January 2, 2015 - 8:22am
grain mill below 32 for days, how long to warm up?
My new Komo is being delivered today after spending the last 5 days in transit in below freezing temperatures. How long should I let it warm up in the house before I use it? It's on the truck and it's still in the 20's today. I don't want to mess up the motor. It's been between 0 and 20 degrees since it left the sellers.
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.. the issue will be condensation. I'd unbox it and leave it overnight in the room you're going to use it in.
-Gordon
Thanks. It just arrived and I did unbox it. I didn't even consider condensation, I was concerned about the motor being so cold.
If you plug it in
Melesine, which Komo did you get, and please post a review once you have used it a few times.
I got the Fidibus 21 that PHG had on sale recently. I've been going back and forth on which mill for about a year. I was going to get the classic but when I compared the stats and milling rate I thought the 21 would be fine for what I need. Plus I couldn't pass up that sale price.
So far I calibrated it ( I guess that's what you'd call it). My finest setting without the stones touching is 2 clicks from fein. I ran 200 grams of white wheat berries through it and made yeast pancakes. I wanted instant gratification lol. Tomorrow I have plans to start some soakers for breads.
It's such a beautiful mill, and so heavy. It's nice to use a real mill instead of the Vitamix dry container I've been grinding with. The Komo seemed much quieter too. I'll post back after I use it for more things. I have a Kamut, Einkorn, Spelt, Rye and 3 different wheats ready to run through it lol.
Oh I was wondering, you are only supposed to adjust the stones while the motor is running right?
How often should I take it apart and brush the stones? If I'm using it everyday maybe once a week? I'm in a rural area with a lot of farm land nearby which means bugs, I don't want to get weevils from not cleaning it enough.
Meseline, congrats on the your new mixer. I don't know if I am a good source for how often to clean, I have an embarrassment of mills ( like a pride of lions or a school of fish ) though I bought them all used, and most were not complete, so if I cleaned them every week, that would take quite a bit of time. I understand that Komo suggests that if you are not going to use the mill for some time, that you stick a tea bag in the spout to discourage bugs. I think they also suggest using a vacuum cleaner hose held up to the spout while the mill is running to clean it if you don't want to take it apart. My feeling is that so long as I use it once a month, I don't bother cleaning it. I assume that there is not that much wheat left in most mills, and as long as you cover the hopper and the spout you should be fine. If I am not planning on using the mill for several months, I will usually take it apart and clean it then. I have experienced weevils once, at my parents house, and that was not fun, but while I got pretty grossed out by the weevils, I would take weevils over pantry moths any day, Pantry moths take some real dedication and time to eradicate. IIRC, we got rid of the weevils pretty quick by throwing out any food source that was open and cleaning all the cabinets. Pantry moths take a much more dedicated approach.
Ok I won't worry too much about cleaning it.
I already used it for three recipes today. I made another batch of yeast pancakes for breakfast with einkorn flour this time, they were so good. Then I got started on the Dinkel-Walnussbrot recipe that was posted here, which I've made before and is wonderful. I also made the KAF beautiful burger buns but this time with home ground flour ( HRS wheat) and they came out fabulous. The texture was wonderful. It did need extra water and I did a 30 minute autolyse before proceeding with the recipe. First time trying it with wholemeal.
I'm really happy with my mill.
I just wanted to post back that I really love my Komo. I made another batch of buns today and a pain de mie using HRS wheat. I made some einkorn buns last week but I think that dough was too wet. They were light but almost too light.