Mixing Speeds

A

Aves99

New member
We have a Hobart 60qt mixer purchased reconditioned. When we run at full speed on a full batch of dough (44LB/20KG Bag) it bogs down after 3 minutes.

Question: are there known issues with mixing a batch of dough at low speeds only?

2nd, does anyone else have trouble with a 60qt mixer running a full bag of dough batch? I suspect we bought a lemon for a mixer
 
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Couple of things come to mind…

I assume you are doing a 50# bag or less…

Make sure the bowl is 60qt.

While mixing does the bowl naturally lower? If not, you may want to make sure to clean the stand really good. As the dough mixes the bowl should lower.

Are you using enough water in your dough?

You say you mix it at full speed? We mix ours on low. If we did do full speed, flour and everything would land on the roof!?

You may just need to have the mixer greased. I think this is about 100 bucks, unless you can do it yourself.

Your planetary may need to be replaced (this is what the hook attaches to) This is a bit costly but cheaper than a new mixer. It was obvious when ours needed replacing, it sounded rough (grinding)

That is all that comes to mind from me. Hobart mixers can last a long long time so before you think you got hosed you just may need to spend a few bucks and have it serviced.

Kris
 
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On low speed your happy with the results? We are thinking 10min on low but want to ensure it mixes properly.
 
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I use a Hobart P660.
I use a 25# bag of flour-add 13# of water and mix on low speed for 3 min. We then add a small amt of oil and then mix for 8 more min. All mixing is on low and we have no problems. Been doing it this way for over 3 years with the same mixer.
 
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Kris…regarding the bowl lowering while mixing.

I did not know the bowl was suppossed to lower as the dough mixed. I assumed the crank to raise and lower the bowl was just not working correctly. I have been putting a weighted water jub on the handle to keep the bowl from lowering for the last year and a half…have not noticed any problems.

Should I allow the bowl to lower? and if so, what does this accomplish? …possibly less stress on the mixer?

I would appreciate your response.

thanks
Pizzahead
 
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we have an older model H600T 1HP I believe.

Our recipe calls for 58% water and we use a 20KG/44LB bag of flour.

The fast cycle will barely finish and the mixer at times stops itself. So from this point forward we will use slow speed. But I am concerned we may have a defective mixer. It was supposed to be remfg when we bought it.
 
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I’ve never tried to mix dough on high speed, but I doubt my mixer would be able to do it without stopping. I would guess that it’s not just your mixer, but that no mixer is built to mix pizza dough on high speed. As far as your mixer being “remanufactured”, there’s alot of people who will put a coat of paint on a mixer and call it that. I would expect a remanufactured mixer to have new attachments, new bowl, new motor, new bearings, new wiring, new gears, new capacitors ect ect. I would also expect it to cost 5 figures. If you didn’t pay this much, you probably bought one that someone checked that everything was working, cleaned it up well and tagged it as remanufactured. No worries though as Hobart mixers are known to work still after 30 plus years. Start mixing your dough on slow speed and you should have years of trouble free use.
 
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Yes, ours lowers as the dough is mixed to “lighten the load” on the mixer.

As for the original poster, please forgive me as I laugh at the thought of high speed mixing. Don’t you get flour, oil and water all over the place when you first turn it on?

We bought a new hobart and then with our second store we bought a reconditioned. Both work like a champ. I think you need to get over it being reconditioned. Try making a few batches on low speed. (We use our high speeds to grate cheese) If you are still having trouble have a hobart tech come service it. It may cost you a few bucks but it is still far cheaper than a new one.

And just for your info our reconditioned one is pretty ancient…it doesn’t even have a timer on it. The new coat of paint they put on makes it beautiful but you can tell it is old.

Another thing…do you ever experience grease, oil coming off the planetary? That is a sign it needs to be greased (serviced) because the grease has broken down.

Kris
 
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I should have been more specific on mix times. We mix on low for 5 min ans high for 5 min. The dough is plenty ready for high speed after 5 min.

So my main question to the board is should we mix at low speed totally and will the dough be fine? It sounds from the response I have received that it will be.

We originally mixed at 3 minutes low and 8 high based on recommendations I have read from people such as Tom Lehman and Correll.
 
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You don’t say which 60-quart mixer you bought, but I suspect that it was an H-600 series mixer. This is a light duty, 4-speed mixer. Read that as not well suited to mixing large pizza doughs. The P-660 (2-speed mixer) is designed for pizza applications, and would handle your dough size without any problems. You should be able to mix a dough of the size you describe on first, or possibly second speed at the very most. Because of the slow mixing speed, your mix times will be on the longish side, about 20-minutes. Remember, its just necessary to mix the dough until it has a smooth, satiny appearance. No need to mix any longer. If you still have problems mixing your dough, you will need to reduce the dough size down to about 15 kg of flour weight.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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Hi Tom, yes we have the H-600 series.

Ideally we want to dump the 20kg bag and mix. Do you recommend 20 min on low with a 20kg bag or do you feel we would overload it and should reduce the flour weight?
 
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You should be able to mix the entire dough in first speed, but see if you can mix it in second speed. If you can’t mix in second speed, then first speed is your only option, unless you want to go to a smaller dough size.
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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One thing that you need to understand about these mixers is that they are gear driven and the motor outputs the same speed and output all the time. The Kitchenaid mixers (home use) simply adjust the amount of power that the motor gets to control speed.

Think of it like a 10-speed bicycle. In first gear, you can climb anything but not move very fast. In 10th gear, you can go very fast, but don’t try climbing a steep hill in it. Mixing dough is akin to climbing a mountain; you’re asking it to perform the hardest task it was designed to do. You can’t ask it to do that in 4th gear.
 
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Snowman;
You are absolutely correct. One thing we sometimes forget is that mixers and ovens are not specific to pizza making. These are general application pieces of equipment, meaning that they are used in a very broad application across different food and non-food industries. Just because a mixer has 4-speeds, doesn’t mean that it should be used to mix a pizza dough in 4th gear/speed. If you were mixing an angel food cake batter, then it would be appropriate, but for the pizza dough, better to stay with first or second, depending upon the make and model of mixer that you have. In the Hobart line of mixers, the heavy duty versions al have a higher horsepower motor than the light or mediun duty mixers which enables them, for the most part to mix a pizza dough at one speed higher than the standard duty counterpart. Like I always say: “There are mixers and ovens, and there are mixers and ovens, they may look alike, but it may be only skin deep”.
This thread brings up a good topic for an article.
Thanks, Guys!
Tom Lehmann/The Dough Doctor
 
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