August 30, 2017 - 4:28pm
Home Milling - Help choose between Schnitzer Grano 200 & Salzburger MT5
Hi all from Australia. I have been baking sourdough for a few years now and want to move into the world of home milling for my SD loaves (Hard wheat and rye berries).
I have the option between a couple of 2nd hand mills - Schnitzer Grano 200 or a Salzburger MT5 (limed oak version). The Salzburger is a bit older and $100 more, but does have a granite mill (the Schnitzer has man-made corundum ceramic) Any thoughts from the group would be very welcome especially if you've had 1st hand experience with either mill. Cheers, Lincoln
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I bought a mill earlier this year after doing a heap of research.
I decided on a corundum stone as opposed to natural stone because it is (allegedly) a harder stone and will never (maybe) need reshaping.
It is also meant to not lose any particles from the stone, hence ending up with sand in your flour.
I suggest that you look into whether you can get the mill serviced in Aussie if it needs it (being 2nd hand) and if parts are available.
Also you need to consider how much grain you are going to be milling. From what I have seen is on the market in Aus, all the mills are within much of a muchness for output. Bear in mind that the higher the output with a small diameter stone the higher the temp of the flour will be. Keeping the temp as low as possible is the idea.
From what I've seen on the net, the Grano is double the output of the Salzburger, both having a 90 mm stone. I can't find the ground particle size for the Salz, but the Grano seems to be 82% at <0.3mm, which is ok.
Depending on what price you are having to pay, compare the 2nd hand mill (having done who knows how much grain) to a new one. I paid a bit under $600 (delivered) for a Hawos which has a 100 mm stone and output of about 100 gm/min, with a full warranty.
One other thing to think about is where you are going to get your grain - I'm in Brissy and it's a major bloody hassle to get grain at a reasonable price. If you're buying a few kilos, then you will probably get gouged (I was quoted $6.60/kg for "organic" wheat, to which I naturally told the seller where I thought they could put their wheat). I ended up buying a 20 kg sack of wheat for chooks (which is fine) and a 25 kg bag of Durum (food grade), which has more bits of chaff and rubbish in it than you can poke a stick at. Anyway, it cost about 35 cents/kg for the 2 sacks.
I hope I haven't put you off buying a mill - it's a lot of fun milling your own flour and I reckon you can't beat the taste of the end product - bread, cakes, biscuits. It does take a bit of shagging about adapting the recipes though, but not that much. Just expect a few failures here and there.
Thanks for the info (sorry don't know your name). I'm in Brisbane too. Which side of town are you - I only ask as I may have a lead on getting some organic wheat and rye for around $2/kg. Perhaps we could split a bag of rye (as they're 25kg, and that would take me a year to get through!) Hopefully get the mill tomorrow! Now need to find a 60 mesh sieve to get the bran level down in the dough. Cheers, Lincoln
Inner north.
I've still got a couple of buckets of wheat here so probably don't need anymore for a while.
I bought the grain from these guys http://alloragrain.com.au/ at Springwood and I've had no probs, if you don't mind the thought of chook food.
For a sieve try http://www.hospitalitysuperstore.com.au/ in the Valley or http://www.qcc.com.au/ at the Gabba or possibly https://www.rewardhospitality.com.au/ also at the Gabba.
I'm somewhat reluctant to put any contact information on a public forum to avoid any unwanted bludgers annoying me.