Converting coffee grinder to spice grinder

[Smoking Duck]

Hey all.....

Have an old electric coffee grinder that I want to convert into a spice grinder.  Anyone ever done this? Any tricks on getting the coffee out of the inside of the grinder so as to not cross-contaminate the spices?  I'm gonna try and take it apart but didn't know if there was any secrets to doing this.

Thanks!

SD

[Mr Walleye]

SD

I've heard of people cleaning them by grinding rice. I can't say I've done it but it's simple enough to try. Even between switching spices.

Mike

[pensrock]

I have not tried it but I read somewhere to run bread thru a grinder to help clean it out. Worth giving it a try.

[Smoking Duck]

Thanks guys!  I thought about running some baking soda through there as well.

SD

[Buck36]

I use a coffee grinder for spices but I only wipe it out with a slightly damp paper towel. I am sure this doesn't clean it as well as it should....but I don't notice a big taste difference either.

Google search shows grinding uncooked rice like Mike said.

[FLBentRider]

The one I bought for grinding spices just has a bowl and a blade. It doesn't have alot of nooks and crannies. I would probably run rice through it and take it apart as best I could.

[Habanero Smoker]

When I had the burr grinder I would use rice. Rice does a fairly descent job of cleaning that type of coffee grinder.

[Smoking Duck]

Thanks all.....as luck would have it, I'm out of rice at the moment.  Have to pick some up the next time I wander to Death Row.

SD

[beefmann]

I have  read somewhere that  a coffee grinder can be  used for a  spice grinder and  depends on how well you  want to grind the  spices.. i would say the finer the grind on  spices the better

hope this  helps

[Gizmo]

Some folke put a little coffee into their spice rubs.  Might just try it without cleaning it first for that special perky rub.   ;)

[La Quinta]

I use "day old bread". Not quite a crouton...still soft inside....yet causes enough friction to get the crusties off of the sides of the grinder...soft part soaks up the damp...just a suggestion.

[LilSmoker]

Well i actually got myself in a bit of trouble with my wife's coffee grinder :'(

I'd always used the attachment for our food processor for grinding my spices, and it always worked fine, very easy to clean no problem at all apart from having to use the very cumbersome base unit which can be a pain ::). Ok then my wife comes home with a brand new Cuisinart coffee grinder

She says, let's give it a try, ok i say, and all the time i'm thinking i know what i could use this for, although i like the odd cup of coffee, i'm a big tea drinker so coffee grinding is not on top of my list of priorities

Anyway, my wife looks very pleased with her new grinder, and gives it pride of place on the worktop.
A few days pass and i decide to do a couple of pastramis, i wait until my wife goes out shopping, and then i seaze her new grinder, and give it a "proper" workout grinding all my spices for the pastrami. After getting the meat all set up and curing under way, i start cleaning everything.
This is where i ran into major problems
Anybody that has this model of grinder will know what i'm talking about, they give you a small brush and a little advice on cleaning and that's it.
By now as you can imagine, there are assorted spices welded to the grinding mechanism, and an overpowering smell of garlic to contend with

After trying different methods of cleaning, which took ages and didn't get rid of all the spice residue, i sort of gave up, apart fom the lid which i thought i'd just rinse off in the sink. Another big mistake as water had got into the twin skin of plastic, and wouldn't come out!

Eventually my wife returns and i get caught red handed murdering her new toy! well normaly she doesn't swear much, and is usually very placid but.............i got the full treatment as soon as she saw what had happened
After she calmed down, i managed to convince her that it was a very poor design and we should return it straight away

We did return it and got a full refund, and although i thought the grinder was a nice piece of kit, i realised that even if it were used for the purpose it was designed for, it would always be a pain when it came to cleaning, which seems to be the case with lots of grinders that i've looked at

I have now gone back to using the processor attachment, as i learned my lesson and peace is restored

Although i'm currently looking at the KitchenAid model, anybody got one, do they clean up easily?

LilSmoker....

[Habanero Smoker]

LS;

I enjoy your post. Nice story to read while having my first cup of coffee.

Are you referring to the meat grinder attachment, or the grain mill. The meat grinder is very easy to clean, and I usually run bread through it prior to disassembling and cleaning it. The grain mill I don't have, but I've often come to close to ordering one.

[Smoking Duck]

LS,

Great story!  I was actually picturing your wife swearing at you.  Unfortunately, it isn't hard to picture cause it happens to me all the time and now I refer to it as flashbacks and usually head for the first place I can hide  ;D

I have a Cuisanart as well, but my model won't allow you to take it apart.  It does a great job of grinding down really fine, so I'm sure it will work just great.  The wife and I don't grind our own coffee anymore, so it will be a full-time spice grinder when I finally get it cleaned out.

SD

[Mr Walleye]

Yup! Great Storey LS!

I always like to hear stories of other people in chit.... 'cause it's usually me!  :D

Mike