If you run a community mill, your customers judge you on one thing: the meal they carry home. Is it clean, fine and white? Does it cook well? Customers talk, and a mill with a good name keeps them coming back for more.
Large commercial mills have always known that good meal starts before the maize reaches the rollers. They condition the grain first. The same step is just as important in a community mill, and it costs you very little: some water, a few minutes and a way to mix.
Roff Milling’s Sales Director, Koot Jordaan, explains the why and how below.
Koot Jordaan on conditioning for service milling (2 minutes).
What is maize conditioning?
Conditioning means adding a small amount of water to the maize, mixing it through, and giving the bran a little time to absorb that moisture.
You are not trying to wet the maize. You are only softening the outer layer. The kernel should look and feel almost the same afterwards, just slightly less brittle.
Rule of thumb: half a litre (500 ml) of water per 20-litre bucket of maize, mix it through, wait at least five minutes, then mill.
Why condition before milling?
Dry bran is brittle. When it goes through the rollers it shatters into small pieces, and those pieces end up as dark specks in your meal. They are also small enough to slip through the screen with the meal.
Conditioned bran behaves differently. It becomes elastic, so the rollers can flatten it and peel it away in larger flakes. Larger flakes are much easier to remove, which means cleaner, better quality maize meal.
Bran from a Roff Posho, with and without conditioning. Conditioned bran comes off in large flakes; dry bran shatters into small pieces.
This matters for both of the roller mills we build for community milling. Whether you run a Posho or an MK2S, conditioned maize gives the mill the best chance to do its job. If you are still deciding between the two, read our comparison: Posho vs MK2S: which roller mill suits your service mill?
Getting the water right
Measure the water: half a litre (500 ml) for every 20-litre bucket of maize. Use a jug or a marked bottle, so every bucket gets the same. For a bigger load, keep the same proportion: a litre for two buckets, and so on. For a smaller container, use a little less.
You are dampening the bran, not soaking the maize. Half a litre on a full bucket will not make the maize wet or sticky, so there is no need to weigh or test anything. If the meal still shows dark bran specks, check that the water was mixed right through and that the maize had its full five minutes.
If you would like help setting this up for your mill and your maize, our Roff consultants are happy to advise.
How long should the maize rest?
Water on the surface is not enough. The bran needs time to take it in. To get the full benefit, community millers should give the maize at least five minutes to absorb all the moisture before it goes into the mill. Don't mill straight after the water goes in.
Conditioned bran comes off in larger flakes that the screen can separate.
Conditioning small batches by hand
Many community customers arrive with maize in buckets or small containers. For these loads, the simplest method is the best one:
Add the water to the maize, then mix it through by hand until it is evenly spread. Turn the maize from the bottom up so no dry pockets are left. Then let it stand for at least five minutes while you attend to the previous customer.
For small loads, mixing by hand works well.
For small quantities this works well, costs nothing and needs no extra equipment.
Conditioning larger batches: where hand mixing falls short
Things change when customers bring 20L buckets or 50kg bags. Hand mixing a load that size is heavy work, and it is not effective. Water ends up in some places and not others, so part of the batch has soft bran and part of it is still brittle. The meal quality then varies from one customer to the next, and it is hard to see why.
Doing this by hand all day is also tiring. By the afternoon, the mixing is usually the first thing to get rushed.
The Roff 70L Batch Mixer
This is where adding a Roff 70L Batch Mixer to your set-up makes a lot of sense.
It is a horizontal mixer. Paddles lift, scoop and crisscross the maize through the batch, so the water you add is spread evenly through every kernel. You get the same result on a 50kg bag as on a small bucket, and you get it without the heavy work.
The paddles lift and criss-cross the maize so the water spreads evenly through the batch.
What it means for a community mill
- Capacity that suits your customers. A 70-litre batch is in the region of a 50kg bag of maize, so a customer’s bag can usually be conditioned in one go.
- Quick. With a mixing time of 4 - 5 minutes per batch, you can add the water, start the mixer, and use this time to serve the next customer.
- Simple to run. It has a 0.37kW motor and comes with a DOL (direct-on-line) starter for a 380V supply. The open paddle and shaft design makes it easy to clean, and the outlet has an adjustable cam, with the paddles facing the outlet so the batch empties itself.
- Built for the job. The frame is painted mild steel with polyethylene plastic parts, with minimal maintenance needed.
- Useful beyond conditioning. It is made for dry products, so it can also mix maize meal, wheat, sorghum, oats, lucerne and more. If you also sell or mix feed, it can earn its place twice.
See the full details on the Roff 70L Horizontal Batch Mixer product page.
Making conditioning part of your milling day
The five minutes only cost you time if you wait for them: while one customer’s maize rests, the mill runs the previous batch. Keep each customer’s maize separate and clean the mixer between loads, so every customer gets their own maize back.
Next step
Conditioning is one of the cheapest ways to improve the meal your mill produces. If you want to add a batch mixer to your set-up, or you are planning a new community mill, tell us about it:
Share where your mill is, how many customers you expect each day, and what size loads they usually bring. A Roff consultant will recommend the right equipment for you.
Send an enquiry via roff.co.za, WhatsApp us on +27 68 680 9230, call +27 56 212 2697 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 5pm), or email sales@roffmilling.com. You can also browse our community maize mills.
