Hi i just want to know what is the difference betweeen a wet grinder and a melanguer.
I have a wet grinder with capacity 5 litre (image as link under, its almost like this) but while making chocolate ( from cocoapowder, cocoa butter, sugar ) and making it run for around 8-10 hours it still feels gritty ... is wet grinder different from a melanguer?
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Wet_grinder.JPG
Balpreet:
Wet grinders are just small melangeurs. However, melangeurs purpose-made for chocolate were designed and built to process cocoa beans. Small wet-mill grinders used in making chocolate were designed to handle much softer materials (think cooked lentils) and to run for short periods of time (think less than thirty minutes).
"Real" chocolate melangeurs use much harder granite and are designed to run for hours at a time. There are also some very specific differences with respect to axle design that separate the two – wet grinders have a single axle, for example.
One thing they do share in common is that they are not conches. And they never will be conches. Despite what the manufacturers claim. Despite what chocolate makers claim. They are not conches. They may deliver some of the benefits of conching, but very inefficiently.
Hi Balpreet,
You probably just need to run the grinder longer. I make chocolate (bean to bar) using the Premier wet/dry grinder and it comes out very smooth. However, I run it at least 24 hours. You may want to look at www.chocolatealchemy.com. It's a great resource for making chocolate and the forum there has much discussion about equipment including wet/dry grinders. Most of the people there are home or small chcocolate makers.
Regards,
Thomas
