My mill's tariff
Today I milled two different grains in my Mockmill attachment for KA mixers. I'm in the habit of cleaning the mill after each use. Don't get me wrong, OCD ain't my thing and any peek into my car or my dresser drawers will prove it. I just don't want to leave anything hidden away where little bugs can find it and thereby prosper and multiply. I wondered what sort of 'tariff' my mill 'charged' for grinding. So I weighed the mill after grinding some hard red wheat; cleaned it and then weighed it again. There was a 5 gram difference in the weight. The same drill after grinding some rye produced the same 5 gram difference. Those 5g represented 1% of the 500g hard red wheat and about 4% of the 120g of rye. Now that I've quantified the mill's tariff I can account for it when measuring out the grain I'm about to mill. One percent probably won't make a real difference in a recipe; four or five percent of a key ingredient might. Anyone else bored enough to do something like that?
I just haven’t quantified it yet. I have a Mockmill 100 and alway mill a little more than I actually need. Next time, I will do as you have done and see what my mills tariff is. the only thing will be cleaning it all out in between each grain will be a pain, but as you say, I can be more precise when measuring my grain. thanks for the idea.
Happy milling Justanoldguy
Leslie
I bet there may be some moisture exchange going on making the differences.
If the mill is wood, it may be taking on moisture from the grain as it sits in the mill and milling also releases moisture to the air and around the mill. Have you measured the humidity of the grain before and after milling and also the ambient humidity before and after milling? Could there be differences there as well? Does the mill return to pre-milling weight after 24 hours?
try googling: study moisture loss grain milling or study grain milling moisture loss
I'm very confident that there's no moisture involved in my case for two reasons. The mill is constructed of metal and plastic with the exception of the stones that are a composite material. The mill was weighed immediately after milling, disassembled and cleaned, and then weighed again. The cleaning process consists of opening the mill by removing the runner from the bedstone and brushing out the groves in the stones as well as any dust in the feed channel. Immediately after cleaning the mill was reassembled and weighed again. The total time involved between the two weighings was about 3 minutes, hardly enough time for five grams of moisture to dissipate.
Anyone else bored enough to do something like that? No. If I need 500g milled, I just mill about 510g of berries then put the 500g milled flour into my recipe.
I use a KoMo and have been milling grains for years. If I measure out 678 grams of wheat berries, I get always get 678 whole wheat flour. This is consistent for my mill.
I only mill grains and I have never cleaned the mill. But I know that a very small amount of grain stays in the mill. I know this because if I mill some chocolate malted grain which is very dark, then the next time I mill I will first see a small amount of dark grain before the other grain starts to flow.
I mill often so maybe that’s why I’ve never had mold or other problems. I’ve never seen my milling stones.
Dan
1 g. It goes where ever it goes. I weigh out 501 G and it always weighs 500 g after milling.
My Retsel Mil-Rite leaves perhaps 5-10 grams. It's irrelevant because I normally mill 5 lb in a session.
I would like to hear from a Grainmaker user; I've read that it leaves a lot.