Types Of Grain Mills
Immeasurable essential oils and vitamins are lost in today’s commercially over-processed flours, all in the name of creating convenience. This is because for flour to last on the store shelves, all traces of germ and bran have to be removed. This is because once you mill the grain germ and bran; the flour can only last for a period of 72 hours when in room temperature before it goes rancid. Since germ is rich in vitamins E and B, all will be lost together with 26 other essential vitamins vital for proper nutrition.
The good news however is that one can buy a hand grain mill at home and make their own freshly ground flour for baking to ensure that the valuable fiber and roughage that the bodies need are preserved. You can reduce health problems such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease, hypoglycemia, tooth decay, and bowel cancer to mention but a few, by simply eating whole grain products.
Gran Mill Types On The Basis Of Milling Mechanism
The types of Grain mills that are listed below are identified by their grinding mechanism, and there are currently three basic grinding mechanisms for the locally available grain mills.
- Metal plate i.e. steel, stone, iron
- Stone plates
- Metal burrs, normally iron, steel, and lately ceramics
Metal Plates
These types of hand grain mills are used for general purposes and can be used to grind spices, oily grains, nuts, etc. Coarse iron plate will usually be plated with tin while steel plates will give you that fine grain that you desire. You should however observe great care when cleaning these types of grain mills because iron and steel are known to rust easily. You have to dry the mill thoroughly, and even oil it a little to keep it free of rust. A quick tip when grinding oily products – to keep the foods from clogging the plates, you can always combine the food with a dry ingredient such as flour or sugar when milling.
Stone Plates
These types of grain mills resemble the old mills that were found along the rivers ages ago. They are quite exacting and will give out very fine grains of flour. Stone plate types of grain mills are meant to grind dry grains, because oily products will easily clog the stones which are not easy to clean. These mills happen to be the oldest and feature two circular grinding stones whereby one stone will turn against an immobile stone. When grain is ground, it drops off through a channel found in the middle of the two stones and as the one stone keeps rotating, it will pull the grain out through the way where it is ground. The final product (flour) will fall out through the out edges of the stones.
Metal Burrs
Metal burrs of grain mills resemble those of manually hand-operated pepper mills and coffee mills. The ridges of the burrs are made in such a way that they will grab the seed or grain, and guide it down by the motion. As the opening between the moving burr and the immobile burr narrows, it will grind the products into smaller and smaller particles, until they are small enough to pass through the bottom opening.
All in all, many types of hand grain mills can easily be adjusted to give different size results. The plate and burrs types of grain mills for example can be adjusted at the opening size to allow the food enough space for exit. There are different types of grain mills as you have noticed and the one that is best for your milling needs will be determined by how you intend to use it.
Gran Mill Types On The Basis Of Power Source
Manual Grain Mills
These are bulkier grain mills that require the grain crusher to be rotated with hands. They are usually referred to as Hand Grain Mills. Manual grinding helps in preserving the nutrient value of the grain and generally produces more of coarse flour. It might require more space to store such hand grain mills but there are many benefits of manual mills and one. While in food processing industry these are slowly phasing out as the time consumed in flour manufacturing through hand milling is quite high, there has been a steady increase of hand grain mills sold as a home appliances. They are used by many that are aware of the fact that manual grinding results in a healthier product and the finnest quality of flour.
Electric Grain Mills
These are modernized versions of the old manual grain mills. However, these are highly efficient and take less time to produce flour from the whole grains. These are relatively inexpensive and are available in variety of sizes.
Convertible Grain Mills
These are hybrid types which can be converted from manual to electric and vice-versa based on the requirement. It is important to select the right type of convertible grain mill.
