I finally bought a Mockmill after years of using impact mill
I've been using an old Magic Mill III impact mill for 30 year and it's been a love/hate thing for all those years. I hate the dentist drill sound of the high RPM motor whining and the flour dust everywhere. It's always been really noisy and messy but the flour has been great. Now I've finally bought a mockmill 100. I was tempted to get the 200 but I don't grind large quantities at all and they claimed the grind quality was the same.
So my first impressions were amazement at how quick and clean and quietly the Mockmill grinds my wheat into flour. No mess and I have the grinder right in my kitchen where the impact mill always had to live in a room I didn't mind getting coated in flour dust or outside the house even.
Next I ran the flour thru my #40 and #60 screens (too large of a jump - I have a #50 on order). The Mockmill grind is more even but not as fine as the impact mill. With the impact mill I was getting a lot of super fine flour that would go right thru the #60 and a lot of larger stuff, besides the bran, that wouldn't go thru the #40 and needed a second pass thru the grinder.
I'll know more when I get my #50 screen (I suspect I'll get more flour that goes thru the #50 but doesn't pass the #60 from the Mockmill, and that may be just what I want) -- but what I'm seeing right now is that in order to get the same very fine flour I was able to get from the impact mill, I have to run the MockMill with the stones rubbing against each other. I'm not sure if that's OK to do or not - with grain in it, it sounds fine but I have to turn it off the second the last kernel of grain goes thru as it sounds awful. I've seen two different "how to" for the Mockmill and one talked about setting it to where the stones just barely touch and then backing off - but it also then mentioned you can go even closer but didn't elaborate. So I'm not sure if I'm going to end up with grit in my flour or ruin the stones by running them that close for short periods (not long enough to get hot - I only use 100-200 grams at a time).
I make pasta frequently and I buy both the Bob's Red Mill Semolina (very coarse) and the Caputo Semola Rimacinata flour. The Caputo flour passes easily thru the #60 screen. So I tried running the Bob's Red Mill thru the MockMill and had to really get the stones rubbing before I could get it to pass thru the #60 but I was able to do it (and made delicious pasta with it, didn't see or feel any grit). Hope someone can comment on whether I'm safe to run the stones that tight. I do notice that the stones start to plug up when grinding that fine and I have to brush them or clean them with a coarse grind.
Curious to hear what others have to say after using both types of mills. And maybe this is useful to someone trying to decide which type of mill to buy.