Vacuum For Coffee Grinder? Top 99 Best Answers

Unsplash | Maik Jonietz

When you grind and grind and suddenly get stuck, it’s time to clean your grinder. But don’t worry, that happens to the best of us. While we think about cleaning our bongs, pipes, and vapes for whatever reason, we don’t tend to think about getting our grinders “dirty.” But they can and do. In this case we run the risk of damaging quality products that will stick and squeeze together from the extra pressure of trying to release the lid.

To ensure we get the best grind, it’s a good idea to clean our grinders from time to time based on usage. But how?

Well, there are different types of grinders and each one has different cleaning needs, so let’s start here.

types of mills

A good grinder is an essential tool for consuming cannabis properly. Although there are many options on the market, some are significantly better than others. We choose the ones that last the longest (metal) and are low-tech (hand grinder).

Plastic options are not environmentally friendly and will degrade over time. People who are concerned about plastic toxins getting into their food should also avoid plastic grinders.

Electric grinders like those used for coffee beans are powerhouses that can easily over grind cannabis. The fast and aggressive spinning separates crystals from the flower and these crystals cling to every little corner in the machine.

cleaning methods

Metal hand grinder

Take the parts of your grinder apart and place them in the freezer for a few hours. This will make removing the crystals easier.

Take out of the freezer.

If the pieces are still separate, take a toothbrush or makeup brush and gently begin sweeping away the plant debris. You can collect this for later use in making butter, oil, or rosin.

After the grinder has been brushed a few times, you’re ready to do your deep cleaning.

Place the separated pieces in a ziplock bag and add isopropyl alcohol.

Close the bag. Shake a few times.

The timing depends on the level of purification required. You’ll know you’re done when the alcohol is cloudy. For convenience, you can just leave it in your bag overnight and clean it in the morning.

Drain and rinse well with hot water.

electric mills

It is no understatement to say that the grinder is one of the most important pieces of equipment in any coffee brewing facility. Without a quality grinder, it’s difficult to achieve an even grind size distribution, which in turn affects the quality of your extraction.

But no matter how powerful your grinder is, cleaning and maintenance are crucial to ensure you get the most out of it. By regularly maintaining your grinders and cleaning your grinder, you’ll ensure you’re making consistent, delicious coffee time after time—whether you’re at home or behind the bar.

However, there are a number of ways you can do this. To get to know some of the best, I spoke to two coffee pros from Fiorenzato – a maker of premium coffee grinders. Read on to find out what they told me.

You might also like our article on coffee grinders and what private consumers should pay attention to.

Why is it important to clean your grinder?

During the roasting process, heat releases gases from the coffee beans as their cellular structure breaks down and becomes more porous. Because of this, roasted beans are much more brittle than raw green coffee — which both home and commercial grinders struggle to break down.

But roasted coffee also contains oils. These are lipids that naturally migrate to the surface of the bean during roasting.

Marzia Viotti is technical trainer at Fiorenzato. She explains how and why oils remain in the milling chamber.

“Coffee oils stick to the teeth of the burrs,” she says. “Over time, if left there, the smell and taste of stale coffee will affect any new coffee you grind.”

The “teeth” of your burrs are the small ridges and crevices that sit around the edge and surface – for both conical and flat burrs. Although the angled design of these teeth helps grind coffee evenly and quickly, it also means that oils and very fine coffee grounds (also known as fine dust) easily stick to them.

It’s not just the ridges that are affected. As fine coffee grounds accumulate over time, clogging can occur, which in turn can lead to mechanical problems.

“Extraction and flavor are compromised by lack of purification,” says Marzia. “If old coffee gets stuck in the spout, the coffee won’t come out properly, which could affect your grinder’s performance.”

Blockages in your grinder – particularly the chute that drops coffee into your grounds container – then result in fresh coffee being contaminated with old, stale grounds. This in turn has a negative effect on taste and aroma.

“It also affects the performance of your grinder and your grinding speed will be slower,” adds Marzia.

What is grinding retention?

With ground coffee retention, ground coffee remains in the inner grind chamber and spout. While your burrs will always retain a certain amount of coffee, it varies by shape.

A certain level of retention can be beneficial to reduce static and maintain consistent grinding flow, but high levels are detrimental. If old coffee grounds are not removed regularly, the coffee freshness and the performance of the grinder can be affected.

“Coffee restraint is a popular topic now,” says Marzia. “Because coffee lovers know more than ever how important it is to always have freshly ground coffee.”

Flat grinders tend to retain more coffee grounds than conical grinders due to the difference in grinder.

With flat grinders, coffee is ground between the horizontally aligned top and bottom grinders. These push the grist sideways into the inner chamber and the spout.

In contrast, in conical ridges, the upper ridge sits “inside” the lower ridge. This means that gravity forces the coffee grounds through the chamber and spout, causing the set to retain less coffee grounds.

Giulia Bagato is Marketing Manager at Fiorenzato. She explains how the company’s Pro Series commercial and prosumer grinders were engineered to reduce grind hold-up.

“The grinding chamber and its components have been redesigned to reduce the internal space, so there is less ground coffee inside.”

The new design allows baristas and home brewers to easily remove the top ridge for easy cleaning and maintenance. After removing the hopper, the user can take it out with two clips on both sides of the grinding chamber.

To separate the grind of a commercial or prosumer grinder, users would typically have to unscrew the grind chamber housing. This takes more time and can adversely affect service in a busy cafe.

Clump & Clean

Because ground coffee contains moisture by default, it often sticks together in small clumps. This is also caused by static electricity generated when the burrs continuously rotate at high speed.

This clumping can cause a number of problems, but the main one is an uneven grind distribution in the brewer or portafilter. This in turn causes channeling, where water finds the path (or channel) of least resistance through the coffee bed.

Channeling means water bypasses the more compact areas of the coffee, resulting in a combination of under- and over-extraction, resulting in the cup carrying more unwanted flavors and aromas.

“In every Fiorenzato on-demand grinder, there is a lump breaker,” explains Giulia. “This is a small tool that prevents coffee from clumping and allows static electricity to be dissipated.

“In the Pro Line, our clump breaker has been redesigned to more effectively counteract clogging and allow users to more easily clean the entire milling chamber.”

A lump breaker is particularly useful when grinding espresso, which requires a finer grind setting. Because the finer it is ground, the more lumps form.

“On other grinder models, the lump breaker is outside of the grinding chamber at the end of the spout,” says Marzia. “With the Fiorenzato Pro range, the clod breaker is located at the beginning of the spout. This makes it easier for the coffee grounds to pass through.”

This design decision helps minimize static build-up, which prevents further clumps from forming, but also reduces the amount of dust and chaff that accumulates. In busy cafes, this cleaning helps keep your workspace pristine, but it can also affect service at peak times.

Grind fresh coffee

Many flat grinders can hold between 1g and 12g of coffee per dose. This makes it difficult to know how much of the coffee you are brewing with is fresh and how much is stale.

Once coffee is ground, its flavor and aroma begin to degrade as it oxidizes. This process causes a coffee’s more subtle qualities to fade and disappear. The heat generated by a grinder’s burrs also causes retained grist to lose flavor even faster.

Cleaning the grinder of stale coffee grounds helps ensure that the coffee you serve or drink is fresh and served as intended.

Flushing not only enhances the experience but also allows baristas to work more efficiently. Grind retention can prevent baristas from dialing in effectively, as retained grind can be expelled into the portafilter after a change, the new grind setting has yet to take effect.

This makes tracking more difficult and as a result the barista can change the grind level too little or too much. This means their shots will end up going too slow or too fast, taking them longer to find a “sweet spot” for extraction.

To remedy this, it is recommended that you rinse out up to 12g of coffee after changing the grind setting.

The quality of the burr also affects grind retention and extraction quality. The sharper and more robust a grinder set is, the longer the grinder will perform at its best.

“Fiorenzato chose Böhler M340 food-grade steel for our ridges,” says Giulia. “It’s important that the materials that come into contact with coffee don’t release any harmful substances, and our burr material hardness guarantees longer-lasting sharpness.”

Cleaning and maintenance: some tips

Regular cleaning of your grinder is key – it is absolutely necessary to maintain coffee quality.

Marzia says: “Coffee gets old after three days, so grinders should always be cleaned after three days at the latest.

“Cleaning grinders can be intimidating for baristas, especially new baristas or those with less experience.”

Despite these concerns, cleaning and maintaining your grinder is important and will help you get the best results from your coffee. It is best to first ensure that your grinder is switched off and unplugged from any power source.

“You don’t need any tools to clean Fiorenzato Pro Grinder,” says Marzia. “On some grinders, when changing burrs, it’s difficult to disengage the chamber because there’s a thread inside.” On the Pro, she notes, the grinder chamber is completely removable, giving the user easy access.

However, remember that disconnecting a grinder set will usually tear its threads and cause the grind setting to change. However, some grinders, like the Fiorenzato Pro, have a removable top grinder that allows the grinder setting to remain intact during removal and cleaning.

Marzia suggests another way to clean your grinder without losing the setting. “You can easily clean a mill with a small vacuum cleaner and you don’t lose the sharpening point,” she says.

She adds, “If you’re using a dark roast, I recommend vacuuming the grinder daily. However, the burrs must be cleaned every three days with the professional burr products.”

These professional products usually come in the form of food-grade pellets that can be ground and run through the grinder much like coffee beans. They absorb oils from the ridges and expel retained sediment.

After that, cleaning the grinder by running a few grams of old beans through it will help to remove any remaining pellet fragments.

“Espresso is often very oily because you grind the beans finer and the beans are often darker,” explains Marzia. The cleaning of grinders designed for espresso extraction, such as the Fiorenzato Pro range is even more important, especially in a busy environment like a café.

During busy times or when you are short on time, it is sufficient to clean the inner chamber and the spout with a soft brush. However, Marzia recommends that for a more intensive cleaning, professional cleaning pellets are the only way.

“You’re not going to remove the oils with just one brush,” she says. “Professional products do this and can keep burrs cleaner for longer.”

To get the most out of your grinder, regular and thorough cleaning is essential. This not only improves performance, but also accuracy and consistency.

By following the advice in this article and making sure you use at least semi-professional products, you can reap the benefits of a clean and well-maintained grinder.

Enjoyed that? Then read our article about coffee grinders and the difference between cone and flat grinders.

Photo credit: Florenzato

Perfect daily grind

Please note: Fiorenzato is a sponsor of Perfect Daily Grind.

The coffee grinder is the most popular coffee accessory among coffee lovers. It allows you to brew your everyday coffee with freshly ground beans – a method that brings out java with bold and robust flavors.

Quality coffee grinders often cost a fortune; Therefore, many people worry that they will break for a while after purchase. So how long does a coffee grinder last?

The life expectancy of your coffee grinder depends on the brand, the coffee beans used, the degree of roast and how often you grind coffee in it.

A good grinder that is used regularly should last around 5-10 years. A good knife grinder will grind about 500 to 800 pounds of coffee beans before their knives dull.

Burr grinders, on the other hand, grind up to 1500 pounds of coffee before you need to replace the burrs.

So if you’re wondering how long your coffee grinder will last, don’t worry. In this article I explain everything that accelerates the wear of coffee grinders. I’ll also walk you through tips to help you increase the life expectancy of your grinder.

Why do you need to change the grinders on your coffee grinder?

If you want your grinder to maintain an optimal level of performance, you will need to replace its grinders as often as necessary.

Several factors, such as stones and unroasted coffee beans, can slowly damage your grinder’s burrs. This damage occurs slowly and gradually and may not be easy to spot until it is too late. By the time you realize that your burrs need replacing, chances are your coffee grinder is already deteriorating and the quality of your coffee grounds has gone downhill. So to maintain the good quality of your coffee, make sure to change the grinders as soon as you notice them becoming dull.

Signs that your coffee grinder is worn out.

While five years is the minimum estimate for the life of your coffee grinder, most espresso grinders require you to replace the burrs at least once or twice a year. For other retail grinders, you should change the grinders every year or two.

Below I’ve outlined some simple ways to check and confirm if your coffee grinder’s burrs need replacing.

Blunt burr edges

The most obvious way to tell if your grinder burrs are good is to feel them with your hands. If you can remember how sharp the burrs were when the mill was brand new, you can feel them with your hand to tell the degree of damage taken.

If the burrs feel dull and undefined, it’s best to take precautions to replace them soon.

Coffee grounds are gradually becoming less uniform.

When your grinder’s burrs become dull, they begin to crush instead of grinding the coffee beans. The blunt edges no longer cut through the beans; Instead, they smash and break them into smaller sizes.

So if you want to know if your grinder is still pulverizing evenly, grind up a few beans in your grinder and then take a close look. If the plot size is not uniform, it is not a good sign. You should keep in mind that different types of grinders can produce different degrees of grind. So don’t stress yourself out if you find a slight variety in terms of the grind size of your coffee beans.

However, if your coffee grounds are so irregular that there is no one-size-fits-all that makes up a majority of the coffee, then there is cause for concern. Swap out the sticks on a coffee grinder right away to keep your grinder working properly and save you from drinking coffee that doesn’t taste good.

The need to grind finer.

After using your coffee grinder for a while, you may notice a slight difference in the quality of the grind produced at the same grind setting. If you feel like you need to fine-tune your grind to make your brew, it’s a sign that your grinders are wearing out.

For example, if you always use a nine setting to get the perfect grind for pour-over coffee, but now use a six or seven, it means the wands are about to be replaced.

This happens because the burrs lose sharpness over time; hence they don’t grind as accurately as they used to. Because of this, coffee grounds will always come out with a coarser texture than expected.

So once you start the final grind to achieve a specific grind, it’s time to replace your grinder bars.

Your coffee grounds come out in clumps.

Clumping is the easiest clue to worn grinders, especially those designed specifically for espresso. When the grinder’s grinder gets dull, they sometimes throw out the coffee grounds in small clumps. Now you can easily break these lumps between your fingers, and they won’t spoil the flavor of your brew. However, they are an early sign that your cutters will need to be replaced soon.

How to sharpen the blades of your coffee grinder.

After using a knife sharpener for a while, you will notice that the blades lose their sharpness. If the blades become dull, your grinder won’t be able to cut through the beans properly, affecting the size of your coffee grounds and the final test of your cup of joe. It is therefore important to have nice and sharp blades in your coffee grinder.

The easiest and least expensive way to sharpen your coffee grinder blades is to use rice. Take a cup of uncooked rice, put it in your grinder, then grind for 60 to 70 seconds before turning off the grinder. Next, take out the rice and wipe the blades first with a damp cloth to remove the pieces of rice, and then with a dry cloth to remove the moisture from the blades.

In addition to sharpening your blades, the rice cleans and removes any oil residue or coffee grounds that are hiding in the hard-to-reach parts of your grinder.

You can also sharpen your coffee grinder blades manually; However, this method requires special tools and a set of skills to get good results.

How to make your coffee grinder last longer.

Any kitchen appliance you buy will inevitably wear out, and coffee grinders are no exception. However, if you put a little more thought into taking care of your machine, you can keep it in good condition for longer.

Below are some tips to help you extend the life of your coffee grinder.

· Only use your coffee grinder to grind coffee beans. Avoid adding non-coffee items like whole spices and nuts to your grinder. Be aware of the presence of rocks and stones that may appear like beans – using your coffee grinder to grind anything other than roasted coffee beans increases the risk of damage to the machine.

· Hold the coffee grinder upright while grinding. Grinding your coffee beans at an angle can put pressure on the burr shaft, causing the burr to produce uneven coffee grounds. Grinding at an angle is a common mistake many coffee lovers make. You should avoid this as the pressure exerted on the burrs will accelerate their wear.

· Check for signs of wear. You should regularly check for early signs that your grinder’s burrs or blades need sharpening or replacement. You don’t have to do this every day – once every two months should be enough.

· Clean your coffee grinder regularly. Keeping your coffee grinder clean will ensure that the flavor of your coffee stays the same. The cleaning process removes coffee oils and ground coffee residues that stick to the walls of the grinder and become rancid after a while. These residues not only affect the taste of your coffee, but can also prevent your grinder from working properly.

Conclusion

As mentioned above, your coffee grinder can last between 5 and 10 years provided you take good care of it. Always look for signs of wear on burrs or blades and replace or sharpen them accordingly to keep your grinder running smoothly for a long time. Also, make sure you follow the tips above to keep your coffee grinder running flawlessly for longer.

The Full Coffee Roast website is supported by readers. If you make a purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. As an Amazon Associate, we also earn from qualifying purchases.

The vast majority of coffee experts agree that the most important tool for making delicious coffee is a good coffee grinder. It’s more important than your brewer and just as important as the coffee itself – even the finest beans don’t taste their best if they’re not ground evenly. We’ve been testing grinders since 2015 and believe the no-frills Baratza Encore is the best electric coffee grinder for people who want to reliably brew a great cup of coffee. At a fair price, the Encore delivers a high-quality, ultra-consistent grind and is easy to maintain, clean, repair, and even adjust.

The Baratza Encore grinds coffee more evenly on a variety of settings than any other machine we’ve tested at its price point. It’s a proven, reliable, and no-fuss tool that occupies a modest spot on the counter. This grinder is also easy to clean and maintain, making it an investment you can count on, morning after morning. While the Encore won’t grind fine enough to satisfy serious espresso enthusiasts, its output is consistent enough to produce a usable shot. This grinder is ideal for anyone making filter coffee or using a French Press, Chemex, AeroPress or Pour Over machine. The Encore is our only choice (besides the hand grinder) that doesn’t have a timer or an automatic way to measure beans. But we’ve found it’s easy enough to simply measure the beans before they go into the hopper or after they’ve been ground. In late 2020, Baratza released an optional single-dose funnel that allows you to use the top lid to measure out beans, streamlining the process. You can also set color accents to match your kitchen.

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The Baratza Virtuoso+ is a great grinder with a burr set that’s slightly faster and more consistent than the Encore. And the Virtuoso+ has a slightly wider grinding range, both fine and coarse. Unlike the Encore, this grinder has an accurate digital timer that allows you to grind the same amount of coffee every time, allowing you to fill the hopper with beans instead of measuring them every time you brew coffee. The Virtuoso+ also has a light for the container so you can easily see how much you have ground. But this model isn’t significantly better than the Encore – you’re paying for incremental improvements that not everyone will notice (these improvements can be important if you use a lot of different coffee brewing methods, or if coffee is a budding passion or hobby for you).

The OXO Brew Conical Burr Coffee Grinder is the best we’ve tried in its price range (around $100). We’ve found that anything below this price point is a significant drop in grind consistency and shelf life. If you primarily drink drip or French Press coffee, the OXO’s relatively consistent grind, wide range of settings, and ease of use makes it a good alternative to the pricier Baratza Encore (which offers a more consistent, versatile grind). The OXO grinder also has some nice features for more casual coffee makers, like a simple zero-to-30-second timer and a 12-ounce hopper that’s easily removed with the beans inside (thanks to a shut-off valve). . With the Baratza mills, you have to empty the machine via a bowl or simply grind everything in the funnel.

In the past, we’ve recommended a hand grinder as an affordable option primarily for traveling or camping. But we know that many people have modest budgets or very small kitchens. So we wanted to see if we could find a solid manual grinder that cost less than our $100 budget pick that was still portable and convenient enough to use as an everyday grinder. The answer is the Chestnut C2 Manual Coffee Grinder, the more affordable option from coffee company Timemore, whose high-end grinders are highly regarded among coffee connoisseurs.

The C2 is almost a pleasure to use, with impressively smooth and fast grinding action and an easy-to-grip gritty aluminum finish (at least on the black version; it also comes in smooth matte white). This grinder doesn’t have a built-in rubber strap for the handle (like the Porlex, our previous top pick, does), but it’s equally portable. The C2 is still fairly new, but judging from our two-month test run (during which we used this grinder several times a week), it appears sturdy and well-built. Because it’s a small hand grinder, the C2 can only make enough grounds for a cup or two of coffee at a time (which takes a few minutes). It’s also great for filter coffee or if you’re using a French Press, Chemex, AeroPress or Pour-Over brewer, but not espresso.

Like any appliance, coffee grinders need to be cleaned thoroughly from time to time. Over time, coffee dust seeps into every nook and cranny of a grinder, and oils coat the hopper, grinders, and grinding chamber. If not cleaned, fine particles can overload an engine and cause it to fail, and oils can go rancid and ruin future beers. If you grind coffee at home, here’s how to give it a deep clean and get rid of all those coffee bits, dirt, and oils.

(The instructions below assume you have a coffee grinder. If you’re using a knife grinder, we recommend gently wiping it clean with a paper towel, donating it to your local thrift store, and purchasing an inexpensive coffee grinder.) Or use it to grind spices 🙂

Mills occasionally need a thorough cleaning, even if you’re using rice

Rice is used by some people to clean coffee grinders, a practice that has its own advantages and disadvantages. (Using rice to clean your grinder may void your warranty. Check your owner’s manual to see if this is the case.)

On the one hand, running rice through a grinder like coffee does provides an easy way to remove much of the coffee dust and oils that build up over time. As the rice grains are ground, they push out the dust and absorb the oils—and you don’t have to disassemble the grinder.

On the other hand, rice grains are harder than coffee beans, and grinding them can put a strain on a grinder’s motor. Additionally, the starch in the rice can clog some non-commercial mills.

Dry quick-cooking rice is softer and less starchy, thus reducing the risks associated with using rice. Even if you clean your grinder with rice, you will still occasionally need to disassemble and fully clean your grinder. Rice doesn’t clean all cracks and crevices. Here is a chart of how often you should clean your grinder:

Dust off excess ground coffee daily. Wipe out the hopper and grinding chamber every 1 to 2 weeks. Clean thoroughly every 3 to 6 months

How to clean your coffee grinder step by step

Cleaning your coffee grinder isn’t difficult, but it does involve several steps. How to clean your grinder:

Turn it off and disconnect it. Remove hopper and grinding chamber. Wipe with a lint-free cloth or coffee filter to remove coffee dust and oil deposits. (Do not use a paper towel as it will leave lint.) If stubborn oil residue is present, you can clean these components with a mild soap and warm water. Make sure you rinse them off right away so no soapy aroma contaminates them, and dry them completely to avoid getting the burrs or the engine wet, which could cause corrosion. Remove the outer grinder by gently twisting it until it disengages from the grinder. Leave the inner burr in place as it is much more difficult to remove. Clean both grinders and the shaft from all coffee particles, dust and oils. Every place you can see or reach should be cleaned. A vacuum, compressed air, a toothpick, a brush, and a lint-free cloth can help with this step. (Be careful not to vacuum up or lose any loose screws) Reassemble your coffee grinder. Grind 10 to 20 grams of coffee.

Overall, this process should take 10 to 15 minutes.

If you’re not sure if it’s safe to remove a particular part, how to remove a part, or how to reassemble your grinder, consult your owner’s manual.

The final step, grinding a little coffee, is important for two reasons. First, it gives you the ability to calibrate the cutters if necessary. Second, while too much oil buildup isn’t good, a light coating of coffee oil on your grinder’s burrs will help prevent oxidation and rusting. Simply grinding a handful of beans creates this thin coating.

Get freshly roasted coffee to grind at home

Once you’ve invested in a decent coffee grinder, make sure you take proper care of it and clean it from time to time. If you’re looking for great coffee that you can grind fresh every day, try one of our coffee subscriptions. The first delivery is only $8.

Anyone who’s ever owned a grinder will understand the feeling of that super sticky goodness getting stuck between the blades. I’ve lost a lot of grinders to the unforgiving Sticky Icky. I also learned how best to clean them.

We asked, we tested, and we googled the best ways to clean your grinder while preserving the kief.

If you’re tired of grinding your weed with your fingers, picking out the stalks and hoping for the best, then you’re an OG who deserves a clean grinder.

As much as we love having all that sticky shit on our fingers, the definition of finger licking is good, it’s best to just use a grinder, why? Well, hygiene for one of course and for the kief. I’m a big fan of kief, for me it’s the underdog.

Kief is great for adding a bit of punch to joints and bowls, and if you feel like it make your own hash or weed moonrocks. Whatever it is, you need to know how to get the most kief out of your grinder.

And of course a grinder that produces a lot of it, like the classic Premium Edition Flower Mill!

Like any appliance, coffee grinders need to be cleaned thoroughly from time to time. Over time, coffee dust seeps into every nook and cranny of a grinder, and oils coat the hopper, grinders, and grinding chamber. If not cleaned, fine particles can overload an engine and cause it to fail, and oils can go rancid and ruin future beers. If you grind coffee at home, here’s how to give it a deep clean and get rid of all those coffee bits, dirt, and oils.

(The instructions below assume you have a coffee grinder. If you’re using a knife grinder, we recommend gently wiping it clean with a paper towel, donating it to your local thrift store, and purchasing an inexpensive coffee grinder.) Or use it to grind spices 🙂

Mills occasionally need a thorough cleaning, even if you’re using rice

Rice is used by some people to clean coffee grinders, a practice that has its own advantages and disadvantages. (Using rice to clean your grinder may void your warranty. Check your owner’s manual to see if this is the case.)

On the one hand, running rice through a grinder like coffee does provides an easy way to remove much of the coffee dust and oils that build up over time. As the rice grains are ground, they push out the dust and absorb the oils—and you don’t have to disassemble the grinder.

On the other hand, rice grains are harder than coffee beans, and grinding them can put a strain on a grinder’s motor. Additionally, the starch in the rice can clog some non-commercial mills.

Dry quick-cooking rice is softer and less starchy, thus reducing the risks associated with using rice. Even if you clean your grinder with rice, you will still occasionally need to disassemble and fully clean your grinder. Rice doesn’t clean all cracks and crevices. Here is a chart of how often you should clean your grinder:

Dust off excess ground coffee daily. Wipe out the hopper and grinding chamber every 1 to 2 weeks. Clean thoroughly every 3 to 6 months

How to clean your coffee grinder step by step

Cleaning your coffee grinder isn’t difficult, but it does involve several steps. How to clean your grinder:

Turn it off and disconnect it. Remove hopper and grinding chamber. Wipe with a lint-free cloth or coffee filter to remove coffee dust and oil deposits. (Do not use a paper towel as it will leave lint.) If stubborn oil residue is present, you can clean these components with a mild soap and warm water. Make sure you rinse them off right away so no soapy aroma contaminates them, and dry them completely to avoid getting the burrs or the engine wet, which could cause corrosion. Remove the outer grinder by gently twisting it until it disengages from the grinder. Leave the inner burr in place as it is much more difficult to remove. Clean both grinders and the shaft from all coffee particles, dust and oils. Every place you can see or reach should be cleaned. A vacuum, compressed air, a toothpick, a brush, and a lint-free cloth can help with this step. (Be careful not to vacuum up or lose any loose screws) Reassemble your coffee grinder. Grind 10 to 20 grams of coffee.

Overall, this process should take 10 to 15 minutes.

If you’re not sure if it’s safe to remove a particular part, how to remove a part, or how to reassemble your grinder, consult your owner’s manual.

The final step, grinding a little coffee, is important for two reasons. First, it gives you the ability to calibrate the cutters if necessary. Second, while too much oil buildup isn’t good, a light coating of coffee oil on your grinder’s burrs will help prevent oxidation and rusting. Simply grinding a handful of beans creates this thin coating.

Get freshly roasted coffee to grind at home

Once you’ve invested in a decent coffee grinder, make sure you take proper care of it and clean it from time to time. If you’re looking for great coffee that you can grind fresh every day, try one of our coffee subscriptions. The first delivery is only $8.