Waring Professional Spice Grinder

[Demented]

Good afternoon all,

I’d like to hear about the personal experience anybody who owns or otherwise has hands-on use of the Waring WSG 30 spice grinder. Particularly ease of use, changing bowls, any difficulties in operation, and other positive or negative feedback about this product.

Thanks!

Big D.

Ps - I’m not asking for recommendations about this brand or that brand, this model, that model, or any other model of electric or manual spice grinder, by any other manufacturer.

 

[Sullybob]

Edited because I read your post more carefully.

 

[Rekonball]

You could buy ten coffee grinders for that price my friend. I've been a professional chef for 20 years now and have never seen one in any kitchen I've been in, I use two coffee grinders for my spices.

 

[Confuzius]

That thing looks very familiar
http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DCG-12BC-Coffee-Grinder/dp/B0000A1ZN7

Oh wait! It's because it's my parents' $30 coffee grinder with two extra bowls. Also it's kinda crap. I know Warring is a sister company to Cuisinart, I don't know if it would have higher build quality, but this thing broke after a few months.

 

[Demented]

You could buy ten coffee grinders for that price...

After going through 4 blade type grinders for coffee in a couple years, I bought a Jericho commercial burr grinder for $350, twenty years ago, it’s still used once or twice a day. Killed 3 stand mixers making bread before getting a KitchenAid commercial mixer, twenty five years ago, I make bread dough with it three times a week.

Gone through two cheap coffee grinders in the last year grinding spice, I don’t mind paying for quality, and would rather buy a commercial appliance once, then deal with replacing cheap garbage often.

 

[Demented]

my parents' $30 coffee grinder... it's kinda crap... this thing broke after a few months.

That’s exactly why I’m looking for a commercial grinder.

 

[Phog Allen]

Demented, I can truly say I understand where you are coming from. It was hammered into me when young; Buy the best you can afford. This is almost always universally good advice. You can get lemons in any brand. We see a lot of Hobart, Blodgett, and Vulcan at work (maintenance electrician) and while most of their stuff is good, we have some items in each brand that is more than a pita. For those of you who know those names you know why my last comment is pretty bold. They all sell themselves as the be all, end all of commercial kitchen appliances. From my experience working on ANYTHING with both a motor and an impact cutter like your spice grinder is well worth buying a good model. I can't tell you what that would be since I haven't a clue about that sort of device. I can tell you I wouldn't mind hearing your opinion of what a good one should be. I think something like that could possibly do double duty as a light grain mill as well. But grinding our own spices is something my wife and I have talked about more than once.

Regards, Todd

 

[Demented]

Allspice, caraway, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, fennel, mustard seed and nutmeg are a few items I grind, grate or pulverize with mortar and pestle on a regular basis, along with dried chilies to make chili powder and herbs I buy and/or grow then dry.

The qualities of a good spice grinder, in my opinion, are something that will hold up to daily use, has enough power to powder anything I through in it, has a good warranty and will last long enough to justify the expense, like the coffee mill and mixer have. Sometimes I think another commercial burr grinder might be the best way to go for grinding spice, but at 3 times the cost of the Waring spice grinder, it’s too much for the intended use, and grinding spice in your coffee mill is a bad idea, unless you like cumin flavored coffee.

I don’t know how an impact grinder would work for grain, a good quality burr grinder would likely be better for the task but still not ideal, a small "stone wheel" grain mill really is the tool for that job and might serve double duty for spice, but again I don’t know.

 

[global_dev]

I didn't notice the caveat of the OP also, apologies. I leave it just for consideration as I love my kitchen and tend to buy stuff that i think is going to last for a long time and research stuff to death....

I use something like that from 2 companies. one set is OXO and one set is Kuhn-Rikon. They are both manual with multiple lidded containers for the non-ground spice and have ceramic burrs. They work excellent since I don't need or want to grind up all i have... much cheaper than this. I have used my whirly grinder for grinding/blending rubs for smoking meats, but when I need a a couple of tablespoons or less of spices, the manual is perfect.

 

[Sullybob]

Allspice, caraway, cinnamon, coriander, cumin, fennel, mustard seed and nutmeg are a few items I grind, grate or pulverize with mortar and pestle on a regular basis, along with dried chilies to make chili powder and herbs I buy and/or grow then dry.

The qualities of a good spice grinder, in my opinion, are something that will hold up to daily use, has enough power to powder anything I through in it, has a good warranty and will last long enough to justify the expense, like the coffee mill and mixer have. Sometimes I think another commercial burr grinder might be the best way to go for grinding spice, but at 3 times the cost of the Waring spice grinder, it’s too much for the intended use, and grinding spice in your coffee mill is a bad idea, unless you like cumin flavored coffee.

I don’t know how an impact grinder would work for grain, a good quality burr grinder would likely be better for the task but still not ideal, a small "stone wheel" grain mill really is the tool for that job and might serve double duty for spice, but again I don’t know.

If you are looking at a dedicated burr grinder for spices you might want to look at a reconditioned burr grinder like the Baratza?

My only concern with using a grain mill for grinding spices is how hard is it to clean? If cumin flavored coffee is a bad idea, clove flavored flour is probably equally bad.

 

[Demented]

My only concern with using a grain mill for grinding spices is how hard is it to clean? If cumin flavored coffee is a bad idea, clove flavored flour is probably equally bad.

I used my burr grinder to grind cumin once, coffee had a cumin flavor for the first couple pots afterwards, even though I broke down and cleaning the grinder. So it’s coffee only in the burr grinder.

What I’m after is a heavy duty spinning blade type grinder for herbs and spice, guess I’ll take my chances with the Waring Pro and report back in a couple of years.