Amazon Refurb KA Professional 6000HD DC motor Update
My initial post trying to decide which mixer to buy, or skip to final post in that thread why I returned the KA 6000HD.
The saga continues, I received the replacement KA Professional 6000HD today. You might ask, your post about returning it was 7/17/19 and you only get it back today 8/8/19?
I had decided to do one more round of pizza and bread for the freezer before returning the mixer. The mixer was returned 8/2/19 dropped off at UPS store in the afternoon. The Amazon return process wasn't straight forward when I attempted the online return form, the only return option list was REFUND. I needed an exchange, not a refund, more importantly, the mixer was purchased with an $80 gift card that lowered the price. I worried that if I accepted a refund the $80 might get lost in the deal requiring me to repurchase at full price. I stopped the form, called Amazon, a cool lady took my call, she completely understood my dilemma. She attempted to call the 3rd party which supplies the rebuilt mixers and sent them an email regarding the need for exchange only. She also sent me the return authorization and free shipping forms. So I shipped out the mixer to the 3rd party (Always Quality) located near L.A.
Tuesday 8/6/19, I called Always Quality (I can provide phone #) to verify they received the return mixer and would be sending an exchange. All was well, the girl check on the status and it was shipped the following morning.
Kudos to Amazon and Always Quality, for having good people that listened and help work through the process for this return. Let's hope the mixer works as good as the experience in the purchase and return. I did unpack and do a dry test.
•The mixer looks brand new
•The start/speed lever worked on 1st try (unlike the 1st mixer I received)
•The attachments, spiral hook, blade paddle, whisk whip, all fit and seemed adjusted perfectly (unlike the 1st mixer)
•Each speed sounded good, quiet on the lower speeds, and at higher speeds no clicking or heavy gear noise. Of course, this is with no load in the bowl.
I will be putting the mixer to the test tonight mixing.
Not sure if you know, but KA recommends mixing bread, pizza dough, etc. on speed 2 or less. Since most pizza dough are dry (low hydration) it is best to mix slow and keep the dough size on the smaller side.
Many bakers like their KA. But depending on it’s usage you may have to exercise care. Be careful not to over work it. The mixer is not suited to heavy mixing.
Danny
Update - I read your other post that was linked above. You wrote, “3500 grams of dough didn't seem to be much of a problem, the mixer didn't even get warm. Note I mixed the 3500-gr and the 2000-gr pizza dough about 40 min apart. The mixer motor was slightly warm to touch but definitely not hot.” - I never had a problem with the motors, but the gearing stripped. I kept extra gears and a large can of food grade grease on hand so that could replace the gears without having to wait for replacements to be shipped in.
I don’t want to be negative, but IMO that is way too much work for a KA. I speak from experience. Over the years I’ve gone through 2 KA mixers and changed gears 3 or 4 times. The Commercial KA I now have is stripped and needs more gears. Because I bake a lot of bread I finally decided to go with a different mixer. If you intend to mix dough as listed above, you are in for heart ache. Unless the dough hydration is wet, 80% or above and I don’t think that will be the case.
SORRY
sounds like good advice, the numbers you saw were more of a test, just to see if that motor would handle a heavy load, from what I read a lot of KA mixers ie AC version cannot, and try to get it to fail in before the 30 days expired. My typical week would be 2 loaves of Sandwich same cook, pizza usually 2 at 950g for both, if I am having a bigger party will be 4 to 5 pizzas, but I can do those in 2 batches.
Right now I am trying different recipes for pizza especially sourdough to elevate my pizza to a better result, I have a pizza party coming up so I am making an extra 2 or 3 pizza's a week
The 1st Test was a 1390gram batch of sourdough pizza dough.
I am new to making sourdough pizza, this is my 2nd attempt, in my 1st (hand-mixed) attempt a week ago didn't go well. I decided to try some different mixer techniques I came across on YT.
The mixer technique 1st uses the blade attachment instead of the spiral hook, adding all liquid then sourdough starter whipping it to well mix, then slowly add 1/2 the flour a TBSP at a time, on speed 2-4, to add strength and develop gluten, mix for 5 to 6 minutes. Then add salt and the remaining flour TBSP at a time mix for 5 to 6 minutes.
KA6000HD performed well up until the 2nd half of dough, as I added the remaining flour the mixture thickened of course and I could hear the gears working harder, but all seemed ok. I kept the mixer at speed 2 for this process.
Next, the procedure changes to spiral the hook and mixes for 5-10 minute until the dough clings to the hook and basically isn't on sides of the bowl.
KA6000HD lift bowl mount started clicking, I didn't have that problem on the 1st refurbished mixer no matter what speed or attachment, including a load over 3000grams.
So this was a bit annoying. I folded a 3/5 card several times and shoved it in between the riser plate and the track for the bowl lift on the main housing, this solved the problem, for this mix. Further, I have checked out a few videos and saw a brand new KA professional 7quart or 1.3 hp DC motor do the exact same thing, so maybe I might have to live with the annoyance.
Another observation is the gear load, has a deeper whine under load, it is hard to tell if this is a good thing or bad thing. Comparing to the benchmark video for this exact same mixer, Teresa of Northwest Sourdough, her unboxing of a brand new KA Professional 6000 HD, plus several of her tutorial videos with that same mixer, the amount of deep whine isn't noticeable.
As for the dough mixing, the point we are supposed to be looking for is when the dough stops clinging to the sides of the bowl and wraps around the spiral hook. So far having used 2 KA Professional 6000 HD, that just doesn't happen, I have never been able to see the dough wrap around the spiral hook. Note I typically use a 70% hydration pizza dough and 66 to 67% for my typical sandwich loaf.
I wonder if it's the Nylon coating on the spiral hook, the dough failing to cling too it? The result is two things, 1st repeated bowl scraped downs to make sure all the dough is getting mixed. 2nd the dough never achieves a smooth texture in the mixer, another 5 to 10 min of hand kneading is required, which slows down the workflow. Teresa at Northwest Sourdough confirmed her experience is the same.
Some here say lower hydration there is no problem.
So right now the main pros for this mixer,
• I can do the occasional 2x to 3x the load of 1 loaf or 1 pizza and the mixer should be able to handle it.
• It's not too noisy
• Though I am new to using a mixer, I feel like I am raising my game, opening up more opportunities for new recipes or versions of bread and pizza.
• I still have the 3 yr extended warranty to fall back on, so that helps ease the mind about a refurbished mixer holding up.
I will provide a further update after a month of use.
As for the pizzas if I took pics they would be deceiving, they looked fine, I had to salvage this double pizza batch, adding some IDY yeast and flour after 13 hours. When I get a product from start to finish that looks and tastes good I will post some pics