Grinder question

[JoeKan]

We're thinking about investing in a grinder for grain and was wondering if a coffee grinder would work just as well? The price of some of those grinders are so expensive, I'm hoping a cheap coffee grinder would work. What do you think? Or does someone know where there is a good place to purchase a grain grinder for cheap?
Thanks for the help,
Joe

[NostalgicGranny]

Mine voids the warranty if I grind anything but coffee.

[DW]

many yrs ago teaching in a small rural school, we ground wheat in the old fashion hand crank coffee grinder b/c they had done this in one of the the little house bks and we were reading it as a class. We made cookies out of the wheat.
I have an old corona hand crank that I use weekly to grind our wheat for bread...it's a workout but not bad. I don't know if they still sell them or not. I think my folks got this for us probably 30+ yrs ago and paid $20 for it.

[Callieslamb]

You can use a coffee grinder - but....the cheap ones won't last long. I have a $150 coffee grinder that I have been using for years and it is still going strong. There are inexpensive hand crank grinders you can use. We used to have to run our wheat through twice to get it fine enough for bread flour. Keep an eye out for used models at antique stores and auctions.

[RedHairedBonnie]

I have never tried it, but I think it would take many "runs" to make a loaf of bread. I have tried a blender, it worked, but wasn't the best. I have a kitchen aide, with the grinder attachment. You might beable to find a kitchen aide at a yard sale or thrift store cheap, then get the attachment. We also have a hand crank one, got it from northren brewer supply, it works well and much much cheaper than other ones I've seen in more traditional places.

[Jenn]

I was worried if used the flour would taste UUUGGGH like coffee

[Ruby]

I have used a coffee grinder. You just have to let it cool between grindings. Plus after I got it as fine as possible with the coffee grinder I then ran it through my blender and made it finer.

[Merit]

I'm hearing: Is the money saved worth the extra time & effort required? Electric grain mills will make a mass of flour in less than a minute. If you use your mill...whatever sort you end up with....once a week for a year, compare the time and labor required with the $xx hundred dollars you'd saved by not buying a grain mill. Worth it to you?

A cheap electric coffee grinder would likely mill flour for a couple, three loaves before it burned up. A manual mill might last longer, but you'd have a hard time getting fine flour for bread without enormous labor.

By the time you buy a coffee mill that would stand up to being used long-term for a grain mill you would have spent enough to actually buy a decent grain mill.

I'd buy a cheap Corona and sift before I'd try to use a coffee grinder unless I was able to come up with one of the old, heavy made types. They were essentially grain mills to begin with.

.....Alan.

[HermitJohn]

The smaller commercial coffee grinders like some restaurants and groceries used to have would do ok.

Corona mills came in many configurations. I have one that came with the burrs milled to closer tolerances so it will produce good fine grind flour one time through. Cost around $45 in early 90s. The hand crank still turned hard as its too short. I mounted mill to an exercise bike and replaced the hand crank with a bicycle sprocket. Bike pedals easily and produces high quality flour the first time through. You want the sprocket on the mill to be two to three times the diameter of the one on the pedal crank. The bigger the sprocket is on the mill compared to the pedal crank, the easier it is to turn but the slower the production. with 2:1 ratio takes about 10 minutes of pedaling to produce enough flour for one loaf bread. About 15 minutes pedaling with a 3:1 ratio but nearly effortless, even a child will have no problem with this much mechanical advantage. Bikes tend to come just the opposite with big sprocket on pedal crank and little sprocket on the driven wheel. I cut the little sprocket off the wheel and welded it to the pedal crank. The big sprocket off the pedal crank then was welded to the mill. Mounted the mill right in front of the handlebars so easy to see. Had to splice two bike chains together to make one long enough for this placement. You can use much shorter chain if you mount the mill just back of the pedals, but its awkward to turn around to see your progress.

[KIT.S]

We tried local soft white wheat in our $15 coffee grinder we use for herbs, garlic and ginger, and it didn't work at all. The wheat may be *named* "soft white" but it's NOT soft! We got a little powder out of it, and the rest was still wheat berries. I ended up buying a used grinder off Craigslist, but it doesn't seem to have the umph to grind the wheat well, either. We added a bigger motor, and it still binds up. I'd like to buy a good one, but I, too, am too cheap to do it right the first time!
Kit

[sorcerer]

I use a cheap $15 coffee grinder to grind SMALL amounts of wheat and other grains to add to my breads but it would take take days to grind enough for a whole batch! I grind it and then have to sift it through a fine sieve. The little bits that are left I cook up as hot cereal for breakfast - yummy! I am looking for a cheap grinder though as I would like to be able to grind more than just additives!

Karin

[Callieslamb]

I agree with Alan - by the time you bought a coffee grinder that worked well enough, you would be in almost as much money as you would be for a grain mill. I have a Cuisinart DBM 8 Burr Mill ( aka coffee grinder). DH got it as a 'farewell' present from one job. I looked it up on Amazon- it was $150 as I previously posted. It grinds wheat into flour on the first pass and I can do 1 cup at a time. After three grindings I have to let it cool. It is much faster than my stone grinder and it takes up a lot less space. I use it over my stone grinder for those reasons. When I want a larger batch, I use the stone grinder. The coffee grinder is just a convenience for me, I don't depend on it. For the price, you would be much better off just getting a grain mill in the first place.

[Pink_Carnation]

Our coffee grinder says to turn it off after 2 or 3 min and allow to cool since it heats up. This gives us enough time to grind 1/2cup of coffee grounds...I would guess that it would end up sitting because of the hassle to get enough to cook with.

[Windy in Kansas]

Originally Posted by Jenn

I was worried if used the flour would taste UUUGGGH like coffee

Have you not heard of coffee cake? lol

[Callieslamb]

Originally Posted by Windy in Kansas

Have you not heard of coffee cake? lol