gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Dec 9, 2012 19:34:34 GMT -5
I'm not sure how it would affect the wear and tear, but Alchemist John's original post (link at top of this thread) say:
"That all said, I’ve run it hard. It takes (warmed) nibs into liqueur great and fast. It does not over heat. It can run days on end. And it’s both half the weight (25 lbs total) and less than have the price of the ‘official’ Melangers but refines almost the same amount (about 80%)."
I've been running mine by heating the stones with a hot air gun (paint stripper but hardryer might work) and putting nibs in directly without issue. That refines the nibs into liquor without any issues. If the recipe calls for cocoa butter, I often add heated cocoa butter with the nibs just to help the process along, but it is not necessary if there is no cocoa butter in the recipe.
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Post by oakandsage on Mar 1, 2013 8:45:33 GMT -5
Hi, I'm new! Nice to meet you all.
I've just bought the 1.5 liter (Premier Wonder) used. It's my first grinder, so I can't compare it to the Santha or any other grinder. My first batch of white chocolate (something easy for a test run... Plus I haven't even ordered any beans yet...) has been in it for 8 hours. It's not ready to go out because at 3 hours I realized I misread the recipe and added more sugar and milk powder.
The manual says the *maximum* amount of soaked dal to run through it at once is 1 cup (180g) so I don't think a small batch size will hurt it. That said, they don't expect you to be processing those dal for 30 hours! It does lead me to wonder if processing a large quantity of nibs without juicing them first could have a bad effect on the machine, which is concerning since I'll be going the route of minimal preprocessing in a blender/food processor - as, I suspect, will others who start out with the Premier due to its lower cost.
Current run is 9 oz of white chocolate. Mine has a slight wobble, but I don't think it's anything to worry about. It actually seems to run more smoothly with a thicker mixture in it - it wobbled more with the cocoa butter alone, and smoothed out as I added the solids. It is fairly loud, but I don't know if that's unusual for a wet grinder.
Maybe it's the small volume that's in it, but it's spraying a lot. I had to scrape down the sides and lid. I would not leave it running for a long time with the lid off! It seemed to spray less when there was a higher cocoa butter content.
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Post by oakandsage on Mar 4, 2013 15:02:56 GMT -5
Quick update.
* I ran a 1kg batch of milk chocolate. Temperature stabilized at 116F (no lecithin) about an hour after I added the solids. I ran for 24h, then left the machine off for a couple hours and a wheel seized up, ending the run. It was easy to disassemble the wheels and resolve the problem, however after repeated cleanings the wheel grease will need to be replaced. I'm not sure what to replace it with...
* I made nut butter. I started by grinding the nuts with virgin coconut oil (the stuff that's solid at 70F - for no-stir nut butter) in a food processor. I added enough coconut oil to form a spreadable substance, but it turned out to have been way too much once the Premier had its way with the stuff. It was almost completely liquid. I tried adding more whole nuts, and the wheels stalled out. It was a pain. Definitely pre-grind all nuts! The nut butter was smooth within 1 hour (possibly much less - I wasn't watching closely enough).
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Mar 4, 2013 16:25:08 GMT -5
I've made pure pistachio paste in the Premier. I roasted the pistachios and added no oil and had a smooth paste in 2-3 hours. I've also done roasted hazelnuts with milk chocolate for homemade gianduja.
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Post by Adrian on Mar 11, 2013 21:39:38 GMT -5
Hello Everybody, this is my first post to the forum. My Premier Wonder grinder has arrived and I am excited to finally make chocolate (as opposed to just reading the forum). I have a large variety of nibs to try out, Venezuelan Mantuano, Ocumare, Peruvian, Nicaraguan, they all look interesting, and smell good already. I'll be oven roasting also...
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Post by Adrian on Mar 19, 2013 18:41:03 GMT -5
To update the last post:
I've tried the bean from Ghana and it turned out great. I roasted 372g of nibs at 350 degrees, stirring every 5 min. -was smoking a bit after 10 min, lowered heat to 315 -shut off oven at 20 min, left in oven, total roast time about 30 min, more smoke when I took them out, may have over roasted a bit, does anybody else get smoke when roasting? There was a brownie aroma that filled the room Put them in the grinder right away and they had no problem, added 4.5oz sugar soon after, and then let it grind for 10 hours. Checked on it periodically, the end result was fine
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Post by cocobyer on Apr 8, 2013 20:04:02 GMT -5
Greetings from the Dakotas!
I am a long time lurker who just started making chocolate a couple of weeks ago with a Premier Wonder Grinder.
It appears to be a suggested practice to warm a Santha drum and roller-assembly to 150 F before introducing warmed nibs for dark chocolate recipes. Can anyone tell me if the Premier drum and rollers can withstand the heat of a 150 degree oven? I'm concerned about melting/distorting the roller-assembly's plastic components or the adhesive that attaches the bottom stone to the metal drum. It appears to tolerate 130 degrees from my limited experience. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Apr 8, 2013 23:53:47 GMT -5
I don't know a direct answer to your question.
I can say, however, that I have never heated my (Premier) drum to 150F (65C) before adding nibs. Mine is probably not best practice but I've made ~20 batches of chocolate now ranging from 1-2kg per batch and haven't had an issue. I warm the stones and bottom of the drum using a paint stripper/heat gun until they are warm-hot to touch. I then add cold nibs (I know people say to warm them but I haven't yet) and let it go. Within about 30-60 minutes it is a paste (not fully refined but ready for sugar etc to be added). Sometimes I add additional heat while the nibs are refining but most of the time it isn't necessary.
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Post by kevin on Apr 11, 2013 12:12:45 GMT -5
Hello again to everyone,
Thanks to all your help I have been able to do the whole process from bean to bar and make chocolate!
The last step was tempering a batch last night. I used a digital thermometer with a probe. It worked ok. I might try a laser thermometer that can read surface temperatures without a probe.
What I made last night is not (yet) the best chocolate ever but it tastes awesome just knowing that I did it. It looks pretty good. It has a shiny look for the most part and snaps good. Again thank you Chocolate Alchemy and all those on this forum.
I molded most of the batch but have some leftover tempered chocolate just sitting in a block. Tomorrow I will mold that block. Do I have to re-temper the chocolate in this block or can I just melt and mold it?
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Post by Adrian on Apr 19, 2013 16:58:55 GMT -5
I use a hair dryer to warm up the stones before adding nibs. It dosen't take too long, only for a few minuets. I've also been directing some heat at the bottom of the drum (on the outside of it) during the grind/conch.
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Post by donnyg on Jun 25, 2013 23:47:48 GMT -5
What are you using for the cracking/winnowing phase?
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Post by jhoff on Jun 26, 2013 0:41:21 GMT -5
I use a crackandstein (sold here) for cracking and a hair drier and a big bowl for winnowing.
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Post by max3732 on Sept 7, 2013 16:33:11 GMT -5
I'm thinking of buying one of these since it seems to work for small amounts and doesn't cost as much.
What else can you do with a wet grinder besides make chocolate from cocoa nibs?
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gap
Apprentice
Posts: 390
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Post by gap on Sept 7, 2013 16:43:09 GMT -5
Indian wet grinders are used to make Indian cuisine originally - my understanding is you can make doughs with different bases for that.
You can also run nuts through it to make nut pastes or nut+sugar to make praline paste - both very handy ingredients in pastry applications
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Post by max3732 on Sept 16, 2013 10:44:12 GMT -5
Just so I'm clear, the Premier Wonder Grinder can be used in place of both the Champion Juicer and the Santha Melanger?
So I'd take the winnowed nibs, put them in the Premier Wonder Grinder until it turns to liquid, then add sugar, lecithin, cocoa butter, etc for 6+ hours until there's no grit left in the chocolate?
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