CMIN Said:

I just bought a baratza preciso (or rather, was given one as a birthday gift :D). I'm having trouble dialing the grind setting fine enough.
congrats on the gift!

With my old blade grinder, I was pulling 20-25 second shots. My shots with the preciso gush out in 5. The grind is too coarse even at the finest setting. Dubious, I tried dialing the macro down while the machine was running (Initially going by coffeegeek's estimates for espresso - macro 10 micro G - for these first shots, though I know the bean makes a difference), like the manual says. It got a bit finer once I got to the turkish settings, but still the shots are short, almost no crema, and the grind seems too coarse.
Call Baratza, but worst case you may have gotten one that was calibrated towards the coarser end. No biggie, if that's the case, just pop it open and adjust it to  fine/neutral with the screw adjustment (instructions on their site or since you just got it they may just swap it out for another one and you can have them adjust it for espresso there). Don't go by other members settings, b/c it completely varies... settings can be different depending on type of beans used, calibrated to different screw position, broken in burrs etc. I'm usually in the 5-6 range for espresso as an example (depends on dose amount, type of bean etc), today was 6E and was a bit too fine on the video shot I linked below. But also it's impossible you were pulling 20-25 second shots with a blade grinder, unless your shots were like 6+ oz ;), a blade grinder just chops the beans up more coarse then coarse settings on a grinder and unevenly as well.

Is it possible I was grinding too fine with the blade grinder, and I'm doing something else wrong that I'm only now aware of with the preciso? Or am I missing something in terms of dialing the grind settings? It really is pretty coarse :/
Again, physically not possible to grind even remotely near fine enough with a blade grinder, blades give you coarse uneven ground beans barely suitable for drip coffee. Its just inherent to their design, reason their so cheap. Can you take a pic of the grinds and post??

I'm also confused, because the booklet says: 1: if you're dialing it finer, the machine must be running 2: if it's on a fine setting, don't run it without beans in the hopper because this'll damage the burrs. but I read someone on a forum saying to make adjustments without beans in the hopper. I've been doing it with, and wasting a lot of espresso in the process.
When dialing the shots I move the Micro arm with beans in it but I also only single dose so generally I'm always within a set range. However if beans are in the hopper and you want to move the Macro you must grind while doing so as that's a bigger movement and you can risk a beans dropping down and jamming possibly. If you want less waste, you could always empty the hopper and click to a different setting or two and try again, as you'll know when your within an "espresso" range and can then adjust the micro from there and see how it works. If you single dose you'll waste way less beans doing so but that's if you have a scale that measures to .1 grams

Any help would be appreciated!
when you say 20-25 second shots with a blade grinder, how much (ounces) are you extracting? Do you have a tamper that correctly fits the basket and leaves no/little gap? How are you prepping and tamping the shots? How much are you dosing into the basket?

example here's a quick shot I made this morning with my Preciso, actually ran a little longer then normal (most of my shots are in the 25-30 second range) b/c just swtiched beans and had it a bit too fine for them. Weighed 15g of beans and extracted about 1.7oz in 33 seconds from 1st drip. I'm normally within 25-30 for between 1.5-2oz depending, so you can see there's just physically no way a blade grinder can do that. Blade would be gushing blonde in seconds.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R9OTlCKj1ZQ (may have to click the HD setting as recorded that on my phone, otherwise it's fuzzy)

Posted September 13, 2012 link

Saraluna Said:

Thank you!

I'm kind of flummoxed that you say it's impossible to pull a 20-25 second shot with the blade grinder, because I've been doing that. Perhaps it's the dose. I'm using the Silvia's double basket, and I fill it about 3/4 with unground beans as my measure - I don't have a scale. It's a bit farther down than 3/4 after I tamp. Yes, I have a good tamp that fits my basket perfectly. I tend to eyeball the espresso as it drips for when to turn it off - the ounces I extract vary a bit. Suffice it to say that I could grind much finer with the blade, so I'm heartened to hear I might just have to adjust the calibration. I will look on Baratza's website. Unfortunately I don't think this was bought through Baratza, but Amazon I believe, so I doubt they'll do it for me.

When you say that you must run the grinder when going finer - what happens if you don't? If you dial it finer without running by mistake, should you dial it back and then go finer while running?

Should I have beans in the hopper while I'm running it to dial it finer? Seems like a waste, but the booklet says no beans might damage the burrs. You say a bean could get jammed. Should I have beans in or not?

Posted September 13, 2012 link