Looking For A Small Hand Mill For Your Kitchen?

Hand Operated Grain Mill by VICTORIO VKP1014

My very first hand crank grain mill was an old cast iron, antique grinder that I picked up second hand. It was $10 at some local yard sale and had seen better days. Honestly, it looked like maybe my great-great-grandmother used it in her kitchen! But, I was on a tight budget, and wanted something for learning to cook homemade, whole wheat breads. At the time, many of the handcrank grain mills I could find were well over $75.00, many were hundreds of dollars - both out of my price range 30-some years ago. I kept thinking that if I had that kind of money to spend I would buy an electric grain mill to use.

The old farmhouse grinder was perfect for a beginner and it did well for quite a while, but it was not something I enjoyed using in the middle of humid summers in New Jersey! Even with the air conditioner on, it was a real workout just to get 12 cups of flour for a good batch of bread for the family. I recall grinding one winter day with the windows open, wind blowing in, 10 degrees outside and sweating up a storm!

After about 2 years of cranking that old bear and turning out really coarse flour that was the texture of corn meal, I decided to upgrade to a more modern version. After questioning several people I knew, I learned about a nice, smaller model that many seemed to truly like for hand milling grains. I ended up ordering what was called, at that time, a Back-to-Basics hand mill for around $49.99. The product is now manufactured by Victorio, and is sold several places online, including Amazon.com (approx. $50.00).

We have used this mill for grinding cornmeal, whole oat groats, wheat, spelt, farro, white or brown rice, and even various beans. Personally, I find it grinds all hard grains very well, but it does not do well with beans. They do not slide down the hopper and into the grinding burrs very well. If you are willing to feed in a few beans at a time, it does grind a fine flour that can be used in cooking or making your own gluten-free flour. I have also tried quinoa, amaranth, and chia seeds through the mill because when it was originally sold to me, I was told it would do small grains. Quinoa comes through, not as flour, as more like cracked grains. Amaranth and chia get spit out through the burrs without any effect whatsoever on the grains. They are just too tiny. Oily seeds, such as flax, should NOT be run through this mill. My little electric coffee grinder does better with these tiny grains as well as flax (see my review here).

Company Specs

“Grind many small to medium sized dry grains such as barley, kamut, spelt, millet, wheat, quinoa, lentils, rice, oats, buckwheat and more.” For further Specs and complete details, please see Victorio.com

Pros

~ Price - it has barely increased after over 12 years of ownership (possibly almost 20 years!). A nice,

economical basic grinder.

~ Works well on medium grains that are hard and dry (non-oily). Wheat, farro, Spelt, rice (white & brown), etc.

~ Grinds nicely and is fairly smooth to operate.

~ Grinds some various grains- not all

~ Light-weight

~ Easy to assemble, disassemble

~ Easy to clean

~ Removable - can easily be removed from the table or counter top and be stored in a cupboard or deep drawer.

~ Sleek and slim design

Cons

~ Hopper falls off mid grind! Easily bumped off, not tight-fitting. Spills grain when this happens.

~ Takes a LONG time! 4 Cups of grain berries takes approx. 1 hour to grind by hand. (Good time to play some music! It doesn't seem as long when you are enjoying yourself.  Or a movie you have been meaning to watch! LOL)

~ Not for smaller grains. It does not grind them into flour.

~ No success grinding spices. For this I use the Proctor Silex E167CYR Fresh Grind Coffee Grinder.

~ Clamp that holds it to the counter or table sometimes loosens while grinding. We need to re-tighten several times during the 4 cups grind.

~ Unable to be permanently mounted to a counter. Wish there was a way to permanently mount it and possibly prevent the constant need to loosen. Might need 2 bolts for stability. Victorio!!! Could you make this happen?

~ The nylon washer in the crank portion needs to be replaced regularly - we go through one a month for two people. We also grind about 4 cups of grain (approx. 6 Cups of flour) on average, every other day. We use the hand ground grains for everything from tortillas to breads, cakes to cookies. Even homemade pastas.

~ When nylon washer wears down, the grind gets more and more coarse which produces less flour. In this case, the results are 4 Cups of wheat produce about 4.5-5 Cups of course flour. Suggest buying extra washers when you order your grinder! They are not expensive and you won’t find yourself needing one in a pinch.

Our Results

~ 6 Cups of Hard White Wheat nets approx. 9 Cups of fine grain flour
~ Takes approx. 1 hour to grind 4 Cups of Hard White Wheat berries into fine flour
~ Nylon Washer lasts well for about 1 month of daily grinding of 4 Cups of wheat
~ See the photos below to view the finest grind flour compared to sifted flour and wheat germ, which can be toasted or used plain in various recipes.

Summary

We have been using this grinder now as our only go-to grain grinder because during our move, our electric broke beyond repair and was well out of warranty. We have gotten more experience with hand grinding than either of us cares to admit, but we have certainly learned what we like and don’t like about the Victorio grain grinder.

For basic grain grinding, this is a great first grinder or emergency grinder. For a little bit more money you could easily upgrade to the Deluxe model (VKP1024 - approx. $73.00) which offers more flexibility for grinding AND can easily be fitted with the available motor for faster grinding. We have not upgraded as yet, but would love to try the Deluxe AND the motor (approx. $57.00) and do a full comparison on the two products. 

Do you have questions for me about using this mill? Feel free to leave a comment or send us a contact form. We would be happy to answer any questions you might have.


MANUFACTURER SPECS: http://victorio.info/grain-mill.html

SPARE PARTS: http://www.victorioproducts.com/parts/grain-mill-vkp1014

DETAILS, SPECS, and more : https://www.amazon.com/Hand-Operated-Grain-VICTORIO-VKP1012/dp/B0018P54TS/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1507657478&sr=1-3&keywords=victorio+grinder


DISCLAIMER:

Prices listed in this article were accurate at date of publication, October 2017.

Prices are subject to change without notice.