Whisper Mill Flour Mill

[DMarie]

Prior to going gluten free, I used to grind my own whole wheat flour. The brand of mill I have is a Whisper Mill. Does anyone know if there is a way to "de-glutenize" a mill that has been used to grind glutinous grains? Is that even possible? Would be nice to grind my own flours again - fresh!

[dilettantesteph]

Can you take it apart and clean it?

[DMarie]

Well, I searched and found an email address to the company that makes the Wonder Mills (previously Whisper Mills).

I was told that there was no way to completely clean the stainless steel milling heads or inside of the mill to be 100% gluten free.

I emailed the represenative back and asked what she thought about the idea of running alot of rice through the mill, to "flush" out all other flour particles. She indicated that she really didn't know if/how that would work. She said that the manufacturers used to recommend running popcorn thru the impact mills to "unclog" the stainless heads but that is not the same thing as cleaning the mill of flour residue.

Not sure I will try that or not (since white rice is relatively cheap). There are no guarantees. It's a shame to not be able to use the mill though.

[dilettantesteph]

I got a mill from which the first batch of flour I made was slightly contaminated. They tested it's grinding ability with rice, not wheat at my request, but they test their others with wheat and perhaps they did this one in the same room, or without changing gloves, or whatever. I put through about 12 cups of rice before it came out what I felt to be uncontaminated enough. Later when I took it apart for other reasons, I wish I had just done that. It looked very hard to get all the way clean by flushing, but possible with enough grain. How much is enough is the big question. Maybe take it apart as much as you can to clean and then flush? It depends on how sensitive you are and how much effort you are willing to put in and how much it would cost to just buy a new one.

[G-freegal12]

I think it would be safer to just buy a new one. Gluten can hide anywhere ... It is sneaky and not to be trusted.

[DMarie]

Thank you for your thoughts. I am thinking that flushing the flour out is not really an option and better to look at purchasing a new one if I want to go that route. Better safe than sorry.

I am thinking that I should look into selling mine on ebay or craigs list - something like that. Then I can either use the money for something else OR put it toward the purchase of a new one.