ok so I got a Mazzer mini for Christmas. I was all excited as I plugged her in and grabbed some beans for some pre dosing with the new grinder. It grinds about 10 grams of beans and then boom the beans just stopped grinding. I did some forum hunting and found I needed to clean the burrs. So I followed the instructions in the Mazzer manual. Long story short there's ridiculously caked espresso grounds in the burrs, so hard that I can't clean them without a wire brush, the hair brush that came with the grinder somehow got thread lubricant in it so I spread thread lubricant through the grinding chamber trying to clean it, the lubricant messed with the grounds and coated the threads so I'm in the process of trying to clean those. I'm devastated haha my grind chamber and burrs are coated with lubricant and I don't know why the burrs clogged up like that. What do I do?

Side note, my father gave me beans for Christmas, but being an individual with no knowledge of coffee he left the beans in a stocking over the fire place at his house for who knows how long. When I took the beans out of the stocking they were extremely warm. Is this possibly why the grounds clogged the burrs so badly? Did the consistent heat of the fire place add a bunch of moisture to the beans?

Any help is greatly appreciated I want to cry haha

Take it easy.

I'm assuming this was a used mazzer mini probably from ebay or craigslist. You need new burrs likely. Give the caked on coffee it would be very difficult to clean everything to satisfaction without removing the burrs. At which point you should replace them as they are likely dull. If they aren't sharp to the touch, that's a sure sign they should be replaced.

Removed the caked on grinds after you take the burrs out. Use whatever you need to, but keep in mind that the chamber is soft aluminum so try to stick to something plastic. I find that a little metal pick or flat screw driver can get things started without doing any damage or scratches. I find cleaning threads of any kind to be very easy with a used toothbrush and a little liquid. Don't let any liquid drip down into the bearing, however. While the bearing is sealed, it's not a good idea.

Basically just replace the burrs and use common sense . As for the beans, well there is a lot to consider that you haven't mentioned like roast date and roaster, but they should be good enough to get you grinding at least!

Thanks man I appreciate it, you calmed me down a bit haha the grinder was a present so I'll have to find out where they bought it from. I was under the impression that it was brand new but it's possible that it was a refurb or something. The beans we're "Ganesha" but once again I have no idea when they were roasted or how they were stored since they were a present, but I suspect they had something to do with it. My biggest concern is the thread lubricant I inadvertently spread across the burrs and the grinding chamber. I may just find out where my boss gets out grinders maintained and take it there, before I do any further damage haha my Lido 2 will suffice in the meantime

While unlikely, it's not impossible that the coffee you used was super-oily coffee that managed to coat the burrs. I've only seen it happen once, though it wasn't a Mazzer. Anyway, I had to scrape a thick tar-like coffee grime from the burrs. Ewww. Cleaning a Mazzer Mini covers the general cleanup and Mazzer reassembly problem after burr replacement offers tips to avoid crossthreading. While I'm handing out reading material, you may want to peruse Adjusting grind setting for new Mazzer Mini burrs.

Thanks Dan you the man! I'm going to sleep on it before I go any further, I'm hoping clarity will come in the morning. The beans apparently won first place in an American espresso competition, which means nothing to me but I assume they wouldn't be overroasted and oily. I'll post some updates

Update! Haha so I analyzed everything this morning, and the main issue is now the lubricant in the grind chamber. I called the distributor and got the contact information for the guy that services our grinders at work. Since I would have to remove the burrs and the burr head to properly clean it, I'm just going to take it in to avoid any further screw ups. Thanks for the help guys! You calmed me in a time of crisis haha