Reddit mentions: The best electric grain mills

Well it really depends on what sort of milling apparatus you have. My in laws sent me a very old hand mill a long time ago, and it took me roughly 30 minutes to mill a cup of flour (had to run it through three times to gradually get a finer flour). That was not worth it.

It was enough to pique my interest though and last year I bought a WonderMill and I absolutely love it. It was pretty pricey but I have certainly used it enough where I feel it was worth it. It takes about 2-3 minutes to mill 5 pounds of grain. Depending on what I'm making I might sift out some of the bran, but otherwise I use it as is. I have not read up as extensively on the timeline for using the flour. I've seen that you should typically use it right away or let it age for a few weeks. Personally I've done both and never had any significant issues.

Similar to your interest, I've been able to use it to make bread with locally grown grains. It also makes it much easier to make bread with stranger types of flour, since you can mill almost any dry, non oily, grain. I've milled wheat, rye berries, quinoa, barley, kamut, buckwheat, and a few other things. My wife has a friend who makes beer and tomorrow I'm picking up some spent grain from him that I'll be able to mill. Buying those grains isn't cheap, but I can usually get them in bulk so I buy exactly what need. Otherwise I'd have to buy an expensive bag of specialty flour that I might not need much from.

If you're thinking of getting a mill there are a lot of different options out there as I discovered. The Fresh Loaf had many good discussion threads which where helpful in addition to amazon reviews and youtube demonstrations.

Oh yes, the cocoa powder should always be 100% cocoa, except when you turn it into hot cocoa mix. I meant that mass manufacturers have to add lots of sugar and milk powder in the process of making chocolate to cover up the crappy flavor.

One of the many chocolate jobs I've had over the last 12 years used Terrasoul cocoa powder for a while. They're pretty good, as is Navitas Organics. Both are readily available on Amazon and at Whole Foods and most other natural grocers (Sprouts, etc.)

Raw/unrefined or cold pressed cocoa butter is the way to go. It will retain a decent amount of flavor, and a good one should definitely smell like really light chocolate, and should almost smell sweet. It has a SLIGHT waxy smell, but if it starts to smell rancid or like paraffin wax (no chocolate smell) that's not the one to use. Terrasoul's cocoa butter has always been pretty decent.

So, a concher refiner is SORT of a mixer, but it's more of a grinder. They're usually a huge drum with weird arms inside that grind the chocolate against the walls of the machine. There are smaller versions that will do the job if you're deciding to become a more serious hobbyist, like this tabletop refiner (Premier Small Wonder Table Top Wet Grinder 1.5 Liter by SS Premier https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004OPIBV2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_KEptDbNKH13MX) but I definitely don't recommend trying to make any money off this kind of venture.

Lastly, Hershey's uses sour milk powder in their chocolate to give it a different taste. Milton Hershey basically had a bad batch of milk and just rolled with it instead of getting new milk and ended up liking the flavor more. Apparently, the company has moved over to using butyric acid instead of the rarer-to-find sour milk powder, but this is even grosser to think about - butyric acid is the same chemical compound that makes milk smell sour, cheese smell like a foot, and vomit taste... Well, like vomit. Delicious!

I came here to suggest a wet grinder too but also saw your post about a melanger. I was intrigued as i had never heard of it. Seems like it is the exact same thing as an Indian wet grinder, which is a very common household appliance in South India because raw rice and lentils are made into a fermented wet batter which is used for multiple everyday dishes (like dosa, the Indian crepe).

In fact, a certain Indian company even takes their regular Indian wet grinder and just calls it a melanger and charges a bit higher.

I also came across this video which uses an Indian wet grinder or melanger to do exactly what OP is asking - which is to produce nut butter. These granite stone-on-stone tabletop wet grinders cost about $200 and are also significantly cheaper than most commercial blenders or especially peanut butter machines which seem to run into thousands of dollars.

Just a note of caution: The grinding motion, even though it is a rolling action, does produce heat. When grinding wet batter, the batter helps dissipate the heat and the liquidiness of the batter also reduces friction and keeps heat very low. If you're going to use it to grind nuts, consider roasting them to make them softer. And consider either adding some liquid or if you're doing dry grinding to get nut butter, then point a tablefan at the grinder like the video does. Because the grinder will need to run for an hour or two to give you a super smooth silky paste. Stone wet grinders work gentle and slow but ultimately give super smooth batters and pastes.

I would also imagine this would work for tahinis and hummus and other pastes.

I was looking for pour overs that specifically were filter-less for the reasoning of: more eco-friendly and more cost-effective for not having to buy filters every time. I chose that brand after researching different ones on Amazon, looking at reviews, etc. That one had the best reviews and seemed to be sufficient. Do you think otherwise?

My budget is somewhere around $100-$125

1. What do you use? I'm trying to not spend crazy money if I don't need to, especially if I can just use a regular kettle. But at the same time, if I will get a better cup of coffee with the gooseneck, I will purchase that.
   Here is the one I have in my Amazon cart:
   
   Gooseneck Pour Over coffee and tea kettle with built in thermometer - Large Stainless Steel 40fl oz capacity https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B078WFBDZD/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_pjFzCb8GQN6W6
   
   
2. Okay, cool. Bc I'm purchasing a food scale that looks to be decent!
   
   
3. What grinder do you use? I was thinking of getting this one:
   
   KRUPS F203 Electric Spice and Coffee Grinder with Stainless Steel Blades, 3-Ounce, Black https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B00004SPEU/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_WiFzCb6C8ME5G
   
   What do you think?
   
   Actually, after looking more now, this grinder looks the best.
   
   SHARDOR Coffee Bean Grinder Electric, Removable Bowl with Stainless Steel Blade, Black. https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B07FPDJ1FK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_nmFzCb4BEZDFX

$100 is a tough budget. Many of of the less expensive grain mills won't work with larger items like chickpeas. And the ones that would are not burr grinders (recommended) and are larger coffee/nut grinders (inconsistent results).

If you need to stick with your budget and if you don't mind breaking up the chickpeas into smaller pieces prior - in a coffee or nut grinder...

When I started looking, I was looking at this one - https://www.amazon.com/Deluxe-Crank-Grinds-Grains-VKP1024/dp/B006P2KG0Q/

http://victorio.info/grain-mill.html

It has a knob to easily adjust fineness or coarseness of the final product, has a large hopper and can mill a variety of sizes of (non-oily) seeds and grains.

You can also purchase the optional motor (~$70) if hand cranking becomes a chore.

Next best thing is the electric Wonder Mill with the large bean attachment - ~$270.00 on Amazon.

​

I ended up with a KitchenAid mixer (stroke of luck) and acquired the mill attachment because it does support larger items.

1. Oh my god - I DO have that book! I didn't even think of using it! Also, I grind it on a "bread" setting which is om between
   pastry" and
   coarse" - it's still pretty fine (can barely distinguish the bran with my fingers).
   
   
2. I bought a small one (I live in an apartment in a big city) and it's awesome. This is the one I have, it's only about $220 on amazon.
   
   
3. Thank you for your help!

Grain mill. So many are super expensive, but this seems like a nice compromise between not being >$100 but still seems good. It also has an electric attachment which I might get depending on how much I use it.

That's a champion juicer -- many other juicer designs won't work and will just spit out the nibs. However, you would be better off skipping the juicer and getting one of these to grind: http://www.amazon.com/Premier-Wonder-Table-Grinder-110v/dp/B004OPIBV2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427127072&sr=8-1&keywords=premier+wonder+grinder .

You want the chocolate to be below 30 or so microns in particle size and these will usually get there in less than a day.

You can also use a mortar and pestle (heat it in the oven first) if you want an extremely intense arm workout.

Im pretty sure this is the exact mill at my local supplier

http://www.amazon.com/Weston-Cereal-and-Multi-Grain-Mill/dp/B000T3ML4G/ref=sr_1_5?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1345762706&sr=1-5&keywords=corona+mill

Though its 15 bucks more there, heh heh. Woo interwebs shopping :P Could buy some bottle caps on amazon right away too to make the shipping worthwhile.

We use this electric one which was gifted to us. It's spendy and very loud, but efficient.

That's the hard part to stomach--the initial "investment." I think a loaf of bread costs us about 50 cents overall, so when we're good about making our own bread, we save about $1.5-2.00 per loaf. The grinder pays for itself over time. Not sure how much we're saving on the flour itself versus what we would buy at the store.

EDIT: I have not used a hand grinder, which is much cheaper, but I imagine they aren't too easy to use or mess-free, but make perfect sense to own in case there's an apocalypse and no power, in which case my grinder would be completely useless.

If you're doing BIAB or MIAB, an inexpensive Corona Mill from Amazon of Ebay will work just fine for you. I've used on like this http://www.amazon.com/Weston-Cereal-and-Multi-Grain-Mill/dp/B000T3ML4G/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1449439443&sr=8-7&keywords=corona+mill&refinements=p_85%3A2470955011%2Cp_72%3A2661619011 for years, for under $30.00. You can motorized them with a drill, but the exercise is good for the soul and gets you in touch with the Zen of the grain. ;-)

Ready-mix concrete is labeled as a Category 1A carcinogen. Not to mention there's some weird admixtures in concrete to increase plasticity/reduce water/accelerate curing.

I doubt you'll be reaching significant levels, but still, seems like an easy problem to avoid by simply buying some rollers or having some made.

Especially when you can buy more effective rollers for <$100


Source

actually this works. gets you really high. you'll want to first dry it out for 2-3 weeks. then you've got to grind it, which you'll want to use somethign like this https://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Medicine-Electric-Pulverizer-Certification/dp/B01MG2FEGE. then you'll need to find a glass pipe to smoke it with. Then the most important step - that almost everyone does wrong, and why nobody thinks carrots get you high - is you've got to smoke the bowl using your anus. yep, just put it up there and pucker-up. You'll probably need your boy to light the bowl tho. no homo, no homo. good luck, OP!

Why: Fresh ground wheat has an amazing flavor.

How: I have one of these.

I typically hit 75%, occasionally getting up to 80%.

I mill my grains at home in a Barley Cursher. I have the rollers set as close together as I can get them while still being able to fit grain through. I am basically making flour.

I use a The Brew Bag in my 42 quart kettle, the mesh is very fine and I can get away with a very fine crush.

I have some silicone grill gloves and we squeeze the shit out of the bag.

No laudering, no sparging. I do a full volume mash, I don't add any water throughout the process at all.

That is pretty cool.

The kind I'm hoping to one day DIY build is similar to this: https://www.amazon.com/Komo-25-KOMOCLASSIC-KoMo-Classic-Grain/dp/B00GH11O7E

The price is outrageous for maybe $50 in materials, and that is why people build their own.

One of those linens for baguettes if you bake those. And maybe a nice pizza stone for other types of bread?

Stock up on different kinds of flour too! Or maybe even a grain mill if you want to make your own flour!

It tastes so much better too. A friend has a counter top mill that she uses to make wheat and other types of flour at home. It is so damned tasty. She actually toasts it before milling it, which I am not sure is normal. But the bread she makes is out of this world.

Used this one for several years with good results. Kept it as a backup when I got a roller mill.

https://smile.amazon.com/ABC-Cork-Co-DI-8ROL-4F7B-Traditional/dp/B001D6KETC/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1541798355&sr=8-4&keywords=victoria+mill&dpID=41lx1VMGZvL&preST=_SX342_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

It's been a while since I did the research, but I think this was the one I was going to buy.

https://www.amazon.com/WonderMill-Electric-Grain-Grinder-Mill/dp/B000CPJKWC/

If i remember right, this one has adjustable plates so you can grind grains to flour, then adjust the plates closer to re-grind to finer flours if needed. It's not too loud either, but the body is rather light so you might need to babysit to make sure it doesn't walk across the counter and onto the floor.

You don't want any un-crushed grains if you can help it. If you're doing a brew-in-the-bag and can adjust for a little bit more trub loss and grain absorption you can crank your grind down a bit further.

If you're using a more traditional MLT and are worried about a stuck mash, then you'll want to be a bit more careful about your grind.

I used one of those corona-style mills on my last brew day (my first all-grain). Aside from the fact that my arm got tired pretty quickly, I managed to hit my numbers pretty closely. http://www.amazon.com/Weston-Cereal-and-Multi-Grain-Mill/dp/B000T3ML4G/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1346088311&sr=1-3&keywords=corona+mill

My mixer and grain mill allow me to make 100% whole wheat organic bread for about $0.50 a loaf. I have been using my gear for 25 years; I considered it a buy it for life purchase.

Not really.

My dad uses something like this. It's heavy as balls and it's a real workout to use, but there are electric ones and you can get a drill adapter for a 1/2" drill if you prefer.

I just looked it up on Amazon, and the US version says it has a 1600W hearing element.

Here is the link.

I brew it, she bakes it. As a result we have one of these, with the optional motor. Deluxe Grain Mill by VICTORIO VKP1024 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B006P2KG0Q/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_R0rUBbCP2KBRQ

I’d never use it for Homebrew through

Giraffe-X 150g Electric Herb Grain Spice Grinder Cereal Mill Grinder Flour Powder Machine,Portable High Speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07L55G5QC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_ig7SDbRZ4TBJ4

> It's not milling anything.

Checkmate!

You can buy mills made for home brewers for a some what reasonable price, more so if you can find a local used one.

Example:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B013JS324A?psc=1

This mill costs $500??!


KoMo Classic Mill, Beechwood https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GH11O7E/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_p0kWDb4AZQATZ

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00A2YG6C0?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_title

Just this guy. I can report that it works, but you have to supply your own podcasts.

I have a cheap hand grinder, and just eyeball it to make sure that all the grains are getting crushed ( http://www.amazon.com/GM-150-Grinding-Multigrain-Soybeans-Shelled/dp/B00A2YG6C0 ). You might be draining too fast at first if you are getting a stuck mash. You want the bed to condense a little, but not compact like that.

Yeah I am crushing my own grains and my crusher I bought isn't the greatest. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B014M8WS14/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I may head up to the LBH and by a kit and use their crusher. That might be the big factor.

Does anybody have any experience with this mill? I was wanting a Cereal Killer but got this as a gift so I'm trying to figure out if I should return it and go for the CK (same price) or just roll with it.

No joke - they are the same thing. .01% of people will ever taste the difference between the brands you posted.

Go steel if you can. Again, glass and stainless steel are the same thing, but steel lasts forever.

I've used this daily for a few years now. 0 complaints, and it was one of the cheaper steel models I've found.

Finalizing my shopping list to move from 1 gallon to 2.5-3 gallon batches, BIAB, all to be done on my condo glasstop stove. Can anyone tell me if I'm missing anything on my shopping list?

5 Gal Kettle w/ thermometer and valve

Hose Barb Fitting

Elbow Barb Fitting for bottling (assuming I use my kettle as a bottling bucket)

Fresh Grain Bag

Grain Mill to replace Corona Mill

3 Gal Carboy (or should I get a 5 gallon bucket? Or something else?)

Hose for clean transfer to fermenter

Wort Chiller (and all the necessary plumbing to add a t bar and valve to my kitchen sink)

I have a larger auto-siphon (although I'd rather find something else - I hate auto siphons) to rack to a bottling bucket.

What am I missing? Do I need a false bottom?

Thanks!