How to Clean Your Coffee Grinder the Right Way
In addition, the condition of your machines will directly affect the quality of the coffee. It’s also important for each user to know how to clean a coffee grinder and maker. By performing a regular and thorough cleaning, you can keep the inner lining of your grinder clean and free of residues, which would help to maintain the quality of each brew.
And unlike the coffee makers, which often come with their own self-cleaning mode and can be cleaned relatively easily, your coffee grinder will mostly require manual cleaning. And some of you might find it relatively tricky.
With that being said, in this guide on coffee grinder maintenance, we’ll be showing you the exact steps that need completions regarding how do you clean a coffee grinder.
Find out how you can properly clean your grinder
About coffee grinder
First of all, let’s take a look at the grinder as you learn about their functions and features, which would allow for a better understanding of the machine. Thus, making maintaining jobs less challenging.
What is it?
For those of you who don’t know yet, your aroma and flavorful packets of ground coffee were made from robust and powerful coffee beans. By grinding and refining, they then turn into small and uniform particles, which can be brewed to make those delicious cups of coffee. This would give the java a strong, refreshing, and natural taste since the fresh beans consist of more coffee oils than those that were processed and packaged.
And these coffee makers, being used for many generations, have always been the best device for producing the refreshing and flavorful ground coffee. You can easily put the preferred beans inside, and as the grinder operates, either with the spinning blades or the burrs, you can pick up the final products which are ready to be used immediately.
Coffee grinder help grinding the fresh beans
How does it work?
As mentioned, the coffee grinder cuisinart uses the spinning blades or the grinding burrs to crush and smash your coffee beans. Depending on the techniques, you can expect different results and overall grinding experiences.
The blade grinders
By featuring a sharp blade that spins at high speeds, the machines can effectively chop and cut the beans into small little pieces, which are ready to be brewed with your good coffee maker.
Normally, people won’t use the blade grinder to process their coffee beans since it results in uneven particles, but it does offer some conveniences.
You can use the grinder along with your spices as well as other cooking ingredients. This means that you won’t need another space on your kitchen counter for the spice grinder. In addition, you’ll also find most blade grinders are relatively cheap and easier to use than their burr grinder counterparts.
The burr grinder
Most commercial coffee grinder come with this type of build simply because of the good consistency that you’ll get when grinding your coffee beans. Uniform particles are extremely important in making coffee as it allows for a more controlled brewing process.
The machines often come with two burrs that were properly aligned with each other. As your breville coffee grinder operates the burrs will come in contact and smash the beans. And depending on the width settings between the burrs, the results can be finer or coarser.
Burr grinder offers more even results
Manual grinder
Along with the automated grinder, you’ll also have access to the manual products, which often comes in better priced and ideally suited to coffee nuts who only recently started on their coffee journey. In addition, manual grinders also crush your coffee beans naturally without heating the ground. Thus, allowing for a much more refreshing and aroma brew of java.
On the other hand, if you don’t have the time and the patience to slowly grind your coffee beans, using the manual devices won’t be a practical idea as it would take a lot of your time.
Hybrid grinder and maker
Along with the traditional coffee grinder models that come separately with the maker machine, consumers can also have access to the convenient hybrid models that offer both grinding and brewing operations. Thus allowing you to quickly and effectively brew your delicious cup of java from fresh beans.
The machines work relatively simply with two separate processes of grinding and brewing. For the grinding, you’ll mostly have the burr grinder to crush and smash the beans. The collected coffee ground will fall into the hopper and can be used to brew your java immediately.
Advanced models offer both grinding and brewing functions
Do you really need it?
And here comes the age-old question on whether you should go for freshly ground coffee or use the commercially-made ground coffee packs. The final answer is greatly dependent on your preferences as there are certain compromises for each.
If you wish to conserve your time, getting the pre-processed coffee ground would be a better idea. However, by doing this, you won’t be able to taste the raw and robust coffee beans. Instead, the packed coffee grounds are often burned at a certain heat due to the industrial manufacturing process. And they also have fewer oils in them, which results in milder tastes and reduced flavors.
Generally speaking, we still recommend that our coffeeholics grind their own coffee in order to enjoy the best out of every package. Additionally along with the effective hacks that we’ll be providing at the end of the guide, you can effectively preserve your freshly ground coffee and still enjoy the raw tastes for multiple brews.
How to clean a coffee grinder?
As you have been grinding your coffee beans for an extended amount of time, your machine will get quite dirty due to the dust, coffee oils, and residues that are cluttered after multiple grinds.
If you don’t have it properly cleaned, the dirt and stained inner parts of your grinder will cause the machine to quickly wear down. Additionally, the stained and dirtied coffee residues and oils can also reduce the quality of your future brews. This, in turn, makes your java less aroma and flavorful, sometimes even bitter.
To keep your machine at its prime as well as to retain that original coffee taste, you should definitely have your coffee grinder cleaned and maintained frequently. And in the following articles, we’ll be showing you exactly how to clean your coffee grinder with detailed guides for your specific models.
Clean your automated coffee grinder
To start with, we’ll be cleaning an automated coffee grinder, which is a lot more common and frequently used. The guides and instructions can work on both a blade or burr grinder. Also, you can clean your coffee grinder and maker hybrid models with the same method.
Things you’ll need
● A top rated vacuum cleaner
● Soap and sponge
● A small brush
● Coffee grinder cleaning tablets
● Small bowls
● Clean cloths
Let’s start cleaning
● Start by removing the container and the hopper off your machine. Pour the remaining coffee beans and ground in separate bowls if you plan to use them later. Give the container and hopper a few hits on the top while hoovering over your trash bin to get rid of the remaining residues.
● Then proceed to vacuum up the unfinished beans and remaining coffee ground in the machine using a vacuum cleaner. Run your vacuum at the highest setting so that you can collect most of the waste.
● Place the container back on the machine together with a small bowl on the spot where the container sits. Put in a certain amount of cleaning tablets, depending on the condition of your grinder, then run the machine. You can start seeing the remaining coffee ground and the grounded tablet coming out. These might look clean at first glance but they carry all the dirty and oily particles that were stuck at the inner walls of your machines. Dump the ground substances into the trash can before proceeding to the next step.
● Next up, you’ll be removing the top burr (or the blade) from your grinder. Usually, this wouldn’t take too much effort as you’ll only have to turn the certain component counterclockwise to dismount it. Beat your burr above the trash can to get rid of a little bit of coffee ground then put it aside for later cleaning.
● On most grinders, you won’t be able to remove the main burr for cleaning, as it was built to stay connected to the machine, unless you can get professionals to take it out for replacement or fixing the products. You can only do as much as brushing the edges and crevices on the burrs to clean them. Use the coffee grinder cleaning brush that also comes with the machine, or a small brush to get inside and scrub off all the remaining dust and dirt as you meticulously go through it. Finish the cleaning by running your vacuum cleaner over the crevices.
● And with the upper burr, the hopper, and the container, you need to wash them with mild soap to get rid of the excess dirt and oils. Run them under warm water, apply detergent, and scrub their surfaces with a sponge to eliminate oil stains and the remaining coffee grounds. Wipe the items with a clean and dry cloth before you let them air dry completely for about 30 minutes.
● With all the items completely cleaned and dry, you will need to put them back on your coffee grinder. Just undo what you just did to remove the components and you can have your machine up and running again.
● Finish the cleaning by wiping the exterior of your grinder to get that polished metal look out of it.
Finish the cleaning by wiping the grinder with a clean cloth
Clean your hand crank coffee grinder
For certain java connoisseurs, they would prefer to have their coffee beans manually grinded through the traditional method. You’ll also need to clean the coffee grinder to ensure its performance remains optimum.
➜ RELATED: 50 Amazing Cleaning Tips You'll Wish You Knew Sooner
Things you’ll need:
● Mild detergent
● Dish sponge
● Drain brush
● A Clean cloth
Let’s start cleaning:
● To begin the cleaning, you should empty your coffee grinder by pouring out the remaining beans and gently hit it on the top to get rid of the sticky coffee ground.
● Proceed to disassemble the grinder and get all of its components ready to be cleaned. Start by removing the top locking screw as you turn it counterclockwise. Take out the handle, the stopper, the washer, and the spinning shaft in that order. Make sure that you keep track of the small components and remember where all of them were placed.
● Then, start running all the components under warm water to rinse away all the excess oil stains. Use your soap and sponge to scrub off all the remaining dirt on the grinder. Work on the large items like the container and burr before you move on to the smaller ones.
● Clean off the soap with water then wipe the components with a clean cloth and let them dry completely before putting them back. Remember to keep track of all the different components as you begin to reassemble the grinder. You can use the drain brush to effectively clean the narrow burrs.
● Right after you’ve finished putting the items back together, it’s recommended that you run your hand crank coffee grinder a few rounds with a pinch of coffee beans. This is to lubricate the components with oil and to test whether you have had them reassembled correctly.
Also remember to clean your hand crank grinder after each use
A few maintenance tips for your coffee grinder
And with all the cleaning completed, you would want to know a few maintenance tips to keep your coffee grinder clean for as long as possible. In the following passages, we’ll be showing you how to simply and effectively keep your grinder clean.
Set yourself a cleaning schedule
Even the best rated coffee grinder wouldn’t be able to operate correctly if you neglect its maintenance. This is something that you would want to do regularly and with a fixed schedule. To answer how often you should clean your coffee grinder, you should take into account your total uses of the product.
For daily uses, you can simply empty the hopper after each grind by turning it upside down and hitting on it while holding the item over the trash can. And if it’s possible, you can perform a deep cleaning on your product by following the provided instructions, preferably, once every 2-3 weeks depending on your personal uses.
Remember to have a fixed cleaning schedule for your grinder
Use rice to replace your cleaning tablets
Since cleaning coffee grinder is an important piece of maintenance that you should perform regularly, you might also find yourself running out of cleaning tablets at some point. And instead of doing some light cleaning without the cleaner product, you can use a small pinch of rice to replace.
Just run your machine like how you often do and the grinded rice will work similarly to your tablets. It’ll help collect dirt and oil stains, but don’t use too much and make sure to clean off the remaining since the starch can easily harden inside your machine.
Make your beans last longer
In addition to saving time, many people tend to grind as many coffees as possible, so that they can brew them whenever needed. This, however, can cause your coffee to deteriorate due to the moisture in the air and the oily ground.
To prevent this, you can put the coffee into a tightly closed container to isolate it from the environment. And at the same time, use the dry-packed moisture absorbing packets to effectively collect excess moisture in the air. Thus, making your coffee last longer and staying fresh throughout the process.
Use this to keep your coffee ground in a good condition
Conclusion
For coffee lovers, knowing how to clean coffee your grinder is something that you should always be ready for. That being said, our complete guides, with all the useful cleaning instructions on your coffee grinders, should definitely come handy. Be sure to try them out and keep a fixed cleaning schedule for your machine to maintain its function.
And if you’re interested in purchasing a great grinder model for your coffee, our Baratza Virtuoso coffee grinder will show you exactly what you need for your next purchases. Thanks for reading and we’ll see you in our future posts
