March 18, 2016 - 9:19am
Advice on using a commercial mixer
So, I took the plunge and bought a 30 quart mixer. It was a great deal and I couldn't resist (and it runs on household power!). It's a Univex made in the US.
What kind of things do I need to know about using a large mixer? I'm aware that I might need to pay attention to dough temperature (though I probably won't be mixing most doughs for too long). What other tips do people have? I'll be testing it today to see how small a batch it can handle. My KA only does a good job of two 750-gram loaves, so I'm hoping this new toy will effectively handle anything from four loaves and up to 10 or 12.
Comments?
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is about the only comment I have :)
I have an old A200 and it's just a big mixer. Doesn't have the safety guards yours has, so I regard it as a wrist breaker and treat it as such. Check the manual for the max. kilos of various types of dough you can use it & at what speeds. I do almost everything in my A200 at slow speed though and it handles about 7Kg of dough with an after-market dough spiral (rather than the supplied 'hook' which isn't that good) I imagine yours being 1.5 times bigger ought to handle 10Kg or more dough, but that'll be more down to the motor & gearbox than anything else.
At the other end of the scale, 1.5Kg of dough is about the smallest that works well in the A200.
Happy kneading!
-Gordon
Yes, the sign on the side says "No one under the age of 18 is allowed to operate...". I think I'll set the timer, push the green button and jump back! Good thing I don't have long hair...
and I think the Univex and Bear use the same technology, the gear box is infinitely variable. You can only change speed while the mixer is running and you should always stop the mixer at low speed so that you don't start it under heavy load at high speed. The gear markings are only recommendations as you can operate it at any point in between any of the markings, I guess it is to approximate the speed of a Hobart in second gear type of thinking.
If it is anything like the quality of the Bear you should be happy for a long time, I have had a 40 litre model with a 40 and 20 bowl for over 20 years with no issues.
Gerhard
Well, I'm pretty happy. I made a batch of six loaves of my cheese & onion bread. The dough without the cheese & onions added is around 2500 grams (about 3300 with cheese & onions). The 30 quart mixer did a very good job of that relatively small amount of dough. This will save me so much time; it's like magic! Later today I'll try it for mixing up a largish batch of fairly high-hydration dough with levain. Mix in the mixer then put in a big bowl to stretch & fold.
Lazy Loafer,
I use a Hobart & spiral hook. Only tip I can give is to watch your final dough temp. Im now in South Florida & have to be careful as humidity & temps are brutal.
Most of my formulas I mix my preferment around 1:30p the day before and allow it to sit out at room temp (74f) until 9:00pm. Then the ferment, my final flour, & water are placed in the fridge overnight. Next morning I add the rest of my ingredients and mix.
All but the high hydration doughs generally take +/- 4 min on SP1 & and +/- 5 min on SP2, (using the spiral hook). The hydrated doughs above 75% will take, respectively, 4min, 4 min, & under 3min on SP3, again using the hook.
This give me an almost formed dough. It is a smooth, shinny, elastic dough that now ready for the stretch & fold tub first rise. Which completes the formation.
All my final dough temps are under 76f.
Bolt your machine down. Don't leave it alone or it will chase your cat around the kitchen…..if you have one.
I should add that all my doughs are under 900g.
Have fun with the "Beast-UniV" & again,,, bolt it or clamp it down…...
Good stuff!!!!!
Thanks for all the info and advice, that's very useful. Especially the timings for various hydration doughs. I make a fairly wide variety of different doughs so this is all good to know. I'm not sure how I could bolt down the beast though. It's sitting on lino over concrete in my basement kitchen. So far it hasn't jumped about (or chased the cat), but I haven't done any really big batches yet.
My Hobart A200 is on a plinth with castors and while it does sometimes wobble on speed 2 it never moves - even with the castors unlocked. Mine won't run on speed 2 with more than about 1.5Kg of dough in it though.
The A200 weighs about 80Kg though. It's quite heavy as was observed when lifting it up a flight of stairs into the bakehouse... One step at a time!
-Gordon
The Univex (this one is called "Max"; my little KA upstairs is called "Mini") weighs in at around 150kg, so I'm not sure it's going to dance around the kitchen too much. fortunately we didn't have to get it upstairs. As it was, it took 4 guys and a hydraulic lift table to get it off the truck, into the garage and thence into the basement kitchen.
determined by how level your floor is. We had a 60 quart hobart that could mix a 50lb flour dough and it never moved but I had seen the same mixer in place with an uneven floor and they had to steer it back to it's space near the end of the mixing. Also when doing doughs near the mixer's capacity second gear is all you would use. The Univex has belt drive so you want to limit the speed anyway since the belts life is shortened substantially if it is allowed to slip.
Gerhard
And if your lazy bones can handle the challenge, I will have to dig out the book on the one still crated in the camp kitchen. The warnings said to train one or two people on it and then only those two run the machine, no others. hmmm. and they have to be over 18. (how much over 18 it didn't say) Thanks for the inspiration. :)
Mini
I can't see much need for extensive training on the machine itself, Mini. Two levers and two buttons; that's about it! But, as Gordon says, it's a wrist-breaker if you're not paying attention so I basically push the green button and jump back. I just made a batch of dough for seven Pain au Levain with Sage & Onion, and it's so wonderful to throw everything in there and mix it up in a few minutes! Washing the big bucket - now, that's another story. That's what the executive dishwasher is for (aka husband). :)
these mixers are a great source for injuries. Before the wide spread use of the safety guards aprons, hair, sleeves.... got caught on the mixing implements and people got hurt. The other thing is the equipment attached to the PTO, lot of lost fingers with meat grinders, cabbage shredders.... When I was a kid I worked at a hotel when I was 15 to 17 and they would send me to the catering kitchen by myself to grind a couple of hundred pounds of hamburger, when I think about it now it was only dumb luck that I or others never got hurt.
Today we don't allow employees to work alone and when cleaning the machine the first step is to unplug it, places with larger equipment have an interlock on the power to prevent an employee from turning machines on when cleaning or maintenance is performed.
Gerhard
(Original in Chinese) has some funny translations so I will get a better translation first. We've been giggling about this all thru lunch...
WARNING! Violation to this manual shall automatically terminate the manufacturer.
It's a PILLAR Universal Mixer CEMMB220 HECMAC Manufactory.OEM
and I don't have a cage on it that I can see.
Haha, yes fortunately Max was made in the US and I found the manual online (in perfectly good English). One of my favourite loose translations was seen years ago on a large packaged butcher knife - "WARNING - knife very sharp. Please keep out of children." Good idea...
Hey Folks,
When I posted I failed to give the Hobart model that I've been using since 1997. It is the 'baby' Hobart N50. Not even close to the 'Max'.
Even still the little guy is something to be reckoned with at times. If I try more than the 5qt will handle it really lets me know. That said, I never leave the room or let my grip on him go when he is 'cranking'.
I've just read accounts of the 'giant-boheamith' mixers while violating large batches of dough going crazy.
Lazy Loafer it sounds like you have a natural respect for 'Max' and your safety.
Have fun during your 'honey-moon' with the 'Max'.
See-ya, Bye
Max has all kinds of safety features (one reason why I opted for a US made machine rather than an old Chinese-made model). If the cage isn't latched properly, it won't turn on. If the bowl isn't fully lifted into place, it won't turn on. But I'm still very cautious when cleaning the dough off the hook before resting the dough. Unplugging is probably a good idea (I do this with my food processor too).
Oh, I love Max! I just mixed up 9 loaves of Struan - 5.25 kilos of fairly stiff dough and nary a whimper nor a wobble. What a joy!