Coffee bean grinder

alec76 · 10-10-2019 9:19am

wersal gummage wrote: »

but wonder if you know whether the baskets tend to be proprietary? I think the smeg is an odd size, possibly 49mm or 51 or something like that.... I'll measure it up and see if I can find

58mm would be industry standard for the basket.
Yours machine probably use 54mm .. Just measure tamper diameter. Probably proprietary type though , might need to modify basket to use it correctly.

wersal gummage · 10-10-2019 11:18am

Did a fair bit of digging last night and the Smeg is basically an expensive Delonghi.... Once I had that info and started googling the delonghi model numbers I immediately started finding parts and more info (which are clearly the exact same).

So I've ordered an 18mg basket which apparently will require a minor modification of the portafilter alright, which is fine. I also found (expensive) bottomless portafilters, don't plan to go down that road.

Thanks again for the info ðŸ‘

alec76 · 10-10-2019 2:34pm

You are right , no reason of getting proprietary bottomless portafilter unless it is standard ,58mm portafilter you could use after with any other coffee machine .

J_E · 10-10-2019 10:02pm

wersal gummage wrote: »

I do that now, somewhere between 25 and 30 seconds in total seems to be the ballpark.

What do you mean never happy compared to a burr? There's a noticeable improvement with the burr in what sense, the consistency of the grind, the end results in terms of espresso taste etc??

I wouldn't have an incredibly sophisticated pallet and not sure I'd know the difference in terms of how the beams in my coffee were ground?

There's absolutely no comparison, it's night and day between a blade and burr grinder. You suddenly have a consistency that repeats every time, can tweak it to taste, reduces so much frustration or bad shots.

As other posters have said though, pressurised portafilters work a little differently.

wersal gummage · 11-10-2019 10:25am

Thanks for all the info, very useful.

Possibly starting to go down the rabbit hole now, currently looking at a la pavoni Europiccola.... From one extreme to the other.... Probably a terrible idea. It seems to warm up in 10 mins, which I could live with. It only does 3 or 4 shots apparently before overheating, but that would work for me.....

In six months or so I haven't had one really excellent espresso from the current machine, even using reasonably good coffee.... Mind you, I haven't had a really excellent espresso from any coffee shop in a long time either, I mean they are fine, perfectly acceptable, but not wow, I need to have another of those...

alec76 · 11-10-2019 10:38am

.la pavoni Europiccola

oh boy...Not a machine for the newbie...It is for hardcore coffee snobs.
I would stay far away from it .

Planet X · 11-10-2019 10:45am

alec76 wrote: »

oh boy...Not a machine for the newbie...It is for hardcore coffee snobs.
I would stay far away from it .

You’ll want a “serious” grinder for a La Pavoni. You’ll need to grind quite fine.

wersal gummage · 11-10-2019 12:01pm

Planet X wrote: »

You’ll want a “serious” grinder for a La Pavoni. You’ll need to grind quite fine.

Like the grinders mentioned already, the rancilio rocky or the like?? Or something more expensive?

wersal gummage · 11-10-2019 12:04pm

alec76 wrote: »

oh boy...Not a machine for the newbie...It is for hardcore coffee snobs.
I would stay far away from it .

Yeah I've spent quite a while reading about them and, while I have to say the coffee snob thing didn't come across in anything I read, I got the impression it would be a bit of a leap into the dark alright.....

What would you recommend? The gaggia classic?

Planet X · 11-10-2019 12:30pm

Had a Rocky for a couple of years. Great grinder paired with a GC.
It’s a stepped grinder. Don’t think it would be sensitive enough to go with a La Pav. Could be wrong though.....

alec76 · 11-10-2019 2:07pm

wersal gummage wrote: »

What would you recommend? The gaggia classic?

Rancilio Silvia would be good starting point.
New Gagia Classic only slightly better what you got now ( unless you could find used GC old generation ,one with solenoid valve....)
I own Rancilio Silvia , upgraded with PID..... probably not the best machine if you Latte lover ( only single boiler) , otherwise could recommend.

wersal gummage · 12-10-2019 11:12am

alec76 wrote: »

Rancilio Silvia would be good starting point.
New Gagia Classic only slightly better what you got now ( unless you could find used GC old generation ,one with solenoid valve....)
I own Rancilio Silvia , upgraded with PID..... probably not the best machine if you Latte lover ( only single boiler) , otherwise could recommend.

Thank you.

Just looking into the Silvia and I see it is a very popular machine. Mixed reports online, it takes about half an hour to warm up??

Once on and warmed up, can you leave it on for a few hours?

I've been looking more and more at the pavoni.. I must say I'm drawn to it. People are saying the rancilio rocky is fine with it.. Do you think it would have any resale value after 6 months or a year if I couldn't get along with it?

Would probably go for a silvia like machine if I can find one that warms up in around 10 mins

alec76 · 12-10-2019 12:05pm

wersal gummage wrote: »

Would probably go for a silvia like machine if I can find one that warms up in around 10 mins

Why are you so care for the quick warm up ? It is hardly possible. In fact , I believe it is just wrong . I am looking for the quality shots , not the quick one.

The key for the quality shots- constant temperature and .
pressure . Thick brass boiler needs more time to warm up ... Every parts of pipes needs to warm up and keep temperature stable ... even 3-5 degrees makes difference to coffee extraction .
machine which warms up in 10 min will loose temperature during the shot immediately... same as cheap light aluminium frying pan , it is warms up quickly but you won’t cook any decent steak on it.
As were suggested before you could use smart timer plugs etc... My Silvia always
ON during the weekends ( even though it is PIDed , upgraded with scheduled ON/OF switch etc)

Planet X · 12-10-2019 12:31pm

I recently bought a Rocket Espresso machine.
It takes 20 minutes to get up to temperature.
I'm fine with that.........won't be going out to buy a Smart plug either.

I must be patient or something.......:P:P

That's why the shI*e is called instant coffee.

Blueshoe · 12-10-2019 12:32pm

Planet X wrote: »

I recently bought a Rocket Espresso machine.
It takes 20 minutes to get up to temperature.
I'm fine with that.........won't be going out to buy a Smart plug either.

I must be patient or something.......:P:P

That's why the shI*e is called instant coffee.

Good things come to those who wait and all that

wersal gummage · 12-10-2019 1:20pm

Planet X wrote: »

I recently bought a Rocket Espresso machine.
It takes 20 minutes to get up to temperature.
I'm fine with that.........won't be going out to buy a Smart plug either.

I must be patient or something.......:P:P

That's why the shI*e is called instant coffee.

I won't go into the details of explaining how not everyone has a lot of free time to hang around waiting for coffee machines to heat up....

Anyway, thanks for the comments, I will keep out of here from now on, people don't appreciate any questions or unhappiness about this it seems!

adrian522 · 12-10-2019 1:23pm

My coffee machine gets turned on when I get in from work and stays on until I leave for work the following day. I'm never waiting for it to heat up. There machines are designed to be left on.

Planet X · 12-10-2019 1:49pm

New production Rocket machines are being built with a 90 minute energy saver mode, not too annoying, but annoying enough for me to send it back to Zero One Zero after a few days of use. I didn't know what was going on.

They didn't know either until they contacted Italy and were informed.
EU regs.

Doesn't bother me now that I know.

Zagato · 12-10-2019 6:58pm

wersal gummage wrote: »

I won't go into the details of explaining how not everyone has a lot of free time to hang around waiting for coffee machines to heat up....

Anyway, thanks for the comments, I will keep out of here from now on, people don't appreciate any questions or unhappiness about this it seems!

I don't think anyone is trying to be unhelpful. But generally the temperature stability requires at the group head is achieved by having a large mass of metal that takes a bit of time to heat up. You don't have to wait that time. Certainly I'm no expert and reckon I am not the finest judge of differences in tastes of espresso, but as I understand it's really about achieving consistency and removing variables other than the particular coffee bean and grind setting. Having a stable temperature helps achieve this.
I never really used my silvia for the first 2 years I had it and couldn't understand why I couldn't make decent espresso with it until I got the PID and suddenly I could.

As said above you can avoid the waiting. I manage to make 2 shots of espresso in the morning while kids are eating their cereal, using the smart plug (and I preweigh beans and keep them in spice jars for single dosing). At the weekend, I switch machine on with with my phone when I wake up and it stays on until I know I've had my last coffee of the day. Perk of the smart plug is that I can monitor energy usage. Used 5kWh for September.

wersal gummage · 13-10-2019 2:50pm

Sorry I didn't mean to suggest anyone was unhelpful, apologies if that came across, quite grateful for the info so far.

Ordered one of the la pavonis... No doubt I won't get a decent espresso this side of Christmas, but we'll give it a go. Have spent quite a while this weekend messing around with the current set up, weighing the coffee, different grind thickness, different tamping, all with fresh 3fe beans... Getting regularly good looking espresso, tons of crema, but same as before, crema dissipates within seconds and the shot is very weak.

I have the aeropress anyway if I run out of patience

Zagato · 13-10-2019 9:48pm

Great, let us know how you get on with the Pav. Sounds like they are a lot of fun. Hope you get some great shots from it.

G rock · 25-10-2019 11:23am

Just wondering where you ordered the La Pav from?

Any sign of it yet?

I bought a niche grinder last year to use with my pour over set up, the idea being that I'll get an espresso machine in the near future.

Had been mostly considering an E61 of some sort, until reading your posts about the la pav made me read into lever machines a bit more, and now I'm intrigued...

alec76 · 25-10-2019 2:54pm

Just don't buy from CoffeeItalia.

Planet X · 25-10-2019 4:26pm

G rock wrote: »

Just wondering where you ordered the La Pav from?

Any sign of it yet?

I bought a niche grinder last year to use with my pour over set up, the idea being that I'll get an espresso machine in the near future.

Had been mostly considering an E61 of some sort, until reading your posts about the la pav made me read into lever machines a bit more, and now I'm intrigued...

Check out one of the La Pav pages on FB.

I had ideas of getting one as well but........they seem like very "tricky" machines.
Some people seem to get on very well with them..........I'll just leave that there

perrier · 25-10-2019 11:31pm

alec76 wrote:

Just don't buy from CoffeeItalia.

Why?

wersal gummage · 26-10-2019 12:26am

Yeah I've had it about ten days I guess. Got it on ebay UK, brand new. Went for the professional one. Spent a good while searching on-line beforehand and found amazon Italy (with amazon as seller) fairly well priced, would have gone with them but found it a bjt cheaper on ebay. I figure a low tech machine like this might be less likely to give problems.....

All good so far. Surprisingly, I'm getting good shots. Took maybe 5 or 6 attempts before getting the right consistency from the grinder but has been fine since.

alec76 · 26-10-2019 6:04pm

perrier wrote: »

Why?

They not based in Ireland or UK and still using Irish/UK domain names ....
Too many complaints , just google it

Hodors Appletart · 29-10-2019 3:15pm

with a budget of about 100-120, what electric burr grinder would you recommend

Squidgy Black · 29-10-2019 6:00pm

Hodors Appletart wrote: »

with a budget of about 100-120, what electric burr grinder would you recommend

I'd suggest stretching the budget a bit further and getting the Baratza Encore. Cremashop.eu have them for 149 shipped

Hodors Appletart · 01-11-2019 10:49am

Squidgy Black wrote: »

I'd suggest stretching the budget a bit further and getting the Baratza Encore. Cremashop.eu have them for 149 shipped

nice one, I can probablu go to that

cheers

flogen · 04-11-2019 2:42am

Squidgy Black wrote: »

I'd suggest stretching the budget a bit further and getting the Baratza Encore. Cremashop.eu have them for 149 shipped

I see Coffee Angel saying that’s not an ideal machine for espresso. Would you agree with that or would its limitations only be obvious to a hardcore coffee buff?

Planet X · 04-11-2019 6:50am

Used one before.....they're stepped adjustments like Rancilio Rocky, still......a bomb proof grinder.

Squidgy Black · 06-11-2019 8:44pm

flogen wrote: »

I see Coffee Angel saying that’s not an ideal machine for espresso. Would you agree with that or would its limitations only be obvious to a hardcore coffee buff?

It's more suited to french press/pour over/filter than espresso, I believe you can grind fine enough with shims to get in the espresso range but it won't really be consistent and could clump.

J_E · 06-11-2019 11:28pm

flogen wrote: »

I see Coffee Angel saying that’s not an ideal machine for espresso. Would you agree with that or would its limitations only be obvious to a hardcore coffee buff?

My friend has one modded with shims and it grinds quite passable espresso. It's not going to give you high-end performance but that's probably the cheapest way of getting decent espresso range if you are feeling ambitious.

Hodors Appletart · 08-11-2019 8:54pm

please explain "shims" thanks

I got the Baratza Encore anyway, so thanks for the recommend i won't physically have it for another week or so

alec76 · 09-11-2019 8:58am

it is a tiny washer added under grinder burrs to alter the grind range.

flogen · 09-11-2019 12:36pm

Squidgy Black wrote: »

It's more suited to french press/pour over/filter than espresso, I believe you can grind fine enough with shims to get in the espresso range but it won't really be consistent and could clump.

J_E wrote: »

My friend has one modded with shims and it grinds quite passable espresso. It's not going to give you high-end performance but that's probably the cheapest way of getting decent espresso range if you are feeling ambitious.

Thanks.

Are you paying a lot more for a grinder that’s more espresso-capable out of the box?

alec76 · 09-11-2019 2:22pm

flogen wrote: »

Thanks.

Are you paying a lot more for a grinder that’s more espresso-capable out of the box?

Cheapest ,entry level grinder for espresso
https://www.happydonkey.co.uk/hd0866-iberital-mc2-auto.html
You might need to do some burrs recalibration before it gets you to good results...plenty guides online...
Otherwise, if you need real “out of the box” espresso grinder , you are paying €250 and up to infinity....

MB Lacey · 25-11-2019 8:19pm

Hi, I bought a bag of coffee from some Galway roasters, lovely, except I didn’t realise I was buying beans and I haven’t got a burr grinder.
I’m not a regular enough coffee drinker to warrant paying €40 for the delonghi grinder linked here, so does anyone know of any coffee place in Dublin which might grind this one bag of coffee beans for me, say if I gave them €5 or something?

murpho999 · 29-11-2019 12:15am

Amazon selling the Sage BCG820BSSUK Pro Coffee Grinder for £139.

Link

Also in Curries for €169.95.

Surely these are both great offers?

Do people here like that grinder?

Squidgy Black · 29-11-2019 8:49am

murpho999 wrote: »

Amazon selling the Sage BCG820BSSUK Pro Coffee Grinder for £139.

Link

Also in Curries for €169.95.

Surely these are both great offers?

Do people here like that grinder?

It's a decent offer for anyone looking to get started, I bought one a couple of months back for 225, it'll do a mediocre job at espresso but will clump fairly bad so grinds need to be stirred thoroughly, it's probably the cheapest automatic option that will get you started with unpressurised baskets. I'm using mine for filter at the moment and it does the job.

MB Lacey · 29-11-2019 2:34pm

MB Lacey wrote: »

Hi, I bought a bag of coffee from some Galway roasters, lovely, except I didn’t realise I was buying beans and I haven’t got a burr grinder.
I’m not a regular enough coffee drinker to warrant paying €40 for the delonghi grinder linked here, so does anyone know of any coffee place in Dublin which might grind this one bag of coffee beans for me, say if I gave them €5 or something?

Just want to say, I never ventured into this section of Boards until a few weeks ago when I bought that bag of whole coffee beans instead of pre ground and didn't want to spend €40 on buying a grinder for the one bag.
I have now bought a Delonghi Burr coffee grinder
and a Delonghi Dedica coffee machine
and have been looking up Barista one day courses :eek:
This corner of Boards is dangerous.

Hodors Appletart · 29-11-2019 4:49pm

MB Lacey wrote: »

This corner of Boards is dangerous.

great resource this place is

I've bought every piece of paraphernalia for coffee I own because of this forum, Aeropress, v60, moka, french press

I wasn't even a coffee drinker until I did some research here when I was buying my wife an espresso machine for our anniversary one year

0lddog · 29-11-2019 6:23pm

MB Lacey wrote: »

....I have now bought a Delonghi Burr coffee grinder......

If a KG79 / KG89 look on YT for how to get it to grind finer

caviardreams · 29-11-2019 8:28pm

MB Lacey wrote: »

Hi, I bought a bag of coffee from some Galway roasters, lovely, except I didn’t realise I was buying beans and I haven’t got a burr grinder.
I’m not a regular enough coffee drinker to warrant paying €40 for the delonghi grinder linked here, so does anyone know of any coffee place in Dublin which might grind this one bag of coffee beans for me, say if I gave them €5 or something?

I'd say if you went into a decent independent place when it was quiet and bought a coffee and a bag of their beans, they might do it if you asked nicely.

Edit: I see you got "sorted" anyway LOL

murpho999 · 29-11-2019 10:03pm

Squidgy Black wrote: »

It's a decent offer for anyone looking to get started, I bought one a couple of months back for 225, it'll do a mediocre job at espresso but will clump fairly bad so grinds need to be stirred thoroughly, it's probably the cheapest automatic option that will get you started with unpressurised baskets. I'm using mine for filter at the moment and it does the job.

Mediocre, I don't think it's that bad in all fairness.

alec76 · 29-11-2019 10:20pm

murpho999 wrote: »

Mediocre, I don't think it's that bad in all fairness.

I have it as grinder for the filter too,it is decent . As for the espresso...too many clumps , couldn’t go fine enough with some beans ( most of the beans are OK)

The high horse brigade · 30-11-2019 12:27am

Squidgy Black wrote: »

It's a decent offer for anyone looking to get started, I bought one a couple of months back for 225, it'll do a mediocre job at espresso but will clump fairly bad so grinds need to be stirred thoroughly, it's probably the cheapest automatic option that will get you started with unpressurised baskets. I'm using mine for filter at the moment and it does the job.

Isn't clumping just fresh beans?

I have the sage pro grinder, can't fault it

alec76 · 30-11-2019 9:58am

The high horse brigade wrote: »

Isn't clumping just fresh beans?

Nope,more advanced grinders have no clumps at same grinding settings.

Squidgy Black · 30-11-2019 8:47pm

The high horse brigade wrote: »

Isn't clumping just fresh beans?

I have the sage pro grinder, can't fault it

No it's a result of burr designs, the burrs are creating too much heat and then static when dispersing the grinds.

It's not a bad grinder, especially at that price, but if I was looking to buy again I'd definitely spend the extra and go up to a Eureka or Sette, well worth it the extra investment.

Coffee bean grinder

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