# Wheat - How clean?



## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Long story short I found an elevator that sells wheat. It's a good price, a dollar cheaper on 50# then where I had been getting it. The elevator is 40 miles closer to home in an area I go to anyways, but the wheat isn't "clean". What's I have been getting before is from the LDS cannery and is "squeaky clean" (the cannery is in an area I have no reason to go to other then for the cannery)

So how hard do I have to work to clean this? Is that just a personal preference? 

I tossed a test bunch in front of a fan a few times then ground it up and made sweet rolls....no one complained even though it's red wheat. There were still lots of paper hulls(?) in it....so it was not "clean". I did try to get all the straw out, though.

I found the flour is softer to the touch then the hard wheat I've been getting....is that what they mean by soft wheat (I know the cooking difference and what each is used for, just never had soft wheat, so not sure if the flour is a textual difference as well).


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## sgl42 (Jan 20, 2004)

Ohio dreamer said:


> So how hard do I have to work to clean this? Is that just a personal preference?
> 
> I tossed a test bunch in front of a fan a few times [...]


i've been curious about the amount of effort required to clean wheat also. sounds like you've done a little cleaning. how much did you clean? how long did it take? how much cleaner was it? 

also, i'd be very curious whether there were any tiny stones or anything really hard mixed in. the reason being, that for those using impact grinders, a small stone might ruin the teeth of the grinder, since they spin 10,000 rpm or something. and i suspect that with a tooth missing and spinning that fast, that it would be unbalanced and screw it up more. not likely a field-repairable unit either.

that's one of the reasons i bought a stone grinder -- if there's any stones in the grain, it might gouge a part of the stone a bit, but i doubt it would ruin the entire grinder.

but i really have no idea whether my concern about stones is even valid or not, as i haven't seen what unclean wheat looks like. 

so, like you, i'm very curious to hear of answers from those that have actually dealt with wheat cleaning before, and to understand just how much effort it takes to clean it, and how clean it gets by home-cleaning relative to what's sold as cleaned wheat.

--sgl


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

sgl

I didn't notice any stones, and I was looking in the small batch I ground. I spent about 20 minute per 25# and got about 1/3- 1/2 of the chafe out. Now some of the time was spent shaking the tub to bring the lighter weight particle to the top. Then scooping just the lighter stuff off and "grinding" it in my hands over another bucket. I then dumped that in front of the fan to let the 1/4 c seed drop out and more chafe to blow away. At the rate I was going it would take me a few hours to clean 50# to the point of "clean".....seems like a lot of labor that could be better spent.


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## texican (Oct 4, 2003)

Winnowing isn't hard... clean sheet, or a clean trash can, and some wind... pour slowly, with the wind blowing through the grain... dust and dirt blows away, grain falls down. I'd imagine there's winnowing videos on youtube.

Even if the grain was cleaned ahead of time, I'd always 'look' at the grain before putting it in the grinder... picking out anything that I didn't want to eat.


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## Stephen in SOKY (Jun 6, 2006)

Fanning mills often sell for next to nothing at farm/estate auctions around here. With proper screens you can get grain as clean as you want it.


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## IndianaWoodsman (Mar 17, 2009)

A household fan and a couple of tubs works very well on whole grain but not so well on grits. Wheat hulls wont hurt you and grind up well. You definately want to get the weed seed, ground-dwelling berries, straw and rocks out. Elevator grain is by far dirtier than "cleaned" grain.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Thanks IW, that's what I thought. I know how to clean it, I just don't want to devote all the labor to it if it's not a must. I think a couple of passes in front of a fan and we'll call it done enough to pack up. I only grind what I need when I need it, so double checking for stones and straw can be done just before grinding.


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## Mutti (Sep 7, 2002)

We have some farm fresh wheat that still has hulls....I just grind 'em up,too...more roughage! Have never found any stones. When we grew our own patch we just winowed over a tarp on a windy day and it cleaned it pretty well. I don't mind sitting picking over such anyhow...just did b.sprouts and mustard seed that I'd grown. DEE


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

The protein level is lower in softer wheat.

I'd go the extra 40 miles and get the clean wheat. Really is less trouble and work than trying to clean the wheat by hand. I have cleaned it and don't plan on doing that again.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Is there any way to tell if this is soft or hard? I baked it up into cinnamon rolls as a test and it rose well (like when I use hard wheat). I know most of what is grown in Ohio is soft wheat, so my assumption was it would be soft wheat. The flour was defiantly different (finer) when I ground it up then what I get from the cannery wheat. Any guesses??

All in all I liked working with this wheat. The bread comes out darker in color, but it's red wheat so it would (darker then the hard red I get from the cannery, I think....but I don't usually do 100% red wheat - I mix it with white just for visual appearance.....family doesn't care either way)


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## Cyngbaeld (May 20, 2004)

Put some kernals in your mouth and let them soak a bit then chew them. Compare to some of the hard red. The chewier they are, the higher the protein and the more gluten.

Soft wheat makes really good baking powder (quick) breads, not so good yeast breads.


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## Ohio dreamer (Apr 6, 2006)

Thank you, will do.


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