A little disagreement about the necessity of cleaning the burr chamber in a Compak K10 (or similar grinder) came up in this thread. Having never opened the burr chamber in my Compak 10 in the four years I've owned it, I'm curious just how many grinder owners regularly open the burr chamber and clean it out, and how often they do it. Please take a moment and let us know. Thanks.

I opened mine up about a year ago and having read John B's recent post about rancid oil accumulation I intend to open it again when i get time..the last time i opened it i was surprised how clean it was...daily I put the nozzle of a very powerful mini shop vac up against the chute and pulsate the grinder motor using my dead man foot pedal (thanks for the tip, John B)...it would be interesting to see how grind retention relates to cleaning periodicity...I suspect if I didn't vacuum then old grounds would accumulate in nooks and crannies, thus minimizing spaces where fresh grinds could accumulate

Reading that thread, I was reminded of an exchange here a few years back where, like this one I think someone got in trouble while cleaning their grinder often. I think Martin said something like, "what the heck are you guys grinding that requires all this cleaning?" That was good enough for me to dismiss the idea of repeated cleaning. And this latest thread about screwing up the threads convinced me. I brush out what I can on a daily basis and then once in a while I vacuum it out, but I don't take it apart for cleaning.

I disassemble my Kony burr chamber about once a month. While the general belief is that coffee ground initially after cleaning (or purchase for those who do not clean their grinders) gets caked in there and does not get replaced by freshly ground coffee, I reason it is good hygiene to clean the grinder. Just as you (hopefully) clean other utensils that come in contact with things you ingest or introduce to your body, coffee equipment should be no different.

I also wouldn't want to let the coffee I pay good money for come in contact with rancid coffee and possibly contaminate its flavor.

Is there any advantage to not cleaning the grinder at all?

Every six months, I take my Macap MC4 apart. I usee dental picks to loosen/clean crevices and a shopvac to whisk it away. Though I have done this for 7+ years, the last time I did it, I forgot that it is reverse threaded until Steve Green was over and bailed me out.

how do you access the grind chamber on the kony; do you have to remove the burrs to clean it

bean2friends wrote:I think Martin said something like, "what the heck are you guys grinding that requires all this cleaning?"

Martin might have said that, too, but my recollection is that it was Ken Fox who questioned the practice of frequent grinder cleaning.

Chabeau wrote:I disassemble my Kony burr chamber about once a month. While the general belief is that coffee ground initially after cleaning (or purchase for those who do not clean their grinders) gets caked in there and does not get replaced by freshly ground coffee, I reason it is good hygiene to clean the grinder. Just as you (hopefully) clean other utensils that come in contact with things you ingest or introduce to your body, coffee equipment should be no different.

I also wouldn't want to let the coffee I pay good money for come in contact with rancid coffee and possibly contaminate its flavor.

If you're worried about rancid coffee coming in contact with your fresh coffee, why do you wait a month between cleanings? Surely the coffee goes rancid much faster than that.

Chabeau wrote:Is there any advantage to not cleaning the grinder at all?

Aside from the effort possibly doing no good at all, the primary advantage of not cleaning the grinder is avoiding the problem in the thread I referenced -- cross-threading the burr carrier. From what I've read, even if you don't cross-thread, the K10 burr carrier screws in so tightly that you need to leave the collar on to get enough leverage. That doesn't work unless you remove the roll pin that's designed to prevent removal of the burr carrier without taking off the collar (hmm... I wonder why). The idea of trying to distinguish between the natural resistance of the threads and cross-threading gives me the willies. I'm not wild about removing that roll-pin either. It looks like you have to do it with pliers, which might damage the pin. Disassembly could have other consequences depending on the grinder design (e.g., adjustment slippage and belt tension on a Baratza Vario.)

In case the readers of this thread haven't read the thread referenced in my OP, I'll restate here that I've rarely hesitated to take apart very expensive machinery, even when brand new and under warranty. I've done all sorts of surgery to my GS/3, I removed the finger guard on my K10, modified the plastic chute, removed the plate from the doser and have taken the doser apart many times. But the grinder works so well that I'm reluctant to mess around with the burr chamber unless absolutely necessary.

Peppersass wrote:Martin might have said that, too, but my recollection is that it was Ken Fox who questioned the practice of frequent grinder cleaning.

Yep, it was Ken replying to an ancient thread by a certain newbie poster... See Compak K10 WBC Maintenance

That Ken Fox posting is the one I was thinking of. I guess I lost track of him. Out of sight, out of mind. Anyhow, I am happier now than ever with the advice.