Coffee Appreciation

Was gonna recommend against using it for single-dosing but going with your method I reckon would be a pretty decent setup!

You just have to live with the absurdity of having such a heavy duty grinder on your kitchen top!

My only other concern is size, it looks huge compared to a Vario... Will have to gauge that when I go see it today, OH has already said she'd prefer a compact grinder... It's gonna sit next to a Gaggia Classic, a toaster, a juicer and a blender, so we're already pretty low on space on that side of the kitchen...

That was part of our concern too, our small grinder gets the nod from my wife for that reason, plus it’s quiet and looks handsome.
And it’s good.

I keep a few days worth of beans in an old Illy tin and weigh them into the hopper whenever I want. Me and the Mrs have 3 little shots a day, so nothing ever stays in the tin long. We keep the rest in the freezer. I was going to fit a funnel but after using it for a while, couldn't be bothered.

There are only a 4 screws that hold on the doser, so it's a doddle to pull off for a deep clean once in a while. I mostly just brush it out, not noticed any deterioration in shot quality. It's very dry here, I imagine somewhere more humid it could get claggier faster.

Went and had a look at the Mazzer, it's HUUUUGE!!! Way too big for our little spot in the kitchen so the search continues!

sssssilenzio…

Says the fella with a JCM900 stack for his practice amp...:)

Look out for a Eureka Mignon, similar heavy metal build but more kitchen friendly.

Have you considered the ascaso i-1 mini? Reason I ask is because I have one to shift.

It's a single dose grinder with 54mm flat burrs, it's compact but heavy. The burrs are mounted in a brass group and the housing is aluminium I think. It's the slightly older version in white, so it doesn't have a timer but it does have the worm adjustment. The only reason I stopped using it was because I upgraded my whole set up and now have a niche. But i wouldn't necessarily say the increase in cost between the ascaso and the niche translates to a direct quality difference. It's a fantastic grinder the ascaso.

Ha, the sad truth is I only ever play the Super Champ! It may get shifted soon...

That was on my list! And cheap enough to not feel like it's a massive outlay... Which one should I get? I don't need a timer so I guess I'm gonna be fine with the Facile...

Thanks, @gorgonzolach, but I'm living a bit further south than Brixton these days... 🐨🏖️

Have we done these single dose conversion kits yet? 3D printed hoppers to replace the stock one that puts the beans straight into the burrs and a bellows.

Seems to be Sage and Eureka machines only at the moment

https://www.singledosebrew.com/products/breville-and-sage-single-dose-grinder-hopper

Yep! Used to have one in a shop I worked at, all things considered I can see people seeing it as overkill for home use, but on the flipside it's cheap & pretty well known/regarded grinder. Also, you can be sure of the availability of spares (something I think is often overlooked with coffee equipment, especially with the huge amount of Kickstarter crap getting dished out).

Want me to post my old Vario motor? Dunno if it would be worth testing. The gear is a bit chewed up but should at least help you see if it’s curtains for the old girl or not

Yeah any of them would be fine, the timer is crappy anyway.

That looks interesting, I'm wondering if I could buy just the bellow (or something similar) and make my own adapter.

Any idea what glue would be safe to repair a v60? The funnel has separated from the base - so it won’t have direct contact with the water, but obviously near enough that I don’t want it leeching into my coffee!

I can get a motor, it's the main circuit board that's unavailable anywhere... That's very kind of you, Joe, but not sure it's worth it... What died on yours?

I’ve actually just sent mine off to coffeehit to get repaired for £79. Will stick it on eBay after that.

Basically I couldn’t find any info online about this issue with mine and ran out of patience + decided I wanted a Niche 😅

That is a bargain price for a repair, if I could find the parts online I'd have a go at fixing it myself... Niche are lovely but so spendy!!

Yeah, I kind of wish I'd seen that before trying to fix it myself! but hopefully once that's done I'll stick it on ebay for £300 and recoup a chunk of the cost of the Niche.

I bought beans from a different roaster and am getting significantly shorter brew times with the same setup.
With 60g/l I‘m usually in between 2.30 and 3min, but with the new beans I’m barely brewing over 2min and really doesn’t taste good.
Should I just grind finer until I get to a reasonable brew time or is there anything else?

Got mine back from my guy today... 😢 He's part of a network of coffee guys always on the look out for donor machines for spares, he's told me to keep a hold of it cuz he'll deffo find the bits and be able to get it going again... Eureka Mignon Manuale ordered!

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Presumably with a v60? When you say it doesn't taste good what are you getting? Adjusting grind will work but so will adjusting water volume and/or dose. This is a good guide:
https://www.baristahustle.com/blog/the-coffee-compass/