Selecting a Grain Mill

There are two main types of home mills; Burr and Impact. Below I will breakdown the differences between the two so you can get an idea of what would work best for you. I will only be going into electric mills as I do not have experience with a hand mill. The amount of flour I use I would not wish to grind by hand!

Burr Mill

What are Burr Mills

Burr grain mills are made up of two discs. One is fixed while the other spins, crushing the wheat in between. This allows for a wide variety of textures. Burr mills are cool grinding. This prevents the wheat from overheating and breaking down the nutrients.

Burr Mill Pros and Cons

Pros: Cool grinding allows for the flour to retain as much of the nutrients as possible. The stones can be separated to allow for a wide variety of coarseness settings. They are typically compact and fit well on your counter and many come with decorative wood casings. Burr mills are quieter than impact mills.

Cons: Burr mills tend to have a smaller hopper and take longer to grind large quantities of wheat, although KoMo does make a large capacity mill. They also tend to be more expensive, especially if you are looking for a decorative casing.

Top Burr Mill

There are so many good stone mills currently on the market but I have found Mockmill and KoMo tend to be the top two. This article will not be going into every mill they make but here is a good article. It breaks down many of the leading mills as well as a good breakdown of burr vs impact. I have also added links below to bring you to Mockmill and KoMo’s websites. There you can view all of their available mills.

I personally bought the Mockmill 200 and I absolutely love it.

Impact Mill

What is an Impact Mill

Impact Mills use chambers with stainless-steel teeth that do not touch but spin incredibly fast, crushing the grain as it passes through the chamber. Impact mills only produce flour but can adjust the coarseness of the flour. These mills can grind more flour in a shorter amount of time but do produce more heat due to the high speed and friction that is produced. They are not supposed to exceed unsafe temperatures for the nutrients in the flour though.

Impact Mill Pros and Cons

Pros: More flour in a shorter amount of time which may be good for commercial/home bakery use. Impact mills are a more affordable option for most people.

Cons: Impact mills are louder then burr mills typically. These mills tend to be more bulky and may not be ideal for keeping on your countertop so storage is necessary. Cereal or very coarse grinding is not possible with an impact mill.

Top Impact Mills

I chose a stone mill over an impact for the wider variety of grind settings but the Wondermill and Nutrimill impact mills have good reviews and are very well loved by those that own them. This article does a very good comparison of the two mills as well as a good breakdown of burr vs impact.