Very Fine Mesh Strainers (or other option)

[A Patric]

Hi all,

I've found some relatively fine mesh strainers, but they are quite small in diameter. I'm looking for something quite a bit larger, and with very fine mesh. I don't know the size of the mesh, but basically I'm looking for it to be about as small as any company makes, whatever size that is. The diameter of the strainer should be at least 8" and hopefully larger.

Additionally, I'll mention what I'm doing just in case anyone has a better idea of how to do what I'm doing.

I have some higher cocoa butter content cocoa powder that has been quite compacted and grinding it in a food processor or grinder gets it small, but not enough, so I want to sift it to remove the fine powder and then regrind the larger granules until it is all fine. So, if anyone knows of a way to sift fine powder (a flour sifter doesn't work, I tried it), and that isn't extremely slow, then I'm all ears.

Thanks for any input.

Best,

Alan

[lcdm]

There are quite a few on this website:

http://www.instawares.com/strainers.214.3.6949.0.0.8.htm

[Preserver]

sounds like you are looking for a chinois. it looks like the china cap on instawares.com but has a finer mesh. now if you are looking for the flour sift kjind the try this website

http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodli.asp?Keywords=sift

the johnson rose and lincoln have different mesh size.. i don't know which is finer. you might have to call and ask.

[Kayakado]

Any stores that carry art supplies for ceramics or glass, or chemistry lab supplies sells all kinds of mesh strainers (stainless steel) in all kinds of mesh sizes.

[A Patric]

Hi all,

Well, I measured the mesh per inch in my finest strainer and it comes in at 30 mesh. This is getting close to working, but it is still not fine enough. It seems like a lot of the strainers I see are around 14 mesh or 20 mesh per inch. I am thinking that I may have to build something myself to get as fine as I want, but if anyone knows of anything greater than 30 mesh (maybe 40 mesh) strainers for the kitchen, then I'd be interested in taking a look.

Thanks for all the responses so far.

Best,

Alan

[hummingbirdkiss]

Korean markets have the absolute finest mesh strainers for the lowest price I have seen anywhere

I bought a heavy duty one that I can smack on the counter to clean junk off and toss in the dishwasher ...for like $4 ...

[Darren72]

Have you checked out restaurant supply stores?

JB Prince has a 20 mesh strainer.

You might call to ask about their other strainers, most of which don't list how fine the mesh is.

Edited to add: I believe the mesh is removable/replaceable in the above sieve.

Edited August 7, 2007 by Darren72 (log)

[MichaelB]

Here is what you want. A Japanese drum sieve with snap in screens. You can buy screens from 20 to 65 mesh.

Link to Korin page

Edited August 7, 2007 by MichaelB (log)

[andiesenji]

Click here and scroll to the bottom of the pictures.

about half-way down the page.

the 1/32 mesh is very fine - the 10-inch is a good size.

For sifting cocoa, I sift into one of the heavyweight zip - locking bags - X-tra large.

I put the tamis inside the bag, load it with cocoa, close the bag nearly all the way then sift.

It saves cocoa powder drifting around and settling on and in everything, including up your nose.

[A Patric]

  MichaelB said:

Here is what you want.  A Japanese drum sieve with snap in screens.  You can buy screens from 20 to 65 mesh.

Link to Korin page

←

Thank you for that link. I think that this must be exactly what I'm looking for. Thank you to everyone else too. I'll check the local Asian markets first to see if I can find anything comparable, but assuming that I won't be able to, I'll contact the above company.

Best,

Alan

[A Patric]

One last question:

Does anyone actually own the Korin sifters at the above link?

They give the mesh size as:

#20

#30

#50

#65

I assume that the '#' in front of the number means "mesh" and that together with the number it signifies how many mesh per inch, but I have not seen the '#' used in this way before, and that, combined with the fact that 65 mesh per inch seems incredibly small, I wonder if the numbers are signifying something else. I called the company and they couldn't tell me. They told me to order it and send it back if it wasn't what I wanted. They said, however, that they would only give store credit, which isn't exactly the best situation. So...does anyone know for sure that these numbers are indeed referring to mesh per inch? Does anyone have these sifters?

Thank you again,

Alan

[MichaelB]

I think it is the mesh size. I have the 20, 30 and 50. the 50 IS an incrediblytight weave.

[k43]

A china cap will have holes that are too large. A chinois will be problematic, since it has two or three layers, and the medium size crumbs will get caught in between.

An easy home-made solution would be to get a 1 foot square piece of screen-door screen, make two 1 square foot wood frames out of 1" x 2" lath, put the screen between the two frames and nail it together. That will let you gently shake out the smaller crumbs.

Or you could use a coffee grinder.

[Darren72]

  k43 said:

An easy home-made solution would be to get a 1 foot square piece of screen-door screen, make two 1 square foot wood frames out of 1" x 2" lath, put the screen between the two frames and nail it together.  That will let you gently shake out the smaller crumbs.

←

Assuming the mesh is fine enough in a particular application, this is a good idea (and certainly cheaper than the sifter linked above), but I worry that the screens are not food-safe.

[A Patric]

Well, I've found all kinds of stainless mesh for sale on-line, but I've found that minimum orders for one type have been around $75. That means that if I want a few types of varying mesh sizes (which I do) that we are talking at lease $225 for the mesh alone. Then again, I'd have much greater flexibility in the shape of the frame. I could use a large Cambro container with a hole in the bottom and fill it with quite a lot of powder, and then cover it with and lid and shake it into another Cambro. I might go that route, but I'm still not sure I want to spend that much. I'm having samples sent to me, and I'm still thinking about the Japanese ones above for a simple solution. Anyway, the mesh of a normal door or window screen is not small enough by far.

[A Patric]

  MichaelB said:

I think it is the mesh size.  I have the 20, 30 and 50.  the 50 IS an incrediblytight weave.

←

I hate to ask you to work, but is there anyway that you could hold a ruler to it and tell me if indeed it really is about 50 holes in the mesh per linear inch (or about 12 per 1/4"). If not, no problem.

Best,

Alan

Edited August 9, 2007 by A Patric (log)

[rooftop1000]

I had a friend years ago that had a small combination grinder sifter that ground powders very fine.

Umm maybe a head shop

or looking up herb grinders on Yahoo, my company is blocking all the sites so it may be what I was thinking of...

T

[SundaySous]

well lets see this is what your looking for http://www.internetmesh.net/sieves.html

http://www.twpinc.com/twp/jsp/product.jsp?type=12

you want it ss 18-8 meaning food safety stainless steel grade among other things.

Those pages will give you many keywords to search for.

I would call your hardware stores tell them you need stainless steel mesh. Those sizes start @ 2 microns, I think that is still 2/1000ths of an inch. good luck figuring out what measure you need.

[Kayakado]

Pottery sieves go up to 100 mesh

http://www.baileypottery.com/studioaccesso...accessories.htm

[hummingbirdkiss]

Did you try an Asian market yet? I just went to a huge Korean market here ..... and while I was there I walked past the strainers and voila' similar to the ones mentioned above and all about 1/4 the price ..you should check it out! I am not sure of the count but these are some seriously fine mesh strainers and there are so many types! even the shakers with the mesh on top

I bought a really nice super fine one ...just because I could not resist!

I can not get over the prices on line at these places ..compared to the local store here.. and when I held these strainers they appear to be quite good quality as well ..it is worth a shot I think ..but then that is just me thinking

Edited August 10, 2007 by hummingbirdkiss (log)

[A Patric]

  hummingbirdkiss said:

Did you try an Asian market yet? I just went to a huge Korean market here ..... and while I was there I walked past the strainers and voila' similar to the ones mentioned above and all about 1/4 the price ..you should check it out!  I am not sure of the count but these are some seriously fine mesh strainers and there are so many types! even the shakers with the mesh on top

I bought a really nice super fine one ...just because I could not resist!

I can not get over the prices on line at these places ..compared to the local store here.. and when I held these strainers they appear to be quite good quality as well ..it is worth a shot I think ..but then that is just me thinking

←

Hi HBK,

I checked at the largest Asian supermarket in town, and they had a very fine mesh strainer, but it was also very small. Everything else was a fairly large mesh. Thanks for the tip though. Probably if I were in a large city, I'd have better luck.

Michael,

Any luck with the mesh measurements?

Thanks again,

Alan