Sat Nov 05, 2011 6:43 pm
Also, understand HOW different mills function. The typical flour mill uses steel or stone burrs with grooves cut into them, so when they turn against each other, they shred as much as grind the grain into flour. Now, wheat doesnt have a husk, which is good for flour. Malted barley, for our purposes, has the husk intact, which helps in setting a filter bed to keep the mash from overly compacting during whatever sparge technique you use. If you use a burr mill, like a Corona, and set it too close, you could shred the husk to the point where you end up with a stuck sparge. Personally, I've never had that happen with my Corona mill, but I also grind everything by handcrank for the exersise. Make a 15 pound grain bill quite a workout.
My point is that you could be operating at cross purposes in trying to have one machine do all.
hth,
Alan