Bart Senior Member Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 4 Location: Santa Ana, Ca Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Rocky Maestro Vac Pot: Bodum Santos Drip: Swiss Gold one cup Roaster: Poppery, HotTop
Posted Fri Oct 11, 2002, 6:01pm Subject: grinder for vac pot
I use a Solis Maestro grinder for vac pot brewing and would like to find something better. I really like everything about this grinder except it produces too much dust(fine powder that can stall the vac pot).
The first pot after cleaning, the coffee gos south in about 35-40 seconds.It seems like each pot after that adds about 5 seconds. When it gets over a minute I have to clean it again or it will stall. When it was new it went a month without cleaning without stalling. I've had it about 6 months.
I don't want to mess with a doser as I don't do espresso. The doserless grinders seem to have problems with static and/or buildup in the chute. Is that because of the fine grind?
I read something about a doserless Rocky in the near future which might be what I'm looking for but the Mazer Mine-e is a bit much $ wise.
koffeekev Senior Member Joined: 21 Jul 2002 Posts: 693 Location: Connecticut Expertise: Professional
Posted Sat Oct 12, 2002, 2:33pm Subject: Re: grinder for vac pot
Hi Bart. I may or may not have good information for you seeing that I have never attempted to use a vac pot. I am assuming that the grind needs to be course (similar to french press grind) for these units to perform correctly.
I have a Solis 166 that I wanted to use for both french press grinding and espresso grinding. Out of the box it isn't good for either. Too coarse at the fine setting and too fine at the coarse setting. I know exactly what you mean when talking about the excess "dust" that is produced.
There is a review here at CoffeeGeek by Kevin Odom dated 01-10-01 that details the method for fine tune adjusting of this grinder. Maybe you simply need to alter the factory settings to give you a more desirable grind. Hope this helps in some way. Kevin
Bart Senior Member Joined: 10 Apr 2002 Posts: 4 Location: Santa Ana, Ca Expertise: I love coffee
Grinder: Rocky Maestro Vac Pot: Bodum Santos Drip: Swiss Gold one cup Roaster: Poppery, HotTop
Posted Sat Oct 12, 2002, 4:55pm Subject: Re: grinder for vac pot
Hi Bart. I may or may not have good information for you seeing that I have never attempted to use a vac pot. I am assuming that the grind needs to be course (similar to french press grind) for these units to perform correctly.
I have a Solis 166 that I wanted to use for both french press grinding and espresso grinding. Out of the box it isn't good for either. Too coarse at the fine setting and too fine at the coarse setting. I know exactly what you mean when talking about the excess "dust" that is produced.
There is a review here at CoffeeGeek by Kevin Odom dated 01-10-01 that details the method for fine tune adjusting of this grinder. Maybe you simply need to alter the factory settings to give you a more desirable grind. Hope this helps in some way. Kevin
The Maestro grinds coarse enough, even at the middle of the adjustment range. The problem is that 1/4 to 1/3 of the output is dust, regardless of the setting.
If I eliminate the dust by putting it through a sive (sp?) everything works great, but that wastes a lot of coffee!
butch Senior Member Joined: 3 Jan 2002 Posts: 54 Location: lake geneva Expertise: Advanced
Posted Sun Oct 13, 2002, 7:04am Subject: Re: grinder for vac pot
If the grinder is fairly new and producing this much dust-there must be something wrong.
I first started with a whirly blade thingy-easy to recognize the huge variation in particle size. Was several years ago and did not know about AC and this group was not around-so bought the Bunn consumer grinder. Great grind consistency but slow, hard to clean and LOUD-really awful. Got a deal on a Bunn commercial G3 and that is a great grinder for vac pots and pour over's.
Have a couple of vac pots and do get stuck pots but this is due to the filter thingy's not being up to snuff. Yeah stuck vac pots are a pita.
Check out the ratings on grinders and start saving for a new one-have my eyes on a mini mazzer when the spresso machine gets bought.
espresso_jim Senior Member Joined: 13 Jun 2002 Posts: 314 Location: Austin, TX Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Mini Vivaldi II Grinder: Mazzer Mini E Drip: Technivorm Moccamaster... Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Sun Oct 13, 2002, 11:42am Subject: Re: grinder for vac pot
Bart Said:
The Maestro grinds coarse enough, even at the middle of the adjustment range. The problem is that 1/4 to 1/3 of the output is dust, regardless of the setting.
If I eliminate the dust by putting it through a sive (sp?) everything works great, but that wastes a lot of coffee!
I have the Maestro that I use for my vac pot and have never gotten any where near this much dust. I use the setting about 1/2 way between the "espresso" icon and the "drip" icon on the grinder. My vac coffee has just a hint of dust in the coffee. I was quite pleased at the low level of dust from the Maestro. I use the Maestro regularly and do not have the dust problem you mention. If your Maestro is relatively new, then the advice of contacting Baratza LLC seems sound. They have a good reputation for working with you and honoring the warranty.
Really, if you are getting that much dust, there sounds like something wrong with the grinder.
The other suggestion about getting a Mazzer Mini is a great suggestion, especially if you have a quality espresso machine and $400 to spend. In my opinion, it is way overkill for vac pots. I find the Maestro quite adequate.
Good luck and keep us informed as to your solution.
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