My husband and I have grown our own wheat for over a decade now. We pretty much have it down to a routine, except for threshing. I think every year we've experimented with a different way, but have never been truly satisfied with that method. The other day, I realized I was out of threshed wheat berries to make flour. I pulled out the last of the unthreshed wheat heads and for the sake of time, decided to try another experiment.
I wondered if I could put my old, unused clothes dryer in some way to do the threshing for me.
I filled a heavy duty pillowcase about a third full with wheat heads, popped in half-a-dozen golf balls, knotted the bag, and tied it with string.
I put two bags in the dryer, turned the heat to off, and let it run for the machine's longest cycle (70 minutes).
When the timer buzzed, I dumped out the contents of the pillowcases to see what happened.
It worked! I had excellent separation of grain from chaff, with no chipped or broken wheat berries.
I finished up the rest of it this way, which only leaves the winnowing.
Lessons learned from experimenting:
- The cotton pillowcases worked best. The non-cotton ones ended up with chaff and wheat beards stuck to the fabric all over the inside of the pillowcase.
- Tying off with the string keeps the bag from working open and dumping the case's contents all over the dryer. (Tried this with one bag, just to see).
This is definitely a keeper of a method for me. Now it's got me wondering if it will work for oats and buckwheat.
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