Need info on Grain mills!! What is your favorite?

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I have wanted a grain mill for ages and have been using a tiny coffee grinder when I want to grind wheat. Which kind do you all prefer? I would love a hand turned one....but an electric would be ok if you could turn it by hand if the elec went out. My friend has a huge fancy one and I don't think that I could afford one that nice. I need a good sturdy serviceable one that will last a while. I would love to know what ya'll think!!!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 06, 2001

Answers

I have two mills - one electric and one nonelectric. I have a Family Grain Mill that is for hand grinding. I use this to crack grains for cereal but I never grind wheat in it for bread baking. It will do a fine job but it takes a LOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGG time to grind wheat by hand is this type of hand mill. If you want to grind without electricity one of the monster mills like the Country Living Grain Mill is great. I have a K-tec electric mill also. I do not reccommend them. They have a lot of inconveniences. A friend of mine has a Whisper Mill. I have seen it and I am impressed. It is MUCH quieter than my mill - which sounds like a jet engine ready for take off. I wear ear protection when I operate it. It is that loud! It also is so much neater than the K-tec - you don't have flour everywhere when you are done. Good luck!

-- Tiffani Cappello (cappello@alltel.net), February 06, 2001.

We use a Corona mill.It's hand powered and takes a few minutes to grind enough wheat or corn for bread.Works very well and it's cheap.

-- JT in Florida (gone2seed@hotmail.com), February 06, 2001.

The Country Living Grain Mill can be rigged for electric and then used if the power goes out by just reattaching the handle and taking off the belt. That is what we have done and I really love mine. Can do everything I want to do with it. Hand grinding sounds great until you get old shoulders like mine and it is hard work. The youngsters can hand milk, then hand separate and hand churn and hand grind their grains but this old girl needed to set priorities for her shoulders. I still hand milk but use electric for the other stuff when I can and save my shoulders for the hoe.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 06, 2001.

We bought a Retsel way back in '82 and the company is still in business out in Idaho. It's been running like a champ since then. It is electric but comes with an optional handle should the power go out. I've never tried it so can't comment on that.

It's easy to adjust for cracked grains to very fine flour. I've ground mostly wheat, rye and corn in it but those work very well. It's pretty fast even with fine flour and not unduly noisy. Mine uses grinding stones but metal ones are available.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), February 07, 2001.


My dear hubby bought me a Whisper Mill for Christmas and I LOVE IT!! Yes, they are expensive (he paid $219). However, they have a *LIFETIME* guarantee. The customer service is WONDERFUL. I, too, was going to buy one of the non-electric ones incase the electric went out, but had been told that they take a long time and that you usually 'put off' grinding because it takes so long. The Whisper Mill gives you a VERY fine flour in a matter of minutes and is rather quiet (VERY quiet compared to the others). We decided to go ahead and get the Whisper Mill, and then save for a hand one (there are some for under $100) for 'just in case'. Everything else that I've purchased (pasta maker, etc) has been non-electric, but we felt that the extra money spent on the Whisper Mill was DEFINATELY worth it for numerous reasons. We are a family of four, and I grind 2-3 times a week. I can't imagine having to do that with a hand crank machine. My shoulders couldn't take it! The Whisper Mill is the most we have spent on ANY appliance, but it *so* well worth it (and, no, I don't sell them! ) Again, the cheapest I have found them was on-line (at the stores, people looked at me funny and didn't know what I was talking about!) Check out www.healthforyouministry.com. Also, go 'surfing' and learn more about them. That's what we did.

-- Tracey (foralltimes@hotmail.com), February 07, 2001.


I used to have a Corona and I did not like it. I found it very difficult to get a fine grind without doing the grains multiple times. It was very difficult to turn. And attached to any sturdy table it could still wiggle loose or move the table.

I invested the money in a Country Living Mill and at first I did not like it. It was not as easy to turn as I anticipated, HOWEVER, I did buy their optional handle extender and now I am perfectly satisfied. It is SO easy to grind grains to a fine consistency in a short period of time and it only takes once through. This mill can be rigged to a stationary bicycle or an electric motor.

They do cost over $300, but for something that will last a lifetime and is so versatile and easy to use, it is worth it.

-- R. (thor610@yahoo.com), February 07, 2001.


I was going to ak his same ? just today! Please keep the answers coming!

-- Novina in ND (lamb@stellarnet.com), February 07, 2001.

Diane,

You mentioned that you had electrified your Country Living mill. I have a CL mill, too, and would like to electrify mine also but don't know where to begin.

What size motor do you use? What size/kind of belt? Are there instructions you can buy somewhere to show you how to do this or did you figure it out on your own?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated. I've been wanting to do something like this but have been putting it off for the longest time because I don't know where to start.

Thanks.

-- Jim Morris (prism@bevcomm.net), February 07, 2001.


I have a Diamant mill... the Danish built one... and I love it. It is converted to electricity.. and the stable base allows me to hand crank with little or no problems.... builds muscles fast!!!

-- Mary Ann (peanut@wi-net.com), February 07, 2001.

Hey, We have a Vita Mix. It is quite spendy, but processes grain and so much more. I find I have better success when I store my grain in the freezer before processing.

-- Maylene (zedanka @aol.com), February 08, 2001.


Jim, I sent your the manufacturer's directions but I realize now there was more to your question. We mounted the grain mill and the motor on a board after we determined what belt we needed to have the RPMs be right. Be sure you get a "v" type belt that fits the wheel. The motor we ended up using was bigger than recommended because we couldn't find one the recommended motor RPM rating. Hope that helps you. There was no picture with the instructions but it is pretty obvious how to mount it in such a way that the motor, pully and mill are lined up right.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 08, 2001.

I had a Corona for about 26 yrs. and my husband did all the grinding, he could usually grind enough flour for 6 loaves of bread in about an hour or less. He always got it fine enough. Two years ago we bought a Country Living Mill with the handle extender and while it is much easier to use and does grind a finer flour than the Corona I still had trouble getting enough grain milled each week and began to fall behind on my bread baking. I talked with my husband about buying an electric mill and he said OK just research it a bit. After doing the research I decided on the K-Tec Kitchen Mill because it has less servicing problems. True the Whisper Mill has a lifetime warranty and you only have to to pay shipping to send it back to the company,but should you have a problem you are without the mill for a time. I spoke extensively with Duane Moll of the Urban Homemaker and he even ran both mills so I could hear them over the phone. When you are in the same room you can tell the Whisper Mill is quieter but when he went into another room you couldn't tell which mill was on. My K-Tec is only very loud if you let it run empty. Also, I never have flour all over, you must use the filter while it is running. All-in-all I have been extremely pleased with the K-Tec and would not hesitate to recommend it without any reservations. I have a friend who has a Retsel but her flour gets VERY Warm when she grinds. I don't have the faintest idea how hot wheat must get before the nutrients are destroyed, but I once heard this discussed in electric vs hand mills. The hand mills do not make the flour warm at all. You can hook the Country Living Mill up to a bicycle and you can hook it up to a motor and Country Living even sells a motor to hook it to but it has been my understanding that if you do either of these two things it invalidates your warranty. Artie Ann

-- Artie Ann Karns (rokarns@arkansas.net), February 09, 2001.

diane, Thanks for the additional information and for your emails. I think I have enough information now to give it a go. My wife will be happy to hear that! ;-)

I recently drew up some plans to build a jelly cupboard that's about 12-14 inches wide/deep and 36 inches high for the grain mill to be mounted on. I'll put the motor inside the cupboard and have the v belt come out through a slot in the back of the top of the jelly cupboard.

The cupboard has a tip out door for the on/off switch. And there will be an additional storage area underneath for the mill handle, bowls, etc.

I may also look around to see if I can find a variable speed motor as this would probably make it easier to get the RPM's right.

Thanks again.

-- Jim Morris (prism@bevcomm.net), February 09, 2001.


Artie Ann, after reading your post I pulled out the warranty on my Country Living mill and it says nothing about it being invalid if we electrify. The give very clear instructions on what size motor to purchase etc. with no reference to nullifying the warranty. The mill plates are only warranted for a year. The whole warranty is invalid if the mill is used commercially or for other than what it was intended for. Just thought you might like to know.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 09, 2001.

I just found a couple web sites that give instructions for motorizing your Country Living mill. Thought I'd pass them along.

Here they are:

Motorizing Your Country Living Grain Mill

How to Motorize a Country Living Grain Mill

-- Jim Morris (prism@bevcomm.net), February 09, 2001.



I don't have a recommendation but I can tell you my experience. I purchased a manual Family Grain Mill. I was disappointed. Not so much as the time it took to grind but in the fineness of the grind. I was hoping it would be more comparable to the flour purchased at the store.

-- Mel in N.C. (frank.a.carroll@worldnet.att.net), February 10, 2001.

Mel, did you know you could tighten those milling plates down to get the finer grind? Another thing I did when I wanted a particularly fine flour was run it through once, tighten my mill plates, and run it through again. That was particularly useful when I was hand grinding, as to get the fine flour I wanted made the mill work harder than I wanted to work.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 10, 2001.

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