Grain Mill Purchase: Five Important Facts

In two previous articles I have discussed important issues to consider when making the decision to purchase a grain mill. There are some other important things I did not cover which need to be covered. The first two articles were published in Ezine Articles: Grain Mill Reviews: How to Find a Grain Mill and Grain Mill Purchase: Three Things to Know.

This article deals with things that are also important and are facts that I believe you should know before making a decision to buy a home grain mill.

1. Electric or Manual Grain Mill? That is a hard one to answer. Here are some considerations. Will you be using it very often? If not, you might want to buy a manual grain mill and save some money. I know people who use it infrequently and are satisfied with a manual grain mill. If you are physically unable to use a manual, then you will want to buy an electric. Some people have an electric and a manual grain grinder as a back up. Normally, the manual system is cheaper, but not always. Some of the home manual grinders can be a bit pricey. But, to sum it up, the cheaper prices tend to be manual and the more expensive models are electric.
2. Ease of Cleaning. You will find that almost all of the grain grinders are easy to clean and rarely need much cleaning at all. Usually, the clean up is the dust from the flour. The only time that it becomes a real issue to clean up is if you try to grind oily or wet items. Then, it can become a real nightmare.
3. Noise Level: Companies usually tell you how many decibels of noise they make. I don't know one decibel from 2 so I'll give you my take on it. They all make some noise unless you muffle the sound with something that will take the noise like memory foam under the grinder or something of that nature. The loudest are not shrill, but they do make noise and over time can become annoying.
4. Motor Size: The amount of use is an important factor when checking the motor size. A smaller motor may work fine, even if a bit slower, if you are an infrequent user. But, if you plan to use it often, you should consider a larger motor for both speed and longevity.
5. Warranty: This is always important to me. I expect things I buy to last forever. I know they will not, but I still expect it to happen. What I really do not like is when something only lasts for a short period of time and the warranty has expired. I look for long warranties because I believe the item must be good or the warranty would not be so long.

Ultimately all of these factors should be considered along with others we have discussed in other articles. It is impossible for me to rate one above the other for you because you are the ultimate judge of what is important to you. These are the factors I find extremely important to me. I hope that you can use this to help you make a decision.

Be sure to check out a good grain mill comparison or grain mill review site before making a final decision. It is an extremely important part of the overall decision process.

Whatever you do, I hope you will make a decision to buy one for your good health.

Grain Mills: 3 Things to Know

Purchasing a grain mill or grain grinder is one of the best purchases that you will ever make for your family. It does not take much of an imagination to remember the smell of your home filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread. Can you also remember a time when your mother baked bread and pastries and you could smell it even outside. You knew instinctively that you were in for a treat. Remember the warmth and security you felt in your home during those times. Well, you can have that same aroma and feeling more often around your home when you finally purchase a grain mill or grinder for your home.

If you have decided to purchase one or you have just begun to think about it, there are some things that you should know before making the purchase. What you learn in the homework process can make a big difference in what you ultimately decide.

One of the main concerns is what kind of grain will your mill grind and what will it not grind. The following is a list of things that most often can be milled by most grain grinders.

• Hard and soft wheat
• Oats
• Rice
• Triticale
• Kamut
• Spelt
• Dried Beans
• Corn
• Popcorn
• Split Peas
• Buckwheat
• Barley
• Rye
• Millet
• Sorghum
• Dried Mung Beans
• Soybeans

This list covers most of the grains that you will ever want but there are some things that home grain mills cannot handle well and you need to know before making your purchase. For example, most home mills cannot handle an oily type nut or seed.

Here are some of them:

• Any grain allowed to get damp or wet...it must be dried first
• Almonds
• Cashews
• Flax Seed
• Mustard Seeds
• Peanuts
• Pecans
• Sesame Seeds
• Sunflower Seeds

There are others, but these represent the most common.

If you try to put nuts through a grinder even if they have been dried, the nuts will become gummy and make an enormous mess.

The last major consideration is the coarseness of the grind. Grain mill are usually divided into 3 types.

• Stone Grinder-They will normally grind from extremely fine to extremely coarse
• Impact Grinder-They will normally grind from fine to coarse
• Burr Grinder-They will normally grind from fine to coarse

What do you plan to do with you home grain mill? That is the question you will have to answer before ultimately making a decision. Do you bake a lot of cakes? Then a stone grinder may be in order although some impact grinders also make very fine flour. Will a fine grind fit your needs? Are you looking for coarse or extremely coarse grind for meal? The decisions are numerous. Once you have made the decision about what you plan to do with the grain mill, you can begin to focus.

I recommend that you find a good grain mill comparison or grain mill review site on the web before making any decisions. It is just one of the pieces of your homework, but it is a very important one. There are a few sites that you can get detailed information to make your final decision. Be sure to complete this very important part of your home work assignment.

If you buy the right home grain mill, you will always be happy that you made the decision because of the whole grain goodness you will find in every delectable bite of breads, cakes, pies and tarts that you make.