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Looking to purchase a grain mill

AJAlexander

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Hey everyone,

I'm looking to purchase a grain mill so I can bulk grain in bulk.  Ideally would like to purchase used if I can to reduce cost.  My wife actually owns a Kitchenaid Mixer, and I noticed that there is a grain mill attachment available.

Has anyone used this for grinding their grains instead of the traditional 2-roller variety with a hopper?  I"m curious as to eveyone's opinions.


(https://www.amazon.ca/KitchenAid-KGM-Grain-Mill-Attachment/dp/B003DVP1V6/ref=sr_1_2?crid=14YCZ9869VR59&keywords=kitchenaid+grain+mill+attachment&qid=1563995710&s=gateway&sprefix=kitchenaid+grain+mill%2Caps%2C161&sr=8-2)

Thanks
 
That's pretty much for milling into flour. You don't want that. You can buy a decent roller mill, new, for around $100. If that's out of your budget, a Corona or Victoria hand crank mill will do a good job for half that. Both are cheaper than the Kitchen aid attachment.
 
The capacity and through put of the Kitchen aid device is very limited.  You would be there for at least an hour judging by the comments and answered questions.  I second Bob357's recommendation.  A roller mill will cost about the same and do a much better job, more consistently and faster.  I have a Corona-style mill which works very well for me and is practically indestructible. It would be about a third the price of the Kitchen aid device and does a great job with a little modifications.
 
Can get a new roller mill for $100 roughly, or a REALLY nice one for 300. Personally I'd spend the $100 if you're just getting into it.

a Corona or the kitchenaide mill is a flour mill. you can "crush" with it, but it's definitely less precise and you'll get some flour, some uncrushed grain when used at a big enough gap to crush the grain. I'd highly recommend against that.

for motorizing a mill, most people have great luck with the $50 drill from harbor freight "1/2" heavy duty corded drill" works great for me, hits about the ideal RPM. warning- its NOISY!

I'd also buy a set of feeler gauges so you can properly set and adjust the gap.
 
dtapke said:
a Corona or the kitchenaide mill is a flour mill. you can "crush" with it, but it's definitely less precise and you'll get some flour, some uncrushed grain when used at a big enough gap to crush the grain. I'd highly recommend against that.

A corona mill can reduce to flour but also can be set with a gap similar to roller mills.  I've used mine for 6 years without fail and get very consistent results not only in mash efficiency but also in screen retention on a #14 screen and in % of fines.  It is set up with a drill to operate and chews through 3 Kg of grain in a matter of 2 to 3 minutes.

 
I agree with Oginme. I used a Victoria mill for a number of years and got a great crush. It takes a bit of playing around to get it set right, but once you do, you're good to go. My efficiency didn't change a bit when I started using a roller mill set to .035"
 
Awesome, thanks everyone for the input.  Upon review I'll probably pass on the Kitchenaid option and look around for a proper Victoria style.
 
AJAlexander said:
Awesome, thanks everyone for the input.  Upon review I'll probably pass on the Kitchenaid option and look around for a proper Victoria style.

The victoria/corona style mills will do just fine.  They are better for BIAB crushes than for traditional mash tun systems.  If I needed to get a new mill today, I would be investing in a 3 roll mill as they have come a long way in quality and dependability since I first started looking for a mill.
 
Interesting, I fiddled around with a corona mill for about a year when I first started brewing and never could get a consistent crush without either having a ton of flour, or a ton of uncrushed grain.

I then switched to a barley crusher 2 roller which I've used ever since. I condition my grain 3%, crush to .033" and get pretty awesome consistency. I've run at least 2-3,000 pounds through that mill and it's still doing great. I pull it apart to run a wire brush between the knurling and lubricate the bearings about every 200 lbs or so.

I do plan on upgrading to a 3 roller at some point soon, but will praise the two roller I'm using endlessly. It has really been a hell of a trooper. All I remember about the Corona mill is it was a pain in the ass lol, I really just feel if it's between spending 40-50 for a corona mill or 100 on a roller, the roller would win my opinion every time.
 
To put this in perspective, I have made 149 brews using my present set up (soon to change) and grinding my own grain with a corona style mill (cost $30, modifications $12).  My average mash/lauter efficiency is 85.5% with a deviation of +/- 2.1% which includes EVERYTHING I have brewed and a purposeful change in grind to bring my efficiency down from 87% to 85%.

The changes to the mill are relatively minor and include rethreading the shaft, adding a spacer between the rotor and stater, and replacing the crank handle with a bolt so that I can drive it with a drill. 
 
Oh I'm not doubting that it works! I just didn't have the same experience that you did with mine, but when I was using it there wasn't really much advice on how to alter them, I'd just loosen the screw until I wasn't getting mostly flour, it seemed the biggest issue was that the two heads weren't parallel, resulting in some portions of the mill heads coming together at say .015-.020 and some coming together at .040-.050 although I never did actually put a dial indicator or even measure the gap with a set of feeler gauges.

That said, I'll still stand by my thoughts that spending $42 (In your case) and spending $100, I'd personally spend the $100 on the roller mill. My opinion differs from yours on this it seems! I also use generally between 30-50lbs of grain per batch, I'm unsure of the difference in throughput for the corona mill vs. a 2-roller such as mine.
 
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