WonderMix Bread Dough Mixer

NEW WonderMill Wonder Junior Deluxe Review

by Grain Mill Guide

Some of My Experience

Hand grain mills are kind of a fascination of mine. I have several hand grain mills myself, good and bad ones. I have the following hand grain mills: Back-To-Basics (and the Victorio, which is the same thing), Retsel Uni-Ark, Sunshine Nugget, Lehman’s Best, Family Living, Country Living, and both the New and Old Wonder Junior Deluxe. I use all of these hand grain mills to see how they work and perform so I can learn the positives and negatives of each mill. My father in-law also has the Diamant hand grain mill (a $1,299 hand grain mill), which I hope to use a bit some time soon and I have plans to acquire a few other hand grain mills in the next year to experiment with. With all the experience I have had using these hand grain mills the one I recommend the most is the NEW WonderMill Wonder Junior Deluxe hand grain mill, it has some huge improvements that make it the best choice.

Is Hand Milling Easy?

Before I start to tell you the great things about the NEW Wonder Junior Deluxe, I want to make clear that hand grain milling is a little bit of a chore no matter what hand mill you have. Some hand grain mills are easier than others and some take forever longer than others but none of them crank as smooth as butter, unless you are grinding butter. Remember that you are grinding hard grains into fine flour, it is hard to make that a super easy process to do with out electricity.

The NEW WonderMill Wonder Junior Deluxe hand grain mill - WonderMill Jr. Deluxe grain mill

How Easy Is The Wonder Junior?

I would say that the Wonder Junior Deluxe is as easy to turn as the Retsel Uni-Ark, much easier than the Lehman’s and Sunshine Nugget hand grain mills, and just slightly harder to turn than the Country Living grain mill. Here is what makes the Wonder Junior Deluxe easier than these other hand grain mills: OUTPUT POWER! The New Wonder Junior Deluxe can output a 1/2 cup more flour per minute than even the Country Living grain mill can, and even more flour output when compared to some of the other hand grain mills. So for the same amount of work or less I am done milling faster, that equals much easier to me.

Another item that makes the Wonder Junior Deluxe easier is the included table clamp mount, even the old Wonder Junior Deluxe came with this nice mount. The Wonder Junior’s mount is very wide and has 2 clamps so that you will have less wobbling or chance of the grain mill coming loose. I also like that the 2 knobs are far enough apart that you can turn them with out rubbing your knuckles the one next to it. Many mills do not even come with a mount, they just bolt through your table.

The flour guide is also a great addition to the New Wonder Junior Deluxe. Many of grain mills of this style (even the old Wonder Junior) spray flour out of all sides of the circular milling burrs requiring you to have a bread pan or wide bowl to catch all the flour, and even then you’ll have a little bit of flour dust to clean up. The new flour guide catches all the flour coming out and guides it to a small width, perfect for my 2 cup capacity measuring cup or any other container. Even the Country Living is not that clean of a grain mill without its special flour bin, that is sold separately, I always have to clean up after it.

WonderMill is Always Improving

One thing I see about the WonderMill Company is that they are continuously making improvements to both of their hand and electric grain mills to make them better and easier for us to use. This can really be seen in this New Wonder Junior Deluxe with its flour guide, cleaning brush, and new aggressive grain auger. A dealer, that I know well, tells me that they have more plans for the future of their grain mills. As I look at the other hand grain mills available, I don’t see any improvements over the years except in the available colors or something like that. It is comforting to put your trust in a company that actively seeks to improve their product instead of being satisfied with their current status quo.

Will It Hold Up? You Bet

The Wonder Junior Deluxe may not be as heavy duty as the Country Living grain mill but the Country Living is a bit over kill in my opinion, though some you may like overkill. The Wonder Junior Deluxe is built to last and take all the strain and use you give it. When compared to the Uni-Ank, Sunshine Nugget, or Lehman’s hand grain mills, the Wonder Junior stands out in thickness, quality, and strength. I have complete confidence that this mill will last me a lifetime.

I Mill More Than Just Grains

One thing I like about the mid-priced hand grain mills is that they are designed to do more than just mill dry grains and such. Mid-priced hand grain mills can usually grind nuts, spices, oily grains, softer grains, seeds, and similar items to these; The New Wonder Junior Deluxe does all these items better than any grain mill I have used, and it has been fun to try different items in some of my experiments. One item that I do not recommend trying to mill is dried carrots or other dried vegetables, dried carrots seem to turn into a hard substance and will require some hard scrubbing to get off the milling burrs. Other than that, I have not found much that doesn’t go though this hand grain mill. Willitgrind.com is a WonderMill website that shows many of the things you can grind with the New Wonder Junior Deluxe, if you are interested in seeing more of what you can grind.

Money Is Always a Factor

I wish I could say it wasn’t true but most of us can’t just blow a chunk of money on a hand grain mill. So why not buy the cheapest grain mill? Well, I would rather do without a grain mill rather than buy a cheap hand grain mill that is not durable or requires too much time to use. Of all the mid-priced hand grain mills out there, the Wonder Junior Deluxe gives you quite a bit more for just a little more cash than the others. After the mid-priced hand grain mills the price tag doubles for not that much added bonus, and for $400 many of us can not afford to make the investment anyway.

Motorizing

Motorizing is probably an area where the Country Living grain mill shines above the rest but only if you have the money to take advantage of it. The Wonder Junior has a motorizing pulley available if you want to figure out how to motorize it yourself but no full motorizing kit. The Country Living grain mill has a full motorizing kit available for about $350 extra. Some would call this an advantage but I don’t get to excited about it because, for the $750 it costs to get a Country Living and its motorizing kit, I could buy a Wonder Junior Deluxe and a good electric grain mill with $200+ in saved cash in my pocket (see my article on this).

UPDATE: WonderMill has come out with a Drill Bit Attachment that allows you to hook your Wonder Junior up to your high powered drill. This attachment costs about $30, not bad when compared to other motorizing options and costs. I have recently bought this attachment and will update this article when I have had plenty of time to test its use.

Am I The Only One

As I have searched the internet, I see many others who recommend the Wonder Junior Deluxe grain mill. From Amazon customers
to professionals like theSurvivalistBlog, theSurvivalMom, Vickilynn Haycraft, James Stevens, and other who are looked up to in there specific fields, they seem to like the Wonder Junior Deluxe as the hand grain mill of choice. I hope you do not get set on the Country Living grain mill just because you think there is no other choice for quality because that would be far from the truth. As with others on the internet, I can really recommend the WonderMill Wonder Junior Deluxe for your consideration for a top quality hand grain mill.

Why Not an Electric Grain Mill?

Some may ask why anyone would want a hand grain mill rather than an electric grain mill. I personally have both and for different purposes. An electric grain mill is nice for normal kitchen use to make bread flours, bean flours, and corn flours fast and with no effort. A hand grain mill gives you a few things: use with no electricity (preppers, survivalists, and green minded people like this feature), coarser grind setting for cereals or cracked grains and such, ability to grind items that will clog or ruin your electric grain mill, and specialty flours like almond flour and nut butters (though nut butters is not an quick process in a hand grain mill). There are many advantages that a hand grain mill gives you that an electric grain mill can’t do but if you just plan on using a grain mill for making bread flours, and electricity is not an issue, then a good electric grain mill is the way to go for you.

Got Questions, Post Them Below

If you have further questions about the Wonder Junior Deluxe hand grain mill, please use the comment reply box below to ask and I will try to check back regularly to answer those questions. As I learn more or think of more to add, I plan on updating the review text.

Purchase: You can purchase a Wonder Junior Deluxe hand grain mill from Kodiak Health Products.

Need Some Grain Mill Recipes? Check out GrainMillRecipes.com for great recipes using any grain mill.

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  • Can it grind my coffee beans for my morning coffee? Does it do a good job at it? I am just interested in what other things I can use it for.

    Chloe
  • Yes, it can grind coffee beans and it does make a very nice & rich ground. You can see a video of it grinding coffee beans at:

    http://willitgrind.com/willitgrind/coffee-beans

    You will want to use the stainless steel milling burrs when you grind coffee, not the stone milling heads.

    GMG
  • just wondering if you have tried the Margo Mulino Manual Grain Roller? thanks for your thoughts.

    r carter
  • You can see our review of the Margo Mulino Grain Roller at:
    http://www.breadmachinedigest.com/reviews/grainmill-reviews/oat-roller-flaker-mill-comparison-review.php

    The Margo Mulino is not really for milling grain into flour, even if you run it through several times it doesn’t give you a good flour. It is mostly for making cereals and flaking grains.

    BMD
  • How is the quality of the flour from this mill? Will I need to mill flour twice to get it fine enough for bread? I brew a lot of beer as well and use a victoria mill at a homebrew store. Could this mill be used to crush barley into a coarse grist?

    Jarrod
  • Jarrod,
    The Wonder Junior grain mill makes bread flour the first time thru. Definitely finer than the Victoria grain mill. I have never home made beer before but the Wonder Junior can go as course as cracked grain and everything in between. If you need to mill large quantities of grain for your brew, I would suggest getting the Drill Bit Attachment to make this an effortless process (see http://www.thewondermill.com/index.php/module/statics/action/view_listing/page/37), it only about costs $30 more.

    GMG
  • Hello,
    I’m thinking of buying the Junior WonderMill to grind sprouted grain and seed. Also, I bake a lot with almond flour but it can be a bit expensive. Does the JWM makes a really fine almond powder? Do I need to freeze the almonds first so they don’t release too much oil and become a nut butter?
    Thanks!

    audree
  • The Wonder Junior grind sprouted grain as long as it has been dehydrated after sprouting (see http://www.thewondermill.com/index.php/module/statics/action/view_listing/page/32 ).

    To grind almond flour, you will need the stainless steel burrs so buy the Deluxe model. It does not make a fine powder but something inbetween flour and almond meal. I have not used the almond flour in any recipes yet but I know it is finer than if you made it with a food processor. From my experience, it is best to bring the almonds to room temperature before grinding or it will cake together more and become buttery if frozen before grinding (see http://willitgrind.com/willitgrind/almonds-blanched-raw-almond-flour ).

    Hope this helps, post any other questions you may have. I would also suggest getting their new drill bit attachment (see http://www.thewondermill.com/index.php/module/statics/action/view_listing/page/37 ). Even a light duty drill will run this attachment when grinding soft items like almonds. This will make grinding your almond flour super fast.

    GMG
  • I’m concerned about stone grit being ground off the mill stones into the flour…quoting here from countrylivinggrainmills.com:
    “1) An internationally respected research institute dedicated to upgrading food production and resources for third world countries extensively researched the effectiveness and viability of grain mills with both stone plates and those with iron and steel. Their recommendation, without reservations, iron or steel over stone! Why? Primarily because of the grit and particulates left behind by some grinding plates. I saw numerous pictures of skulls, both old world and new world, with the teeth worn completely away. Researchers say the total destruction of the teeth was the result of eating stone ground grains.”
    Have you found stone grit in your flour??
    Thanks

    Andi
  • Andi,

    I have used the Wonder Junior hand grain mill for several years and the only time I noticed grit was in the first 4 cups of flour I ground to break the stones in. The research mentioned on this article is outdated (kind of like their reference to a 26 year old consumer magazine article in another article on their website) and does not include the hand mills that are made today.

    The skulls that article mentions with the teeth worn completely away were most likely using a rock and stone bowl to grind their flour which would probably result in rock grit in the flour. The Wonder Junior Deluxe grain mill also comes with stainless steel burs but they take a little more work to grind hard grains than the stone burrs do.

    I do not want to sound like I am harping on the Country Living Grain Mill but a lot of the information on their website is outdated and some of it is now considered inaccurate, like the information you mentioned above. The Country Living itself is a great hand mill itself.

    GMG
  • I need to crack grain sorghum for my chickens. Which machine is appropriate?

    Johnny
  • Johnny,
    You can set the stones on a really loose setting and it will brake grains into smaller pieces. The Wonder Junior also has a drill bit attachment so you could run it without hand cranking if you want, for cracking grains the drill attachment would work really fast.

    BMD
  • Outstanding read and wonderful input presented in an easy way to understand.
    I have learned much and not so confused about hand crank mills and now and have a direction to go. My question is will the Wonder Jr. deluxe make corn meal. My family enjoys corn bread and other baked goods and I haven’t seen anywhere that the Wonder Jr. can grind big hard grain like corn. See it does beans but beans aren’t hard corn. Thank you for your information.

    Chuck
  • hi Chuck,
    The Wonder Junior grain mill will grind any dry corn into corn meal or even corn flour. I would use the stone burrs for corn because grinds easier. We use yellow popcorn kernels for making corn meal, it justs tastes better than other dry corn does for corn meal. Fresh ground corn meal is a real treat if you have only used store bought corn meal in the past.

    Sammy
  • I recently saw a video abouta Wonder Junior Deluxe making peanut butter on a blog post. Does their experience (easy grind, no oil needed etc) match yours?

    John
  • John,
    Yes, you grind peanut butter is very easy to grind in the Wonder Junior Deluxe and you don’t use oil. There is a bit of cleanup to do after grinding peanut butter. I like using the Drill Bit Attachment for grinding nut butter, it makes the process supper fast, see this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6yQuIscePcM

    BMD
  • HI

    I would like to grind dried red chillis, coriander seeds, some lenthils,
    whole black pepper and fenugreek seeds to prepare my spice powder(fine)
    Can you please advise if wonder mill junior will do this job?
    The amount I expect to do is 4 kg, every 3 months.
    Thanks,
    Jey

    Jey
  • Hi Jey, Check out http://willitgrind.com for a list of things you can grind. If you can’t find it on that website you should give WonderMill a can, they are very helpful.

    BMD
  • I’ve been researching and reading reviews of grain mills and am leaning towards the WonderMill Junior Deluxe. My only concern so far is with the aluminum in the area of the augur. Have there been any problems with even microscopic bits of aluminum coming off in this area? Have there been any tests in this area? Reviews of this mill are overwhelmingly positive, and it sounds like just the product I’m looking for. Any information would be appreciated! Thank you.

    Cathryn
  • How long does it take to grind a cup of flour – I like the idea of the hand crank for its versatility, but I’m a bit concerned with the time it would take. I use about 8-10 cups of flour a week.

    THANKS!

    Janice
  • Janice, if you really go at it you can grind a little over 1 cup per minute but most people will grind 3/4 cup per minute. If you are using 8-10 cups of flour per week, you will be much happier with an electric grain mill than any of the hand grain mills, even the really expensive ones. I really like the WonderMill electric grain mill but the Nutrimill would work great to.

    BMD
  • Hi. I’ve been using the traditional Victoria corn grinder to grind nixmalized wet corn for masa. It works, but requires at least two passes to get it to the fine, smooth consistency needed for corn tortillas. Do you think the Jr. Deluxe would be a better option?

    Tim

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