Spinzall - Dave Arnold's food centrifuge

[blue_dolphin]

Listening to a recent Cooking Issues podcast, Dave Arnold mentioned they will be floating a Black Friday pre-order price of $699 for his 500 ml food centrifuge, named the Spinzall.  They won't actually be manufacturing unless they hit a target # of pre-orders. If they do, he estimated a June 2017 delivery timeframe.    He said that the centrifuge will work in Europe with an adapter.  According to Eater, the MSRP will be $999. 

 

Pre-ordering will go live through Modernist Pantry on Friday.  Until it does, you can see a rather obstructed view of the video on this splash page. 

 

Not really in my budget but it would be fun to play with.

[Shalmanese]

I received an email with 3 youtube links that don't appear on the website. The videos are marked as unlisted so I'm not sure of whether it would be right to share them but there's not a huge amount of information.

 

Relevant tidbits that came out of it:

 

* Self balancing

* Rather than vials or buckets, the entire chamber is the bucket, allowing for 500mL in a compact space.

* 2000Gs but some claim about how the special rotor design allows it to produce the same results as a conventional 4000G machine (I'm skeptical, but ok)

* Super interesting feature where you can put a tube into an outside reservoir of liquid and the machine will decant and suck in more liquid using a built in pump. If it works, you could potentially do many liters of product in one go unattended but it also sounds like a very error prone and finicky process.

[chefmd]

What can you make with centrifuge?  Pea butter go course (from Modernist Cuisine).  What else?  

[gfweb]

Looks like it spins water out of solids sort of like a washer on the spin cycle. I can see how that would be self-balancing with a liquid. Might be fun.

 

Wonder how easy it cleans.

[adey73]

...I was hoping the vids would show the pea butter being made.

[adey73]

 

[Anna N]

Thank you for posting this video. Now I know a lot more about how a centrifuge works than I did before.

 

Edited to change whoops to works.

Edited November 24, 2016 by Anna N (log)

[rotuts]

thank you for the Vid.  it explains a lot , as noted by AnnaN

 

Ive used large centrifuges in the past , including ultracentrifuges .  I wasn't clear to me why a home cook would want one, as the only thing Ive read about

 

ss the MC UltaBeefJus.

 

over all  the item seems to be well thought out.  for 700 - 1,000 $$  a six month warranty seems short.  

Edited November 24, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

50 minutes ago, rotuts said:

thank you for the Vid.  it explains a lot , as noted by AnnaN

 

Ive used large centrifuges in the past , including ultracentrifuges .  I wasn't clear to me why a home cook would want one, as the only thing Ive read about

 

ss the MC UltaBeefJus.

 

over all  the item seems to be well thought out.  for 700 - 1,000 $$  a six month warranty seems short.  

 

 I think the six months warranty is only a starting point. Dave seem to indicate that they had not really thought that one through yet.   I love new kitchen toys as most people are aware but I can't come up with a reason why I would want this particular machine. I think I would rather read about Modernist Cuisine than practise it!  

[KennethT]

What about refrigeration?  Don't most centrifuges require it since the spinning creates a lot of heat?

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

What about refrigeration?  Don't most centrifuges require it since the spinning creates a lot of heat?

That is explained in the video. No refrigeration required, no heat produced. 

[adey73]

..... it's the pump on the back that worries me.

 

anyone have any idea if their longevity?

[Anna N]

3 minutes ago, adey73 said:

..... it's the pump on the back that worries me.

 

anyone have any idea if their longevity?

 In the video the claim is made that they have had one of these units operating continuously for 900+ hours.  Whether that includes the peristaltic pump  or not I'm not sure. 

[Fernwood]

On 11/24/2016 at 10:00 AM, adey73 said:

..... it's the pump on the back that worries me.

 

anyone have any idea if their longevity?

In a peristaltic pump rotors push on the outside of flexible tubing to move fluid within the tubing; the fluid does not come into contact with anything but the lumen of the tubing  and the pump does not need any valves or seals.  They are widely used to pump intravenous fluids in modern hospitals and I'm sure there are many industrial uses, as well.  Someone else can probably answer your question more directly but I think they can be very reliable and durable.  

[Tri2Cook]

2 hours ago, Fernwood said:

In a peristaltic pump rotors push on the outside of flexible tubing to move fluid within the tubing; the fluid does not come into contact with anything but the lumen of the tubing  and the pump does not need any valves or seals.  They are widely used to pump intravenous fluids in modern hospitals and I'm sure there are many industrial uses, as well.  Someone else can probably answer your question more directly but I think they can be very reliable and durable.  

I can't give a number as far as longevity and I'm sure there is the occasional lemon but they seem to be pretty durable in general. There are 3 of them on the dishwasher at work pumping the various cleaning/sanitizing solutions and the dishwashers run that thing very frequently for about 12 hours or so a day. In the 7 years I've been working there, they've never had to replace one.

[Shalmanese]

I wonder how this thing performs on amounts of liquid substantially smaller than 500mL? It seems like there would be issues with yield because the surface area of the container is so large.

[Raamo]

This is pretty darn cool - my wife said no to any centrifuge as they were too big.  Since this is small she said ok and I am number 148 or so.

[rotuts]

@KennethT  

 

most centrifuges are not refrigerated.   a few are .   the Ultracent. was refrigerated and run in a very cold room , which related to the viscosity of the solution

 

your sample separated out into.

 

 

[rotuts]

@Shalmanese  

 

it might not make a big difference , as long as you don't use minuscule amount

 

the solids almost ' stick ' to the sides in centrifuges ( or bottom of the beakers )  so its a question of not string them up as you pour off the supernate.

[paulraphael]

This is cool and everything, but I miss Dave and Nils' blog. It was just about the most informative food site on the web. Then they became entrepreneurs with the searzall, and all the delicious flow of knowledge just stopped. 

 

 

[KennethT]

@paulraphaelAgreed...

[nonkeyman]

If you guys want to see a longer video. The designer was on Chefsteps live a few days ago. Here is a link to the video on facebook. It goes way more in depth, it is 41 minutes long. Hope this helps!

[EatingBen]

oh, that thing is an old style aquarium water polisher from years ago when people didn't have as amazing filter pads and pumps. They also use this same technology to remove spiralina from water for drying. 

 

They work well and just overflow as you fill it up and the solids move to the outsides but it's slow. 

 

I've never used one for food but I have helped an old fella with his tanks that swore by one. 

[adey73]

i thought funding would have been quicker on this.

 

UK buyers might have been put off by the collapse of the value of the pound post Brexit...

 

but mainly trying to get funding for a pricey item at the run up to Christmas when most people have demands on their finances maybe wasn't the wisest?

 

(still want one).

Edited December 13, 2016 by adey73 (log)

[dcarch]

At around 4000 RPM spinning speed and to keep the unit quiet while operating, the unit probably uses an AC induction motor, which is also very long lasting. 

If a well balanced rotor is only spinning (free wheeling), it uses practically no power. So a very small motor is required for this machine.

Surprised that it does not use a dual voltage motor so that they can sell many more machines worldwide. 

 

If they can sell more machines, the price  can be drastically cheaper. (Think a fruit juicer).

Still, it is a very good and practical machine at the price it is selling.

 

dcarch