Revolving Line of Credit & Long Term Debt Narrative (Details) (USD $)	12 Months Ended		12 Months Ended			12 Months Ended					3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended		3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended					0 Months Ended									3 Months Ended
	Oct. 31, 2013	Oct. 31, 2012	Oct. 31, 2013 Revolving Operating Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Compensating Balances, Cash and Cash Equivalents [Domain]	Oct. 31, 2013 Revolving Operating Loan, Net [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Jul. 31, 2013 Note Payable at Granite Falls Bank [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member]	Jan. 31, 2013 Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member] Revolving Operating Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member] Revolving Operating Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member] Revolving Operating Loan [Member]	Jan. 31, 2013 Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Granite Falls Energy [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2012 Granite Falls Energy [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Jul. 31, 2013 Project Viking, LLC [Member]	Aug. 30, 2013 Project Viking, LLC [Member] Long-term Debt [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Board of Governors [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Unit Holders, non-Board of Governors [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Minimum [Member] Revolving Operating Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Minimum [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Minimum [Member] Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member] Revolving Operating Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Maximum [Member] Heron Lake Bioenergy [Member] Revolving Term Loan [Member]	Jan. 31, 2013 Convertible Subordinated Debt [Member]	Jan. 31, 2013 Common Class A [Member] Convertible Subordinated Debt [Member]	Oct. 31, 2013 Common Class A [Member] Convertible Subordinated Debt [Member]
Line of Credit Facility [Line Items]
Long-term Debt	$ 36,472,763			$ 0	$ 5,660,000			$ 5,000,000				$ 20,500,000			$ 17,400,000		$ 18,000,000		$ 4,024,500
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate During Period																				4.00%									7.25%
Line of Credit Facility, Interest Rate Description			"One Month LIBOR Index Rate," plus 265			"One Month LIBOR Index Rate," plus 265									LIBOR plus 3.50% but not less than 5%
Debt Instrument, Basis Spread on Variable Rate																							2.80%	2.80%	3.50%	3.05%	3.05%	5.00%
Letters of Credit Reduction, Amount	49,000					2,000,000					2,000,000
Line of Credit Facility, Amount Outstanding		5,389,588				2,513,674	4,891,952					6,263,158	0		18,317,800	0	2,513,674	4,891,952
Letters of Credit Outstanding, Amount	337,928
Debt Instrument, Amortization Period															10 years
Required Additional Payment of Excess Cash Flow, Percent															25.00%
Required Additional Payment of Excess Cash Flow, Amount														2,000,000
Debt Instrument, Interest Rate, Stated Percentage															5.75%
Long Term Debt, Fee on Unused Borrowing												0.35%
Convertible Subordinated Debt, Noncurrent									4,143,000	0											1,400,000	3,700,000
Debt Instrument, Convertible, Conversion Price																															$ 0.30
Debt Conversion, Converted Instrument, Amount																														$ 934,500
Conversion of Stock, Shares Converted																														3,115,000