Steve, I ground dent corn from Hickory King that we grew, using a Corona hand mill. I also took the kernels off by hand (how else?) we only had a few cobs. Just enough for 2-3 corn breads. I use the Corona mostly for nut meals, but it works well for corn too. I had the exact same problem you describe, but I attributed it to the type of corn. The year before, I grew Hopi blue and had no problems with the chaff or germ not grinding right, with the exact same grain mill. This, the flavor, and the horrible pest problems lead me right back to growing Hopi blue, and I will not grow HK again.

This year I am sacrificing the corn patch for more tomatoes, so no corn at all. However, I loved the Hopi blue, never had corn bread that good! I did not care for the corn bread we made with the hickory king.

I had to do the same thing you describe, sift the chaff from the ground meal. Same exact problem with some coarser grains getting in there too. I saved it in a baggie and I was going to add it to the mush I make sometimes for our dogs. I wonder if it would work to cook it as grits?

In any case, I have wondered if this might be the difference between flour corn (Hopi blue and others) and dent corn (Hickory king and many others)? The blue just ground so well by comparison.

Dent usually has to be winnowed to get rid of most of the chaff. You do it outside or you'll have a mess. Spread the dry ground corn on a muslin towel where there is a breeze and stir it lightly lifting a bit with your hands as you do so the wind can blow the chaff away. No wind? Use a hand fan - wife and I take turns fanning and stirring.

You never get rid of it all but it doesn't hurt anything but the texture of baked goods - just extra protein. ;)

Dave