Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I have a medium-end espresso coffee grinder (a Solis Maestro Plus). I haven't cleaned it since I first bought it, and I thought it was about time. Both the plastic bean funnel and the grounds drawer were coated in extremely stubborn caked-on coffee oils and grounds. So, some questions:

1. Getting the caked coffee oil off the plastic parts was very difficult, requiring multiple soakings in hot water and citrus-based dishsoap. Was there an easier way to do this?

2. How do I clean the burrs themselves, now? I can't remove them from the machine. Presumably I can't use water, and I certainly can't soak them.

Thanks for any advice!

LMGTFY

This is the technique I use. http://www.ineedcoffee.com/03/cleangrinder/

This gets great reviews on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_6?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=grindz+burr+grinder+cleaner&sprefix=grindz%2Caps%2C396

Wino, cool link. I was going to suggest stale bread, that's what I run through the hand crank coffee maker after we use it to get massive amounts of pepper at sausage making time.

I use rice to clean my spice grinder as well when I don't want the previous aromatics; ya know, thyme in my cinnamon

Rice is what I use, too, esp. to clean after grinding habanero powder. Sometimes I'll do it a couple of times, just to be safe.

I just use the little stiff bristled brush that came with mine. It flicks most of the packed in powder out with no problem. If things are too packed for that, I sometimes will use a toothpick or bamboo skewer (my burr grinder comes completely apart, so I can get in there to do this).

Wino, All:

OK, rice it is. Sadly, my cone is not dishwasher-safe.

Yes, there was no end of advice on how to clean a grinder on the interwebs. However, a lot of it is contradictory, which is why I wanted "yes, I did this" type advice.

I have actually disassembled mine and cleaned it (a rocky). I've also used the rice method quite a few times, particularly on ones which cannot be disassembled. I've been trying to figure out a sane way to clean my super-automatic maker; you can't really disassemble the grinder, and I'm hesitant to run rice through it (it will have to 'make coffee' to do that, just where all will that rice end up?). I think I'm gonna settle on the rice soon though. Maybe i'll call the manufacturer....

If you use coffee that has been roasted sufficiently to bring out the oil (a fairly dark roast), you need to clean much more frequently, especially the bin etc. as the oils accumulate.

Paul,

Dark roasts are for suckers.

As a moderator, whilst sipping my decaf dark French roast, I must caution you about your 'tude dude