Conical vs flat burrs

System

Hi, found your site and want to ask a question before buying a new grinder.

Heard around that conical burrs are supposed to be better than flat burrs. Can someone please explain what the differences are and advise if one type is better than the other.

Oh, this is for my use at home with a nice electric espresso machine.

Thanks in Advance,
Chuck.

FreshCoffee2

Rather than wondering about the actual difference between conical and flat grinding "burrs" or "plates" themselves, I think you will find quite a difference between conical and flat plate GRINDERS competing in the same price / market grouping. The differences in performance between grinders are not necessarily governed by the design of the actual grinding burrs, but rather by other factors that make any comparison between the grinding capabilities of the burrs themselves, to be impossible...

Unknown

Thanks for that. Chuck.

Unknown

just quickly, conical is also better because the partical size of the ground coffee is more consistant and even, so extraction is more uniform grind after grind

Reschsmooth

Speaking of burr grinders, I have read that running uncooked rice through the grinder is an effective way of cleaning it. Is this plausible? Would this likely damage the burrs/grinder? Cheers P

FreshCoffee2

Hello Patrick, I wouldn't do that....the density of raw rice is going to be much more so (dense) than that of roasted coffee and therefore placing the rice into the grinder is a sure fire guaranteed way of almost instantly jamming up the grinder and burning out the motor. The only safe method of cleaning out your grinder is to unwind the top plate right off and get into it physically. You could use a dry toothbrush then suck it out with a vacuum cleaner. No water. The same thing goes for trying to grind raw coffee beans, or trying to REGRIND already ground coffee. Never do it! Regards, FC. PS we never get into grinders unless something has gone wrong. Otherwise, you remove the hopper and wash out oily build up in warm soapy water, and while the hopper is off you can gently scrape build up from around the inside of the inlet throat, and suck it out with a vacuum cleaner. Place vacuum cleaner over grinder outlet and suck that from time to time, particularly while the motor is running (with no coffee in). That will clean it out without need of dismantling anything.

john

Any recommendations for a domestic connical grinder. The robur is a little on the huge size!!!1 JD

Gonzo

seeing as I have been awakened from my sobering slumber by all and sundry non legit posteurs in this here forum...may as well bite. Does anyone offer any more than the Lux and Isomac conical grinders? The Big G.

john

Gonzo Now that we can see that you have not choked on...... Welcome back from ya hibernation. The summer has arrived. Look forward to more of your comments and 'wit' JD

Gonzo

Well I guess that's it then, no other respondents, there are only 2 domestic conicals available in the entire english speaking universe, and I'll stick to my flat plated rocky roads and karnill tranquilos as they are much better grinders overall... conicals / Fooee Next! G.

Reschsmooth

You may have to check the Italian speaking universe. However, 26 hours isn't a great deal of time to expect a response! For what it's worth - I have an Isomac conical and hand conical burr grinders at home. P

over_extracted

Having used both types of grinders i can only say by experience that if you are going to do a large volume of coffee eg,10-13 kilos per day then the larger conical grinder is much better as it does not heat up the coffee and its self,as the smaller mazzer grinder does.It olso got to a point one busy day that the smaller mazzer stopped working becouse it got so hot.See ya OE :P

mattyj

Speaking of burr grinders, I have read that running uncooked rice through the grinder is an effective way of cleaning it. Is this plausible? Would this likely damage the burrs/grinder? Cheers P

It's hard to read this comment, but it's the rice thingy ... interesting conversation here: http://www.coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/machines/124485?Page=1. General consensus is that it's ok, but be careful with what rice you use. Just thought that it might give another perspective... oh yeah, once you've read that forum, click the 'search' button, type in 'rice' and you'll find some more discussions. it seems that while rice won't clean out old grinds all that effectively, it does pick up a lot of rancid oils, which normal brushing out wouldn't do. They recommend grinding a few shots worth of beans afterwards to clean out the rice dust.

sharkboy

About 12 months ago I scored an oldish RR45 grinder that hadn't been used for 18 months and was in need of a good clean out. I contacted Alan Frew and he mentioned that 2 minute rice worked well.

Reschsmooth

So pouring nicely steamed saffron basmati rice with a panang curry wouldn't be advisable?  ;D It might go well with the Sumatran Mandheling - similar regions to the curry.

FreshCoffee2

Not wishing to down play anything that a fellow trader has said or that someone in another esteemed coffee forum has recommended, however... It would take far less time (than to wander down to the supermarket & risk buying the wrong kind of "rice"...i.e. the type that will damage the grinder) to remove the hopper and top plate (time taken is dependent on type of grinder) clean manually, and put everything back together...& know the job has been done properly. As stated (or words to the effect of) by someone up above or in some other thread, onlookers should be aware that to place anything other than roasted coffee beans in a coffee grinder, could cause catastrophic failure. It's that simple. Afraid that to write anything else could result in the possibility that onlookers will try what is "recommended" or written up as being a good idea, and damage their coffee grinders. That is not what these forums are about. Rice is for rice cookers, coffee beans are for coffee grinders! Under normal circumstances, wash the hopper in warm soapy water & while its off, carefully remove any built up deposits from inside the inlet throat, & you can suck that, as well as the coffee grinds between the plates, out with a vacuum cleaner. On some grinders you can also place the vacuum cleaner at the exit point of the grinds. If this is done regularly, in domestic use there should be no need for anything more extreme than that. Regardz, FC.

mattyj

well, i can't say i didn't try to offer a differing opinion, one that's been tried, tested and seemed to work. but then, you have posted a lot more than me, so i guess i should just shut up and listen.

FreshCoffee2

Matty, You are right...I shouldn't have let my frustrations influence the style of my keyboard bashing. Your participation is valued, and you should continue doing so in this local Forum. I will go back to my "normal" abrupt style of writing, and try not use the "super abrupt" style employed in the original penultimate post, ever again. Cheers, FC.

sharkboy

FC or anybody else for that matter, Whilst we are talking grinders and their maintenance, a question; is it advisable or just plain OK to take the plate that the top carrier screws into off during cleaning? I only ask because after having a minor issue with a Cunil Cafe de Tranquilo grinder the local coffee technician I'm in contact with told me that I really shouldn't be removing this piece of the grinder during the cleaning process. The reason being that if this plate isn't 100% level (different screw tightening levels) then I'm corrupting the space between the top and bottom burrs ie not equidistant across the cutting surface. This makes sense to me but I then had to admit that I had removed the base plate 7 of 8 times during regular cleaning and had not (seemingly...) had any problems. I'm worried I've done the wrong thing and this may be a cautionary tale for others. The grinder seems to work just fine but perhaps the burrs aren't as level as they should be... Stephen

FreshCoffee2

Stephen, re"...is it advisable or just plain OK to take the plate that the top carrier screws into off during cleaning?... It's unnecessary, and really as a service provider, not wishing to have people getting into places they dont need to or shouldn't or could damage, or even hurt themselves in the process, I would say...dont do it. The only time we remove these things is when the plates need to be replaced. Yes, if you dont wear the requisite white lab coat and do it in a sterile environment while wearing surgical gloves, with plenty of good light, you could inadvertently (no one "means" to do this) introduce a piece of coffee grit or other matter between the plates and their mountings, resulting in the plates being out of alignment with eachother when they are replaced into the grinder, resulting in you having to dismantle again to fix. But like all things coffee it's not rocket science and just because you have been in there and dismantled the plates from their carriers, doesn't mean you have caused any damage. Rest easy if the grinder is working as it should or always did! The most common place to acually cause damage is when attempting to thread the top plate carrier back into the top of the grinder. The thread is very fine, and easy enough to cross thread, and should not be forced. The other thing, is the more times you dismantle unnecessarily, the greater the chance that something will eventually go wrong for you as a result....law of averages. Hope this helped. Regardz, FC.