Hi everyone, I wonder if anyone has encountered this problem. I have been using a 2L, Premier Wonder grinder for the past 3 years, making small 1kg batches. Now, mastering the art of larger batches, I wanted to grind nibs and cocoa butter without sugar. My question is this, is there a known flaw with this machine, that allows the mix to migrate between the stone holder spindles and granite wheels? In a recent batch, I had nibs + cocoa butter in a fairly thin ratio running for approximately 4 hours, I stopped the machine, removed the wheel holder and noticed metallic pools had formed either side, where the granite wheels were. As I usually add sugar, I’ve never encountered this happening before, my only other thought being I over tightened the end nut and the washer revolved against it, though I am not entirely convinced by this scenario, as there was grey cocoa butter on the stone holder spindles when I inspected it. Has anyone else encountered this problem, is there a solution or is it simply a case of not having quite a thin nib/butter mix in the machine? Eager to hear any ideas.
In my experience, it’s not enough to let anything involved with chocolate dry “naturally” either open air or in an oven. Use compressed air to make sure that all the moisture is driven out of hiding places – a pipe cleaner won’t do it. Plus, with compressed air (make sure there’s an inline filter) there’s no danger of melting anything.
reply toApparently, this is a very common problem, Melangers.com said “cocoa butter mixes with some residual moisture leftover from cleaning. If the unit isn’t allowed to air dry completely, these will mix, seize and burn, causing what looks like grey or black streaks in your product. It is entirely edible, however it may not taste good”. I guess there is some truth to this, as I usually clean with pipe cleaner down inside the stones immediately after oven drying, however on this occasion, eager to get my last batch in, I didn’t do this I simple reassembled straight from the oven. I guess I will have to see what happens on my next batch, hopefully this is problem solved.
reply toThe original versions of these small machines were not designed to run for many hours at a time and making chocolate with them is not their original purpose. Some models can be upgraded with with metal parts, but in the end, you don’t get what you don’t pay for.
Please do post what you learn, I am interested in knowing what the response is.
Hi, thanks for the swift reply I had no idea that site existed, though it will be of great help, as I’m going to upgrade the stone holder, wheels and drum. Really I’m mystified by this, will post their answer here if there is a known flaw. I guess, it might be a case of inferior stainless parts used originally, on a relatively cheap machine.
@ukmike – this is something I would communicate directly with the importer/distributor of the machines about. That’s Diamond Custom Machines (DCM) at melangers.com. There may be something going on with your specific machine as this is not something I have heard much about.