Stone Grinder for Raw Chocolate

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Crucial Jade on February 15, 2011 at 6:45pm

Hello Pixie!
I wish I had the information on what kind of stone grinder and or conch/refining machine to buy.
I currently own and operate a raw, vegan, organic chocolate company based in Big Sur Ca. I am also looking for words of wisdom on what type of conch/refining/stone grinder machine would be best to purchase to produce my own cacao paste ( keeping the temperature as low as possible) .I am looking to buy a tempering machine
(10-20lb capacity) as well and could use some advice. I appreciate the position you are in and hopefully we can discover a solution together!
~ Jade

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Permalink Reply by Pixie on February 16, 2011 at 10:43pm

Kia ora Jade,

Yey, nothing as yet but would love to keep in touch as we are on the same path.  Do you have a website so we can see a bit more of your beautiful raw chocolate.  I will email John (see below) and let you know if he comes back with anything of interest.

Arohanui

Pixie

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Permalink Reply by Brad Churchill on February 15, 2011 at 7:29pm

John Nanci over at www.ChocolateAlchemy.com sells some "home scale" melangeurs used to make chocolate.  Maybe that would work for you.

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Permalink Reply by susana salas on February 18, 2011 at 5:04pm

If you go to Google images and look for "wet grinders" you will see many different options.  I do not know if they have anything different from the usual models when used for chocolates, but there are made in India and used to make things like the big lentil and flour pancake for masala dosai.    If you have a reasonable size Indian population where you are check at the Indian Supermarkets ... this are very common kitchen appliance in India -- I also need one - but I am in Costa Rica.  Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Andal Balu on February 27, 2011 at 12:19pm

Indian wetgrinders look similar to the melangers. The similarity ends with appearance. Indian wetgrinders are made for making idli dosa, and each batch of rice or lentil takes only 30 minutes. For chocolate, cocoa nibs have to be ground for 48 hours or more to get the 15 micron size. Melangers are modified to keep the motor from heating up and to keep the cocoa beans from overheating. There are lot of design and engineering improvements in melangers to make them suitable for grinding cocoa nibs.

We at Cocoatown.com sell melangers for small scale - 8-10 lbs of cocoa nibs and Grindeurs for medium scale -to grind up to 65lbs of cocoa nibs. We ship them worldwide and in the voltage you need.

Our customers have used these melangers and Grindeurs to grind raw or roasted cocoa nibs for more than five years.

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Permalink Reply by Nat on February 28, 2011 at 5:42am

The melanger from Cocoatown is much sturdier than the current production of Santha grinders which constantly bust their bearings, have belts burn up, or motors burn out as grinding chocolate in them is not what they were designed to do. We've been using Santhas full time for 9 months and they  have had to have almost every piece replaced, starting with only the 3rd batch of chocolate we ground in them. The cocoatowns seems to get a much smoother (lower micron size) grind in them as well.

 

We don't own any cocoatowns yet, but I have seen them in action often, and tasted the chocolate coming out of them and it is much nicer.

 

-Nat

____________________

Nat Bletter, PhD

Chocolate R&D

Madre Chocolate

http://madrechocolate.com

 

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Permalink Reply by Pixie on February 28, 2011 at 5:21pm

Kia ora Nat

Thanks for the feedback, we were so close to buying a Santha but hesitated because of the cost for us to import into Aotearoa.  I knew further reshearch needed to be done.  I have been in touch with Cocao Town about there machines. Thanks again. 

Love

pixie

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Permalink Reply by susana salas on February 28, 2011 at 1:15pm

I  have some questions if you would send me a personal email.

 

Thanks -- Susana

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Permalink Reply by Crucial Jade on February 28, 2011 at 1:03pm

Thank you for the feedback! The melanger from Cocoatown sounds like a really good machine.
I will be looking into purchasing one of those! ; )

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Permalink Reply by Michel Hafner on July 16, 2011 at 4:19am

Has anyone measured the temperature of the melange in the melanger from Cocoatown during operation? Is it suitable for raw chocolate processing (e.g. not going over 104 F (40 C))?

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Permalink Reply by cheebs on July 16, 2011 at 12:12pm

It most definitely WILL go above 104 F.  I've measured up to 140F with a laser thermometer.  Next batch we do in a small grinder I'll take a picture.

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Permalink Reply by Michel Hafner on July 16, 2011 at 12:25pm

Thanks. What other comparable equipment options are there if raw processing is required? One of their bigger models with frequency control?

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