what kind of grain grinder do you have?

[dk_40207]

Do you like it? Why or why not? Is it manual, electric, or both?
We are going to be getting one, and I don't know anyone personally who has one...so...thought I would ask.
Thanks!

[turtlehead]

It really depends on what you want to accomplish with your grain mill. Do you want something that can grind fine flour? Something that can crack corn? Electric? Manual, in case the power goes out?

We wanted an electric mill that could be run manually if necessary. We wanted a wide variety in the grinding, from cracked to fine. We decided on a Retsel Grain Mill. They're pricey but we've been very pleased with ours.

Pics and descripton on my blog, along with comments from a few folks, can be found at this link.

[Burbsteader]

I have a few grain mills.
My first one was the Back to Basics mill. It is a small mill and not very expensive, maybe $60. It does a good job, but has a small hopper and it takes awhile to get through a batch of flour. I don't remember how fine a grind it made.
I now use it for lentils.

My next mill was the Country Living mill. It is a manual that can be converted to electric. I kept mine as a manual grinder. They run around $350 I think. I lucked out on mine and caught an ebay auction and bought mine for $175.
It works great and is not made out of plastic like some models.

My recent purchase was actually a manual coffee grinder. I bought it at Goodwill for $13. I was tired of setting up my Country Living mill for wheat and then fussing with the settings for corn. So I tried the coffee grinder for corn and it works great. It is small so I have to grind a small amount at a time but it does a good job.

Our regular machine is a Grainmaster Whispermill.

Our no-power backup is a Country Living.

The Whispermill is no longer made, I believe, which is too bad as it's a very good machine. The Country Living still is and it's also a very good machine, but if you're milling a lot of flour you'll soon develop some very nice musculature. That's just the nature of any manual grain mill.

I also have a couple of Corona type mills. They're good for making corn meal, cracking grain, and the like, but are a hard road to travel for making fine bread flour.

With grain mills you definitely get what you pay for. If you're not sure you're going to use it much but still want decent bread flour I'd get a Family Grain Mill. Not too expensive, not too hard to use, and still puts out good flour.

.....Alan.

[cindyc]

Originally Posted by A.T. Hagan

Our regular machine is a Grainmaster Whispermill.

Our no-power backup is a Country Living.

The Whispermill is no longer made, I believe, which is too bad as it's a very good machine. The Country Living still is and it's also a very good machine, but if you're milling a lot of flour you'll soon develop some very nice musculature. That's just the nature of any manual grain mill.

I also have a couple of Corona type mills. They're good for making corn meal, cracking grain, and the like, but are a hard road to travel for making fine bread flour.

With grain mills you definitely get what you pay for. If you're not sure you're going to use it much but still want decent bread flour I'd get a Family Grain Mill. Not too expensive, not too hard to use, and still puts out good flour.

.....Alan.

Also a whisper mill. Very good machine. I have had mine for years and years and years. Use it all the time with no problems. Might be worth finding one used?
I need to get a non-electric one for emergencies. Haven't done that yet.

[bgraham]

I just got the kitchenaide grain mill attachment. It, obviously, is electric, and I heard that you need to run the grain through first at a course setting and then again at a finer setting, but I haven't had a chance to use it yet. Once I use it I'll let you know how it works!

Beth

[Anniebek]

I like to say that I had a grain grinder, but he left on his mission..lol. There is no way I could have used the manual grinder, so when I needed flour I had the kids take turns cranking the grinder. DH bought me the grinder attachment to my kitchenaid and I love it!! You do have to pass it through twice so you don't tax the motor, but it makes lovely flour.

Anniebek

[Cyngbaeld]

I too have a Whisper Mill and love it. I mostly grind rice into flour these days, since we are on a celiac diet.

The Whisper has been renamed "the Wonder Mill" and is still being made. I suspect it is because it is really not that quiet.

[cindyc]

Originally Posted by Cyngbaeld

I too have a Whisper Mill and love it. I mostly grind rice into flour these days, since we are on a celiac diet.

The Whisper has been renamed "the Wonder Mill" and is still being made. I suspect it is because it is really not that quiet.

Yea, sounds rather like a 747 powering down when you turn it off! But it does the job.
Cindyc.

Relative to other electric grain mills I've heard the Whispermill is fairly quiet. Of course the other electrics I've been around were so loud that I'd plug them in on the carport rather than in the house.

.....Alan.

[turtlehead]

The Retsel is not too loud - I don't think any louder than my stand mixer. It's made of cast iron. Real solid. Hopper holds maybe six cups? I never measured it. You can get metal or stone burrs with it.

[dk_40207]

Good point, turtlehead. We need to be able to crack grains and make flour from grains/rice/beans. As far as manual or electric goes, I would love to hear about one that can be both! Perhaps we should have a back-up manual one....
We do have a extra large kichenaid(but the motor has been sounding sick for awhile)...hmmm.
Thanks fro the replies!

[homebirtha]

I started with the manual Family Grain Mill. It worked ok for the price. I had to grind the wheatberries twice if I wanted really fine flour. But it was easy to turn and I liked that I could add the motorized base if I wanted to.

But now I have a Vitamix. :-) I LOOOOOVVVE it. It does a great job of grinding wheat, plus it does a million other things. So I sold the other mill.

[Lizza]

I have a Nutrimill. I am happy with it mostly but have had to send it back twice for a new motor. They replaced it both times, not problems, but still it made me wonder about the machine in general. I do like it though, it grinds huge amounts of fluffy wonderful flours. I mostly use it just for wheat berries, I haven't really tried anything else in it.

[amelia]

Walton Feed has a very detailed performance evaluation on its website comparing a number of different grain mills. I found it extremely helpful.

[annethcz]

Originally Posted by amelia

Walton Feed has a very detailed performance evaluation on its website comparing a number of different grain mills. I found it extremely helpful.

I also found it very helpful. Based partly on their recommendation, and recommendations I read on this forum, I bought the Family Grain Mill. Originally I bought only the manual base. Although it isn't *that* hard to manually grind the grain, it can be time consuming. And after a couple of months of grinding grain manually 1-2 times per week, I decided to spring for the motorized base. Definitely worth it.

Currently, most online retailers are offering a deal- if you buy the Family grain mill with motorized base, you get the manual base for free. I bought mine from www.pleasanthillgrain.com and was pleased with their service.

[PyroDon]

Mines from the 30s or 40s and runs off a flat belt from the tractor . It has a 2 bushel hopper ,50lb flywheel adjustable grinding plates, and a heavey iron frame and augar . it can be adjusted from cracking corn to fine baking flower
Dont have a clue as to how old or what model believe its got wilcox in the casting. Have two both were purchased at farm autions for under $15 .
One has been regulated to grinding charcoal the other we use for feed and food grinding

[Jenn]

Retsel use in electric mode since trial manual convinced us it took more calories than produced- had we run out of electric would've had to rig it to a bicycle or waterwheel or something. Have stone and steel- don't EVER grind corn with the stone!

[MsPacMan]

I have a Whisper Mill (electric) and I like it alot.

[virtualco]

Mine is a "Back to Basic" grain grinder and you need good arm strength to crank out any large amounts. Not bad thought for a couple of loaves of bread.

http://www.breadbeckers.com/backtobasicsgrinder.htm