ALPHA12 Melanger

Equipment

ALPHA12 Melanger

ALPHA12 previously known as ECGC-12SQSS Melanger is the smaller version of ALPHA100 (ECGC-65A) Grinder with all its features and benefits. It is a granite stone on granite stone grinder to grind cocoa bean nibs to chocolate liquor.

This melanger is an ideal tool for chocolatiers who want to make chocolate from bean to bar or cocoa nibs to cocoa liquor. This mini Grinder is ideal to make chocolate in front of customers - provides a great curb appeal. You can also use it to teach customers how to make chocolate.

ALPHA12 mini Grinder has two black granite stone rollers that rotate at about 110 rpm on a granite slab in the stainless steel vessel. Stone on stone grinding produces a smooth cocoa liquor of about 15 micron range without creating a lot of heat.

The roller stones and wiper are attached to the stainless steel shaft, and the whole roller stone assembly, is removable as one piece. They are easy to clean, handle and store. Tension on the roller stones can be adjusted with tension adjuster mechanism. The conical roller stones serve dual function – conching in addition to grinding. Tilt the melanger to easily remove the cocoa liquor from the stainless steel drum. Locking mechanism keeps the vessel upright for grinding. Tension adjuster helps release the tension on the stone completely for the conching cycle or increase the tension for grinding phase.

It is ideal for small chocolate businesses or for R&D to develop recipes or for teaching chocolatemaking. In addition to grinding cocoa nibs, it can also be used to grind nut butters, tahini, and more. It grinds up to 12 lbs (5 kgs) of chocolate liquor including cocoa nibs+ all the ingredients in a single batch.

We ship these units around the world.

Upgrades to ALPHA12

We have minimized the amount of delrin (replacing it with stainless steel parts) in the food contact area. Also we added additional safety features. These are the upgrades we have incorporated:

• SS Wiper
• SS center pin – the whole center pin is made in stainless steel as one piece
• Emergency Shut-off Switch
• ALPHA12 with conical roller stones
• ALPHA12 with cylindrical roller stones
• If you want to upgrade ALPHA12 bought before 2019, contact us for parts & prices

We ship to countries around the world that are permitted by the US government. To estimate duties & taxes click here.

Features

• Stainless steel housing – elegant, hygienic
• Light weight – easy to handle
• Compact – takes less than 1.5 sq. ft (0.15 sq. m) of counter space
• Quiet motor
• Gear + belt combination, so no unwanted smell in the chocolate
• Improved ventilation – prevents the motor from overheating even when used for 24 hours
• Detachable grinding vessel – easy to use and clean
• Tilting mechanism – to empty the contents conveniently
• Hard granite roller stones – durable
• Roller stone assembly – less wastage of precious cocoa
• 304 stainless steel for food contact areas – hygienic, safe
• Adjustable tension mechanism – to conch without grinding the ingredients further
• Two stage protection against over current – safe
• 1 year limited warranty – peace of mind
• Spare parts easily available – minimum downtime
• US$1500 + S&H – affordable
• We can ship around the world – convenience
• Cylindrical roller stone assembly available for grinding nut butters ($250)
• Mini drum set with SS wiper available - to make 1-2 lbs (500 gm-1 kg) of test batches to develop recipes ($200)
• Maintenance kit consisting of 10 years worth of wear and tear parts is available for additional charge ($275 - reg. value is $305). The kit consists of the following parts:
• 1 belt, set of 4 delrin inserts for conical roller stones, set of 2 cylindrical roller stones, 2 sets of spring sleeve, housing & tension spring, and 1 reset switch.

Specifications

Parts

• Delrin wiper assembly for SS drum
• SS wiper assembly for SS drum
• SS Center pin
• Conical roller stones for SS drum
• Roller holder for SS drum
• Poly v belt
• SS drum
• Mini drum
• Roller stone for mini drum
• Delrin wiper for mini drum
• Roller holder for mini drum
• Cooling fan
• Tension spring housing
• Tension spring
• Spring Sleeve
• Spring housing
• Spring sleeve & housing set

Accessories

Conical Roller Stone Assembly:
Conical roller stones with stainless steel roller holder assembly and stainless steel wiper is available. Conical roller stones grind by crushing and it helps to preserve nutrients.

Cylindrical Roller Stone Assembly:

Cylindrical roller stone assembly with stainless steel roller holder and stainless steel wiper is available. It is easier to scale up in ECGC-65E. Cylindrical stones are better for grinding nut butters or other fibrous ingredients as they grind by shearing. 

Stainless steel wipers:

Stainless steel wipers (SS wipers) are used by the customers who want minimum delrin parts in the food contact area. It is also useful when using the ingredients that are more viscous and can stress the delrin wiper. SS wipers are also more hygienic. 

Chococleaner:

Chococleaner helps to remove the chocolate liquor stuck to the roller stones – saves chocolate and saves cleaning time and energy. Once the grinding is done, remove the roller stones with chocolate, place the chococleaner on top of the drum. Then place the roller stone assembly on top of the chococleaner. Rotate the roller stones and all the chocolate liquor drips into the stainless steel vessel. 

Chocokneader:

Chocokneader mixes the cocoa liquor and other ingredients that need not be ground. For eg. some customers use it to mix the cocoa liquor with milk powder. It is also good for mixing the inclusions in the cocoa liquor uniformly without grinding the inclusions.

Or if you are using the melanger to grind the nut butters and if you want to mix the cocoa liquor without grinding them further, chocokneader is a good option.

It can also be used to knead the dough for pizza, cake etc. 

Mini Drum and Roller Stone set: 

Lot of our customers want to grind 1-2 lbs (0.5-1 kgs) of coco quantity nibs in the ALPHA12 unit. We heard our customers
and came up with a solution for small batch chocolate. This mini drum and roller stone set is ideal for customers who want to test microbatches of chocolate in a batch for recipe testing. This drum and roller stone set can grind 500gms – 1Kg (1-2 lbs) of cocoa liquor. Also the roller stones are cylindrical to imitate the ECGC-65A Grinder, so scaling up is much easier.

Mini drum set comes with stainless steel wiper.

Other Uses

Our customers have used the Melangers and Grinders for the following:

• Grind almond pieces into Marcepan /Marzipan
• Grind hazel nut pieces into Gianduja
• Grind pistachios pieces into pistachio butter
• Grind Cashew pieces into cashew butter
• Grind sesame seeds into tahini
• Grind boiled chick peas into hummus
• Grind flax seeds into paste
• Grind Sphagnum moss for facial pack
• Grind quinoa
• Grind nuts into nut milks
• Grind coconut flakes into coconut butter and coconut milk
• Grind corn into masa ……. and more