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Reply to: Grain Mills: What’s your experience and recommendations? Posted August 21, 2023

I bought a Victoria crank operated mill from Amazon for about fifty dollars. It has very hard cast burrs but they make coarse meal.  I ground away all the grooving near the outside diameters of the burrs using a Dremel tool with one inch diameter diamond discs. I also ground off rother raised portions. Then the I ground flat where the grooves had been and cut spiral grooves in that area. They go almost to the outside diameter so grain particles must find passage across the s remaining smooth zone. The adjusting screw is set so the burrs run tight. I removed the crank and connected a 300 rpm heavy duty drill. I have been grinding hard white and red wheat from Amazon. The flour is pretty fine the first time but I run it through a second. The mill grinds several cups in a few minutes and no sifting is needed. Compared to videos of mills selling for a few hundred dollars, output rate is a few times greater. It takes a lot of energy to grind grain and the burrs have to pressed together with many pounds of force.

Reply to: Grain Mills: What’s your experience and recommendations? Posted August 21, 2023

I bought a Victoria Grain Mill from Amazon for about fifty dollars. I ground the burrs flat from the outside diameter towards the center for one quarter inch. This required shimming the stationary burr away from the body to maintain engagement at the shaft- rotating burr. I ground sub-flush the rest of the burr working faces. I cut grooves with a Dremel tool, one inch diameter diamond blade. The grooves follow from the existing ones in a CCW spiral to NEAR the OD. A few more were added to the existing 40. The walls of the “downstream”side of the grooves are ninety degrees to the surface. The depth shrinks to zero at the end of each groove. The spiral shape produces a large force outwards on the grain. The adjusting screw is tightened so the plates are pressed together with many pounds. The metal is probably white cast iron. It is very hard and the burrs just shine. The large outward force pushes flour particles across the “no clearance” zone where the grooves end. I drive the machine with an old Milwaukee Electric Tool Hole Hawg. There is a three jaw coupling in the drive and a one half inch shaft installed in the main shaft. The main shaft was shortened where the crank normally attaches. The drill turns at 300 RPM at low setting and has a high torque. The modified grinder produces a heavy load. The project lasted a few months of “improving”. The setup makes flour at a much higher rate than videos indicate for mills selling for a few hundred dollars. I run the typical two to three pound batch through a second time. It takes a couple of minutes and probably cuts the bran finer. I have been using the King Arthur Classic Whole Wheat recipe, with honey and oil but not milk powder. (I did not have any). It is delicious. Today’s batch is cooling. Never experienced a better aroma. Andy

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Reply to: Grain Mills: What’s your experience and recommendations? Posted August 21, 2023

I bought a Victoria crank operated mill from Amazon for about fifty dollars. It has very hard cast burrs but they make coarse meal.  I ground away all the grooving near the outside diameters of the burrs using a Dremel tool with one inch diameter diamond discs. I also ground off rother raised portions. Then the I ground flat where the grooves had been and cut spiral grooves in that area. They go almost to the outside diameter so grain particles must find passage across the s remaining smooth zone. The adjusting screw is set so the burrs run tight. I removed the crank and connected a 300 rpm heavy duty drill. I have been grinding hard white and red wheat from Amazon. The flour is pretty fine the first time but I run it through a second. The mill grinds several cups in a few minutes and no sifting is needed. Compared to videos of mills selling for a few hundred dollars, output rate is a few times greater. It takes a lot of energy to grind grain and the burrs have to pressed together with many pounds of force.

Reply to: Grain Mills: What’s your experience and recommendations? Posted August 21, 2023

I bought a Victoria Grain Mill from Amazon for about fifty dollars. I ground the burrs flat from the outside diameter towards the center for one quarter inch. This required shimming the stationary burr away from the body to maintain engagement at the shaft- rotating burr. I ground sub-flush the rest of the burr working faces. I cut grooves with a Dremel tool, one inch diameter diamond blade. The grooves follow from the existing ones in a CCW spiral to NEAR the OD. A few more were added to the existing 40. The walls of the “downstream”side of the grooves are ninety degrees to the surface. The depth shrinks to zero at the end of each groove. The spiral shape produces a large force outwards on the grain. The adjusting screw is tightened so the plates are pressed together with many pounds. The metal is probably white cast iron. It is very hard and the burrs just shine. The large outward force pushes flour particles across the “no clearance” zone where the grooves end. I drive the machine with an old Milwaukee Electric Tool Hole Hawg. There is a three jaw coupling in the drive and a one half inch shaft installed in the main shaft. The main shaft was shortened where the crank normally attaches. The drill turns at 300 RPM at low setting and has a high torque. The modified grinder produces a heavy load. The project lasted a few months of “improving”. The setup makes flour at a much higher rate than videos indicate for mills selling for a few hundred dollars. I run the typical two to three pound batch through a second time. It takes a couple of minutes and probably cuts the bran finer. I have been using the King Arthur Classic Whole Wheat recipe, with honey and oil but not milk powder. (I did not have any). It is delicious. Today’s batch is cooling. Never experienced a better aroma. Andy