Reddit mentions: The best food grinders & mills

To be perfectly frank this recipe doesn't make much sense as an all-grain at all. If anything it's a relative of UJSSM, where grains are being added just for flavor, and are giving no fermentable sugars at all. I don't offer that to be cruel, good AG recipes are hard to find, just to say that wherever you got this recipe, I wouldn't get any more AG recipes from their. Here are the issues:

1. Almost zero saccharification of the corn and very little of the rest of the grain. You have just shy of 15 lbs of grain going into 5 gallons of water, 8.5 of which is corn. 8.5 lbs of just corn is a reasonable amount of grain for that amount of water, but a 3lbs per gallon ratio of grain to water is completely unworkable. If that much grain actually saccharified you would have something the consistency of damp clay. Keep in mind that polenta, which is just boiled corn, is 1 cup cornmeal to 4-5 parts water, that's enough for oatmeal consistency.
   
   You can solve this by grinding your corn. Cracked corn is truly godawful for sacch efficiency. Corn has the densest of all starch reserves for any grain, but it accomplishes that by having an incredibly organized and packed in starch reserve which cannot be pulled out lightly. I don't know why cracked corn is so ubiquitous in AG recipes, but that grind size is, without exaggeration, several hundred times larger than what is workable by enzymes and boiling water. Whiskey; Technology, Production, and Marketing has the numbers on grind size but if you need proof go buy a lb of cornmeal and make polenta. It's the exact same species of corn (dent) but finely ground. Cracked corn is likely so popular because its cheap (less than 10 for a 50 lb bag at any feed store) and seemingly ungrindable (no brew store will ever grind corn for you because brew stores use either rolling or hammer mills which crush, and corn don't like being crushed--I know microdistillers that can't grind their own corn because they are former brewers and accidentally bought a fancy rolling mill instead of plate or stone mills). Rest assured you can easily hand grind corn with something like this. It's labor intensive but that exact mill lasted me 3 years of hand-ground 50 gallon ferments.
   
   You can absolutely boil that corn, but it's not necessary, 190 strike water is fine IF your corn is ground. Neither boiling directly or striking are going to get you a real appreciable amount of corn sugar.
   
   
2. Terrible terrible conversion of pretty much all grain starches. That 20 lbs of DME is easily 2/3rds of your fermentable sugars by itself...and you only fermented about 2/3rds of your available sugars before the yeast quit. Either the starch isn't converting at all, or its partially converting but the beta phase is failing (which is a good likelihood as barley was pitched ONLY at 160f). The latter would explain why it passed the iodine test bit failed fermentation. You need to pitch both alpha and beta amylase to convert starch. Alpha breaks starches down into poly-saccharides, beta breaks polys into mono and disaccharides (gross but workable simplification). Alpha is happy from 150 to about 170, beta is happy from 140 to 155. Barley has both, so yoy can halve your barley and pitch at 160 and high 140s, or you can pitch once at 152. At 160 a good portion of your beta will completely denature leaving you with polysaccharides that are way to big for your yeast to eat.
   
   Sidenote: iodine should completely disappear with a good conversion. You should be able to add the recommended amount (everything will turn purple but not black) then shake for 30s at which point it should become such a light red as to be barely perceivable from the original color.
   
   
3. This leads us to retrogradation. I couldn't give you an established rate of retrogradation, but it starts just under boiling and goes until alpha comes in. I can tell you that 2+ hours is begging to retrograde. Luckily retrogradation is easy to solve. High-temp alpha is cheap and widely available and can be added while boiling. If you're dedicated to converting only with barley, add a little barley just after boil or strike, then split the remaining barley and pitch alpha at 160-165 and beta sub-150. Alpha will denature at sub boiling but it won't denature immediately, and will give you enough time to bring the temp down to alpha pitch.
   
   That being said you still need to bring temp down smoothly and evenly (I strike, give it maybe 15, then cool to temp in about 30 minutes). 2 hours is too long even with the above technique. This pump plus a little 1/4 inch copper coil is perfect for the job (I love these pumps, I use these little 15 dollar chinese pumps in my micrdistillert more than I do my "professional" microbrew chugger--which is an unmitigated piece of shit).
   
   This brings us to the last piece of the bad conversion puzzle. Your instinct to add backset in during boil is right, in fact that pretty much the obly reason to add backset. You need to adjust ph down to 5.5 at room temp. 7 won't kill your enzymes (because they aren't alive) but it will slow them down, and between temp and the relatively low amount of barley you're using, they beed all the speed they can get. Get a good digital meter, strips are way too inaccurate.
   
   A good conversion will have the texture of flat soda (and you can easily get 1.05-06 just with grain). The kind of thing that isn't thick at all but if spilled will obviously quickly turn movie-theater-floor sticky.
   
   
4. yeast pitch is a bit high, DADY is very rough and tumble but it prefers 78 and will make a much better whiskey (which much bigger hearts) at 68-72.
   
   
   
   Finally about equipment. A 10 gal pot is absolutely fine for cooking whiskey. You can get a big mash tun but it's going to extremely expensive for any size that's beneficial. You're much better off just doing batches and consolidating then in a big fermentor (and yes the trash can thing is disheartening, but unfortunately distilling is rapidly rising in popularity so a ton of people are trying to jump on the bandwagon and fleece people ready to start a new hobby).
   
   You can just add boiling water into a big fermentor and add grain but 1) you need all the boiling water all at once, you can't be cooling and then reheating, 2) you'll need to add some commercial alpha at grain pitch (the corn will clump otherwise), and 3) you should ferment on grain to make up for some list efficicency.
   
   The absolutely most efficient highest yield method that a homedistiller can do is boil the corn in the water for 2 hours (use a grain bag and false bottoms can be cheaply made), squeeze out the grain after conversion, then add 170f degree water back into the spent grain, squeeze out the grain again and then ADD THE GRAIN TO THE FERMENTOR (I have tested it and squeezing the grain a second time but still adding the grain to the ferment does in fact produce a marginal improvement in yield over both 2 squeezes no grain and one squeeze, 170f water, no secind squeeze and ferment on grain). But there is always a point of diminishing returns, like I said a 200f strike is plently efficient to be economical and while I could drive another 10% out, corn is much less expensive than time.

A tablet + a server running plex.

Replaces a TV, DVD player, Hulu, Netflix, Amazon et al accounts. Provides tons of entertainment when at home and when traveling.

Sleep Stuff

Personally I think there's really no proper way to value a good night's sleep. After years of dealing with poor sleep due to breathing problems in a dry climate and living with obnoxious neighbors whose religion prohibits using headphones figuring out some cheap solutions to my sleep issues has yielded immeasurable quality of life improvements.

Nasal dialaters.

I was having a lot of problems sleeping due to narrow nasal pathways + seasonal changes and my BP was off the charts. The quality of life improvement from quality sleep is hard to quantify as a value.

[Really comfy sleep masks.] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00FJQFJX8/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&th=1)
The inner lining on these ones reliably peels off for me but I still use mine and I think I could put these on 1 mile from the sun and not see light.

Super comfortable noise canceling ear buds
I have a ridiculously loud 300lb stomping upstairs neighbor who enjoys putting together furniture at 3am due to either meth or sleep apnea or both. He also really enjoys his shitty 1990s R&B. I've had several confrontations and he's changed some of it but you can't request someone not walk around their apartment when they want. I think he has knee problems so his steps are really heavy. These things are the best answer I could find. If I put these on + a TV show it drowns him out. It sucks to rely on noise to cancel out other noise but I love these things, they're super comfortable and they do the job I need.

Coffee Stuff

GeneCafe Coffee Roaster

So I'm the sort of person who is willing to spend the right amount of money when there's value. For me roasting my own coffee provides tons of value. For starters you can order green beans online for $3-5 a lb. I order 6+ months worth of coffee at a time for around $100, give or take. This roaster has now paid for itself compared to buying coffee at my favorite roaster and is in line with the stale, burnt tasting shit you can buy in giant vats at the grocery store.

But beyond just that I get the supreme joy of truly fresh roasted coffee roasted to a level I like which is a lot different than the black and greasy shit you'll get at Kroger's or whatever. I also love that I can bring this is going to be useful if/when I'm living on a homestead somewhere.

Stainless Steel French Press

Goes with the above. I used to buy glass ones and break them, but this $40 french press will probably last for a very long time with only the screen to worry about replacing and god only knows how long that will take.

[Rough Bur Grinder] (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001804CLY/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1)
I really enjoy replacing electronic equipment with stuff I can power with elbow grease. It's not much of a workout, but it's quieter and still does the same job as the electric one I had purchased and unless other electric ones I'm not sure this one will ever break. My previous ones would break/clog constantly, this one has been trucking without issue for a year and I suspect will last several.

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.

I've been very happy with my Preethi Eco Twin (available on Amazon) so far. I will say that even the smallest jar with the downsizing inverted lid is still a little big for very small quantities of spices (they tend to just sort of splay out onto the sides pretty quickly), but anything over a tablespoon or two is usually alright.

I'm a little hesitant about throwing very large, hard spices (e.g., nutmegs, dried turmeric, even big cassia cinnamon bark) into it with the normal plastic lid. I broke the plastic lid of my little old Coffee grinder (from a defunct brand many years old) with that stuff :(. The "downsizing" lid on the Preethi is rubber, I think (it's kinda hard though), so maybe it will be safe.

The benefit is that it's also great fur chutneys, wet-dry pastes, and things like idly/dosa batter. The main 1.5 liter jar is pretty sizable for most purposes, but they recommend not running a ton of heavier things like wet urad dal through it--work in batches. You need some heavy duty industrial equipment (or one of those awesome spinning grinding-stone machines) to handle that sort of stuff more than a cup or so at a time.

Anyway, it was this one: http://www.amazon.com/Preethi-Twin-Mixer-Grinder-550-Watt/dp/B007T0CIVS

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!

If you want to take your shit to the next level, buy a metal hand crank or power meat grinder and start doing your own blends.

Here is a decent one that costs 22 bucks.

Here is the one I use; it can do a lot more than just grind meat - i make sausages with it as well.

My blend: whole chuck, shortrib (or oxtail if you can find it, i like it better, but it's harder to find in quantity), and point brisket, (i do equal parts of each - remember to account for bone weight when buying) and get your grind on. Freeze all metal parts for at least an hour prior to grinding and all meat should be WELL chilled beforehand too. Do a coarse grind. Also get yourself some beef bones. Roast the bones to get marrow out, chill it and mix the marrow in with your ground meat. Finally I include a little red miso paste. Only a little.

This mixture makes the best burgers I or anyone who has eaten them has ever had. Best of all, it makes both smash burgers and big burgers.

Use ice cream scoops to measure your burger patties, and buy 3x3 parchment squares to separate them.

You can make as many as you want, and they freeze well.

Best choice is to get a meat grinder. You can get them pretty cheap, or pretty expensive, but the main differences between the prices are if it is electric/manual, the quality of the build (metal hand grinders will almost always beat cheap electric grinders), and amount of meat you can grind at a time.

By the way, the one I marked as expensive is by no means the upper limit of grinders. I use a grinder that came out of the meat section in a grocery store and it would have cost me $700+. But I grind a lot of meat during deer season and it can take anything I throw at it.

You can grind meat by hand or using a food processor/blender, but I haven't tried it so I can't recommend it.
Here's an article on how to do it by hand: http://www.steakeat.com/grind-beef.html

Edit: What's the recipe? I love offal and am always interested in new ways to make it.

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.

If you're making really smooth soups you'll need a china cap and stick blender over either. If you're doing regular ol' soups I'd think you'd only need a knife but the food mill will leave you with more texture though as a food processor is really better for a super fine 'dice'. Plus I use my mill for making my red sauce. Also cheap food processors blow. My mom's got a kitchenaid that is really nice but pricey, all the cheap ones I've used have just been junk.

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!

Ingredients:

1 pound corn

2 tbs of Lye

a corn grinder.

ok the recipe sounds crazy, and requires a lot of work, but this is the way it has been done for centuries in Mexico and it is totally worth it. you need to get 1 pound of whole white corn. (yellow also works.) make sure the corn has not been milled. you can get it from a latino shop that sells grains. you'll know it has not been milled because it has that white part that attaches to the husk.

so you grab the corn an put it in an old pot (the pot will probably be ruined) and fill it with enough water to cover the corn. bring it to a boil and put 2 large table spoons of Lye. yes you read correctly. Lye. once you do this put in the unmilled corn. let it boil for about 15 minutes. take it off the fire and let it sit overnight or for at least 6 hours. and no more than 24. (best if you do this at night.).

the next day rinse and wash the corn very well until you get clear water.

grind the corn very well. tighten the grinder as much as you can and if need to grind it twice.

you should have a very silky smooth dough. which feels strange to the touch. once you have this dough you can make a ton of tortillas with it. do not refrigerate the dough more than a day it will go bad very fast and if you don't freeze the tortillas it will get a pink mold after 4 or 5 days.

here's a video in spanish but it's pretty straight forward. I jumped to 5 minutes when the relevant part starts.


the difference between corn and flour tortillas is huge. the flavor and texture are completely different.

I bought the STX turbo force and love it! Great quality and wonderful customer service. We used it last week to grind about 60 lb of meat and it didn't skip a beat...wonderful consistent grind. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0012KJBR0/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?qid=1371999994&sr=8-2&pi=SL75

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.

I'm in the market as well, although I did find one electric one that has over 1,000 reviews with an average of 4 stars on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/STX-INTERNATIONAL-STX-3000-TF-Turboforce-Attachment/dp/B0012KJBR0/

Has a bunch of accessories & unless you're doing a whole cow at once, seems like it can handle a decent load without overheating. If I remember right, the competing ones at Cabela's have ice packs to help with the cooling issue (and I've seen other ones with cooling fans in them), so it depends on the quantity you're planning on doing. The upshot is that electrics are easier, although I feel like a manual grinder would last longer...

Little late to the party, but my Sunmile goes through thawed chicken thighs/necks/whatever with absolute ease. It’s probably gone through about 450 pounds of chicken bones and it still works like brand new. I haven’t tried it with Turkey bones yet, but I imagine it would go through with a little convincing.

The kitchenaid is generally regarded pretty poorly. It will bog down and get clogged pretty easily. I've never used a hand crank, so no thoughts there. But if you're looking for something that's relatively cheap and functional, I'd recommend the TurboForce STX-3000 which I've had for several years and hasn't failed me yet. I put about 100 lbs through it a year.

This can't be beat for price and works pretty well with my setup after a few low-tech modifications:

• A manila folder rolled and stapled into a tube acts as a 15-cent, 5-pound grain hopper.
  
• A baggie set astride the top of the mill plates prevents the crushed grain from flying everywhere.
  
• A 9x13 shallow cake pan catches about 4-5 lbs of grain before I have to empty it.
  
  That said, it does not produce a very even crush. I found that if want to crack every single grain, I will end up with some flour and shredded hulls. I hear that can be a recipe for a stuck sparge in some setups, but my slotted copper pipe manifold hasn't had any problems with it and I'm hitting mid-80s on my efficiency (that's a little high, so I'm actually considering loosening it up a bit).
  
  TL;DR - Check craigslist for a roller mill first, but this is a good cheap alternative.

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.

Like most members here, I started out with a KA grinder and sausage stuffer. The sausage stuffer was the first to go. One batch, and I saw how absolutely terrible this was. I got a LEM 5lb stuffer and have never been happier. Trust me, it's worth every cent.

In terms of grinder, the KA worked fine...it got the job done, didn't take too long, and was reliable. The problem for me was that I felt like I was burning out the KA motor. It always sounded really stressed when I sent the meat through, and it's my girlfriend's KA, so I didn't want to burn the motor out. So, after much research, I got this: http://www.amazon.com/STX-TURBOFORCE-3000-SERIES-ATTACHEMENT/dp/B0012KJBR0

Awful, cheap sounding name? Yes. Amazing grinder? Absolutely. This thing tears through 5lb of meat in about 2 minutes. I'm sure that the LEM grinder is better, but it's twice the price, and I really don't think it's twice the value. I have had this grinder for about 6 months, and I have had no problems. Even with almost completely thawed meat, it grinds it right up. It also has metal parts instead of plastic, so cleanup is MUCH easier and more satisfying than the KA.

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. ;-)

Leaving the peel on during cooking adds color and flavor. You can leave it on if you have a strong fine mesh sieve, a chinois, or a food mill. You wouldn't want the peel in the apple butter when you are ready to eat it, after all. It's worth it to get one of those if you'll be making apple butter, apple sauce, homemade tomato sauce, etc in the future. Otherwise, peel and core the apples.

Thinking of getting one of the electric grinder/mincer/stuffer like this: Homeleader Meat Grinder Mincer, Sausage Stuffer, 800W https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XPB3QLM/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_F7ZBzbFGQVS59
Very thoughtful gift, what has your husband been making?

My recommendation is to get this meat grinder because it can handle decent sized bones, and then go down to your local asian grocery store and pick up a bunch of chicken wings, salmon heads, a beef liver, some chicken hearts & gizzards, & some shrimp. Go home and grind it all up under the finest settings of the grinder, and then baggy/freeze a bunch of meal sized portions.

When you feed: thaw out a baggie, mix in a little extra calcium powder (no D3) just to be safe, add a little cod liver oil, and mix in some diced fruit. It will mimic a varied diet of whole prey, and he/she will gobble it up like there is no tomorrow.

Just capping it is the best idea on here, seriously.

You can potentially press powder or crystal into pills without a real pill press....go to your local headshop (or search online) for kief/pollen presses. They're all over my local headshops, and look like a chalk holder.

Here's one for like $10.
http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Piece-Aluminum-Pollen-Press/dp/B001DZ6NPC

It's a small sized grinder, with a more powerful motor, capable of grinding spices (including harder ones like cinnamon or turmeric), and chutneys in smaller quantities. Think of it as a heavy duty coffee grinder.

https://www.amazon.com/Preethi-Twin-Mixer-Grinder-550-Watt/dp/B007T0CIVS

https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Stealth-750-Watt-4-Jar-Grinder/dp/B01CH25MJW/

https://www.amazon.com/Butterfly-Jar-Mixer-Grinder-Matchless/dp/B00JUJ5LCO

for example.

I have a Preethi Eco Twin courtesy of my Indian MIL, used during her last visit. Comes with a smaller cup to grind spices and a larger one for dosa/idly batters. My kitchen makes good use out of the appliance :)

Getting a dedicated stuffer makes a world of difference in the quality of your product, and the ease of making the product.

This meat grinder is on sale right now, and while it runs a bit loud, it is a quality product.

Lem 5lb stuffer is a little on sale as well.

Get both, and you're sitting around the 300$ budget mark!

Corona mills can be had for real cheap in the USA. Many people seem to quite like them, I have never used one myself though. http://www.amazon.com/Premium-Quality-Victoria-Grinder-Grains/dp/B000U5NZ4I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1321901758&sr=8-1
For the 30$ including shipping it pretty much has to be worth it.

please please please dont be a moron and spend anything more than 15 dollars on a grinder.

get this, has lasted me 3 years already

Why: Fresh ground wheat has an amazing flavor.

How: I have one of these.

I found out that, with a few tweaks on my new mill, I got a whopping 88% efficiency! Jumping up from the usual 65% to 88% is a welcome surprise, but it also means I will soon have a 8.5% oatmeal stout!

nvm its a bit more expensive and in fact smaller but i think its superior http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003KRIAJI/ref=oh_o01_s00_i01_details

I don't like milk chocolate, so I've never tried making it. If you're making chocolate you need to use something like this ( https://www.amazon.com/Premier-Tilting-Chocolate-Refiner-Melanger/dp/B01EK6ILFU ) to mix it down to the right consistency and then temper it. Using a sous vide is easiest at home. I only use cacao, cacao butter (infused with CBD), and agave. Sometimes I add spices.

​

There's a ton of misinformation out there with guides online where people aren't actually even making chocolate. Here's a good series on the actual process, you should also check out this forum if you're interested.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PLy4KS4Q1T9sVHwqhdiand0d-1k6yzioJq&time_continue=1&v=fi2RY8zqy9g

http://chocolatetalk.proboards.com/

Here is a basic one And yes once compressed that's typically what I did with it, it just makes it much easier to manipulate rather than dealing with the powder.

I'm a chef and baker. Here's my 2 cents.


The flour milling process in India is VERY different than in the USA. The same holds true for European flours. Make traditional pizza margherita with super expensive Italian 00 flour and you'll discover the difference first hand. 00 flour is the cheapest all purpose flour in Italy, and a premium super expensive flour in the USA. It's expensive because US millers won't follow traditional Italian milling procedures. So it has to be imported.


Indian millers use grinding stones that operate at low speed and low temperatures. The process does not destroy the fatty oil in the wheat germ. PRO: The milled flour has a deep, rich, earthy flavor (Imagine 10x the flavour of brown roux). CON: The flour has most of the bran and extremly uneven grain size. This means the flour won't gel (bake) evenly. It's impossible to make products that rely on gel foam structure (fluffyness/softness) to transport flavor.


In addition most Indian households use a low-torque electric grinder to grind flour at home. Really good flavor, but wildly varying grain size. This non-standardization means recipes cannot be distributed in writing (cup measurements for both dry and liquid are completly meaningless). The only way to learn the correct ratio is to physically feel the dough by squishing it really hard. This rough handling (passed down from grandma) means home cooks never learn how to make cakes/pastry properly.


This is just the flour. The other ingredients differ from their US equivalents as well. Read my recommendations to /u/IndianPhDStudent for more in-depth detail.


Therefore, bad pancakes.

I got this Corona Mill and I'm sick of turning it by hand.

I've seen one thing about "get a bolt and cut the end off of it and hook it up to your drill." That's great, but I don't have a way of cutting a bolt, plus what size do I get?

What is the easiest way to use a drill with this small corona mill?

5-Pc Grinder

4-Pc Grinder

Havent tried these myself, but they have good reviews.

Premier Tilting Chocolate Refiner - Melanger

Here's a cheaper model that doesn't tilt: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B016E1NUZA/

I haven't been able to find a single one cheaper than those. And they both have great reviews.

I have this one, but I often find I am unhappy with the results as there seems to be a lot of waste, It's cheap, though.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000CFH1K/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_dp_ss_2?pf_rd_p=1944687462&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=B00724WN98&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=17EE3AP2M0PZJQ42YZBE
If you don't mind work, one thing that will get all seeds out from anything including fig seeds is a chinois. They are expensive, but I've used mine a lot over the years for very smooth apple sauces to jams. It's also good to get out all spice residue when making gravy from crock pot broth. Upper body work out though when processing big batches,
I'm seeing that Amazon has them for cheaper, just get one with an extra fine mesh and buy a good wooden pestel.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/chinois-strainer-pestle-and-stand/?pkey=e%7Cchinois%7C6%7Cbest%7C0%7C1%7C24%7C%7C1&cm_src=PRODUCTSEARCH

I've heard that this product is good for small grain bills. You can add a large funnel to the top so you can pour 3-4 pounds in there (which is all you need for 1gal batches)

This is similar to the Country Living grain mill my family bought 20 years ago used. It's around $400 now, but worth the money.


This is a cast iron wheat grinder you can buy off Amazon for $30. It bolts to any flat surface.

Grinding grain only takes a few additional minutes and effort to produce one cup, which you can add to any bread recipe and make your own bread with.

This assumes you eat lots of bread.

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!

In short...NO.
You are better off getting one of those sumeet/preeti mixers from amazon. I got one of those fancy venturist ones...doesn't do half the stuff my sisters ninja and indian mixers do. Even when we tried the dosa batters...nope...chutney....nope... my vitamix is gathering dust and I ended up getting one of these

No, I bought it https://www.amazon.com/Ultra-Dura-Grinder-Kneader-110-volt/dp/B00AFR0ILE. Here's mine mine and the stones inside. I bought it months ago and I still haven't used it yet so I can't tell you if it worked great with hummus or not. :/


Here's a YouTube video making some kind of paste: https://youtu.be/O9hnlNjBDho

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

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

A grain mill which I use to make whole wheat flour. I buy 50 lb bags of certified chemical-free wheat for about $20 each, and it takes about 1 pound of wheat to make a loaf of bread. Very frugal.

yea that one is more expencive, slightly larger but also 5 pieces.

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

You can buy your very own updated hash press Here.

> It's not milling anything.

Checkmate!

cheap press

What is this crews thoughts on cheap grain mills?

I'm thinking of this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000U5NZ4I/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1453827687&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=grain+mill&dpPl=1&dpID=41Nd7hJKtML&ref=plSrch

I'm considering going down the bulk purchase route, but as cheap as it is I can't commit if the cost savings is spread over 100 batches, which for me is equivalent to years.

I used this grain mill when I first started buying bulk grains, Saved my penny's and got the Cereal Killer Grain Mill.

This ?

I don't get why American mixer/grinders don't come with steel containers instead of the crappy plastic shit which eventually breaks. I've gone through 2 cuisinearts, 1.5 bullets, and another hand held cusineart already :(