What to consider when buying a grain mill...
Things that I would say are points to consider after buying my own mill and talking several friends through their purchases:
- Manual vs Electric
- Mill Rate/min.
- Range of milling; cracked/course grains to pastry flour
- Hopper Capacity; if you plan to do any sort of volume a good sized hopper is helpful.
- What can it mill; most can do a range of whole grains, some do popcorn, some can do things like flax seeds (oily) as well
-
Weight
of the mill; this can effect whether adjusting fineness requires two
hands or one but keeping counter clear of flour gathering under the
feet helps
7.Warranty length/what's covered/how will that be handled (shipping fees/turn-around time etc)- seems a lot of businesses anymore take no responsibility for the product failure. Look into what would be covered and what would not before there is an issue.
8.Do you want it out or will it be put away each time? Look at the size/weight to know what fits the space you have.
I had a Wonder Mill originally, only complaint at that time was the volume and pitch of the mill.
This time around I wanted a stone mill that could sit out on my counter to easily use for lots of baking and cooking milling needs. I chose a Komo Mio and I absolutely LOVE it and use it almost daily. I have added a MockMill Professional for The Simply Filled Pantry and the weight of it makes it easy to adjust the milling fineness. I also like that the settings for the grind are numbered but I think I will add numbers to my Komo Mio so I can record a setting used that works well for me.
The Komo Mio can sit out on my counter since it is only about 6" deep. 2 lb 11 oz hopper and 8-9 oz/min capacity, super easy to adjust to do pastry, bread flours, corn grits or wheat grits for cream of wheat all the way to cracked grains. Also only 350 watts so if you needed to power with generator or battery power you could and I have when power has gone out.
Good luck choosing the right one for you!