I myself buy my grains at the local health food store, and though I only buy small amounts at a time, and I think I pay a premium price for it, I have never had any nasties in my grains.
qahtan
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I use a Nutirmill (high
I use a Nutirmill (high speed impact) and I have read that a stone can damage it.
I have been buying my grain from wheat Montana and have never had a problem or a need to pick through it. It is very expensive to ship so I would like to find a local source, but since I live in Socal I am thousands of miles away from any wheat fields.
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Stones are a problem and can
Stones are a problem and can damage your mill, even a hand cranked one. Gotta get rid of them before they hit the grinding plates so they should be out before grain goes in the hopper. As long as you're getting rid of the stones, you could get rid of the corn too since the corn is easy to identify.
You can probably live with a tablespoon or two of unidentified seeds in 14 pounds of grain or a small amount of grain with the hull still attached.
How many pounds of grain do you mill at a time? Would it be easier to clean just the amount that you intend to mill right before milling?
PS I took a look at the Porket grain mill - doesn't look too different from the Corona grain mill, which was the first grain mill I owned.
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Thanks
Thanks subfuscpersona,
You confirmed what I suspected; I just wanted to make sure I wasn't being obsessive! I usually do just 5-7 lbs at a time, but generally only clean that much at a time; sometimes enough for two cleanings if there's something good playing on the stereo...
The Porkert isn't bad; sometimes I get mill envy when I read about the ease and fineness that you all produce, but this is what I have and it works!
Thanks again,
edh
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hello to edh - musings on grain mills
I've owned 4 grain mills - the Corona manual mill (my first), a 2nd manual mill whose brand name is mercifully forgotten, a Kitchen Aid grain mill attachment (the model made by Hobart and purchased in the early 80s) and a Nutrimill (the "one speed" model that was on the market for a few months in the Spring of 2007 for $200). I still own (and use) the KA attachment and (of course) the Nutrimill.
If a home baker wants to learn about milling grain, micronizer mills (like the Nutrimill) are *not* a good tool. Plus, as you, bwraith and Mike Avery have all shown, a mill that grinds with adjustable plates is much more flexible for producing different kinds of flour as long as one is willing to put some time and effort into the process.
I learned the most about milling grain by using a hand mill. I do love the ease of use and the fine flour produced by the Nutrimill but if I had the $$$, I would invest in a quality hand mill (like the Country Living grain mill) to complement the Nutrimill. When you have to use your own muscles, you really get a feel for grain.
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Cleaning Grain
I make some effort to clean the grain before milling. Perhaps it’s mostly for my peace of mind. In my limited experience, buying from a health store is no guaranty of clean grain.
My first step is to freeze the grain to kill any active vermin. My technique then varies from wheat to corn.
In the case of wheat, I usually mill about three pounds at a time; but I don’t dump it all in the hopper at once. I put about ¾ cup of wheat in a wide, shallow bowl and briefly push the grains around with my finger tip. I remove any non-wheat or husks I see, mainly just on principle. Then I dump the grain in the hopper. I once found a very small stone. This technique is fast, and I would probably find any significant debris.
For corn, I am much more thorough. Once the corn has been frozen for at least three days, I will clean several pounds at a time and then return it to the freezer until milling. I sit at a counter and spread about a quarter cup of corn at a time on the counter. I push the damaged kernels, bits of cob, and any bugs to the side. Then I blow the dust from the sound corn. Finally, I shove the clean corn over the edge of the counter into a bowl. I can clean large-kernelled varieties at a rate of three pounds per hour. About 3-10% of the pre-cleaned corn weight ends up getting tossed.
cb
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Thanks further subfuscpersona
You've just made me feel much better! Silly to get so focused on equipment; as a woodworker I know perfectly well that tools don't make the craftsman, but all my baking is extremely low-tech and sometimes I get a little lost in the descriptions of all the wonderful toys I read about here!
It's funny, but with food and fuel prices rising so precipitously recently, I find myself leaning more and more towards lower-tech, people powered solutions to problems (foot powered computers, anyone?), so I guess it's lucky that the Porkert is what we bought years ago, before I'd hit the bread craze. I think I will look into some of the higher quality hand mills like the one you mentioned, as something to save my pennies for. The Porkert often seems a little lightly built to me, and I wonder about its longevity, as I've only been using it consistantly for about a year.
Thanks for the thoughts!
edh
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I've been carefully picking
I've been carefully picking it over first to remove grains that still have the hull on them, small seeds of some unidentified type, stones, and the occasional piece of field corn. 14# of spelt produced a couple of tablespoons (at most) of this mixed detritus, so I'm wondering if I'd have even noticed if I'd just left it be.
If I pulled that much stuff out of a mere fourteen pounds of grain I'd put the rest of it in the feed cans for the chickens. It's a bad cleaning job.
I've used grain from Wheat Montana, Walton Feed, the LDS Family Cannery, Arrowhead Mills, and some from a local natural foods grocery that has a bulk foods area (uknown provenance). I typically grind three canisters of grain at a go (Whispermill) which will be roughly six pounds or so. In that I may find a dozen or so discolored kernels and a few hulls. Stones in an impact mill are bad news so I don't tolerate them from a supplier.
.....Alan.
The Prudent Food Storage FAQ
http://athagan.members.atlantic.net/Index.html
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