Chanty Senior Member Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 140 Location: Milwaukee, WI Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Classic Grinder: Vario, had an MDF Vac Pot: none Drip: none Roaster: I buy beans from many...
Posted Thu Sep 20, 2012, 11:26am Subject: Changing setting to finer on Vario
I'm confused. I was told that when you want the beans to be ground finer on the Vario, you MUST have beans in the grinder and have the grinder running to adjust finer. I heard when making coarser, there is no need to have grinder running. Reason being, when adjusting finer, you are bringing the burrs closer together where they could be touching & without having beans in & machine running--you could wreck the burrs. Help.
Posted Thu Sep 20, 2012, 4:28pm Subject: Re: Changing setting to finer on Vario
Chanty Said:
I'm confused. I was told that when you want the beans to be ground finer on the Vario, you MUST have beans in the grinder and have the grinder running to adjust finer. I heard when making coarser, there is no need to have grinder running. Reason being, when adjusting finer, you are bringing the burrs closer together where they could be touching & without having beans in & machine running--you could wreck the burrs. Help.
You should run any grinder (not just the Vario) when adjusting finer as you are reducing the gap between the burrs. This is because there will almost certainly be some grinds left on the burrs from the previous setting which you'd be trying to crush with the adjuster mechanism (which it's obviously not designed to do). Running the grinder allows the burrs to clear the coarser grounds as you go.
It doesn't matter if you're adjusting coarser as by definition you're increasing the gap between the burrs so you don't have to worry about the leftover grinds from the previous (finer) setting in the grind pathway.
Running the grinder with beans in the hopper won't stop you adjusting so fine the burrs touch (assuming your grinder can adjust that far), but working out the point the burrs just meet is a useful baseline for dialling in your grinder....
germantownrob Senior Member Joined: 2 Dec 2007 Posts: 2,017 Location: Philadelphia Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Duetto 3, A Dead Oscar Grinder: Vario-W, Preciso w/Esatto,... Drip: Brazen Roaster: Diedrich IR-1, HT B
Posted Thu Sep 20, 2012, 4:34pm Subject: Re: Changing setting to finer on Vario
Not how I have ever heard it.
If beans are in the hopper then you must run the grinder while adjusting finer so that debris won't jamb up the adjustment of going finer. Recalibrating the burrs would be difficult if you couldn't adjust finer without beans as well as very messy. Empty there is nothing to jamb up the burrs.
Yes the burrs will be closer together while the hopper is running empty then when running with a volume of beans but no damage is being done when the burrs are even chirping when properly calibrated and the hopper is empty. Baratza's website has plenty of info and how to's on all their grinders.
Chanty Senior Member Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 140 Location: Milwaukee, WI Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Classic Grinder: Vario, had an MDF Vac Pot: none Drip: none Roaster: I buy beans from many...
Posted Thu Sep 20, 2012, 4:55pm Subject: Re: Changing setting to finer on Vario
Please forgive me if I am not "getting" it....long day. Bottom line is this: I KNOW you should run the grinder while tuning finer. I KNOW it is not necessary to run the grinder when going coaser--because the burrs are going further apart when going coarser. My question is this: Can you RUN the grinder without ANY beans in it to go finer or must you have beans in the grinder when you run it. I just do not want to wreck my grinder by running it with NO beans in it when I go finer. Thanks.
greekespresso Senior Member Joined: 27 Jul 2011 Posts: 170 Location: Ptolemaida, Greece Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia V3, Gaggia... Grinder: Mahlkönig Vario Home, Anfim...
Posted Thu Sep 20, 2012, 11:12pm Subject: Re: Changing setting to finer on Vario
Because I always grind per dose, I change to finer with the grinder running without any beans in it. No problems so far and I cannot see any reason to have any by doing so. I think there is a post in this forum (I will try to find it) where someone had a direct communication with Baratza people and was told that adjusting finer with the grinder running and no beans in it was normal practice.
Chanty Senior Member Joined: 26 May 2005 Posts: 140 Location: Milwaukee, WI Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Classic Grinder: Vario, had an MDF Vac Pot: none Drip: none Roaster: I buy beans from many...
Posted Fri Sep 21, 2012, 12:39am Subject: Re: Changing setting to finer on Vario
Thanks GreekEspresso, What you posted has helped me greatly. I read the link. Bottom line is it appears if one wants the burrs to actually grind finer, you must run the grinder WITHOUT beans when tuning in finer. Thanks again!
greekespresso Senior Member Joined: 27 Jul 2011 Posts: 170 Location: Ptolemaida, Greece Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia V3, Gaggia... Grinder: Mahlkönig Vario Home, Anfim...
Posted Fri Sep 21, 2012, 1:39am Subject: Re: Changing setting to finer on Vario
Hi Carol, I would not put it as a MUST routine, just an alternative one if it works for you.
The only "drawback" of this approach is that the final true distance of the burrs will be set only when you are grinding WITH beans in it and that is because you need the beans to force and lock back the bottom burr to its true position. Consider the lever settings as stops which prevent the bottom burr from being pushed back from the force of the beans (if my understanding of the adjustment mechanism is correct). I think that is what Rob tried to explain you above.
What all the above means in practice? Nothing really important other than that your second shot might be faster (due to slightly coarser grind) compared to the first one which was immediately run after the adjustment. Personally, to tackle this, I grind and purge 2g of coffee if the adjustment is more that 3-4 micro clicks and then proceed as usually.
If all the above add to your confusion, just ignore them, and go finer with the grinder empty. It does not make harm and saves you some coffee as well.
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