Grinder-how to determine the right grinder for your household.
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A Ten Cup Grind-
Turning a grinder for 2 or 3 revolutions is one thing. Grinding a full cup of wheat is a very different thing, and grinding enough wheat to make a nice batch of bread is quite another thing. Grinding 10 cups of wheat on different grinders has given us some idea of what different grinders were like for large amounts of wheat.
Grinding Wheat Is Work
The first thing people need to know is that grinding wheat can be a lot of work. Wheat kernels should be hard and will take some amount of energy to turn it into soft, powdery flour. As the tests results will show, some manual grinders require much less energy than others.
Three Important Things To Consider About A Grinder:
- Flour Fineness: One important thing about a grinder is how finely it grinds. It should grind at least a little bit fine in order to get a good loaf of bread. See our flour fineness chart for more information on this.
- Grinding Speed: Another important factor is the difference in the speed different grinders process wheat into flour. Of course, the shorter the time, the better.
- Pressure Required To Crank The Grinder: There can be a huge difference in the turning of the handle on hand grinders. Certainly if the handle is hard to turn, it would require more energy in grinding. Logic would seem to say that it takes a given amount of energy to grind a cup of wheat to a certain fineness. The easier a grinder turns the slower one would think it grinds and vice versa. Because of the different stone and burr designs, this is not the case. There is a huge difference between the different grinders in how much work must be expended to create the same fineness of flour.
- The Hopper Size: People with little or no experience with manual grain grinders incorrectly assume the hopper size is very important because if the grinder has a small hopper they are going to have to stop and fill the hopper more frequently. This is faulty thinking because it takes such a long time to grind a cup of wheat even with the very best grinders that the time it takes to stop and throw another cup or two in the hopper amounts to nothing. Interestingly enough, one of the best grinders and the very worst grinder have the same hopper size. Don't be fooled by this. Hopper size doesn't matter.
- The Way It Looks: There are pretty grinders and there are ugly grinders. Modern grinders have coating on them to allow easy cleaning and long term ability. But don’t rule out ugly grinders that may do a good job.
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The Controversy - Stones VS Burrs:
Stones used to be made from natural rock but now are synthetically manufactured. Good burrs are made from hardened steel. You won't find much controversy over burrs but you will concerning stones.
Stones: A stone grinder will give a finer grind than burr grinders. Modern grinder stones are made from aluminum oxide. This includes the stones in the Wonder Junior and wonder Junior Deluxe.
Some opinions have been formed about the stones and health issues.
- Grit In The Flour: The American Dental Association had made a statement that's often repeated by numerous dentists, "You shouldn't use stone ground flour because the grit the stones leave in the flour will wear your teeth down." This might be true of stone ground flour in the third world where native populations use two rocks to grind their meal, but it is not true of these modern grinders. Aluminum oxide stones are Extremely Hard. After the break in period, these stones will not wear down. Many people who have motorized their manual grinders and people who own electric grinders with aluminum oxide stones have individually put tons of wheat through their grinders over many years and their stones are still serviceable.
There may there have been people who pull the grinder out of the box, push the directions aside and grind up a cup of flour. Then they never use their grinder again because they found grit in the flour from this first grind. Grinders need to be broken in by putting at least a quart of wheat through them, then discard the flour. After the stones are broken in there will be no more grit. - Health Concerns About The Stones' Composition; Aluminum Oxide: There has been some conjecture of late concerning the effects of aluminum on our health. The U.S. Government does not believe that aluminum can be absorbed by our digestive systems. Many of us literally eat aluminum every day as some form. And many people use aluminum pots. There is valid reason for concern, however, as high amounts of aluminum have been found during autopsies of Alzheimer victims.
There are some who choose not to buy one of these grinders because of the aluminum oxide stones. But there's a world of difference between aluminum and aluminum oxide. From the beginning to the end of the manufacturing process, aluminum has never been involved in making the stones. When these stones are made, the manufacturer starts out with the same material that aluminum is made from, bauxite. Bauxite is a red clay that's dug out of the earth. Then it's heated up to over 2,000 degrees C for several days until all that's left is a cinder. This is what the stones are made from. There is no aluminum in them. The aluminum oxide is as harmless as sand and if a particle does break off the stone it will pass harmlessly through you. See e for more information on how aluminum oxide is made. TheTreibacher Schleifmittel's web pag making of aluminum goes through a completely different process, the end result not being at all the same.
The bottom line is you will have to make up your own minds about this issue and go with a burr or impact grinder if you still feel aluminum oxide poses a health risk to you.
Cost VS Use: You may wish to temper your decision on the quality of grinder you will be spending your hard earned cash on by how much you think you will be using it. There are many who have purchased a manual grinder, have never used it, and depending on circumstances, never will use it. Contrast this with the families who use a grinder every week to make breads, pancakes, rolls and cereals with freshly ground wheat. You will have to determine if you want to invest in a manual grinder that will only be used to get you through the tough scrapes or will you be using it all the time. A grinder is an investment. The reward comes from its use. Perhaps some real thought should be put into getting a grinder that will nicely serve the expected needs of your family whatever they may be.
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We start with the coarsest grinds on the left and progress to even finer flours as we move to the right. The finer the grind, the better gluten will develop – necessary for flour in making good bread . 1. First pass through the Corona or Victoria grinder. The wheat is just cracked. Some whole kernels of wheat make it through. Grind Fineness: 1. |
Al's Pinch Test: Take a small pinch of flour between your thumb and index finger... Or if you are comparing two different flours, take a pinch of each flour with each hand pinching the flour between your thumb and index finger. Move your fingers back and forth as the flour falls out from between the loosely pinched fingers. Feel the roughness of the flour. Although it is not scientific, it will give you an idea of flour fineness. The finest flours are completely powdery with no granules felt. This a fineness of #10. Next comes #9 where there is just a hint of something being there besides powder. #10 is so close to #9 that you must be feeling the two different flours at the same time with two different hands to tell the incredibly small difference. Flours where tiny granules can easily be felt have been given a rating of #8. Fineness #6 is a coarse flour with large granules and very little powder between them. Compare salt and sugar at#5. Germade, or Cream of Wheat at about a fineness of #4. And cracked wheat gets a fineness of #1 or #2 depending on how coarse it is. This paragraph should help you understand the graph below.
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Individual Grinder Comments
Impact Grinders
These are very good, efficient little grinders and have several advantages: They grind relatively fast, are small, light weight and produce a very fine flour.
KITCHEN MILL
They operate at break-neck speed - turning at 28,000 RPM. These grinders don’t grind the grain between two surfaces like a stone or burr grinder does. Rather, they have tiny, little, rather dull, short interlocking blades or teeth traveling at about 250 miles per hour. These teeth hit the grain kernels so hard the kernel literally bursts into a fine powder. If you don’t have the space on your counter top for a large grinder, an impact grinder may be a wise choice. You can store them in the cupboard when you are done with them. Cost is reasonable.
Impact grinders have a couple of negative points. You must have electricity to operate them and no matter how coarse you set the control knob, you get a relatively fine flour. The latter draw back will be no problem for most people, but will be a definite negative if you ever want cracked wheat for cereal or the chickens.
In this comparison study there are two impact grinders, the K-Tec Kitchen Mill and the Wonder Mill. They both grind very similarly but there are also some really big differences between them.
The Kitchen Mill is made of the highest quality materials. The heart of the mill is a patented, stainless steel milling chamber. The mill is the most advanced way to mill grain. It has all the advantages of the old stone mills but none of their problems. There's no gumming, jamming or glazing. It will not overheat. Each mill uses a 1.8 peak horsepower, 120 volt motor. It is permanently lubricated and will provide years of trouble-free service. It weighs 8 lbs and is 8” wide, 10” high, and 10” deep.
Warranty Motor: 6 years (U.S. and Canada only) Chamber & Pan: Lifetime
The K-Tec Mill can grind up to 1.5 lbs of wheat per minute. It sends the flour directly into a 60 oz. flour bin. This will hold up to 10 cups ground wheat. When you're finished with it you can pick it up with one hand and put it in the cupboard. If you don’t have 11 1/2 inches of shelf clearance, you can turn the grinder housing upside down and sit it inside the grinder’s flour bin making it only 8 inches high. It can grind a variety of items-wheat, oats, rice, triticale, dried pinto beans, popcorn, split peas, buckwheat, rye, millet, soybeans, and whole corn. Any item that exceeds 15% oil or moisture will gum up and block the mill. Therefore it will not grind-spices, sugar, nuts, dried fruits, flax seeds, and coffee beans. Coarsest setting makes flour with the consistency of corn meal.
The negative side of this mill is that it is quite noisy but considering the speed it can be overlooked.
trition from every grain. The Wonder Mill is the quietest and fastest flour mill available. You can create super fine flour or coarse flour at temperatures that preserve nutrients, ensuring that you will always have the perfect flour for your food.
The Wonder Mill has the capacity to perform big jobs. You can grind over 100 pounds of flour in an hour. You don't have to worry about overloading the Wonder Mill because of its large 1250 watt motor. The most powerful micronizing mill available. The Wonder Mill will not only grind wheat, rice and other small grains, but will also grind legumes and beans as large as garbanzos.
The Wonder Mill is extremely easy to use. Simply fill the hopper and you'll get flour. There are no small parts or gaskets to misplace, and cleaning the Wonder Mill is quick, easy, and virtually dust free.
A lifetime warranty is included with every Wonder Mill from the company who has been making this quality mill for over 10 years.
The Wonder Mill has an external flour catching bin with it’s own lid, should you choose to use it as your flour storage bin. The grinder itself being is 12 1/2 inches tall.