From what I understand, it generally takes about 5 pounds of beans to "season" a new set of burrs leading to better consistency. I also understand that some people use uncooked rice to clean their grinders. Could one also use rice as an inexpensive alternative to quickly season new burrs

That is a cool idea Jammin.

I wonder if the rice would re-create the effect of coffee beans on the burrs. The issue, I think, is the hardness of the rice.

Something like minute rice is good for cleaning because it will "soak up" or wipe up the oil because of the pre-treatment that it saw to make it absorb water quicker. But I think that it also makes it softer thus probably not as effective to "season" the burrs. Maybe a regular rice, and we would have to identify which type is best, would do a better job of simulating coffee beans.

This will be hard to experiment, if possible at all.

If you're on good terms with your roaster they will give you "old" (as in past their best but not rancid) beans to season your grinder - a solution that is even cheaper and more reliable.

And even if you don't know your local roaster, this is a good opportunity to say hello. If you ask nicely, they will likely look after you, in the hope that you keep feeding that new grinder their beans.

Cheers

Mike

Brown rice might be a good candidate, and surprisingly (at least to me), studies (http://www.jstage.jst.go.jp) show that hardness increases and stickiness decreases with parboiled brown rice versus raw brown rice.

Here is a second study (http://www.cigrjournal.org) on the effects of parboiling brown rice for reference.

Seems to me that I have heard of using minute-rice for cleaning before. I also have some recollection of reading comments that regular rice was too hard and there was some concern that it could cause premature wear for grinder burrs.

Sorry, I can't cite references so this is just hearsay from memory.

JonR10 wrote:Seems to me that I have heard of using minute-rice for cleaning before. I also have some recollection of reading comments that regular rice was too hard and there was some concern that it could cause premature wear for grinder burrs.

I have repeatedly read about using minute rice for cleaning as an alternative to grindz. I think that the general consensus is that it works but leaves a lot of rice dust behind.

Never read that "regular" rice would be a wear concern but if it is then it could be a candidate for burr seasoning or be a candidate for burr damaging. Thin balancing line there.

I've experienced the 'excessive' hardness of normal rice before--jasmine rice IIRC. I put it in my Nino at an espresso grind and it caused the motor to bind. I instantly shut off the grinder and loosened it up dramatically before grinding again. The coarser setting reduced the motor torque by enough to let it grind the rice. I can't offer anything more concrete than that, but I don't think I'd ever put normal rice in my $2000 grinder again... it's clear that it's much harder than espresso-roasted coffee beans, and I'd rather not flirt with the line between seasoning and excess wear. Sounds like minute rice has potential, though. I would look for a rice that has the lowest density possible, as that probably correlates closely with its hardness.

Personally, I just use Grindz every few weeks (for cleaning), though Grindz is not a cost effective solution for seasoning--it seems pretty soft and also more expensive than coffee.

shadowfax wrote:I've experienced the 'excessive' hardness of normal rice before--jasmine rice IIRC. I put it in my Nino at an espresso grind and it caused the motor to bind. I instantly shut off the grinder and loosened it up dramatically before grinding again. the coarser setting reduced the motor torque by enough to let it grind the rice. I can't offer anything more concrete than that, but I don't think I'd ever put normal rice in my $2000 grinder again... it's clear that it's much harder than espresso-roasted coffee beans, and I'd rather not flirt with the line between seasoning and excess wear. Sounds like minute rice has potential, though. I would look for a rice that has the lowest density possible, as that probably correlates closely with its hardness.

Personally, I just use Grindz every few weeks.

Good tip! Happened to me with my SJ and I had to open her up and clean the rice out of the burrs with a dental pick as it was glazed to the surfaces and not coming out by grinding!! I recommend tying the minute rice over the uncooked stuff.
-Lane

^holy smokes(no pun intended) five and dime!

Thanks to you and shadowfax for sharing their experiences.

Sounds like minute rice is the only way to go.