How to Choose a Grain Mill

Introduction

If you are serious about whole grains of any kind, a grain mill is your friend.

A grain mill expands all the possibilities of what you can do with whole grains.

While a good grain mill is not cheap, it is an investment in your health that will benefit you for years to come.

There are a variety of home grain mill models to choose from which can be grouped according to their milling mechanism: stone burrs, steel burrs and steel teeth.

Blenders, particularly high speed blenders, can be used as well.

This post provides an overview of each milling technology with the pros, cons and popular models to help you choose a model that best suits your needs.

Milling technology

Stone burrs

How they work

Historically, grains were crushed and ground up with stones such as a Mexican metate shown here.

Later, stone wheels were used. A rotating stone wheel would crush grains over a fixed wheel.

The home stone mills available today use this same general mechanism.

In most instances, more affordable composite stones made of ceramic corundum are used instead of natural stones such as granite.

You can find manual, electric or dual powered stone home mills.

A wide variety of casings are available from wood to recycled plastic to metal.

Pros

• Quieter option.
• Cooler flour output.
• Wide range of textures: from very fine powdery flour to coarse, cracked grains.

Cons

• Can be expensive.
• Slower milling time relative to other high speed options.
• If stones are set too close together, the stone abrasive can wear down and get into the flour.
• Smaller range of grains that can be milled – most stone mills not as effective with harder grains such as popcorn and Kamut.
• Can be loud at higher speeds.

Popular Models

Stand alone

We have Wolfgang Mock to thank for creating a series of more affordable electric home stone mills.

The older, popular line of home mills created in partnership between Wolfgang Mock and Peter Koidl is sold under the product line KoMo (first two initials of the last name of each founder) mills and is available through Pleasant Hill Grain.

The KoMo mills have the advantage of offering sifting attachments which would be useful for a home baker thinking of starting a baking business and wanting to offer healthy stone milled flour products that are sifted to remove some of the bran.

KoMo mills also have models which are both grain flakers and mills so that you can for example make your own oatmeal at home from oat groats.

Most KoMo mills have 12 year warranties.

The MockMill 100 is a more recent and lower priced popular mill also created by Wolfgang Mock.

Some of the features of the the MockMill 100 are that it has a small footprint, it is eco-friendly and great for everyday home use.

The MockMill 100 has a six-year warranty.

The Nutrimill Harvest Stone mill is a relatively new stone mill offered by Nutrimill but it already has high customer review ratings.

The Nutrimill Harvest has a 5 year warranty.

KitchenAid Attachment

If you already own a KitchenAid, then you may want to consider the MockMill KitchenAid attachment which uses the same stone milling technology.

The attachment has a two year warranty.

Steel burrs

How they work

Steel burrs shear and crush the grain.

Such a mechanism is commonly used on a smaller scale to grind spices and coffee.

Large models are used for grinding wet grains such as nixtamalized corn.

These mills can be manual, electric or dual powered depending on the mill model.

Pros

• Stainless steel burrs are good to grind harder grains as well as wet grains such as nixtamalized corn when making masa harina.
• Can grind seeds, nuts.
• Manual option often less expensive than stone mills.

Cons

• Can rust if not maintained properly.
• Can heat up quickly if run at high speed which can degrade flour quality.
• If steel burrs are set too close together, the steel abrasive can wear down and get into the flour.

Popular Models

Manual

The moderately priced Victoria Manual mill is ideal for making wet masa harina flour.

The higher priced Wondermill Hand Grain Mill is more versatile and can grind both wet and dry grains as well a make nut butters.

The WonderMill has a lifetime warranty.

The Country Living Grain Mill is a highly rated manual mill which is appropriate only for dry grains.

This grain mill has a lifetime warranty except for the grinding plates which are warrantied for one year.

KitchenAid Attachment

For occasional use, this all metal KitchenAid attachment is worth considering.

The KitchenAid Manual states it is warranteed for 1 year.

Steel Teeth (Micronizer)

How they work

An impact mill (also known as a micronizer) is made up of two steel stainless steel plates with teeth.

The teeth of the rotating plates never touch but the high speed rotation causes the grains to shatter on impact into fine flour as they pass through the chamber.

An impact mill is always electric.

Pros

• Milling is fast and efficient.
• Can mill hard grains including Kamut and popcorn.
• Creates a fine flour that works really well with raised breads.

Cons

• Can heat up if used for too long.
• No truly coarse grain setting – flour is mostly on the fine side.
• Cannot mill oily seeds or wet grains.
• Can be bulky.
• As loud as a vacuum cleaner.

Popular Models

These types of mill have been around for decades and are quite popular.

I personally own a Nutrimill Classic and it is a workhorse for milling large quantities of fine flour.

The Kitchen Mill Electric Grain Mill and the Wondermill are two other highly rated grain mills that are likely to give you good long term results.

Blenders

If you don’t have a grain mill yet but you have a high speed blender, it is possible to grind small quantities of most whole grains with such blenders.

Some blender companies even have separate containers and dry grinding blades for that purpose such as the Vitamix container found here.

How They Work

The blender blades will cut the grains at high speed. Then the particles of grain get gradually smashed into finer particles as they rotate in the container through a process called cavitation.

Pros

• Blenders are great to start making your own flour if you already own one.
• Work really well with soft grains such as oats.
• Do a good job when milling in small quantities.
• Can work with oily as well as wet grains.
• Multipurpose appliance which minimizes use of kitchen countertop space.

Cons

• The harder the grain, the more likely the plastic blender container will get scratched and become cloudy.
• When milling in large quantities in a short period of time, blender blades can heat up excessively which is not desirable for flour quality.
• The final product is typically not as fine as what can be achieved with a grain mill.
• Loud.

Popular Models

Two quality popular models are Vitamix and Blendtec.

Tips for Optimal Health Results

Maximum Milling Temperature

Gluten and and nutritional properties of flour can degrade progressively with higher temperatures.

According to the book Flour Power, some degradation can appear starting at 115°F while various manufacturers claim that 140°F is an acceptable threshold temperature.

The key to keeping milling temperatures low are to strictly follow manufacturer recommendations.

Typically, it is advised not to mill for any longer than 15 minutes at a time to avoid heat buildup.

Setting a mill at the finest flour setting will also have a significant impact on how quickly heat builds as a mill will work harder to grind a finer flour.

While it is helpful to use a fine flour, it is not necessary to get the absolute most powdery fine flour in order to achieve a well risen loaf.

In fact, many people prefer using a slighter coarser grind.

Proper Ventilation

No matter the type of grain mill you choose, the resulting milled flour will generate some level of dust.

If you plan on milling grains in small quantities or occasionally, then having a small grain mill on your kitchen counter is a good option.

If you plan on milling grains often and in large quantities, it is best to mill your grains outdoors or in a well ventilated space to limit your exposure to dust.

My Experience

When I became interested in milling whole grains, I first started using my Blendtec blender.

The flour grind was coarser than that of commercial flour and resulted in whole grain bread loaves that were quite dense.

After much research, I purchased a NutriMill Classic Grain mill because I understood that the finer grind from micronizer mills yielded a lighter whole grain loaf.

I have been very happy with NutriMill Classic.

I typically use the mill outdoors every few weeks and grind several pounds of flour at a time.

More recently, I also purchased a KoMo Fidibus 21 available through Pleasant Hill Grain because I felt it would be a better mill for teaching about whole grains.

While the KoMo Fidibus is a beautiful piece of engineering, I was disappointed when I realized it was not recommended for hard wheats.

With experience, I learned I could indeed grind hard wheats but in two passes – first at the coarse setting and then at the fine setting (as demonstrated in this recipe on making whole wheat crackers).

Being able to coarsely grind grains also has allowed me to experiment with cracked grain recipes such as cracked Kamut which makes an delicious rice substitute.

Another advantage of my KoMo Fidibus stone mill is that it is great as a teaching tool because it is possible to disassemble and reveal the milling mechanism.

If I were to only have one mill, today I would prefer to have a stone mill because of its versatility.

How about you? Do you have any tips or recommendations for choosing a grain mill?

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