Can you recommend a really good grain grinder? I actually use a hand grinder on a daily basis so need one that grinds well and also efficiently. I got a Back To Basics grain grinder, but am not happy with it because it is so slow. Six minutes to grind 3/8 cup of grain. I am spending 30 min. a day turning the handle. Also, it will not grind oats, as its ad blab says it will. They just pack up in the mechanism. Years ago I had an all metal grinder with two sets of burrs that was great. Sold it during a move and cannot remember the name. May not be made any longer. Any sugg

-- Shivani Arjuna (Sarjuna@aol.com), March 13, 2000

Answers

I really like my "Family Grain Mill", it's made in Germany and is actually a Messerschmidt brand mill. It has handled everything thrown at it very well and takes a shade over a minute to grind a cup of grain (dependant on how fine you want it). Can'6t find the name of the vendor I used off hand but it cost me about $135 delivered a year ago and should be even cheaper now.

-- Don Kulha (dkulha@vom.com), March 13, 2000.

The best hand grinder that I ever had
is the Corona. They also have stone
grinders, but there is no need to go
that route as you do not acheive that
much heat when grinding by hand and the
steel works better with soy beans.

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), March 14, 2000.

Howdy Shivani,

If you're truly using a mill every day then it would be worth your while to get a good one. I recommend the Country Living grain mill, all metal burrs, will grind fine flour and will mill any grain you can put into it. They're also making a roller/flaker attachment for it now though I have not yet used it myself. I do own the mill though. Cost will run you in the $300-$350 range and you'll be able to give it to future generations before it wears out if you don't abuse it. It can also be easily motorized if you later decide to do this.

The Family Grain mill will also be OK for moderate daily use but they do not recommend you mill popcorn with it and I suspect even ordinary dent corn will probably shorten its life. There is an optional roller/flaker available and it can be motorized as well. It will mill fine flour and is not too hard to crank. Cost is in the $150 range.

The Corona mill is meant for corn and won't make fine flour without multiple passes but it's very sturdy and will make corn meal all day long. It's a bit hard to turn but manageable. Price ranges from $20-$60 depending on where you find it.

There's another mill called the Diamant that competes very nicely with the Country Living but is typically another hundred dollars or so more expensive.

If you'll do a net search on grain mills you'll find at least a dozen on the market both manual and electric. I've used nearly all of them at least for a few minutes if there's one you have a question about come on back and we'll see what we can do.

.........Alan.

The Prudent Food Storage FAQ, v3.5

http://www.ProvidenceCo-op.com

-- A.T. Hagan (athagan@netscape.net), March 14, 2000.

We have a Corona (used to have 2 of them but they are so slow and cheaply made that we gave one away and keep the other for grinding small amounts of oily stuff like peanuts) and a Diamant that we have been using for close to 10 years. Don't know what they cost now, but it was $300 or more when we bought it I think. Works well, should last a couple of human lifetimes. The large flywheel that has the hand crank handle on it is also grooved on the outside so it can be easily converted to being driven by another source of power. Last summer, though, we picked up (for $25 at a garage sale) a nice tabletop flour mill with electric motor drive, and since we got a big inverter for our electrical system, we have been using it a lot- nice fine flour in one grinding, and not any cranking to do. But I still like having the Diamant grinder/mill around.

-- Jim (jiminwis@yahoo.com), March 15, 2000.