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Main
Date: 21 Dec 2006 13:29:28
From: Bradley
Subject: new Anita: my grinder may be the problem?
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We brought home Anita this week, and I spent the day with her looking
for her G spot. To no avail.
My grinder is a 3 year old Anfim Haus (oem for Pasquini) doserless.
The 54/55 mm burr set "zeroes" between .5 and 0, and I get a good flow
rate for drip at 11.5. Anyway, dialing in at 2.5 with pretty fresh
beans, I was getting 15 pours for 2 oz. and the pucks were really
granular and crumbly coming out, which I've read can indicate too fine
a grind. Ran a range of pours, from a grinder index of 4.5 down to
1.5, with dosing measured at both 14g and 15g. 15 second pours
throughout that range. And (ir)regardless of the distribution method.
Tamping at between 30 to 40 pounds. Sometimes higher.
Finally, I dialed the grinder down to 1, and got merely a 20 second
pour. Again with the crumbly puck.
I examined the burr set and compared them to a new spare burr set. The
teeth of 3 yr old set, out at the edge had almost no bite to them as I
ran my thumb over the edges, while the new set had only a slight
apparent bite. Close to the middle, the coarser teeth of the used set
still had an apparent edge.
Hypothesis one: I am hopeless at dosing, distribution and packing.
Hypothesis two: Could it be that the burr set is producing too wide a
range between fine and coarse particles, allowing channels to open up
regardless of distribution and packing, which could account for the 15
second pours through such a wide range of grind settings? And only
when the grinder is set down to a 1 am I closing the range between
coarse and fine settings.
So, has anyone here had experience with the Anfim Haus / Pasquini?
Would I perhaps be well rid of it replacing it with a Macap or Mazzer?
I realize that I could change the burr set (the set screws seem almost
frozed -- I'm assuming they are threaded "normal" direction), but I
don't think I've put more than 100 lbs of coffee through them, and I
don't know that the new burr set would make as much of a difference as
a better burr set.
Any thoughts?
thanks, Brad
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Date: 21 Dec 2006 08:58:07
From: mattw
Subject: Re: new Anita: my grinder may be the problem?
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This is getting weird considering you used the WDT - I just don't think
100 lbs. would be enough to crap out your burrs. I spent a little time
poking around to try to find burr size, extra info, etc. but couldn't
find anything.
My recommendation - go down to right above zero and choke the machine.
Work backwards from there until you are hitting the pour timing you are
looking for. Post a pic of the puck (photobucket.com will let you do
it for free) so that we can see what you mean.
Have you had one good shot from it or have they all been crap?
/mw
Bradley wrote:
> This grinder can be used stepless by freezing the threaded ring
> wherever you want. The HUGE range I described was an intentional
> experiment.
>
> I've been at it just about 3 years and was getting pretty decent shots
> from a Gaggia Classic when this grinder was new. Hence, my
> suspicions.
>
> Brad
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Date: 21 Dec 2006 05:52:08
From: mattw
Subject: Re: new Anita: my grinder may be the problem?
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Caveat - Don't know the grinder.
Caveat 2 - new to alt.coffee, don't know your espresso experience.
> Finally, I dialed the grinder down to 1, and got merely a 20 second
> pour. Again with the crumbly puck.
Don't know what you mean by 'crumbly' - no solid 'puck mass'? That is
weird.
> Hypothesis one: I am hopeless at dosing, distribution and packing.
Not to be offensive, I think this is most likely (not hopeless, just
learning). Have you tried using the Weiss Distribution Technique
(WDT)? [See here on HB:
http://www.home-barista.com/weiss-distribution-technique.html ] It
could be a distribution problem. Do you have a bottomless PF to use?
That would really help to see any errors.
The other possibility is that your grind isn't fine enough. Even with
dust and boulders you should be able to choke your machine (in my
experience). And 100 lbs isn't enough to justify burr replacement. An
upgrade to a stepless grinder would help (as you are seeing with the
huge time variations between steps), but you should be able to pull a
half decent shot (IMHO) with the stepped grinder.
My .02
-Matt
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Date: 21 Dec 2006 14:20:26
From: Bradley
Subject: Re: new Anita: my grinder may be the problem?
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On 21 Dec 2006 05:52:08 -0800, "mattw" <matthewgwells@gmail.com >
wrote:
>
>Not to be offensive, I think this is most likely (not hopeless, just
>learning). Have you tried using the Weiss Distribution Technique
>(WDT)?
No offense taken. But, yeah, Weiss, rotational, N-S / E-W.
This grinder can be used stepless by freezing the threaded ring
wherever you want. The HUGE range I described was an intentional
experiment.
I've been at it just about 3 years and was getting pretty decent shots
from a Gaggia Classic when this grinder was new. Hence, my
suspicions.
Brad
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