Hi @rory_mccarthy - Kelp must be very dry in order to mill it, or it will gum up a machine. The recommended type of mill is a hammer mill (blade/burr/stone mills will not work). Please let us know if you have further questions!
@grace_collery After a bit of research we recently purchased and are beginning to use this hammer mill: https://timaticusa.com/tp2-grinding-mill. It's the only one we've used and so far, we are pleased with it. We have only milled very dry kelp (less than 10% moisture).
Thanks for sharing @evie_witten! That mill seems like a great option. @john_smet my colleague also recommended hammer mills from either Schutte or Meadows. The folks at Meadows mentioned moisture content has to be less than 15% for their model 5 hammer mill. @rory_mccarthy in terms of drying kelp, there isn't one best practice as drying efficiently remains a bottleneck in the industry. However, many companies have been drying successfully using greenhouses/high tunnels for years now. This method is currently the most cost effective option on a smaller scale, but can be quite labor intensive. It will require enough sunlight and some companies also use a dehumidifier/supplemental heat source. If you're not looking to dry yourself, you can reach out to @mitchell_lench about their drying services in Maine.
@rory_mccarthy Depending on the species and your loss when drying and powdering (a bit will be lost to ambient air powder unless you 'catch' it during the powdering process) 5 lbs of fresh weight should yield about .5lbs of powder. Maybe a bit less.
Thanks @john_smet! Hi @rory_mccarthy, yes the ratio of wet: dry is typically 10:1 for sugar kelp. This particular species has a very high water content.
@rory_mccarthy our hammer mill can efficiently mill kelp down to about U.S. 20-mesh particle size. For a finer granule or powder, we use a pulverizer. I've seen some mills have success down to about 32-mesh, but the product must be very dry and processing time increases significantly. As for drying, we have purchased a large industrial dehydrator with a capacity of 30,000 wet lbs. a day. Both machines have processing capacity open for this season and next, don't hesitate to reach out if you want to learn more about the services we offer. dlabbe@oceansbalance.com -Dave
@david_labbe How energy intensive is your drying process? Are you able to share how many kwh it takes to run 30,000 wet lbs through your industrial dehydrator? Thanks!
@john_smet we are currently in the trial period of running the machine and don't have this exact number yet, but I will make a note to follow up when we bottom this out. -Dave
@david_labbe thank you for offering to follow up on @john_smet 's question about energy use. We are trialing a few different drying methods and measuring labor and energy efficiency (often inversely related) and are also interested to understand more about large-scale commercial dehydrators. We will also share our results.
@david_labbe@john_smet The amount of energy in removing a certain amount of water will always be constant, but it depends on how dry you want the seaweed and if you "pre-dry" it in the sun first (saves energy you have to put in but costs in labour) or if you machine dry from wet (costs energy but saves on labour). What's most cost effective in the end will depend on the scale of your operation. Smaller operations will better benefit from hand drying ourdoors cause it's not that labour intense with smaller volumes, and large operations may benefit from machine drying. However you must also factor in the aquisition cost of the dehydration machine and write it off per year to make a fair estimate. The best option is of course collaboration where you pay someone who already has the hardware to dry in their machine. You dont have to buy it, and the company who bought it can get some of their investment cost back. Win-win.
@david_labbe I work for Schutte Hammermill and we typically recommend drying the Seaweed and Kelp to less than 15% in order to bring the material down to powder-like sizes. A Hammermill is a cheap and effective way to process the material. Whether you are bringing the material down to powder or flake for seasonings, Schutte offers stainless steel options for our equipment. See the brochure below for more information! Seaweed-Kelp Brochure
Hi @rory_mccarthy - Kelp must be very dry in order to mill it, or it will gum up a machine. The recommended type of mill is a hammer mill (blade/burr/stone mills will not work). Please let us know if you have further questions!
@grace_collery Do you have a specific model in mind? Will it work for all parts of the plant (stipe, blades, holdfast)?
Thanks!
@grace_collery Hi Grace, thank you for your response. What is the best way to dry kelp so it can be milled?
I know that @michael_doall and @evie_witten have both experimented with different mills for kelp. Perhaps they could share what did and didn't work?
@grace_collery After a bit of research we recently purchased and are beginning to use this hammer mill: https://timaticusa.com/tp2-grinding-mill. It's the only one we've used and so far, we are pleased with it. We have only milled very dry kelp (less than 10% moisture).
Thanks for sharing @evie_witten! That mill seems like a great option. @john_smet my colleague also recommended hammer mills from either Schutte or Meadows. The folks at Meadows mentioned moisture content has to be less than 15% for their model 5 hammer mill.
@rory_mccarthy in terms of drying kelp, there isn't one best practice as drying efficiently remains a bottleneck in the industry. However, many companies have been drying successfully using greenhouses/high tunnels for years now. This method is currently the most cost effective option on a smaller scale, but can be quite labor intensive. It will require enough sunlight and some companies also use a dehumidifier/supplemental heat source. If you're not looking to dry yourself, you can reach out to @mitchell_lench about their drying services in Maine.
@grace_collery Hi! Thank you for your answers! Do you know how much powder 5 pounds of kelp yields when dried?
@grace_collery Do you have a specific model in mind? Will it work for all parts of the plant (stipe, blades, holdfast)?
Thanks!
@grace_collery Hi Grace, thank you for your response. What is the best way to dry kelp so it can be milled?
I know that @michael_doall and @evie_witten have both experimented with different mills for kelp. Perhaps they could share what did and didn't work?
@grace_collery After a bit of research we recently purchased and are beginning to use this hammer mill: https://timaticusa.com/tp2-grinding-mill. It's the only one we've used and so far, we are pleased with it. We have only milled very dry kelp (less than 10% moisture).
Thanks for sharing @evie_witten! That mill seems like a great option. @john_smet my colleague also recommended hammer mills from either Schutte or Meadows. The folks at Meadows mentioned moisture content has to be less than 15% for their model 5 hammer mill.
@rory_mccarthy in terms of drying kelp, there isn't one best practice as drying efficiently remains a bottleneck in the industry. However, many companies have been drying successfully using greenhouses/high tunnels for years now. This method is currently the most cost effective option on a smaller scale, but can be quite labor intensive. It will require enough sunlight and some companies also use a dehumidifier/supplemental heat source. If you're not looking to dry yourself, you can reach out to @mitchell_lench about their drying services in Maine.
@grace_collery Hi! Thank you for your answers! Do you know how much powder 5 pounds of kelp yields when dried?
@rory_mccarthy Depending on the species and your loss when drying and powdering (a bit will be lost to ambient air powder unless you 'catch' it during the powdering process) 5 lbs of fresh weight should yield about .5lbs of powder. Maybe a bit less.
Thanks @john_smet! Hi @rory_mccarthy, yes the ratio of wet: dry is typically 10:1 for sugar kelp. This particular species has a very high water content.
Thanks @john_smet! Hi @rory_mccarthy, yes the ratio of wet: dry is typically 10:1 for sugar kelp. This particular species has a very high water content.
@rory_mccarthy our hammer mill can efficiently mill kelp down to about U.S. 20-mesh particle size. For a finer granule or powder, we use a pulverizer. I've seen some mills have success down to about 32-mesh, but the product must be very dry and processing time increases significantly.
As for drying, we have purchased a large industrial dehydrator with a capacity of 30,000 wet lbs. a day. Both machines have processing capacity open for this season and next, don't hesitate to reach out if you want to learn more about the services we offer. dlabbe@oceansbalance.com
-Dave
@david_labbe How energy intensive is your drying process? Are you able to share how many kwh it takes to run 30,000 wet lbs through your industrial dehydrator? Thanks!
@john_smet we are currently in the trial period of running the machine and don't have this exact number yet, but I will make a note to follow up when we bottom this out. -Dave
@david_labbe thank you for offering to follow up on @john_smet 's question about energy use. We are trialing a few different drying methods and measuring labor and energy efficiency (often inversely related) and are also interested to understand more about large-scale commercial dehydrators. We will also share our results.
@david_labbe @john_smet
The amount of energy in removing a certain amount of water will always be constant, but it depends on how dry you want the seaweed and if you "pre-dry" it in the sun first (saves energy you have to put in but costs in labour) or if you machine dry from wet (costs energy but saves on labour). What's most cost effective in the end will depend on the scale of your operation. Smaller operations will better benefit from hand drying ourdoors cause it's not that labour intense with smaller volumes, and large operations may benefit from machine drying. However you must also factor in the aquisition cost of the dehydration machine and write it off per year to make a fair estimate.
The best option is of course collaboration where you pay someone who already has the hardware to dry in their machine. You dont have to buy it, and the company who bought it can get some of their investment cost back. Win-win.
@david_labbe I work for Schutte Hammermill and we typically recommend drying the Seaweed and Kelp to less than 15% in order to bring the material down to powder-like sizes. A Hammermill is a cheap and effective way to process the material. Whether you are bringing the material down to powder or flake for seasonings, Schutte offers stainless steel options for our equipment. See the brochure below for more information!
Seaweed-Kelp Brochure
@david_labbe How energy intensive is your drying process? Are you able to share how many kwh it takes to run 30,000 wet lbs through your industrial dehydrator? Thanks!
@john_smet we are currently in the trial period of running the machine and don't have this exact number yet, but I will make a note to follow up when we bottom this out. -Dave
@david_labbe thank you for offering to follow up on @john_smet 's question about energy use. We are trialing a few different drying methods and measuring labor and energy efficiency (often inversely related) and are also interested to understand more about large-scale commercial dehydrators. We will also share our results.
@david_labbe @john_smet
The amount of energy in removing a certain amount of water will always be constant, but it depends on how dry you want the seaweed and if you "pre-dry" it in the sun first (saves energy you have to put in but costs in labour) or if you machine dry from wet (costs energy but saves on labour). What's most cost effective in the end will depend on the scale of your operation. Smaller operations will better benefit from hand drying ourdoors cause it's not that labour intense with smaller volumes, and large operations may benefit from machine drying. However you must also factor in the aquisition cost of the dehydration machine and write it off per year to make a fair estimate.
The best option is of course collaboration where you pay someone who already has the hardware to dry in their machine. You dont have to buy it, and the company who bought it can get some of their investment cost back. Win-win.
@david_labbe I work for Schutte Hammermill and we typically recommend drying the Seaweed and Kelp to less than 15% in order to bring the material down to powder-like sizes. A Hammermill is a cheap and effective way to process the material. Whether you are bringing the material down to powder or flake for seasonings, Schutte offers stainless steel options for our equipment. See the brochure below for more information!
Seaweed-Kelp Brochure