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Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

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Discussions > Espresso > Grinders -... > Bodum Bistro...

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Mickesxm
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Apr 2011
Posts: 2
Location: Waterloo, ON
Expertise: I like coffee

Posted Sat Apr 16, 2011, 12:11pm Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

I just finished doing the mod this morning. It worked great. There were some differences however- I recently purchased mine from Amazon.ca and the finest grind it produced before the mod was actually finer than the one you picture and the mod grind is not that much finer- in fact, it is hard to distinguish the two side by side. This was the first tip-off that something was different. Second of all, when I took it apart I found that the screws were regular Phillips screws, not the Torx you mention. All this makes me think that Bodum may have made some changes to the grinder recently. In any case, thanks for posting this up, I do notice a slight improvement of the espresso I pull after doing this, so it worked for me.

nikil511
Senior Member

Joined: 20 Jan 2011
Posts: 15
Location: Greece,Athens
Expertise: I love coffee

Posted Sun Apr 17, 2011, 8:29am Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

Regarding the ground coffee photos, you are right... my coffee does seems too coarse on the photos! (but I think its not in reality) In order to have a color-difference in the photos, I decided to grind some crappy old coffee beans, roasted for Greek/Turkish coffee. I later realized that these beans were extremely "hard" and hence produced more coarse result than the specialty espresso coffee that I normaly grind. Furthermore, the last few weeks I have "pushed further" this mod. I dislocated the ring "8 holes" in total (+2 from initial mod). Burrs still seem ok, so I guess its safe to leave it this way. Also, I realized that the inner burr is not "stable" during grinding, especially in beans are hard, so tried to improve it by adding 2 rings (made of tie clips) between the inner-inner burr top whole, and the bottom of the bean-container. (will upload photo). The result of the grind is acceptable (for the time being) since I have an equally cheap espresso machine (obviously modded as well). By the way, here is a video with my coffee-procedure and the result . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYZtE9W_bI0

nikil511
Senior Member

Joined: 20 Jan 2011
Posts: 15
Location: Greece,Athens
Expertise: I love coffee

Posted Sun Apr 17, 2011, 8:49am Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

Here are the two plastic rings added to increase stability of inner-burr (Click for larger image)

Mickesxm
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Apr 2011
Posts: 2
Location: Waterloo, ON
Expertise: I like coffee

Posted Fri May 13, 2011, 9:14am Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

Nice picture and really cool video. The burr does seem to be unstable but i just push on the container during the grind to insure proper uniformity. Going to "8 holes" could be dangerous for the motor. With the 6 holes configuration, I tested the temperature of the engine and it went above recommended temperature for a brush less engine. I use smaller burst to avoid over heating. I grind 10 sec at the time and allow for a 5 sec cooling between 2 grinds. High temperature reduce the life time of the motor. For the moment i get to choke my machine when the coffee is tamped really strongly with the grind produced so i guess i don't really need finer grind. I might give it a try later out of curiosity.

bcnstony
Senior Member

Joined: 25 Sep 2011
Posts: 1
Location: London
Expertise: I love coffee

Posted Sun Sep 25, 2011, 7:31am Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

I just followed the instructions, and made the mod myself - thank you, I wouldn't have been able to do it without following your photos and description. I'd like to add a few things to others following along. There are a total of four Torx screws you must remove, two are hidden under the little black plastic stoppers. You can get the plastic out with your fingernails. While it's easy to knock the center bit off the two exposed Torx Tamper Proof screws, the two under the black plastic are way, way harder. I finally had to drill into the plastic column at an angle and use a nail punch tool. My advice - buy a set of Torx Tamper Proof drivers for a few bucks and do this safely. The size you need is T-10 Once the screws are out, I found it fairly tricky to get the unit out of the housing. I wouldn't be surprised if 1-5% of the people attempting this broke something in the process. And it's hard to return something to the store if you just defaced the Torx Tamper Proof screws - one more reason to spend the few bucks on the right drivers. Mark the inner and outer ring with a permenant market right away before you disassemble the white ring, so you know where it goes when you put it back. Cutting the plastic is a bit tricky. I used a box cutter for the first cut shown above, but it's tough plastic. I managed not to cut myself, but barely. A good workspace and light will be key. Cutting the second, the part of the ring that touches the electric safety bit, was even harder, until I tried a pair of heavy-duty kitchen scissors. The third cut, the little plastic nibbly bit, I didn't seem to need to cut off. YMMV. This might take a while. Including getting the right tools, trying not to cut my finger off, etc, I'd say about 90 minutes total. Doing it a second time might take me only 30. Good luck!

mntbighker
Senior Member

Joined: 8 Dec 2011
Posts: 2
Location: San Francisco bay area
Expertise: Just starting

Espresso: Gaggia Classic
Grinder: Bodum Bistro

Posted Thu Dec 8, 2011, 9:46pm Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

I wonder if it is possible to adjust the height of the burr? I can't tell if it's threaded or pressed onto the shaft but a small shim would avoid all that messing about with modification of the plastic bits. Of course I can't tell how the burr seals from the internals at the bottom without taking it apart. My version does not have tamper proof torx either but I hesitate having owned it about 4 hours ;-) This is my first post here and my Gaggia Classic isn't even arriving until tomorrow. I don't consider myself a coffee snob but I will be happy if I can get away from the St%$#uc&s addiction.

carby
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Sep 2007
Posts: 1
Expertise: I love coffee

Posted Wed Jan 18, 2012, 6:38am Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

Thanks so much for these instructions. I have a fairly recent US version of this grinder and I only had to deal with standard philips screws to open it (no torx). I dialed the top ring 6 positions back and the grind is now significantly finer, I can finally get a nice slow extraction in 25 seconds using a non-pressurized portafilter. The only cutting I had to do was the first plastic bit on the grinder body so that the bottom ring can turn further, so unless I'm missing something obvious there was no need to cut the top ring where it hits the micro switch.

Bretign
Senior Member

Joined: 6 Mar 2012
Posts: 2
Location: France
Expertise: I love coffee

Posted Tue Mar 6, 2012, 7:51am Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

Just buy one in France (was sent from Denmark). Screw are Tamperproof Torx size 10 (TT10). I bought the proper screwdriver on amazon marketplace fot less than 3€. I removed the first plastic bit using a box cutter as indicated. The harder part was to preserve the main switch, be careful when you remove the housing. I have bypassed the safety switch using an old piece of copper wire, and move it in the timer area, if you choose to do it, do it first as you will have more room to move the housing. Result is as expected, the mod allow to get a much finer ground allowing the use with expresso machine. Thanks for the Howto!

Django
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Mar 2012
Posts: 2
Location: Brighton
Expertise: I love coffee

Posted Fri Mar 16, 2012, 7:35am Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

Cheers for this detailed mod description. I did this mod a while back but 6 holes just hasn't given me a fine enough grind for a non-pressurised gaggia classic. I'll now crank it up to 8 and see what happens!

Django
Senior Member

Joined: 16 Mar 2012
Posts: 2
Location: Brighton
Expertise: I love coffee

Posted Tue Mar 20, 2012, 12:24pm Subject: Re: Bodum Bistro burr grinder MOD for fine/espresso

I've now taken my bistro past the 6 mark point. In fact, I stopped measuring and just cut another 5mm from the plastic part that stops the inner thread rotating, so that the hopper can be rotated even further. I now have a pretty fine grind, comparable to espresso powder bought from the store - I know it tastes bad, was just to play with! The grinder seems fine, and I only ever grind ~14g at a time so aren't too worried about overheating. Hopefully this isn't misplaced confidence! BUT...when pulling the first test shot, I encountered a problem. Maybe you can help? I tamped pretty hard and then flicked the switch. The coffee started to come through after a couple of seconds (fast) and for a couple more seconds it seemed fine, nice tails etc, but then started pouring frothy, creamy water and filled my shot vessel in a second or two. Any ideas what might have happened?

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