Flux Winnower

The Flux Winnower is built to do one thing—separate nibs from husk—and it does it cleanly, reliably, and without a lot of fuss. Stainless steel chamber, 50 lb hopper, clear view port, easy to clean. Airflow and vacuum are adjustable, so you can tune it how you want it, not how the machine thinks it should be. Works with roasted or raw beans, and plays nice with Champion Juicers and our Deluxe Crackers. No gimmicks—just a solid tool that gets the job done.

It’s efficient, consistent, and doesn’t make a mess. Minimal nib-husk crossover, easy maintenance, and it integrates with older setups like the Aether without complaint. You’ll need a vacuum and a Champion (sold separately), and there’s a lead time—but if you’re making chocolate and tired of fighting your gear, Flux is worth it.

Efficient

Our Most Efficient Model

Throughput

Roasted Beans: 120-140 lb/hour

Capacity

50 lb hopper

Food Grade Materials

Perfectly Safe for Food Compliance

Flux Winnower

A 50 lb capacity hopper exits into the top of a Champion Juicer. The rate of winnowing is controlled by the rate at which the Champion cracks the beans. Harder or raw beans will crack slower than roasted beans. The Flux is optimized for these feed rates.

Throughput:

With Deluxe Cracker

Roasted Beans: 120-140 lb/hour
Raw Beans: 100-120 lb/hour

Once cracked, the nibs and husk mixture exits the Champion and enters a chute. Upon arriving at the visible junction of our super compact separation chamber, husk is drawn upwards and into the vacuum chamber and husk bin. Nibs drop from the separation chamber into a container of your choosing (It was designed to accept a 5 gallon bucket). The Flux comes with two adjustments valves allowing you to tune it optimally to your situation. One valve is on the vacuum chamber and allows you to control how much suction your vacuum pulls. If you use the 6.5 hp Shop Vac recommended, it will be approximately half open. Other brands and sizes are acceptable as long as it has a standard 2" hose. The second valve allow you to more finely tune the air flow in the separation chamber allowing better 'discrimination' of nib and husk and generally can be left fully open. Long drop tube winnowers don't have this functionality and is what makes the Flux superior.

Size:

36" x 24" x 24" (Not including the hopper which rises about 36" above the table top)

Weight:

80 lb empty
Table should be rated for 200 lb for the 50 lb the hopper and husk bin can each hold

Efficiency*:

Roasted beans: 78-82%
Raw beans: 72-80%

*82% is considered perfect, i.e. husk is about 18% the weight of average roasted beans

Throughput:With Deluxe Cracker

Roasted Beans: 120-140 lb/hour
Raw Beans: 100-120 lb/hour

Without Deluxe cracker, i.e. standard Champion cutter head

Roasted Beans: 70-80 lb/hour
Raw Beans: 50-60 lb/hour

In both cases, and with the disclaimer that it depends on the roasting and preparation of your beans, you can expect to see no more than 0.5% of nib in the husk bin, and 0.5% husk in the nib in a single pass. For more difficult beans, it is still possible to have nearly husk free nibs, but it may require a few percent of nib in the husk or a 2nd pass.

Note: We DO NOT recommend other crackers and specifically not roller mills, automated or not. Those are great for hand winnowing but the sizes of the pieces don't work well. Capacity

50 lb of beans (hopper capacity)

Included:

Flux Separation Chamber
50 lb hopper
Champion Juicer adapter
Sizing Screen
Champion platform
Vacuum chamber
Husk bin

Options (included in the Complete System):

Deluxe Cracker (optional but recommended)
Champion Juicer (required)
Vacuum (required)

Deluxe CrackerWe cannot recommend the Deluxe cracker enough. It is a beast and we use it daily.It is machined out of Stainless steel and Brass, with hardened cold rolled tool steel blades that are replaceable (1/8" thick as opposed to 1/32") that are four way reversible (double sided and double edged). Each side will allow cracking of 1500-2500 lb of beans depending on whether they are raw or roasted and how clean they are. All materials are food grade.

Champion Juicer** We are aware that the Champion 2000 has been discontinued. We have verified used ones in stock and are happy to offer them to you. Right now there is no other option. This does not concern us and should not concern you. There are so many good ones out there and they last decades.Many people already have a Champion juicer and it can do double duty - hence the decision not to include it by default. You can order an extra if you like of course. If you are cracking raw beans, you will find that the blades on the Champion juicer cutter wheel will wear away. Usually about 5-10 times faster than if the beans are roasted. Checking the sharpness of the cutter blade routinely is recommended. A heavily used (used every day, for many hours) Flux may require a cutter blade every week. Moderate use with roasted beans may only require a change every couple months. The same goes for the housing on the Champion. After a couple months of use with raw beans, it has been found to crack and need to be replaced. This was not found with roasted beans.The standard Champion cutter head will crack raw nibs, but depending upon the moisture content and preparation of the bean, the feed rate may may drop significantly (even to the point that they will not feed). If you insist on raw nibs, you may have to hand push them through the Champion. And likewise, expect the separation may not be as good since the raw husk is much closer to the density of the nibs. Generally I find if raw nibs are produced the final product needs to sieved through a 1/4" mesh. The Deluxe Cracker handles raw beans very well and does not require hand pushing.

Vacuum We recommend you find the 6.5 hp Shop Vac locally. In general it will be much cheaper than me supplying it. If nothing else you will save on shipping.We currently use the DEWALT Stealthsonic Quiet 12-Gallon 5.5 HP Corded Wet/Dry Shop Vacuum. I can’t say enough about how quite and awesome this vacuum is.International users who need a 220V model could well use this one.

Time-line, ordering and details for delivery:

Time-line - The units are assembled as needed. From order to shipping is usually around 2-3 weeks.Ordering - A 50% deposit is required to start your winnower, with the balance due at completion before shipping. The payment and order is NCNR (no-cancel, not refundable) (unless I fail to supply it for some very odd reason). You are welcome to pay the entire amount up front.Delivery - This will ship via UPS or DHL (USA and internationally respectively) in 2 boxes, 24" and 30" cubic, 45 lb each (more if the Champion and/or the Shop-vac are added). Some assembly will be required, but only a wrench and screwdriver will be needed. Directions will of course be included and as much phone and/or e-mail support as required for no extra fee. Feedback on the manual and directions is HIGHLY requested.

12 month limited warranty: Chocolate Alchemy warrants to the owner of this product that it is free from defects in material and workmanship for a period of 12 months from the date of purchase. The manufacturer’s obligation will be limited to repairing or replacing (at manufacturer’s discretion) F.O.B. (address city state zip) any part(s) of the product which is/are defective. The Flux Winnower is non-returnable and non-refundable once purchased.Such warranty will not apply to defects or damage resulting from tampering, modifying, cosmetic damage, acts of Nature, accidental breakage, abuse, negligence, neglect, and/or misuse.The Flux Winnower is designed and manufactured to function properly. Chocolate Alchemy strongly recommends avoiding any modifications to the product. Modifications will void the 12-month limited warranty and trolls will be sent after you.If you must return the product or parts of the product for reasons of malfunction within the 12-month warranty period, the following action and steps are required: 1. Contact Chocolate Alchemy to determine repair or part replacement needs and to obtain a return merchandise authorization (RMA). Then ship prepaid (USA residents only) to Chocolate Alchemy by the most convenient method with the RMA clearly noted on the outside of the box.2. The winnower must be packaged securely to protect from damage or breakage in shipment. Chocolate Alchemy accepts no responsibility for damages occurring in the shipping process. We highly recommend insuring the shipment in case of damage.Even if not required, the rights in this warranty are granted to you. Chocolate Alchemy will not be held liable for any special, incidental, or consequential damage, resulting from possession, use or loss of this product either directly or indirectly.

By placing this order, you are acknowledging and accepting the following:

This order is NCNR (non-cancel-able, non-refundable).Due to limitations in the shipping calculator, you may see a lower than actual shipping price. It should be around $300-400 for the USA or $800-2000 internationally depending upon your location. You will be charged actual shipping costs if more or less than that shown upon checkout.If you choose the 50% deposit, you are authorizing Chocolate Alchemy to charge your credit card for the remaining balance, including actual shipping charges (see above).Please let me know if you have any questions.

Why did you invent the Flux?

Customer demand. I've had two requests for Aether changes for years.

Make a stainless steel version
Make a clear version

In both cases the price was simply not viable, pushing up over $10,000. After 7 failed attempts and 3 optimization builds, the Flux was born.

Does it work better?

That all depends on what you mean by that. The separation is slightly better but only slightly because the Aether is already is very good.
What is significantly better is your ability to tune the air flows for optimal separation because you can see the separation happening.
What is even better is that with the flip of latches, the cover comes off for super easy cleaning and inspection of build up.

I have the Aether. Can I upgrade?

Indeed you can. We very specifically designed the Flux to be backward compatible. You only have to remove the lower PVC separation plumbing, drill a couple holes (template provided) and bolt on the new Flux separation chamber.

What do I need to use the Flux?

We offer the option for a complete setup. You can purchase it without the following items if you wish.

Champion Juicer*
Deluxe Cracker or Standard Champion cutter head**
Vacuum***

* We are aware that the Champion 2000 has been discontinued. We have verified used ones in stock and are happy to offer them to you. Right now there is no other option. This does not concern us and should not concern you. There are so many good ones out there and they last decades.** We DO NOT recommend other crackers and specifically not roller mills, automated or not. Those are great for hand winnowing but the sizes of the pieces don't work well. *** You are also going to need a basic shop vacuum. We currently use theDEWALT Stealthsonic Quiet 12-Gallon 5.5 HP Corded Wet/Dry Shop Vacuum. I can’t say enough about how quite and awesome this vacuum is. Other vacuums with a 2.0" vacuum hose and about 200 CFM may well work as it has a vacuum flow controller built in. International users who need a 220V model could well use this one. If you can't find an appropriate 220 V model, this Voltage Transformer is great and will allow you to use but the 120V Champion and Vacuum.