Tony, there are MANY reasons why 2 consecutive pours using the exact SAME basket and PF could be vastly different.. Temperature, grind weight, distribution/tamping, even the blend being of a slightly different composition each time you grind! Not to mention changes in humidity from hour to hour...and on and on. Don't beat yourself up!
Just go for consistent weight per shot, water temperature, and most important...nice even consistent distribution technique! The tamp (as long as it's level)is the least important thing in the equation, as long as it's also consistent.
tegee Senior Member Joined: 29 Feb 2012 Posts: 47 Location: New England Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Brewtus IV-R Grinder: Baratza Vario
Posted Mon Apr 2, 2012, 7:50am Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
IMAWriter Said:
Tony, there are MANY reasons why 2 consecutive pours using the exact SAME basket and PF could be vastly different.. Temperature, grind weight, distribution/tamping, even the blend being of a slightly different composition each time you grind! Not to mention changes in humidity from hour to hour...and on and on. Don't beat yourself up!
Just go for consistent weight per shot, water temperature, and most important...nice even consistent distribution technique! The tamp (as long as it's level)is the least important thing in the equation, as long as it's also consistent.
GREAT info Rob and thanks for taking time to pass it along to a newbie to the Vario.
I did calibrate the Vario this morning and now I am at lowest setting on the macro and setting "p" on the micro. Prior to calibration I was at "e".
It is surprising that they do not come more closely calibrated from the factory? It makes no mention of calibrating during "initial setup"; that is why I breezed over the calibration section when I perused the manual during unboxing, etc...........Greatly appreciate that tip.
It is also surprising that tamping is your least important of the 4-5 grinding techniques. I will focus on the ones you consider more important and work down from there.
IMAWriter Senior Member Joined: 4 Jul 2002 Posts: 5,475 Location: Brentwood, TN Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nothing at the moment Grinder: Vario-W,Preciso-Esatto/KyM... Vac Pot: Adcraft SS, Yama 8 cup Drip: Brazen.Chemex, Hario, Clever... Roaster: Behmor 1600, CO/UFO combo
Posted Mon Apr 2, 2012, 1:26pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
tegee Said:
GREAT info Rob and thanks for taking time to pass it along to a newbie to the Vario.
I did calibrate the Vario this morning and now I am at lowest setting on the macro and setting "p" on the micro. Prior to calibration I was at "e".
It is surprising that they do not come more closely calibrated from the factory? It makes no mention of calibrating during "initial setup"; that is why I breezed over the calibration section when I perused the manual during unboxing, etc...........Greatly appreciate that tip.
It is also surprising that tamping is your least important of the 4-5 grinding techniques. I will focus on the ones you consider more important and work down from there.
Lowest Macro? Just to make sure we're on the same page, the Macro is the lever on the right, in essence the "coarse" adjuster. The Micro on the left being the fine adjustment. MOST here would prolly be 1 click down from the top on the Macro, and maybe somewhere towards the middle on the Micro...give or take. Are you saying your MACRO is at the BOTTOM? That would be BOULDERS for sure. I'm confused here.
tegee Senior Member Joined: 29 Feb 2012 Posts: 47 Location: New England Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Brewtus IV-R Grinder: Baratza Vario
Posted Mon Apr 2, 2012, 5:18pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
IMAWriter Said:
Lowest Macro? Just to make sure we're on the same page, the Macro is the lever on the right, in essence the "coarse" adjuster. The Micro on the left being the fine adjustment. MOST here would prolly be 1 click down from the top on the Macro, and maybe somewhere towards the middle on the Micro...give or take. Are you saying your MACRO is at the BOTTOM? That would be BOULDERS for sure. I'm confused here.
After calibration, I am (on the right....macro slide level) all the up at the expresso setting and at letter "p" on the left/micro setting. Prior to calibration I was still all the way up on macro, but letter "e" on micro.
This is all with 1-week old roasted Sumatra beans at 15 grams of weight with a moderate tamp on a bottomless PF with standard basket that came with my Brewtus IV.
IMAWriter Senior Member Joined: 4 Jul 2002 Posts: 5,475 Location: Brentwood, TN Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nothing at the moment Grinder: Vario-W,Preciso-Esatto/KyM... Vac Pot: Adcraft SS, Yama 8 cup Drip: Brazen.Chemex, Hario, Clever... Roaster: Behmor 1600, CO/UFO combo
Posted Mon Apr 2, 2012, 6:07pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
Yes, clarified. Many here, including myself find that as we broke in the grinder, we had to lower the Macro 1 click down from the top. Also, the bean you are grinding, and especially the roast degree will make a big difference.
Maybe we should start a Vario thread with their "general" Macro espresso setting? Not here, though. LOL
Note...Tony, when you performed the calibration did you not hear the motor labor when your Macro was 1 click down, and the Micro about halfway up?
tegee Senior Member Joined: 29 Feb 2012 Posts: 47 Location: New England Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Brewtus IV-R Grinder: Baratza Vario
Posted Mon Apr 2, 2012, 7:44pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
IMAWriter Said:
Yes, clarified. Many here, including myself find that as we broke in the grinder, we had to lower the Macro 1 click down from the top. Also, the bean you are grinding, and especially the roast degree will make a big difference.
Maybe we should start a Vario thread with their "general" Macro espresso setting? Not here, though. LOL
Note...Tony, when you performed the calibration did you not hear the motor labor when your Macro was 1 click down, and the Micro about halfway up?
I calibrated this morning (and just double checked right now). I just moved both of the setting all the way down to clean out the burrs; per the owner's manual. I moved the Macro all the way up (Macro #1) and no labor. The motor then labored when Micro was moved up to letter "M or half way".
I then move moved both setting back all the way down and moved the Macro to setting "#2".....obviously no labor. Next I slowly moved the Micro up and the motor began to labor roughly at Micro setting "E".
The manual states to move both settings all the way down (coarsest settings) and move Macro to #1 and then fine tune the Micro mid-way up and adjust align key until the motor labors; which is exactly the way it is performing when I tested tonight.
I now find myself grinding at Macro #1 and Micro P-T with Sumatra beans at 14-15 grams with bottomless PF. I know I keep mentioning the bottomless PF, this is due in large part that I find that an incorrect grind will immediately show up by it spitting all over the place. When you have a good grind with a bottomless it is a thing of beauty to watch and clear indication that your grind is close or spot on.
This is simply the initial shots I pulled during the day and will obviously need more time to fine tune once I pull shots over the course of the week.
I really love playing with the Vario vs. the Virtuoso and the micro settings are awesome. I do not know how I did it with the Virtuoso.....a great grinder for french press and drip, etc but not for espressos imho.
GDK Senior Member Joined: 17 Feb 2011 Posts: 92 Location: Ontario, Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: MiniVivaldi II, preinfusion,... Grinder: Baratza Vario W
Posted Mon Apr 9, 2012, 7:54pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
tegee Said:
..... The motor then labored when Micro was moved up to letter "M or half way". ......... I now find myself grinding at Macro #1 and Micro P-T with Sumatra beans at 14-15 grams with bottomless PF.
Your setting is 3-7 micro-clicks coarser than the zero point - perfectly normal setting for many. I can achieve this on my Vario W with one or two blends only. For many other blends, which I have purchased several times (to make sure i did not hit stale batch), the grinder seems to struggle and cannot produce fine enough grind even after going click or two finer than zero. Updosing to 17-18g is the only way to get decent timing. I somehow believe one should not go way below the zero point as that loads the mechanisms quite a bit and produces more heat in the ground and that promotes channeling even more.
Once calibrated per the manual you can adjust to any setting necessary to dial in a shot. This has not only been stated by Baratza but it also makes sense because the grinder was designed to work this way.
slybarman Senior Member Joined: 3 Nov 2011 Posts: 344 Location: usa Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: La Nuova Era Cuadra Grinder: Baratza Vario
Posted Thu Apr 12, 2012, 6:20am Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
As stated by IAM, I am generally 1 click down on macro and somewhere in the mid-range on the micro. The exception was when I was futzing with the VST basket. That basket needed a rather fine grind and I had to move the macro all the way to the top.
GDK Senior Member Joined: 17 Feb 2011 Posts: 92 Location: Ontario, Canada Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: MiniVivaldi II, preinfusion,... Grinder: Baratza Vario W
Posted Thu Apr 12, 2012, 4:05pm Subject: Re: The Baratza Vario Grinder Owner's Thread
We should keep in mind the following, which was stated in this thread or elsewhere on the forum. The Macro clicks have large range overlaps - at leas one third. Let's say you follow the manual and set the zero point with Macro all the way up and Micro in the middle. If you now move Macro one notch down, the zero point can still be reached by moving Micro up to about a quarter range from top position. In other words, the zero point is much closer to the normal useable range than it may seem.
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