In addition to your GrainMaster Whisper Mill User Guide, we are providing these “helpful hints” to ensure that you have a wonderful experience with your new Whisper Mill the first time and every time thereafter. First of all, we will refer you to your User Guide – please be sure to read it from front to back. This may save you time and trouble by simply taking the few minutes you will need to review the important information for use of your mill.
The Grain Master Whisper Mill is a domestic kitchen appliance. Although it has an enormous capacity, it is a wonderful domestic appliance and is not intended for commercial use.
Your Whisper Mill is equipped with advanced microburst technology. To allow proper functioning, you need to first turn your Grain Master Whisper Mill to the “ON” position (you will hear it running) before loading any grain into the hopper. Those of us who have used a hand grinding mill or stone mill may be accustomed to first pouring in the grain before turning the handle. This is not the case with the Whisper Mill. Turn it on first and then add the grain. (If you’ve ever driven a truck or car up a steep incline or hill, you know you won’t make it unless you shift gears. By turning the mill on first, you allow it to be operating in high gear to allow it to function as it should.)
When you are finished grinding your grain, do not turn your mill off until you have used all of the grain in the hopper and given it time to be ground and passed on to the flour canister. If you fail to follow this simple procedure, you may get what we call a “hiccup” or “plugging”. Plugging may keep your machine from starting properly for the next use. Never turn your machine off before you are finished milling all of the grain in the hopper. If you are unsure whether the grain is finished, turn the dial next to the “ON/OFF” switch from normal (12 O’clock) position to the right (3 O’clock) position. Allow the mill to run a few more seconds to assure grain has completely cleared the milling chamber and emptied into the flour canister.
If you are milling something larger than wheat-sized grains (for instance beans, popcorn or split peas, it does not hurt to take hold of the mill (while it is “on”) and once in a while move it in a circular motion or give a little shake, a jiggle, a wobble or a tap to assist in removing any residue and assure nothing is left in the milling chamber. This is a precautionary measure if you are not sure everything has gone through. When you know it’s through (normally a few seconds) turn it off and then turn the dial to the “parked” (9 O’clock) position.
What does the dial do? The dial, or the control knob, does not change the position of the milling mechanism. The dial adjusts the size of the hole where the grains fall through. If dial is set for the 9 O’clock position, the hole hidden at the bottom of the hopper is at its smallest size. This allows smaller grain to fall through and keeps it from popping back up. At the 3 O’clock position, the hole is at its largest size. If milling something larger than your normal wheat, rye or similar sized grains, use the 3 O’clock setting. There is a slight difference between the 9 O’clock, 12 O’clock and 3 O’clock positions; however the difference is in the fineness ~ from finest grind to not quite as fine grind. The GrainMaster Whisper Mill uses a special technology which is the specific microburst technology - specifically designed to make fine flour.
What about the Beans? When in doubt about what you should and should not put through your Whisper Mill, refer to your manual or call the company. Don’t take chances. You may remember, if you ever owned a manual (non-electric) grinder, being able to grind nuts, sunflower seeds, dried fruits and more without worrying about the moisture content. The Whisper Mill does a wonderful job milling grain to flour, but you never want to mill nuts, fruits, and other high-oil content items which will gum up the machine. Ideal moisture content is 10 percent.
If you plan to grind chickpeas, use the smaller variety, not the large size. The larger size may cause problems. When using larger variety grains and legumes, feed them in slowly in a circular motion and you will hear them plunk, plunk, plunk in. It does a good job, but we don’t want a hiccup because of overloading the hopper and too much going through at one time.
DAMAGE TO YOUR MACHINE because of improper usage is not covered by the company under the warranty. Below are listed some precautions to avoid uncovered damage to your machine. Fresh from the Field
In many areas of the world, grain and legumes come straight from the fields to the home. In the US, great precautions are used to provide a clean product – free from debris or foreign articles. Still, there remains a variation of what is considered “clean,” depending on your source of purchase. When fields are harvested, there are always possibilities of other minute or small items finding their way into the harvested materials and even into your kitchen. Perhaps you’ve been using wheat for many years and have never had a problem with tiny pebbles or any other little items that sometimes find their way into your buckets and bags, but the possibility is always there. For this reason, it is always important that you scan your ready-to-grain product before loading it into the hopper. One way to do this is to use a cookie sheet or flat-bottom bowl. Pour an amount of product out on the flat surface and “eyeball” it for a bit to make sure there are no tiny pebbles, nuts, bolts, bee bees, pellets, wood chips – no foreign material. Always take the extra time to check.
The characteristics that make grain satisfactory in the GrainMaster Whisper Mill are crystal clear – CLEAN HARD DRY GRAIN with good protein content. Moisture content is critical. Ten percent moisture is perfect. With the Whisper Mill, a bit higher content is acceptable but 10 percent is perfect. This is something to consider when purchasing grains or legumes. Rice often has a slightly higher moisture content but grinds great. Be sensitive to moisture content. This is an important issue.
What I say to anyone who is unsure – Don’t make an assumption. Just because it’s in a bag doesn’t mean it is all the same and it doesn’t guarantee that it’s clean and dry. When in doubt, a good rule of thumb is to check for condensation in the canister. Also, if you are not sure, start out with a very small amount of grain– a teaspoon full. If that goes through without problem, add a tablespoon full. Then move on to just a bit larger amount, each time assuring that the product moves through to the holding canister without problem. Gradually work your way up to 1-cup size. Put it through and check it.
Never leave your mill unattended while it is in the “on” position. The GrainMaster Whisper Mill is extremely quick. In an emergency situation or if something major goes wrong, turn the switch, pull the plug, don’t try to fix it yourself. Call the number in your manual.
If the problem is simple – you forgot to put the lid on or connect the canister, don’t panic. Simply turn the dial (next to the On/Off switch) to the left quickly. Wait for a few seconds. Anything in the chamber should continue to move through the machine and should be gone. After waiting for a few seconds, turn the mill to “off” position and disconnect the canister while you attend to the problem. After the problem is fixed, turn mill to “on” position once again, wait a few seconds, and then return the dial back to its original milling position.
You can dust the outside of your machine. It is okay to wipe down the outside with a wet cloth but you really need only to dust it off and blow out the connection tube. Make sure the green connection hose is completely dry. One drop of water will cause flour to collect. It’s better to just brush it off instead of using water.
When milling, do not mill with lid on the hopper of the mill. Leave the lid off. You need a constant air flow.
Because of the microburst technology and the speed of the mechanisms inside of the mill, sometimes if your mill is sitting on a slick surface you may be surprised if your mill moves a bit. You can avoid this simply by holding it in place during start up. You can use the green lid (normally used for when your machine is being stored and not in use), turn the green lid upside down, place it on top of the hopper, put a bit of pressure on the lid and then turn the machine to the “on” position. As soon as the machine is running, remove the green lid and continue with your milling procedure.
Important: the capacity of the flour canister is 8 cups of wheat (or 12 cups of flour). Make sure the separator cup is in the right position or the canister will not hold all12 cups of flour. The tab next to the cup position is only for alignment. The flat section of the tab should be adjacent and parallel to the flat side of the cup. Tab is only for alignment.
Kevin’s suggestion
Since the mill has an 8-cup capacity and you do not want to overload the flour canister, it is a wise to practice to mill half of the capacity (4 cups of grain which mills 6 cups of flour). That way, if you forget how much you have milled, you can still add 4 more cups and you will have no more than the maximum.
The flour canister is fine for keeping flour but it is better to empty it each time before reusing. Never put canister in freezer. Brittleness may break it if dropped while frozen. You should transfer flour into another container like a plastic bag or something air tight. Oxygen speeds up the aging process.
Be sure to give your mill a rest if you are doing large quantities to assure it does not overheat. Use four cups of grain and then empty. . . . then another 4 cups and empty, etc.
Be sure to refer to your manual for what you CAN and CANNOT mill – NO Sesame seeds, Poppy seeds, flax seeds, coffee, sugar or anything like that with high oil or resins which can turn sticky or glue like. DO NOT USE any of those items in your mill. When in doubt, ALWAYS ASK THE QUESTION.
With the original development of the microburst technology in the commercial world, earlier models with this technology often sounded like a jet airplane on the runway for takeoff. With the new technology, you will notice the sound is almost like a whisper compared to the older models, but you will still hear it – a sound similar to a vacuum cleaner.