If the stainless steel roller shaft is not cleaned right before using, the nut butters will turn gray. To prevent gray color butter, clean the roller shaft and the stones as described in the cleaning instructions.

If the tension knob on the Grindeur is overtightened, it can cause the roller stone to hit the roller shaft vertically and damage the stainless steel shaft. Damaged stainless steel will ooze out as gray color in the nut butter. The tension knob on the Grindeur is to release the tension completely while conching. So do not over tighten them. 

Melanger is a belt driven appliance for grinding Cocoa nibs in small batches of 8 -10 lbs or less. It is ideal for small chocolate shops, chocolate teaching classes, laboratories to develop flavors and for enthusiasts to make chocolate at home.

Grindeur is a Gear motor appliance with a minimum tension on the belt. Commercial version of ECGC Grindeur comes in three different sizes to process different amounts of cocoa nibs - ECGC-30 for 30 lbs, ECGC-40 for 40 lbs and ECGC-65 for 65 lbs. ECGC-12 mini Grindeurs are the scaled down version of the commercial Grindeurs and ideal for testing labs and small operations.

Grease the roller stones with cocoa butter (if you are using it for grinding cocoa nibs) or nut butter (if using for grinding nuts). Place the roller stone assembly in the stainless steel drum. Lock the roller assembly in place. Start the melanger or Grindeur. Once the roller stones start rotating, add the cocoa nibs or nut powder slowly. Make sure that the roller stones are rotating freely without any struggle. If the roller stones are struggling, stop the unit, remove some of the contents from the stainless steel drum and then restart the unit.

Melangers work by crushing the ingredients. Peanuts have less oil content and are harder to grind. Melangers are not suitable for peanut butters.

You can use the melanger to grind nut butters from nut powders with high oil content such as macadamia nuts or cashews. Make sure to pregrind the nuts into powder and then use the melanger to grind them into fine nut butters.

This can be caused by couple of reasons.

After each use, remove the roller stones from the roller shaft (by removing the nut at the end of the roller shaft) and clean inside the hole thoroughly. Clean the stainless steel roller shaft also thoroughly and make sure chocolate is not sticking anywhere. Presence of chocolate between the roller shaft & roller stones can make the roller stone to freeze and prevent it from rotating normally. This in turn can damage the center pin of the stainless steel vessel.

If the roller assembly is dropped and the roller shafts get misaligned, it can cause the stones to freeze.

If the melanger or Grindeur is switched on with the ingredients inside the drum, it can prevent the roller stones from rotating normally. Always start the unit with only cocoa butter or any liquid you are using, and then add the ingredients slowly while the unit is running.

If nut pieces or bigger particle sized ingredients are used in the melanger, the stones can stop rotating. When using melanger for nut butters from macadamia nuts or cashews, always pre-grind them into powder and then use them in the melanger.

As soon as the grinding is done, the roller holder assembly has to be removed from the stainless steel drum and cleaned. Attention should be paid to clean the underside of the roller holder. If the roller holder is left in the drum after grinding, the chocolate can solidify and make it harder to remove the roller assembly. We have seen in couple of instances, it breaks the center pin and makes the drum useless.

Basic Melanger and Deluxe melanger work on the same principle.

Basic melanger is suitable if you are a novice, chocolate enthusiast and make chocolate occasionally. If you are a chocolatier, or a flavor developer for chocolates, Deluxe melanger is ideal. Deluxe melangers help you to scale up pilot scale manufacturing. Deluxe melanger is designed with forced air ventilation to keep the motor well below the maximum operating temperature recommended by the motor manufacturer.

The roller stone adaptor is attached to the granite base of the stainless steel drum with food grade glue. When the unit is turned on, the motor will try to rotate the stainless steel drum which in turn rotates the roller stones. If there is cocoa nibs or nut powder in the drum before the unit is turned on, it will lock the roller stones in place. The drum will continue to rotate and it dislodges the roller stone adaptor from the granite stone.

Washing the melanger / Grindeur drum with hot water can damage the food grade glue and separate the roller stone adaptor.

Heating the drum in the oven can damage the glue and separate the roller adaptor from the granite stone.

Preheating the drum can also damage the glue connecting the granite stone and roller adaptor.

CocoaT Melanger by CocoaTown is a device that grinds cocoa nibs into chocolate liquor. The grinding process takes place between the granite roller stones and the flat bottom granite stone of the stainless steel vessel. It is a slow grinding process that reduces the cocoa nibs into less than 15 micron. Since the roller stones are conical in shape, these melangers grind and conch the nibs.