Grain mills

[terri9630]

I hope the time is right BEFORE I need it.

 

[BarredBuff]

Have you tried craigslist?? Ebay??

 

[terri9630]

I haven't tried craigs list yet.

 

[SSDreamin]

We bought the Country Living Grain mill. Like the large wheel when grinding by hand. Can also be motorized or run by pedal power if need be. We also have a small, very functional mill (can't remember the name. Bought it at Emergency Essentials, although I did notice they have raised the price quite a bit since we got ours) that we bought as a back up/more portable option for us.

I would say the negatives for the Country Living is the fact that it must be screwed down to a VERY stable surface (they do offer a wall mount for it, but I felt it was too pricey and not practical for our situation) and it is tough to fine tune it to my wants. The small grinder actually is much easier to set, but takes a loooong time to get the amounts I need.

We have a sad Craiglist here. Good deals are very few and very far between.

Did I hear right? Busseys is gone?! LOVED THAT PLACE!! So many great deals, everywhere you look - never walked out empty handed

 

[terri9630]

We bought the Country Living Grain mill. Like the large wheel when grinding by hand. Can also be motorized or run by pedal power if need be. We also have a small, very functional mill (can't remember the name. Bought it at Emergency Essentials, although I did notice they have raised the price quite a bit since we got ours) that we bought as a back up/more portable option for us.

I would say the negatives for the Country Living is the fact that it must be screwed down to a VERY stable surface (they do offer a wall mount for it, but I felt it was too pricey and not practical for our situation) and it is tough to fine tune it to my wants. The small grinder actually is much easier to set, but takes a loooong time to get the amounts I need.

We have a sad Craiglist here. Good deals are very few and very far between.

Did I hear right? Busseys is gone?! LOVED THAT PLACE!! So many great deals, everywhere you look - never walked out empty handed

Busseys is still there. Or it was when we left TX 6yrs ago. Nothing like it in Southern NM.

 

[kstaven]

If you ever consider a grain mill also look at how fast you are turning it or how fast the motor turns it. Heat is a huge detriment when milling grains and getting a good quality product.

 

[terri9630]

If you ever consider a grain mill also look at how fast you are turning it or how fast the motor turns it. Heat is a huge detriment when milling grains and getting a good quality product.

I just want one I CAN turn. I've read a lot of reviews and they have all said that they are difficult to turn. Of course after hand cranking the jack on my horse traielr maybe its not as difficult as people say. Wish someone I knew had one so I could try it and see. That would be so helpful.

 

[TanksHill]

I found my mill used on CL. Is from the 70s and huge. It's a Magic mill and I got it for a steal. It is a mill with a straight drive and stones. With a handle added to the drive shaft it could be hand turned. I figued I could always use a pair of chanel locks or something.

Any ways I searched CL for a couple years before it turned up. It was listed as a grinder. So keep your eyes open.

G

Welcome by the way.

 

[terri9630]

Thanks. I've been looking but not much around here I guess.

 

[Icu4dzs]

I broke down and bought the Country Living Grain Mill (CLGM), too. I am convinced it will out last me and it has a hand crank which, if you add a small modification of an extension from the wheel to the handle can be turned with a lot less effort. It comes with a large V-belt wheel to which the handle for cranking is attached by a bolt. This is good because you can take off the handle easily and hook up a v-belt to an electric motor and grind away.

Unfortunately for me, the motor I did attach isn't that powerful so I have to basically feed the wheat/grains in slowly if I only want to do one run. If I open the plates a bit I can put a lot more grain in the hopper and run it. Once it is ground coarse, I can run that through again and get it more fine. The draw back is time consumption. Time is the big "?" in all the things I do. At any rate DO get the modification that allows you to grind any size grain (i.e. corn, beans, etc) It too is spendy but worth it when you want to make different things with ground grains.

There is another grain mill (very much like the Country Living Grain mill) on the market (it's red and I see it advertised in MEN and Backwoods Home magazines) but since I haven't experienced it I can't say much other than it looks pretty good on the pictures. If it is made with good steel (and that is rare these days) I think you'll have as good a result as the Country Living GM but then you want to look at price. Since the CLGM has a v-belt wheel, you can attach it to a bicycle wheel with a belt or an electric motor of your choosing.

The comment about attaching it to a secure surfact CAN NOT be overlooked if you are going to do it by hand. It is rather heavy and can really get your arms strong after you have been using it for a while. I mounted mine to a 2 x 8 initially that I clamped to my kitchen counter. That worked good as long as you have the clamps and don't forget to counter bore the holes and use good bolts rather than lag screws so it doesn't come loose with constant use.

Technique is another issue. My suggestion is to change arms frequently and don't put too much grain in the hopper. It does take some time to grind an entire hopper of wheat. The plates do get warm but not so warm as to be a problem. As I said, they do use good steel for the plates.

The down side of the CLGM is the way the flour comes out. I don't know why but it just isn't convenient in that respect. You may have a hard time finding exactly the right container to put under the plates to catch the flour. It comes off both sides of the plates and has a tendency to get all over the place if you use a low walled container like a lasagna pan. Currently I am in the process of trying to design a funnel of some shape to keep the flour flowing into a shallow pan rather than have a very specific taller container that may or MAY not fit under the plates.

AS you can see, the CLGM does a very good job of making flour but it has some idiosyncracies that need to be explored.
Good Luck with your choice. The CLGM is still about $400+ and they have held that price for a long time. Seems a bit spendy to me but then it is a decent product. You may find one cheaper...especially from someone who got tired of grinding their own wheat/grain in it. Then you would get a better price, but be sure the parts are in good condition. That is still the variable in this situation.

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