LabMill Pilot Production Mill
Production of Flour for Breadmaking Tests and Analyses
The Labmill is a pilot production mill designed to transform hard or soft wheat into refined flours. It produces flours representative of those from industrial mills, achieving high extraction rates (65-75%) and recovering proteins and enzymes from peripheral grain layers, such as the aleurone layer. This makes the Labmill ideal for bread-making tests and evaluating additives like exogenous enzymes.
Features
Patented Milling Procedure (2 breaking stages, 1 sizing stages and 3 reduction stages)
- To optimize milling value evaluation
- To combine high extraction rate with high flour purity
- Adaptable long milling diagram with the possibility of deleting or doubling certain passages
- Run 2 simultaneous millings - breaking and sizing/reduction parts are independent
- Extraction rate 65 to 75 %
- Capacity of up to 3 kg (440 lbs) of wheat
Robust Cylinders
- Reduced maintenance
- Long life expectancy
Centrifugal Sifting
- Reliable, compact and powerful system
- Very effective if the distance between the beater and the sieve is well controlled
Precise Feed System
- Releases a constant flow
- Adapted to every type of wheat
- Adjustable settings to ensure versatility of use
Benefits
- Anticipate the behavior of wheat in an industrial mill (extraction potential and flour quality)
- Ideal tool to produce flours adapted (quantity and quality) to the specifications for bread-making tests
- Flour produced can be used for various baking analyses or for testing when the enzymatic component plays a major role.
Applications
A Modern and Versatile Mill
Millers, wheat breeders, ingredients specialists, control labs, and other baking industry professionals: Labmill is used for various baking analyses, including testing when enzymatic component plays a significant role in qualifying its technological aptitude (example: bread making) or evaluating the effects of enzymes and other bread-making improvers. Universities and schools: Labmill is an excellent educational tool for training future millers.
Millers
For millers, the LabMill assists with the wheat selection, based on its milling value and the quality of the produced flour. Millers also use the instrument to assist with their wheat blends. They can optimize wheat tempering by adjusting the moisture level and resting time for several batches. Select optimal wheat according to properties best suited to your milling process AND the final flour quality.
Ingredient Specialists & Recipe Development
With its large milling capacity (up to 3 Kg of wheat), combined with its high extraction rate, the LabMill generates enough flour for bread-making tests with their enzymes, additives, etc.
The high extraction rate of LabMill also has the advantage of producing flour that is close to industrial flour (peripheral proteins, enzymes, etc.), which is an additional advantage when conducting bread-making tests.
Research & Educational Institutes
The LabMill is the ideal tool for training in milling and for conducting technical and scientific studies:
- Its operating principle (succession of grinding and sieving) is representative of that of an industrial mill and makes it easy to understand the basic principles of milling
- Its milling diagram is complete (breaking, sizing and reduction steps) with combined grooved and smooth rolls, which makes it possible to better understand the role of these various stages
- Its configuration allows you to recover, quantify and study all the milling products (streams flours, middlings and brans)
- Its flexibility (streams, flow rate, sieves and rolls adjustments) allows the study of the many parameters influencing the result of a milling process (both quality and quantity)
Lineup
How It Works
Gradual Milling with a Dedicated & Patented Diagram
Although on a reduced scale, the LabMill's operating principle is similar to that of an industrial mill: the grain is ground in a series of rollermills to remove the bran and to cut the endosperm. Between each rollermill cycle, the ground grain is sifted and separated into various sizes. With this procedure, the LabMill produces a flour that is representative (purity, granulometry, histological composition, starch damage, quality, and quantity of protein) of product produced by a commercial industrial mill and can be used for all your rheological analyses.
The LabMill's innovative patented milling diagram is comprised of 5 (or 6) consecutive steps:
- 2 breaking steps, between grooved rollers, to make flour, fine middlings, coarse middlings, and bran
- 1 sizing step, between smooth rollers, to reduce coarse middlings to flour, fine middlings, and fine bran
- 2 (or 3) reduction steps, between smooth rollers, to reduce fine middlings to flour
LabMill was developed within the Milling Quality Consortium (AFSA, Arvalis-institut du végétal, ANMF, Danone Vitapole, INRA, IRTAC, Ulice, CHOPIN Technologies).
*Patent FR N° 0905572 | US N°9 067 210
System Components
A Complete and Compact Mill
All access is through the top and front of the device, making it easy to carry out all analysis and maintenance operations in optimal ergonomic conditions.
The LabMill incorporates innovations allowing for the combination of performance, precision, reproducibility, sturdiness, and ease of use.
Adjustable Settings
- Equipped with a precise scale, LabMill's feed system releases a constant flow of grain, adapted to every type of wheat. Flow rate is easily configurable by the operator using a user-friendly control interface
- Sifting time for each stream is easily configurable by the operator using the user-friendly control interface
- Beater bar orientation (extraction or retention) allows you to adapt the sifting quality*
- The cylinders are mounted on eccentric bearings, which allows for special adjustments*
* Adjusting beater bar orientation and cylinder gap requires specific tools & knowledge and specific training by a CHOPIN expert
Performance
Extraction Rate
- The extraction rate obtained on the LabMill is particularly high compared to its short milling diagram. This extraction rate is between 65% and 80%, with an average of around 75%.
Purity
- Flour purity is traditionally measured by ash content. In LabMill's case, it is between 0.50% and 0.65%/ms, which corresponds to a 55 ash flour commonly used in bread-making.
Flour Quality
- With its factory settings, the LabMill produces a flour quality comparable (in terms of Alveograph results) to that produced by a CD1 Mill according to the ISO 27971 standard.
These performances are dependent on the type of wheat used, the wheat tempering method, and the adjustments made to the LabMill.
Software
User Interface
The operation of the LabMill is controlled by a dedicated, complete and intuitive user interface. Through a touch screen, the operator easily manages:
Tests
- Select the stream you want to activate and all settings (flow rate, sifting time, etc.) are automatically chosen
- Breaking and reduction parts are independent, making it possible to run 2 simultaneous millings
Labmill Configuration and Control
- Language
- Local parameters selection (date, format, etc.)
- Flow rate and sifting time adjustment for each stream
- Weight calibration
User Interface
The operation of the LabMill is controlled by a dedicated, complete and intuitive user interface. Through a touch screen, the operator easily manages:
Tests
- Select the stream you want to activate and all settings (flow rate, sifting time, etc.) are automatically chosen
- Breaking and reduction parts are independent, making it possible to run 2 simultaneous millings
Labmill Configuration and Control
- Language
- Local parameters selection (date, format, etc.)
- Flow rate and sifting time adjustment for each stream
- Weight calibration
Accessories
Specifications
* Indicative values (variable according to the wheat, the conditioning, the applied milling procedure, etc.)
Resources
