Posted Mon Sep 3, 2012, 12:51pm Subject: Baratza Preciso grind settings for different brewing methods
Last weekend I acquired a Baratza Virtuoso Preciso grinder. So now I can finally start to use freshly ground beans for my coffee!
In his CoffeeGeek review of the Baratza Vritoso Preciso, Mark Prince gives several settings to grind for different brewing methods. These are his recommended (slow coffee) settings:
Mokapot: 14H
Fine drip: 20G
Regular drip: 22F
Coarse drip: 25G
Press pot: 33G
I am rather new to coffee and I am experimenting with several slow coffee brewing methods. I would like to use Mark Prince's recommended settings as a starting point. However I am not sure how these settings relate to some of the brewing methods I intend to experiment with:
For my Technivorm Moccamaster I think I should use the "regular drip" (22F) setting to start with.
The "mokapot" (14H) setting should be ok for my Bialetti mokapot I suppose.
The "press pot" (33G) setting should evidently be a good starting point for my Bodum Chambord press pots.
What would be a good starting point for the Bodum Santos vacuum pot?
The Clever Coffee Dripper is like a combination of a drip and a press pot. Should I use a setting in between the "regular drip" and the "press pot" settings? Would the "coarse drip" (25G) then be a good starting point? In general for a pour over, would I want to start with the "regular drip" setting?
For the Aeropress (standard brewing method), would the "fine drip" (20G) be a good setting to begin with?
CMIN Senior Member Joined: 14 Jun 2012 Posts: 513 Location: South FL Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Crossland CC1 Grinder: Baratza Preciso
Posted Mon Sep 3, 2012, 4:31pm Subject: Re: Baratza Preciso grind settings for different brewing methods
Guessing you don't want anything for espresso. I've ground a few times for other than espresso but can't remember what settings I used as it's very rare we drink anything but espresso. But the cool thing about this grinder, when you open it up you'l see the calibrator panel, you can set it for finer/neutral/coarse. So if you going for more course grinds you can set it to coarse and have more adjustment for that, and if you end up wanting espresso you could set it in the middle to give equal good settings for both.
Units can be somewhat varied for calibration so it's kinda hard to go by what others are using and some will post settings that are after when the burrs have broken in. Choose which ever you want to do first, and play with the settings for just that (drip etc) and once you get that bialed in, then you'll have an easier time figuring out the others.
For example I know on mine I think Mark said something about 10 or so for espresso, but mine and others on here are more within the range of 6 clicks for espresso, and Moka you want slightly coarser then that grind. If I went to 14 that would be waaaaay to coarse for me.
Posted Tue Sep 4, 2012, 11:20am Subject: Re: Baratza Preciso grind settings for different brewing methods
Be careful with taking the settings that worked for somebody else as the same exact settings on your machine. They are all calibrated in the factory and will all differ slightly at this point, but also to the extent that other users have calibrated their own machines. I think the settings will help you get in a general range for certain brew methods, but you will need to tweak it a bit yourself to get it right.
Posted Tue Sep 4, 2012, 12:43pm Subject: Re: Baratza Preciso grind settings for different brewing methods
Thanks for your replies!
CMIN, you are right, I am not grinding for espresso. For the moment I am gonna keep with slow coffee brewing methods. I didn't know it was possible to calibrate the Baratza Preciso. Went looking at YouTube and I found a video how-to. So I might try that! What is the effect of the calibration? I would calibrate for coarse as I won't need the fine grind for espresso. Will it limit the fine grinding and allow an even coarser grind? Or will it just grind more even at the coarser settings? or both? Will it still grind fine enough for the mokapot?
Also, I am not looking for absolute grind settings, just for starting points. Perhaps I should rephrase my questions a bit and put them rather in relative terms (however a specific starting point would be handy...):
For the brewing methods I intend to use, the mokapot will require the finest grind. At the other side of the grind spectrum, the french press will need the coarsest setting. In between, the Moccamaster will probably need some kind of medium grind. Relative to those three grind settings, how should I grind for the other methods (clever coffee dripper, Bodum Santos vacuum pot, Aeropress and classic pour over with a Melitta filter)? For example, if the CCD would need a finer grind than the Moccamaster, would it be just a bit finer, close to the Moccamaster grind or rather closer tot the mokapot grind?
Posted Tue Sep 4, 2012, 1:33pm Subject: Re: Baratza Preciso grind settings for different brewing methods
You can calibrate it either way if you feel the need to. The Baratza lineup has such a large range that you may not find it necessary. Meaning, you can calibrate it to the coarse range, but many of the coarsest settings will be unusable. In my experience, I find that Baratza ships the units with the ability to grind drip/press without issue. If you were unable to get a coarse enough grind for press or CCD, then you could calibrate it.
For me, I use between 16-22 for pourover/drip coffee. I adjust for other brew methods with this as a guide. For press, I would likely start right around 28-30, but again I used the settings on Coffeegeek and then adjusted to suit taste and proper extraction. After a while, you will get comfortable eyeing a grind.
For CCD, I find a french press coarse grind works best. For a vacpot, a drip grind is what I use. My aeropress method calls for a fine drip grind.
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