Kitchenaid Grain Mill Attachment

Has anyone ever used the grain mill attachment for a Kitchenaid? My wife has damn fine Kitchenaid and I'm thinking it would a fairly practical mill.

Toby

If you already own it give it a try. As I recall it cost as much if not more than a brew specific barley crusher. I have a KA mixer that sits in the box unused as I consider it a POS. KA as a company is awful to deal with and would not buy any of their products every again.

If ebay is a good indicator, a new grain mill attachement goes for approximately $115. Assuming people buy them and don't use them and I can find one...maybe $50.00.

Toby

I have a kitchenaid and was considering this before I got my Barley Crusher, but those attachments are expensive. Like samc says, if you already have the attachment I say give it a shot. But if not...well I think it's a fairly high price to pay just to test a theory.

I'm not quite as anti-KitchenAid as samc is. I love mine and use it several times each week. I never buy store bought bread anymore, or cookies, or cakes, etc. But the attachments are hit-and-miss. Many years ago, I gave a set of various attachments to my roommate for his kitchenaid for Christmas. I think included were some kind of shredder, a meat grinder/sausage maker, a pasta maker, and something else. Most of them were OK, but the pasta maker attachment kind of sucked compared to just a hand-cranked one. We never had the grain grinder attachment so I have no idea how it is.

The KA attachment is designed to grind grain into flour. You could probably get Corona Mill type results if you fuss around with it but for about the same $ you could get a purpose designed roller mill for malted barley.

For the cost of the attachment, you can buy a Barley Crusher. It will grind the grain MUCH faster and more consistently, and you don't risk burning out your wife's kitchenaid mixer (that will cost you a LOT, and I don't just mean the replacement value of the mixer!).

....kitchenaid mixers don't burn out. i have my mother's mixer that was made in the early 1960's and other than new brushes every few years, it's still going strong. it hasn't had an easy life, it's kneaded tons of bread and ground up tons of wheat (my mother was an early health food nut)

but, i don't think the grain mill attachment will work very well for beer, as it is designed to turn grain into powder and doesn't have much adjustability....

marzsit said:

....kitchenaid mixers don't burn out. i have my mother's mixer that was made in the early 1960's and other than new brushes every few years, it's still going strong. it hasn't had an easy life, it's kneaded tons of bread and ground up tons of wheat (my mother was an early health food nut)

but, i don't think the grain mill attachment will work very well for beer, as it is designed to turn grain into powder and doesn't have much adjustability....

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A KA from the 60s probably won't burn out. They were made by Hobart and built to commercial specifications. Newer KitchenAid mixers certainly can and do burn out, and their customer service sucks. The link is to my own miserable experience with a fried Professional 600. The earlier versions have a plastic transmission housing that can't take the strain of regular bread making. It's a known design flaw that KA refuses to make good.

As already stated, the KA grinder is made for flour. Ideally you want to crush the malt more than grind it. Crushing it in a roller mill breaks it down into smaller pieces and removes the husks. When done properly, only a small amount of flour ends up in the grist. The more flour you have in the mash the more likely you are to have a stuck sparge.
If you can pick up a grinder for cheep I would say give it a try and adjust it so you get a fairly course grind. If it were me I would use the money toward a good roller mill.

Oh, I think kitchen Aid mixers are very high quality and are a great addition to have in the kitchen.

Chad said:

A KA from the 60s probably won't burn out. They were made by Hobart and built to commercial specifications. Newer KitchenAid mixers certainly can and do burn out, and their customer service sucks. The link is to my own miserable experience with a fried Professional 600. The earlier versions have a plastic transmission housing that can't take the strain of regular bread making. It's a known design flaw that KA refuses to make good.

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I've read about that too, and one of the reasons I did not look any further into using our KA to crush grain. It's a good unit, but they have models that are nowhere near as good as the original ones.

Honestly, I would purchase a corona mill and use it rather than risk all the $$ that a KA attachment would cost. The corona mill is simple and effective and pretty cheap.

Thanks for the feedback and advice. I didn't know the level of adjustment in the KA and it appears the design is intended for making flour. Glad I asked. Regardless, I'll do some more research and see what works best.

Toby

Chad said:

A KA from the 60s probably won't burn out. They were made by Hobart and built to commercial specifications. Newer KitchenAid mixers certainly can and do burn out, and their customer service sucks. The link is to my own miserable experience with a fried Professional 600. The earlier versions have a plastic transmission housing that can't take the strain of regular bread making. It's a known design flaw that KA refuses to make good.

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i didn't realize that the quality had lapsed on the newer models.... that's too bad i assumed that since the new ones look just like the one i have that they are built the same way....

my mother's mixer has the hobart logo on it, along with the kitchenaid logo.

We have the old KitchenAid K5, bought in the early 1970's. It's a real workhorse, only had to have it rebuilt once when the switch went out. But earlier posts were correct....the attachments are just way overpriced. When I needed a crusher, I just bought a Corona-type mill off eBay for $24 delivered, drive it with my electric drill, and I'm completely happy.