I am currently looking at buying a manual grain mill, but aside from small amounts of grains ground in a coffee mill, have no personal experience with the brands that i have found on the market. I am looking at a less expensive type (would love the more expensive types, but cost is prohibitive). I have found 4 brands i am interested in, but want some advice from those who have used any or all, as this will be a central daily use machine for me, as i eat a lot of grains on a daily basis anyway. I did a search and found 4 types i could afford- the Family grain mill, the Back to Basics, the Jupiter, and the Retsel Little Ark. All of these are in the roughly $100.00 range, and seem pretty good, but if i could hear from those out there who have actually used any of them, i would really appreciate it. Thanks

-- Damian Solorzano (oggy1@webtv.net), October 11, 1998

Answers

I'd suggest reading the grain mill writeup at Homestead:

http://www.teleport.com/~dany/mill/

They do cover the Family grain mill and the Little Ark. They like the Family, not the Little Ark [Pity: I read this after I ordered my Little Ark]

-- rocky (rknolls@hotmail.com), October 11, 1998.

We purchased the Back to BAsics Mill about 4 months ago. We too were prohibited by cost from purchsing the more expensive moels., We really like thislittle mill, have had no problems with it. It grinds up the wheat small enough that it makes good bread. It WILL grind up other grains even large grains if they are cracked first. It will make peanut butter, it came with instructions for making it and cornmeal from popcorn (with out first cracking it) and has instructions for milling beans and such. At $69 I consider it a good investment. Especially since it has a 2 year warranty on parts. The parts are not expensive and we have ordered extra to have on hand (from Lehman's)

Mac

-- Macajah B. (macajah@usa.net), October 12, 1998.

I'm interested in Lehman's "Best" mill ($129), but hesitate to buy it because I'm not 100% sure it's capable of grinding dent corn. Also, I'd prefer a mill with steel burrs rather than stones; don't know about that feature either.

Anyone out there who has experience with a recent example of this mill, please post!

-- Max Dixon (Ogden, Utah USA) (Max.Dixon@gte.net), October 13, 1998.

Matt - I don't have experience but I ordered the Country Living Grain Mill and I believe it has what you want. It is reviewed in the URL referenced above. I paid $395.

-- Amy Leone (aleone@amp.com), October 13, 1998.

I bought the Family Grain Mill from Homestead. I am very happy with it and Homestead are great to work with. The Family has a large hopper, a 5 yr. guarantee, easy to clean, creates no dust, and grinds quickly and easily. I also bought the flaker mill that attaches on it, too. Can make rolled oats from oat groats. I does bring the cost up to about $180, but I really wanted it. Quite a mill for the price, I think. Good luck.

-- Mary (Beachyfe@hotmail.com), October 18, 1998.