I Made A Machine To Separate Cocoa Beans into Nibs and Husks... (Winnowing)

Cocoa beans have to be separated into nibs and husks before actually making chocolate. Go to NordVPN.com/fr... and use code FRENCHGUY to get 75% off a 3 year plan plus 1 extra month for free
Using plumbing supplies I got at the local hardware store, I made a primitive looking winnowing machine that works fine ! Let me know what you think in the comments below. By the way if you have any idea how to lower the speed of my vacuum cleaner, please share that in the comments below.
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Salut,
Alex

[@matox01tekk]

You could have run it several times for better results not just once. Salut

[@GalendilEVEPlayer]

Agree! Just keep running the husk group through over and over.

[@Steelmage99]

Absolutely. Run the mixes several times into new bowls, Alex. :)

[@butsukete1806]

And decrease the air flow slightly with each run.

[@michaela.cooper2515]

This is what you do with wheat/ winnowing grain

[@0xCAFEF00D]

If there's some large husks stuck with the nibs (which is what I would expect) you'd increase the speed to get them to separate I think. Decreasing speed doesn't really gain you anything that I can see. As an analogy in uranium enrichment where they want to separate particles with very small difference in weight you want your centrifuges to have a very high speed to increase efficiency. This seems very similar except you use airflow instead. This might not be perfectly analogous to uranium enrichment though. Maybe the fine husks that are left stick better to the nibs and has less relative drag in the air? I don't see how you'd solve that with less airflow. I'm imagining you'd need a "stickier" gas to filter with than just air. But I'm just guessing here of course. Never done anything like this.

[@chrisdroney8141]

Alex, maybe consider using PC fans, instead of a vacuum. They're pretty modular, come in all sorts of sizes, and with a simple fan controller you can adjust the RPM to your liking

[@OscarOliverah]

That's was a thought he should do, He can attach it to the pvc pipe and voilá.

[@michaela.cooper2515]

100% this -- I'm amazed at how over-engineered this is. I know Alex is a fan of over-engineering, something I generally enjoy, but this plan takes the biscuit!

[@PebelWasTaken]

That would be farrrrr to weak.

[@chrisdroney8141]

@@PebelWasTaken Would it? I cant imagine it would take much air pressure to blow the husks back up the tube. But obviously I'm no chocolate maker so I wouldn't know

[@YumiFaeldo]

This is a better idea. Also, the air won't be going through a tube of the cleaner where dirt also passes through when used as, well, vacuum cleaner.

[@couvana]

Hi Alex Your DIY video inspired us to build our own cacao winnowing machine. We did it with slight modifications for better efficiency. Thanks for the inspiring videos you put on KZbin 🙏

[@antoniogamboascience3369]

Would you mind sharing your invention? I would love to see how to improve the recovery of the valuable nibs! Thank you

[@bhoylhogro5093]

No, I didn't miss that quick "SPREAD IT LIKE COCOA BUTTER" in the end.

[@dtrayn2009]

Fermentation sounds like a good crossover with "It's Alive"

[@splugen]

oh MAN the idea of Brad and Alex is AMAZING

[@queeng508]

@@splugen would be way better with claire i think

[@Amalada_]

Fermentation with Brad, tempering with Chris and croissant with Claire

[@jamesellsworth9673]

I am with the 'try the hair dryer' and repeated winnowing school. A fine nib is a terrible thing to waste!

[@bobarnold493]

Perhaps it’s already been said, but... how much dirt blew out of the vacuum hose and into the nibs? Hair dryer would avoid that risk.

[@jamesellsworth9673]

@@bobarnold493 There is a good point!

[@FrenchGuyCooking]

Merci !

[@55villar]

I love this mans passion. He gets me motivated. Also his editing is getting amazing

[@Grimscribe732]

It's amazing to me that this channel hasn't been picked up as a show by a streaming platform like Netflix or Amazon Prime.

[@dwaynewladyka577]

I really like your persistence and determination. It is really an inspiration. Cheers, Alex.

[@mxnnyuwu1]

I miss the sponsor time bar on the top 😩

[@danfreemann]

i was coming down here to comment that, its the best

[@FrenchGuyCooking]

oopsie ! Forgot about this one...

[@danfreemann]

@@FrenchGuyCooking you're still one of the few youtubers that does it so we will let you off this time ;)

[@karlamarx4527]

@@mjjf8297 i just like watching bars progress

[@ardenthebibliophile]

There are sliding gates you can use for a more controllable airflow. Also definitely agree with above comments about multiple passes through the device. 80% of the 20% that remains is 16% extra recovery making the total a 96% with only two passes!

[@theflannelfisherman8329]

When I was in A&P school for aircraft maintenance we learned about how helicopter intakes move the air in such a way that anything of mass in the airstream is slung against the inner walls of the intake passage and simply falls away. This is VERY similar to how I imagine that in my head having never seen it before. If it reminds me of aviation engineering. You're probably doing it right.

[@zachdee92]

The musical construction has been SO cool. Really impressive stuff.

[@Irishrebel092]

In my wood shop, I use a cyclone dust collector that I made, and it basically does exactly what you need. Heavy stuff drops into a collection vessel and the light stuff gets sucked up by the vacuum.

[@daviddelamora4456]

That was so smart Alex! I think you could say I am ''blown away'' haha. Little tip: don't throw the husks away, you can make an awesome tisane packed with nice chocolaty flavor and theobromine (a molecule that stimulates your nervous system just like caffeine and theanine). You can use this as a substitute of coffee or black tea. ;)

[@itmightbeciaran]

Love this new music/studio sound syncing thing Alex is doing

[@kunstrenate]

Noticed that too, it's cool! 👌

[@pp_slayer4837]

This guy is soooo talented he does everything himself. Respect bro, keep up the good videos👍🏻

[@jltrack]

Does anyone else get immense joy when Alex breaks out into a victory dance?

[@beemer9108]

I gotta hand it to you... For bulk winnowing, that is absolutely genius. I can't believe it worked so well, too. As for future endeavors into this kind of thing, you could probably use a hair dryer. I also saw a suggestion to use a computer fan to run at variable speeds based on voltage, which you could absolutely fine tune it to your liking. But I would say this was a HUGE success. Absolutely brilliant.

[@maamold]

One option is to alter the length of the feed tube as well. The lower the feed tube the less speed the parts will gain and the more the air will have an effect. Angling the feed tube may have a good effect as well, if the nibs and husks are moving slower the more likely for the air to separate. Love your channel Alex !

[@albertqhumperdinck]

"reflux of husk" is the name of my new experimental noise music project.

[@NidorinaKaterina]

db fan?

[@melimoo6656]

That’s awesome!!

[@IrmaU94]

Hard to say tho

[@manniot]

try sucking the air from the husk side, with the upwards wind and pressure you may get better seperation.

[@mikazaki7594]

Dear Alex or anyone who wants to try this, there is also a technique called winnowing. You don't need fancy tools, just a tray, and the correct technique. I used to separate crushed roasted green been from its husk, which is way smaller and delicate than crushed cocoa and it works wonder.

[@Robb403]

You are on the right track. I've made a similar device for remove chaff from grain. You just need to give it more range of adjustment by drilling some holes on your air intake pipe and adding a sleeve made from a tin can that you can slide to cover the amount of holes needed for precise air pressure and separation. Another thing you add to improve it's efficiency is a laminar flow guide. It's just some pieces of cardboard or plastic interlocked and inserted inside your air intake to make many small air channels. Think of how the cardboard fits together in a case of wine bottles. It's made like that just much smaller to remove the turbulence from the air flow.

[@GlenTakkenberg]

I made a winnower back in 2014 ago using PVC piping and a bucket based on a design I saw on Chocolate Alchemy (their SYLPH WINNOWER ). You should check it out if you haven't already, it's very compact and I think performs about the same as the one in the video. Running it a couple of times gives the best results, probably screening beforehand would be good too as it's hard to dial it in to separate large bits of husks from small bits of nibs at the same time as small bits of husks from large bits of nibs. I've tried the hair dryer approach and you lose too much nibs and it's messier.

[@theYabu117]

@Alex I think an angle on your "Loading" tube could slow down the input feed and give time for the Husk to fly away more

[@harukamylove1]

I agree with the hair dryer. I don't have a winnowing contraption (yet) so I do hair dryer plus bowl outside. Hair dryers with multiple settings work great for winnowing, and can just adjust your distance and angle for it.

[@lechatbotte.]

I don’t give a crap if it works your adventure is worth the price of admission. Love watching your reactions too! Emmy made in Japan got. Cocoa pod and fermented it. She refers to your channel on hers for tempering using sous vide.

[@stevendoesburg6555]

There are two devices that you can plug the vacuum in to reduce/control the speed, a ‘router speed control’ or a ‘variac’. Since the motor is also being cooled by the airflow, be careful you don’t slow it down too much and cook the motor. For fans designed to interface to ducting, look at inline duct fans, also called inline extractor fans.

[@umbraemilitos]

Just run the Nib bowl through the process a few times to improve the yield.

[@HerrBjork]

Episôd 10: "I genetically engineered my own cocoa plant"

[@TimTams_64]

Episode 11, Monsanto confiscated my workshop for infringing genetic copyrights.

[@Dinnye01]

Watching a french dude saying the h in husk... it's just marvelous.

[@_Bosley]

1 part chef, 1 part engineer, I love it! :D

[@FrenchGuyCooking]

Say my name :-)

[@SebbeSebi]

Hey Alex, afaik a shop vac shouldn't have any complex electronics so in order to control the speed, you could use a "one channel dimmer", which is usually used in lighting.

[@Zoesstuff]

Ugh incredible - the production, entertainment and education value are exquisite, Alex - bravo! I always look forward to your vids :)

[@steffyalment5879]

I dont care what he does or how long it takes...i love his accent...could hear him speak for hours❤🥰

[@izamanaick]

Imagine if you go to Bon Appetit for the fermentation, see you and Brad goofing off.

[@agingintobeauty]

A clothing category labeled "stripes." That's so French! lol

[@hardwareful]

Thanks for the fun video. If you could find jars or plastic containers where large holes can be made in the lids you could show how stuff collects and have a quick release for emptying :)

[@shortstack4668]

You can see the engineering cogs turning in his brain through the whole video. Top notch Alex!

[@DanielHempelman]

Might I suggest trying a cyclone dust separator for this process. It's a funnel shaped thing that woodworkers use with a shopvac to separate fine dust from the heavier solid shavings. It looks like the video you watched had something similar in their winnowing process. For an example, there is one called the "Dust Deputy" but there are many similar options out there, even some DIY videos. If you can adjust the vacuum pressure, you might be able to find the right one for separating your cocoa.

[@fozzie51]

Alex, have you thought about doing a first pass on very low air speed (get rid of the tiny bits), then increase the speed and put the nib bowl back through, and keep repeating that process so it removes the husks more effectively.

[@kolamastu]

I just love the way Alex pronounces husk.😂 Hösk bröther hösk!

[@YCbCr]

Hösque, even. ^^

[@charlesmorris100]

maybe we say it wrong!

[@kira6149]

Hoeusque

[@charlesmorris100]

that is alot of words!

[@Flying-Bunny]

You could also try multiple passes to improve the result =3

[@kenardy]

I was about to say the same thing. Go through again with the nibs and remove the remaining husks.

[@yurimow]

Definetly this. Industrial scale machines use the same principle. They are a bit better because more finely tuned, but most importantly there are lots of them arranged in a cascade

[@swordchaos1181]

Yep, multiple passes with varying airflow speeds should do the trick

[@dozog]

Is literally the first thing I thought when I saw the pretty good but not perfect results.

[@PolyraclureDeVinyle]

Alex if you're ever interested, i know a chocolatier in southern France that should soon process his own cocoa, direct from his partner plantation in Costa Rica. That would be an interesting feat for sure.

[@madgamer311]

this is why i love watching this channel your ideas to make stuff that help you with your series are always great

[@PackthatcameBack]

Still waiting for a continuation of this, my man!

[@danwalker1494]

I’ve made a variable vacuum before, go to the hardware store buy a few feet of wire, a male cord repair plug, an electrical box, an electrical outlet and a pwm dimmer switch. Use a small piece of wire to wire the dimmer to the outlet, feed the rest of the wire into the box and attach it to the dimmer. Use the male cord repair plus and affix to the end. Voilà you now can alter the duty cycle for anything you plug in.

[@sumantamaitra]

Watching an inventor. Albeit the inventions aren’t new. But thoroughly fun to watch.

[@scottturner8176]

I'm sure you probably looked into it (and am guessing the equipment is hard to find), but we used to used a centrifugal device for separating corn husks from the kernal on an industrial level (the device is in the youtube video you based your separator on). Cheers!

[@Satelitko]

You can use a bundle of straws before the intersection of the pipes to straighten the airflow so it doesn't go up or down the vertical pipe.

[@henkjanssen1252]

Hey Alex! I once worked at a farmer's pace in Les Vosges, he used a spiral (tobogan) of about 3 meters high to separate lentils and little debris like rocks. The heavier particles like stones took the larger corner whereas the lentils stayed close to the inside, and so at the 'exit' of the slide you just put three different baskets. We had to pass the bucket of lentils through there three times but it worked like a charm!

[@Apoz]

What about growing? You should definitely do a bonus episode where you find some kind of cutting from the cocoa tree and make it into a bonsai. Would look awesome in your studio!

[@ErikPukinskis]

7:30 If you want to get a better outcome without changing the machine, you should try just running both of the separations through the machine a second time. You will end up with 4 grades total instead of 2. It would be interesting to see how the machine performs on "mainly husks" and "mainly nibs" anyway.

[@KarlRoyale]

"There are times in life when it is important to remain humble. This is not one of them..." Dude, I totally agree!

[@temptorsent]

Hi Alex, Two suggestions to improve your separation efficiency: 1. Screen the material into consistent size fractions and run each fraction separately with the appropriate air settings for each. 2. Use a conical geometry for the separation chamber with tangential input and top and bottom outputs -- search 'mini cyclone dust collector' for examples.

[@patrickmorrissey2271]

Actually a very smart idea. I've seen big machines on farms, that they use to "clean" seeds from "waste", that use a somewhat similar principle.... the big healthy seed is heavier than the waste crap that is mixed in.... the blower blows away what you don't want.... Very tuneable for pressure and volume of air, but... Your concept is sound. Well done.

[@clu83]

I'm a simple man, I see a new French Guy Cooking video I click.

[@FrenchGuyCooking]

I am a simple French guy, I see a comment like this, I like.

[@knitterscheidt]

Deepest sympathy for the fire today at Notre Dame. A most sad event for France and humanity.

[@gregfeneis609]

This was a great first iteration one-off. I was thinking if you wanted to keep perfecting such a machine, you might want to study Matthias Wandel's videos where he goes over how particles dispersed in an air flow can be separated in a compound vortex. It's not as complicated as it sounds. Anyway, he's got quite a few videos on dust collectors, but in one of them he goes over how controlling the vortex allows separation of wood chunks (nibs) from wood dust(husk).

[@ChrisUhlik]

A lot like uranium enrichment. A few more passes and you can further increase the enrichment nibs:husks ratio. The tails (husks with a few nibs) can also be re-processed with additional passes. If you are willing to run many passes, there is no limit to the separation factor you can achieve. Good luck! Very impressive machine.

[@KGBgringo]

Hey Alex, loved your videos for some time but, have to say, whoever adds the music deserves some major love. Discovered some great trip-hop/hip-hop acts through your vids.

[@TeddieEddieBear]

You are always impressing us, Alex! Amazing and inspiring work!

[@whittsroofing1867]

French Guy doing things none of us would ever have time for. Definitely entertaining.

[@_richardpurrsion_6178]

That worked quickly and surprisingly well

[@Minifig666]

Not bad for a bunch of plumbing! You'd probably see improved separation by simply making the uphill husk tube longer. That way there's more time for the two components to separate, and for the nibs to slow down and drop back down the tube.

[@martingutsch6985]

5e casual ”spread it like cocoa butter” had me cackling 😄

[@kendallrees1089]

You could build a diffuser to help with the high velocity of the air; if you had a smaller inlet that then expanded to a larger outlet, the volumetric flow rate would stay the same, meaning the velocity would have to go down as it passes through the diffuser. Or install some bends in the pipe to reduce the velocity through turbulence. Also, the husks from the cocoa make for a great mulch (plus it smells good)!

[@georgievgabriel]

Is it me or Alex looks like young Bronson Pinchot (Balki from Perfect Strangers). Keep up the good work, man. I accidentally found your channel, but I now regularly stop by. Always having wonderful time watching your videos.

[@spacewombat4569]

“There are times in life where you should be modest, and this is not one of them. This is working brilliantly!!” 👌🏼

[@DanielHorta]

0:43 those edits in sync with the music are just the best. For real!!!!

[@xnutral]

If you use compressed air, you could have a lot more control over the air flow, because a change in pressure is a change in air flow. You could also make a cyclone kind of system, like being used in dyson vacuum cleaners. The heavier parts get pushed to the outside of the camber and fall down while the light parts go up into the middle.

[@recordpirate]

Hi Alex, i noticed you’re not using ‘that French guy cooking’ anymore. Anyhow, I am enjoying your episodes for quite some time now! Really nice to see you’re living in Paris as well and showing our beautiful city 😃. Take care, Joost

[@navtektv]

Simpler solution over two years late: make a box where the nibs can be rolled out flat on a tray. Attach small fans on one side of the box and an exhaust on the other side with some sort of dust collection. Roll the nibs out and aim the fan slightly downwards at the tray of nibs but also towards the exhaust. As a bonus attach a small motor with an unbalanced head to the underside of the tray to make it vibrate.

[@ktulu193]

Great succes, Alex! You could separate the two piles once more, to increase the accuracy, but the variable airflow would be a better option, I think. I love that you use the vacuum cleaner to both separate the nibs and husk AND to clean the mess afterward!

[@marietailor3100]

Now we need the fermentation episode!!!

[@Aezandris]

This has turned into an engineering channel. Not complaining though !

[@VvissiaA]

Turned? It always was, it's basically a engineers guide to making food!

[@Aezandris]

@@VvissiaA Not really always. At the very beggining it wasn't at all, and then it was a video here and there, but for the past 2/3 series it's been full of it !

[@talinpaul5797]

And I love it...

[@jh.5860]

The way you organize your studio inspires me😁

[@danielchbli2483]

Try making a hole and adding a mesh on the final curve, that will remove the high preasure air un your husk bowl

[@hawksky28]

Your editing is so gooooooodddd!!!!!! I remember a while ago when you were taking classes to improve your video work, it’s clearly paid off 😃

[@osgeld]

you need one of those workmate style folding benches, so handy, clamps onto stuff, folds flat

[@scottr939]

My guess is that if you put some kind of ‘agitator’ in the tube above the hull outlet, it might separate any husks that may be stuck to the nibs. It might just take something like some thin strips of cloth or rubber that could wave around freely and ‘bat’ the stuff around as it is falling. Sorry, I’m not going to build one to test my theory, but it would be easy enough for Alex to try. Salut

[@Nikuser]

Have you ever seen a cyclone vacuum separator? Used in woodshops to separate first from word chips. May work with nibs and husks.

[@gmcg1772]

The falling beans will hit into husks that are trying to flying away. If the flow was flat, in a sort of sheet, as it passes the airflow, this would provide a better escape route.

[@jezlanejl]

Cool Video, we use a normal desk fan for separating the Nibs, Its just the right power.

[@EzekielDeLaCroix]

Question, Alex. Do you have a museum of all your previous inventions and engineering marvels? Cause it seems like you make quite a lot of stuff.

[@1greenline2]

Please start a fermentation series! Kombucha & sauerkraut are welcome.

[@jderao]

Alex you could hav jus put the whole thing on the table and put a small table fan directed towards the mix of husks and nibs.- that way u can control the speed and its easy - you jus hav to clean up after the mess is in the whole room :)

[@mauriceb7067]

The lil happy dance made me lol!

[@Whowatchesbigbrother]

I love how thorough, hardworking and inventive you are! Keep up the good work! Salutation de Montréal, viens faire un tour, il commence à faire chaud ici

[@Stu_Louden]

This is also a good solution to separate the chaff from roasted coffee. Thanks! I'll have to experiment with your device 👍👍

[@Cosmiccoffeecup]

J'adore cet homme. His expressions make me smile with my heart.

[@BellambiFredRoberts]

You are pretty smart Alex! I love your attitude, you don’t care but will try your experiments anyway!

[@papapapapapapageno]

Spread it like cocoa butter! Great video, love the winnowing contraption

[@blackpanda570]

Alex if you are doing more fermenting things I think Kombucha would be something cool you might want to try doing on the channel!

[@oliviaagee2686]

“I think there are times in life where you need to be modest, this is not one of them” lol 😂 love this guy!

[@ginocretino]

What about a fluidised bed type separator? Design it for the nib density and smallest size of nib, that way the full range of nib sizes will remain in the fluid bed while everything lighter will be removed with the air flow.

[@nessteboul1467]

Salut, comment ça va ! J'ai découvert ta chaîne il y a quelques semaines, lors de ta vidéo sur la machine à pâte feuilleté, et je suis devenue complètement accro à ta chaîne ! Continues à faire ce que tu fais c'est génial !!!! Bisous du Canada 😘

[@0v_x0]

Hope to see more of this series, maybe someday.

[@braedens2531]

I think part of the issue its only 85% is that the beans are falling too fast straight down, and clumps of nips and husks are falling together. If you had a way to break up the clumps and slow down how fast the beans are falling, you'd get a better result. I'd suggest using sticks of some sort inside the tube right before the air blows on it. Think of it like a rain stick. It slows down the beans and helps break everything up better. Just a thought. Its a very impressive design nonetheless!