Electric Grain Mill - Nutrimill

       

Being very pleased with my manual grain mill, I found that I was grinding a lot of grains and beans. So I decided to get an electric grain mill.

Originally, I had planned to buy a motorization kit for my Country Living Grain Mill (the manual one). But the cost of an electric mill was about the same - or maybe less. And the place I have the manual mill set up doesn't really have enough space for adding the motorization kit.

I still use the manual mill for grinding beans because it's more convenient. But the electric mill gets good use grinding grains - corn, spelt, wheat, millet, and more.

Nutrimill Grain Mill
After doing a lot of research, I decided to purchase the Nutrimill Grain Mill. The price was in the right range and it had the features I was looking for, including being easy to use and easy to clean.

Unfortunately, after receiving the mill, I found that there was a very strong odor of plastic when grinding the grains and the resulting flour was very hot.

The distributor that I'd purchased it from said to return the motor and they'd fix at no charge. When I got the mill back from them, the problem was better, but still not solved. They were very helpful and said to return the whole mill and they'd replace it - which they did. And I've been very happy with it ever since.

Using the Nutrimill Grain Mill
Note that, when you first get the mill, the hopper extension will be packed inside the flour bowl. Took me a while to find it. :-)

This mill has two control knobs - one for adjusting the speed (high-low knob) and one for adjusting the texture (fine-coarse knob). Actually, both knobs affect the texture. I set the high-low knob to HIGH for most grains. For cornmeal, I set it about in the middle and adjust it from there.

I set the fine-coarse knob at FINE when I first start the milling process. Then I adjust it toward COARSER until the grain or bean begins to flow from the hopper.

After I've milled a little grain, I usually open the flour bowl and check the texture of the flour to make sure it's coming out the way I expect.

Storing the Flour
I store the flour in mason jars in the refrigerator. Most of my top shelf is filled with flour at this point. Since the flour is in glass jars, this keeps it safe from the moisture, which would otherwise shorten the shelf life.

Since whole grain flour contains the germ (and thus more oil), it has a shorter shelf life than white flour.

Different types of whole flour have different shelf lives, but I find that I can safely keep flour in the refrigerator for 3 - 4 months. If flour changes color or smells rancid, then it has gone bad and needs to be thrown away.

In a situation where the power was out for a period of time, I'd plan on being able to store whole flour for about a month outside the refrigerator, as long as it was in the mason jars and in a cool, dark place.

And, in this case, I would continue grinding my beans with the manual mill and continue to use the electric mill for grains - but time the latter to be done when I'm running the generator.


See also:
Manual Grain Mill (Country Living)

Posted by Beth on Tuesday, August 14, 2007