Posted Wed Mar 5, 2008, 4:44pm Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
I'm still very uncertain about how good this grinder is for espresso machines. It appears that weeks after starting the tests, the tester is still getting the feel of things. What's more I cannot see any confident recommendation about what setting may be best, certainly buyers will not want to hold the selector "between" settings & they don't want to experiment for weeks. I would also consider it mandatory to comment about: 1) Burr sharpness. 1) Burr materials (Metal, plastic, ceramic). 3) Burr replacement (life & replacement cost)
Paulzinho Senior Member Joined: 1 Oct 2007 Posts: 9 Location: Canada Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: IMAT junior Grinder: KitchenAid Proline
Posted Fri May 2, 2008, 11:00am Subject: Re: KitchenAid ProLine Grinder First Look
Hi All, These are my observations. I’m a n00b and can only give my observations. I compared 3 grinders side by side and they all performed the same (in my n00b eyes). There was some variation in the noise that each motor made. What I did notice is that changing the type of beans made a huge difference in the fineness of the grind.
On the same machine (IMAT junior) prepared the exact same way:
I first had a bag of fresh dark roast oily beans, a fair trade called “volcanic Magic”. Dialled in at 8 it choked my machine so bad not a drop of water came though. Worked well with a light tamping and dialled in at 6.5-7. Then a tried a bag of “delta” coffee. It is a light medium roast that it not oily at all. This is a common brand used in Portugal and available here in speciality Portuguese stores. For this reason I doubt that these beans were too fresh at all. It had an expiry date on the back for 2009. The IMAT junior dialled in at 8 and tamped really, really hard, I pull a shot in 8 seconds.
Everything was the same except for the bean. And I did clean the burrs when I changed beans. That is all the experience I’ve had so far.
I bought this grinder about 5 months ago and have been using it for french press coffee with great success!
Im now thinking about buying a Rancilio Silvia espresso machine. I know that this grinder is not the best espresso grinder you can get (some even say that this grinder cant grind espresso in any way). It's important that if Im buying a Silvia, that this grinder not completely fail the target for espresso because I dont think I can get any more approval for another machine and another $1000 on coffee machinery after the espresso machine, so this grinder must be able to do some sort of espresso grind not failing completely.
Im not a complete espresso geek, I havent had any espresso machines yet in my house, is this a okay beginners espresso grinder for a Silvia? Or will I be very dissapointed? The other alternative is to buy a Rocky grinder, I dont know if Im able to spot or taste the difference from a shot with coffee grinded with a Rocky or this one? How much difference is it between them?
I can't comment on the Rocky grinder, many people think it is a better expresso grinder, you'll need to research into that, but I can say that definately, you can get a good enough grind for you silvia. Since you already have it I say give it a go. The chalenge will be to get the grinder setup for both french press and espresso at the same time.
YMMV: depending on the beans used, you expert level, humidity, moon cycle, etc. These are my observations with my pro-line.
These days the proline is very inexpensive compared with other comperable grinders. I've seen it for as little as $129 CND. I'm guessing one can find it for $99 in the states. With the Pro-line grinder I think you can definately get a fine enough grind, but you may have to do some adjustments as described in the manual. With quality, fresh medium to dark roast, it is easy to get the grind too fine. The only time that I can't get the grind fine enough is when I run older dryer beans. The grinder out of the box only has around 16 different selections on the wheel and the adjustment described in the manual will shift the range but you still only have 16 positions out of the box. There is a modification that you can do to give it more settings or maybe step-less I don't recall. Anyway in my case I wish there was a setting between 7.5 and 8 (a 7.75). Right now I have the range set where 8 is just before the burs touch, I'm thinking of shifting the range back a bit (wide the gap). I'm hoping this shift will get the perfect grid for me by shifting the range back and using 7.5 for my beans.
I only use the grinder for esspresso in the same machine with the same beans. So for me it's a matter of finding the right setting and leaving it there.
My only modification so far has been to remove the bottom plate and glass jar, so the the grinds go directly into the portafilter. I fill around the outside of the filter and then fill the valley in the middle. I found this fills the portafilter with the right amount of grinds with very little spillage. If you try just filling from the centre, many grinds will roll off the hill you're making and right out of the portafilter.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 