Grain Grinding

[Edwena]

For those of you who grind your own grain, what kind of grinder do you have? Is there's something that you just think is the best? Thanks so much.

[Carol S]

I happen to have the Whisper Mill. From what I've read, it doesn't sound to me like there's really a very big difference in performance between the NutriMill and the WhisperMill, so I'd just see which style you think suits you better.

The only thing I don't like is that there's really not a very big difference in the size of grind you can get. Flour ground at the coarsest end of the dial and flour ground at the finest end really don't look all that different. I'm not sure what mills out there create a better range of grind, but whenever this one dies (but it's only two years old) I think I'll investigate that.

Oh, you also need to decided whether it's important to you that it can run without electricity. You can get a manual mill and then get something to power it, but you can't "manualize" an electric mill. We were okay with trusting that we would have electricity. ;)

[Jenni]

Edwena,
I have a nutrimill. I have been happy with it. I bought it bc it was the best deal at the time with my mixer. My friend has the same one and she had an issue (something got inside and caused damage) and had some customer service problems. When I melted my bowl in the dishwasher I had the exact oposite experience. They were kind and replaced my bowl for free. If you would like to try it you would be welcome to come over.

[Lisa in Ft. Worth, T]

Edwena,

I would echo Carol's comments about the Whisper Mill & the Nutrimill. They are pretty much the same quality - just different characteristics about the machines themselves. They are the top o'the line.

I have a Nutrimill and if I were to not have one tomorrow, I would get another one. I'm sure Carol says the same about her machine. I bought mine from www.pleasanthillgrain.com There are some good comparisons on this site for mills. (I haven't seen them in over a year though)

HTH! :)

[Carol S]

Edwena,

I have a Nutrimill and if I were to not have one tomorrow, I would get another one. I'm sure Carol says the same about her machine.
HTH! :)

Yeah, probably so. The only thing that would make me look more is that I'm still trying to figure out how to get cracked grain!! I think the Family grain mill and the Country Living grain mills, both of which can be operated without electricity, can crack grain. But there's got to be some other way to do it with equipment I already have, because I have got tons of kitchen equipment.

Also, if the WonderMill (which is really what it's called now; it used to be WhisperMill. Names change.) dies while I have kids in the house, I would consider one of the above products and hook it up to an exercise bike to let teen-aged boys burn off energy productively. I doubt the WonderMill will die in the next 6 years before we get rid of Peter, but by then Samuel will be a teenager (:eek1: ) and need something productive to do with his testosterone. :lol:

[Linda]

We have the Whisper Mill. :)

[Lisa in Ft. Worth, T]

Yeah, probably so. The only thing that would make me look more is that I'm still trying to figure out how to get cracked grain!! I think the Family grain mill and the Country Living grain mills, both of which can be operated without electricity, can crack grain. But there's got to be some other way to do it with equipment I already have, because I have got tons of kitchen equipment.

Also, if the WonderMill (which is really what it's called now; it used to be WhisperMill. Names change.) dies while I have kids in the house, I would consider one of the above products and hook it up to an exercise bike to let teen-aged boys burn off energy productively. I doubt the WonderMill will die in the next 6 years before we get rid of Peter, but by then Samuel will be a teenager (:eek1: ) and need something productive to do with his testosterone. :lol:


:lol: :lol:

Carol,

This is a chagrin of mine. I have all of this equipment that is worth allllllmost as much as the queen's jewels, yet there's always one function I need (cracking grain is one of them) that evades all of my procured equipment!! Now, do you have a Kitchen Aid? I'm told that the grinder attachment will crack grain. hmmmm....so that leads me to wonder why I didn't order the attachment with my new Kitchen Aid I just purchased.....yet another chagrin: brain fog. :eyes:

ETA: The Bosch also cracks grain.

[Carol S]

I do have a KA mixer, but no grinder attachment.

I wonder if any grinder would do the job. I'm about to get an old meat grinder that belonged to dh's grandparents. With proper hygiene procedures, maybe it would do the job.

I've also wondered if I could just whir it around in the food processor a few times and call it cracked.

Or maybe I should just put it in a bag and send it outside with said 12 year old boy and a mallet....

The other thing that evades me is how in the world one slivers almonds other than by hand, which I'm not going to take time to do. Obviously the factory has equipment to do it, right?

[Kristine In Indiana]

I have my neighbors Whisper Mill, she used to grind a ton of grain and make bread, but found out her daughter is a celiac. When we moved last summer, she was like, here why don't you just keep this at your house and use it. Whenever I make bread, I make four loaves at a time and take her one. It's worked out great. I know she had it quite a while before she loaned it to me cause I met her about 5 years ago and she was the original person that showed me how to make freshly ground bread. Before that I was using a Vitamix, it worked ok, but took a while to grind it.

Kristine

[Lisa in Ft. Worth, T]

Were you aware that the Family Grain Mill makes attachments for the KA?

Down in the lower half of the page, read FGM SECTION D
http://www.pleasanthillgrain.com/family_grain_mills.aspx#Family%20Grain%20Mill

No, not just any grinder will work, however, but I don't know about the grinder you are about to get. Would you feel comfortable cracking grain in a mechanism that raw meat is going through? Might be just fine. I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT MEAT GRINDERS.

I've known a couple of people to put the grain in a food processor and were not satisfied with the results but I can't remember why. I'm sure that was MORE than helpful to ya. ;) I will say, you never know until you try. That would be a mighty inexpensive test to conduct and, of course, you would come back here to report your findings. :)

[Edwena]

Thanks, ladies for all your input. You really are cracking me up over here.:roflol: I definitely want a machine where you can tell a difference in the grinds though, so I could use my wonderful fresh ground flour to make cookies and muffins. Right now I buy 100% whole wheat pastry flour for that. I know one of you said you couldn't tell a difference on the grinds, what about you other ladies?

[Melissa C]

I have the KTec kitchen mill. There is definitely a difference in the coarseness of the flours when the setting is changed. (Though your non yeast breads and muffins will be helped more by using soft wheat berries instead of hard, not just adjusting the grind.)

It grinds great flour. I don't feel like it's very user friendly in some ways... the motor is in the part that sits on top of the hopper, and there is no handle to take it off, so I think it's awkward. Also, when it gets taken off to empty the hopper, I think it makes a mess because all the flour form the bottom of the top section falls off wherever it gets set. And if it's not snapped on very tightly, it makes a royal mess! But it's a free hand me down, so I use it. I would not buy it again though if it ever dies. Maybe it will die soon. :D

Barb has the same one. Maybe she's more content than I am!

[Michelle]

Edwena,

I have a whispermill and while I can't tell the difference between the coarse, med and fine settings, I have had success with cakes and cookies.

I just leave the setting in the same place....not sure which one it is at the moment. The difference for cakes, cookies, non yeast breads is to use soft wheat instead of hard wheat (for yeast breads).


and for the record, I LOVE MY WHISPERMILL. She is my favorite maid ;)

[Carol S]

Edwena, I mentioned not seeing much difference in the coarseness. I use my freshly ground flour in all manner of baked goods. It's plenty fine enough. In an ideal world I'd love to have a coarser grind available for a coarse corn meal, but it's no big deal.

I set it on the fine end of the dial and use soft flour when we have pancakes and waffles and they are absolutely wonderful.

[Barb Cash]

Barb has the same one. Maybe she's more content than I am!

I used to be very satisfied with K-Tec til they started making the machines here! :eyes: My mixer died after about 14 years and I got another one like it! I had loved the one I had, but the new one never worked and the CS was awful. I found out that they were being manufactured here now and not made as well as they had been! I finally had to throw that one out :( , but in the meantime Benji got my old one working again and I have been using it!

When it came time to get a new grinder, I decided to steer clear of K-Tec because of the problems I had already had! I got a Nutrimill and am pleased with it so far. I wanted a large capacity grinder and this one holds a lot and I can fill it and leave it to do its job which I couldn't with the other!

HTH! :)