SURVIVAL ARK
Hand Grain, Seed and Flour Mill Grinds All Grains (With Stainless Steel Burrs)
From Fine Flours to Coarse Cereals.
The World's Best Hand Grain Mill
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Important Safety Instructions
.....
..
.. pg. 1
Assembly and Cleaning
................ pg. 1
How To Grind, Using Burrs vs. Stones
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. pg. 2
In Preparation for Milling Grains.............................................pg. 2
Grain Storage at Home OR Business........................................pg. 5
How To Mount Your Mill
..................... pg. 6
Warranty and Service...................
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.....
. pg. 7
Motorisation of The Survival Ark............................................ pg. 7
Motorisation of The Survival Ark............................................ pg. 7
IMPORTANT SAFETY INSTRUCTIONS PLEASE READ
The Survival Ark has been designed with detailed engineering to make it the easiest hand mill to use. It is the safest and most functional mill available.
Please consider the following:
Danger : Never put your fingers or any body parts inside the throat of the mill or near the auger or any other moving parts. Hair and loose clothing should be pinned back. Moving parts can cause serious injury.
Danger : Although your Survival Ark can be motorized. Motorizing Greatly increases the risk of injury from bodily contact with moving parts.
Danger : Never allow the auger shaft to turn faster than 150 RPM. This is the perfect motorized speed for stones and burrs.
Important : The baked-on 'powder coat' finish on your Survival Ark will resist acids, detergents, chipping and scratching and is approved by the FDA for food contact. However, you should protect it from wear and sharp objects.
Important : Do not put ANY object other than grains, seeds, corn or beans inside the feed hopper or you may damage the auger, stones or burrs, etc.
Important: The first 500 grams or so that you grind might contain grit that is knocked off the high spots on stones burrs as they settle against each other. This is a normal part of the break in process and doesn't harm the mill in any way.
Please discard the first batch of flour for this reason.
Hint : The Survival Ark with the stainless steel Ni-Hard burrs, makes excellent nut butters. However, the nuts must be FRESH. If even slightly stale, nuts will grind into more of a flour consistency than butter. If your nuts cannot produce a smooth, consistent butter, try adding oil or using fresher nuts. To improve the flavor, add salt.
Hint : Some products (for example: soybeans) may be hard to grind. If the mill is too fficult to turn try pre-grinding at a coarse setting, then re-grind at a finersetting.
Hint: Flour can cake and pack into areas of your mill. Always clean your mill thoroughly after each use. A soft bristle brush is very effective in removing build-up.
ASSEMBLY AND CLEANING
The Survival Ark comes mostly assembled. In order to use your mill you must perform the following simple steps :
1. Remove the main body of the mill from the box. Attach the double clamp to the base of the mill. Use the 4 short bolts with washers on to attach the clamp to the base of the mill. The bolts will go through the base into the threaded holes in the double clamp. Make sure the opening of the clamp faces away from the handle (See picture on front of owner's manual). Tighten four bolts securely.
2. Handle crank is already attached to dry shaft of the mill.
3. Place Stone Burrs or Stainless Steel Ni-hard Burrs (depending on your choice) on to the front of the mill by aligning the three holes on the back of the Burrs to the three sellock pin posts on the front , DO NOT FORCE the Burrs onto the mill.
4. Place the washer onto the threaded adjustment knob and then carefully screw the threaded bolt into the auger. Hand tighten. This knob is used to adjust the fine to coarse settings.
5. As you have the double clamp on your Survival Ark, it will simply mount to a counter or table. You are now ready to use your mill.
CLEANING
Unlike most other mills, every part of the Survival Ark (except the grinding Burrs) is either rust proof or plated to resist rust. You can clean the mill any time by hand washing in soapy warm water. Always rinse well and dry thoroughly.
DO NOT put your mill in the dishwasher. In most cases it is good enough to limit cleaning to a careful dusting with a stiff brush.
1. Start by selecting the correct grinding Burrs. Your mill came equipped with Stone grinding Burrs and Staiinless Steel Ni-Hard Burrs.
Stone Burrs : These provide the finest stone ground flour. They are best for producing pastry quality fine flour from wheat, corn, rye, oats and other
DRY grains. If any oil or high moisture is present in the grains being ground they may load up, glaze over, and plug up. If this happens you can remove the glaze by running rice through on a rough grind. Never use soap or water and never use a wire brush, so there is no permanent harm done as rice will gently remove the glaze. Glazing is a indication that you may need to use the Stainless Steel Ni-Hard Burrs.
Stainless Steel Ni-Hard Burrs : These are more versatile than Stone Burrs.
Stainless Steel Burrs grind anything that Stone Burrs do PLUS they can grind oily seeds like sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, poppy seeds, linseed, soybeans, lupens, peanuts, coffee beans, etc. The Stainless Steel Ni-Hard Burrs work great for making nut butters like peanut butter, etc. When done, simply wash the heads in warm soapy water and dry.
IN PREPARATION FOR MILLING GRAINS :
1. Remove flour adjustment knob and clean milling chamber and both stones or burrs with a suitable small dry clean brush like a toothbrush with strong bristles. When the milling chamber and both stones or burrs are all clean and free from flour or grains replace milling stones or burrs and flour adjustment knob.
2. Using only the finger strength of a 2 year-old child, tighten your adjustment knob to hold the two milling stones or burrs together in preparation for milling flour at home. Please note : No greater finger strength is ever required to mill fine flour.
3. Either fill or part fill your grain hopper with grains and turn your manual handle. Congratulations! You are now milling SUPER FINE FLOUR at home in your own home kitchen with your Retsel Survival Ark.
Mills adjustment knob allows you to choose the degree of fineness or coarseness of the flour or cereal grist you feel or learn from personal experience is best for your bread, biscuits, cakes, pastries, deserts and or breakfast cereals made at home in your kitchen.
4. Subject to having a low grain moisture content the flourmill adjustment on the Retsel grain and seed mills have been designed to give you an almost infinite choice of degrees of flour fineness, coarseness, and or roughness. Moisture, high moisture is the dictator that will limit just how fine you may grind a particular bag of grain that you are using. Moisture content 10% or less is a recommended maximum.
5. It is easy to learn how to select a degree of fineness that is perfect for our baking needs and will at the same time give good fast flour production from the slow turning stones or burrs. Evidence that we have chosen the correct milling grind is that our mill can and will continue milling on that grind for up to 24 hours a day without any adjustments needed. Selecting the best fine flour grind will also preserve the long life of your mill and avoid glazing which may occur due to using grains with too high a moisture content for the fineness of grinding that we have selected with our adjustment knob.
6. In preparation of selection of the perfect Retsel home flourmill, flour milling grind, allow your mill to grind at a SUPER FINE FLOUR grind for a maximum time period of 5 to 10 seconds. Stop milling, turn your black adjustment knob in an anti-clockwise open up direction an eighth of an inch on the circumference of the Survival Ark mills.
Start milling again by manual hand power or electricity after a maximum milling time of 5 to 10 seconds. Stop milling, turn your black adjustment knob in an anti-clockwise open up direction of an eight of an inch on the circumference of the Survival Ark mills.
Continue this procedure of GRIND, STOP, ADJUST until you achieve a good fast production of fine ground flour which we would describe as a full curtain of flour falling freely down from in between and across the full
width of the milling stones.
The evidence you are to look for to show you that you have made adequate number of GRIND, STOP, ADJUST adjustments. Is that the milling stones will only warm up in operation to just a little more than blood temperature in their doing their important hard work of milling living grains into fresh ground living home ground grain flour.
Once you have achieved the perfect mill grinding adjustment you may stop making flour grind adjustments and mill all of your flour on that specific perfect grain flour milling grind selection. Or you may repeat this process as above again and again.Until you have achieved the exact degree of fineness, coarseness or roughness that you may require for a specific days home baking flour or cereal requirements.
7. In following our written instructions you will notice that your Retsel mill will lock itself on each new flour grind setting. This is due to the fine tolerances and trueness of the two unique milling stones, and the pressure build-up between the stones of the grains being milled into fine flour in operating your mill in accordance with our instructions.
8. At no time should you ever endeavour to adjust your mill from a coarse grind to a fine grind by trying to tighten the adjustment knob in a clockwise direction.
9. Should your flour grind be to rough or coarse for your next days baking requirements , then you should follow our instructions for cleaning your mill stones and milling chamber. And then start again from the beginning with clean stones and no grains or flour in between the stones or in the milling chamber whatsoever. In other words, once you get started it is always possible and permissible to adjust from any degree of fineness to a coarser grind by following our instructions as above by turning the adjustment knob in an anti-clockwise direction. BUT you must NEVER try to adjust your mill from coarse to a finer
flour grind by turning the adjustment knob in a clockwise direction.
10. Glazing on milling stones in its appearance is like a shinny glass like surface. It will occur if we try to mill too high moisture content grains on too fine of a grind. To avoid the possibilities of Glazing it is essential that we choose to use grains with ten percent moisture or less than ten percent moisture content for milling fine ground flour.
11. Should glazing occur when using your milling stones this is what you will need do to remove the glazing? Mill hard grains like wheat or rice through your mill on a rough grind setting. In other words the hard grains being ground into broken bits and pieces slowly tear off the glazing. This process will not harm your mill and will not harm your milling stones. It is important to remove all traces of glazing as glazing may re-occur again next time you are milling grains if any traces of it are left behind on the milling stones. NEVER ever wash your stones or use TOOLS to remove glazing or traces of glazing as this may hurt your milling stones. Grains ground into broken bits and pieces in this process of removing glazing may be sifted from the flour and the flour used in baking and the broken pieces without the flour may be ground with normal grains next time you mill flour.
IN PREPARATION FOR MILLING GRAINS :
It is essential that you locate a good and reliable supplier of your wheat, rice, barley, oats, corn, millet, rye, buckwheat, etc. (All grains like these must have a low moisture content of 10% or less to be suitable for milling). All cereal grain suppliers should be prepared to guarantee the following :
1. Wheat supplied should have moisture content of 10% or less.
2. Wheat supplied must be cleaned and free from smut and foreign materials and unwashed.
3
. Wheat supplied must have a protein content of 12% or more.Should the grains supplied to you not meet these vital specifications, the grain suppliers must be prepared to accept return of the grain supplied to you in error on a Freight Collect basis , and replace the grain with good grain to you on a Freight Paid basis. Or, alternately REFUND in full your purchase price.
Having received your bulk supply of wheat or other grains, mill some of it, the day it arrives, into fine ground flour and observe the milling process for 5 to 10 minutes. Should the production of fine flour reduce or stop during this time, immediately turn your mill OFF. Remove the rotating kup casting milling stone. Clean both stones with a small stiff natural bristle brush and carefully inspect them by looking at them to see if glazing has occurred on either or both stones.
Should this be the case that glazing has occurred, you must not use this grain as it will certainly have a moisture content which is in excess of the ten percent moisture content maximum recommended.
We suggest for your convenience you report this problem to you supplier by telephone or letter and work out an a suitable arrangement for return and refund or replacement of good dry grains for return delivery of the unsuitable high moisture content grains.
NOTE: One day you may discover yourself in a position whereas you have received free of charge or at a special low discount price from a friend or a grain farmer, a bag or bags of grain which you know right then or may discover later on that this grain has a high moisture content in excess of ten percent recommended for milling and long term survivalstorage.
Should you choose or desire to mill this FREE grain in your Retsel home mill, it is important that carefully by trial and error, you select the grind that is not too fine for the high moisture content of the grains to be milled so that no glazing will occur during the milling process. It is essential once you have determined the correct setting that you NEVER try to mill the grain finer with this particular high moisture content grain with your milling stones. In following this procedure you will preserve the long life of your mill and milling stones. HOWEVER using your kitchen oven on a low setting of 150 degrees, with the oven door slightly open, spread the grain thinly on a shallow baking tray and leave it this way for up to two hours. Excess moisture should then be removed. Of course the best guarantee is to always buy grains with the right moisture content in the first instance.
GRAIN STORAGE AT HOME OR BUSINESS :
Either large or small metal or plastic containers can be used, some containers seal airtight (others do not) e.g.: Metal or Plastic Rubbish bins. The containers that do not seal airtight must be lined with a heavy-duty food grade plastic bag, which with a tie can be made airtight. The same day you buy grain, store it on a wooden floor or wooden platform of some sort. (NEVER directly onto a concrete or earthen floor). Next, place one or two bulbs of dried garlic inside of the container. Our customers have told us that small amounts of either 3 or 4 bulbs of garlic and or an abundance of bay leaves inside the grain containers are excellent deterrents to weevils and other harmful insects. Please remember for weevils or insects to walk or move away from the container must have an opening for the Garlic and or Bay leaves to do their work as a natural deterrent. And then some time later on when you are happy that no more harmful insects are left behind to eat the grain. The container may be sealed airtight. Now you are ready to store
your grains in a dry place at home with minimum of temper tures changes. Be sure to check it on a regular basis when using Bay leaves & garlic as a deterrent.
For long-term survival storage it is important that grain should be stored in sealed container in an atmosphere of food grade carbon dioxide or nitrogen.
On the same day that you take delivery of your grains, remove it from the grain bags and pour it right into your food grade clean containers. Which must either sit on a wooden floor or blocks of wood (NEVER directly onto a concrete or earthen floor.)
Use either Silica Gel or fresh rolls of natural toilet paper with the plastic wrapping removed and then place either the [Silica Gel in small mesh bags] or [unwrapped/ toilet rolls] inside the containers with the grains all around them. Silica Gel and dry unwrapped toilet rolls absorb moisture from temperature changes.
Having done all of the above right now you will be ready to seal your containers. We are making the assumption that insects and or weevils have a chance to walk away from the bulbs or Garlic and or Bay leaves located through the grains in the container first of all. or that you have put dry ice in the containers displace the oxygen in normal air with CO2 carbon dioxide. or BOC the gas people have hired the CO2 or Nitrogen equipment for displacing the normal air inside the grain containers prior to sealing each container for survival storage.
We trust the above instructions on how to use your mill and the home storage guidelines may be of some help to you as our customers and or friends of our customers who have passed this information on to you.
Please do not hesitate to give us a call if you have any questions in Australia (03) 9795 2725 or 0414 952 725. or visit our web site at www.retsel.co.au
HOW TO MOUNT YOUR MILL
Your Survival Ark comes with four mounting holes in each corner of the base of the mill. You can attach the mill permanently by drilling four respective holes into a counter or work bench and bolting the mill securely in place. Or simply bolt the base of the mill to the double clamp with the four short bolts provided. Then you can clamp the mill securely to any 2 inch thick or less counter or table. The patented double clamp system holds the mill securely. For easiest grinding, the mounting surface should be about waist level.
WARRANTY AND SERVICE LIMITED LIFETIME WARRANTY
Your Survival Ark is covered by a Lifetime Warranty. This means that from the date of purchase everything on the mill, unless listed below, is warranted by Retsel Grain Master Australia Whisper Mill Distributors to be free from mechanical defects in quality of material or workmanship. The warranty isfor the life of the original owner and is non-transferable and is subject to the following terms and conditions :1. Warranty does not cover damage from shipping, misuse, dropping, commercial use, repair by unauthorized persons, or normal wear and tear.
2. All shipping costs for warranty service (both ways) are the responsibility of the mill owner.
3. Under no circumstances shall Retsel Grain Master Australia Whisper Mill Distributorsbe liable for consequential damages sustained in connection with the Survival Ark Grain Mill. This warranty covers only the Survival Ark Grain Mill and its specific parts, not the food or products processes in it.
4. FOR WARRANTY SERVICE PLEASE CONTACT:
Retsel GrainMaster Australian Whisper Mill Distributors
16 Pinewood Avenue, Dandenong North, Vic 3175, Australia
Telephone : 03 9795 2725, Mobile : 0414 952 725
email : kevinjamesrogers@bigpond.com
MOTORISATION OF THE SURVIVAL ARK HAND OPERATED STONE AND
BURR HOME FLOUR MILLS
The Survival Ark Stone & Burr home flour mill is designed to give you the best in a hand mill, plus making them easily adaptable to a motor or other type of power. This form has been prepared to help you determine the best way to motorise your Survival Ark mill.
IMPORTANT: When motorising your Survival Ark hand Stone and Burr flour mill, be sure that the milling stones turn at 150 R.P.M or less. The Stones are designed to turn slow, and if they are run at a speed of more than 150 R.P.M.,they could be damaged.
1.ELECTRIC MOTOR: A motor of at least Ό H.P. is needed to operate the Survival Ark mills satisfactorily 1/3 or ½ horsepower motors work well too.
2.We recommend that a motor of 1440 R.P.M. or less be used. When using a 1440 R.P.M. motor you will need a 12 inch pulley on the mill drive shaft and a 1Ό pulley on the motor drive shaft. In some cases a chain and sprocket may be preferred in place of a belt and pulleys To utilise a motor at higher R.P.M than 1440, you will need to use a multiple pulley set up to reduce speed. So that the stones do not turn too fast as mentioned above. Second-hand old washing machine motors from early Hoover or Simpson wringer type washing machines are often available from older folk, who could just not throw them away and are usually economical to purchase, as old motors have no real commercial value.
The Survival Ark stone mill can be operated by using a heavy duty electric drill half inch or larger. In some cases the chuck on the drill can be attached directly to the handle shaft on the mills.
3. There are many different ways the Survival Ark Stone and Burr hand mills can be converted to other power sources. Below are just some ideas, but you may have a better idea than any of these. If you would care to share your ideas with us, we would appreciate hearing from you. The ideas listed below are only some possible suggestions, and are in no way complete.
A. A D.C motor operated by a storage battery
the battery can be kept charged by a generator mounted to a windmill, or water wheel.
B. If a creek, canal, or other waterpower sources are available, a small water wheel can be built ad connected to the mills. A very small amount of moving water will run the mills.
C. A small gasoline engine could be used to run the mill much like an electric motor, or run a generator or battery power as mentioned in item A above.
D. A small tread mill, or movable platform can be made (a tread mill is much like a miniature escalator and as you walk up on it, the platform moves down, thereby utilising ones weight to operate it). A large pet could be used to run the treadmill, which in turn would run the flour mills.
E. Electrical appliances and machines such as mixers, meat grinders, bread makers, and many other home and shop equipment may be utilised to fit your motorisation needs.
F. A home fitness exercise bicycle may be used as your source of power.
History teaches us that men and women have been milling grain to feed their families for thousands of years. Today, milled grains are available commercially. but cooks who care about wholesome goodness and maximum nutrition for their families are still producing fresh flour at home. Of course, they have always looked for ways to make milling better, faster and easier.
The newest and best way to mill grain at home without electricity is the Survival Ark. It has been created to make this task more pleasant, quieter, cleaner and easier when electricity is not available.
Bakers and nutritionists agree that flours from freshly milled grains are far more nourishing and have a better flavor than flours which are a few days or even weeks old. But you can find out for yourself. Try milling several varieties, like whole wheat, rye, oat groats, buckwheat, rice, millet, corn, soybeans, barley, or triticale.
We think you will be delighted with the results and hope you will enjoy your Survival Ark for years to come.
For more information contact :
Retsel GrainMaster Australian Whisper Mill Distributors
16 Pinewood Avenue, Dandenong North, Vic 3175, Australia
Telephone : 03 9795 2725
Mobile : 0414 952 725
email : kevinjamesrogers@bigpond.com
