Espresso Freaks: Have you maintained your Burr Grinder?

[holtjv]

Hey there!

Well, it's been 18 months since I bought my Mazzer mini
and saw that little red handled brush, wondering what it was for.

I've wanted to know how to maintain the thing because I do a
weekly backflush with my maker, something akin to confession
for fallen catholics such as myself. It's an expensive item
(mine was $650) that I'd rather have last a while.

So I found a video on whole latte love, where I bought it: Mazzer Mini Coffee Grinder-Mazzer Dosing Coffee and Espresso Grinders from Whole Latte Love

I'm VERY sorry I didn't take a "before" shot - the upper burrs
were caked with coffee - almost up to the sharps. I go through
a little less than a pound/week, on average, I'd say, so the 18
month interval was the recommended time period to clean -
but I'm going to 6 months.

The video also shows you how to zero the grinder, so it's back
to its finest setting. Mine was supposedly calibrated at Whole
Latte Love, but it was pretty far off - see the black mark
compared to the original in the pic below.

Any Austin home barristas wanting to share some tips, I'm all ears!

Some "after" pics:






The new zero:



Finally, the whole rig. The Expobar machine has been faultless
since I bought it about a year ago.

[Bill Douglas]

Umm, now you are making me feel guilty. I've had my mini mazzer 5 or 6 years and haven't cleaned it yet.

The Vibiemme coffee machine gets a clean around the porter filter area once a day with a small brush and backflushed afterwards. It gets one of those awful chemical cleans once every six months.

I'm not really sure what cleaning regime I should have.

[froggert]

i run these through my grinder every couple of months:

Urnex Grindz Grinder Cleaner from Whole Latte Love

[holtjv]

Originally Posted by froggert

i run these through my grinder every couple of months:

Urnex Grindz Grinder Cleaner from Whole Latte Love

Good stuff, thanks - never heard of it.