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Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

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Discussions > Espresso > Grinders -... > Dialing in my...

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essjay22
Senior Member

Joined: 21 Oct 2007
Posts: 20
Location: 49th parallel
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Starbucks Barista
Grinder: Braun
Vac Pot: bodum
Drip: Braun
Roaster: not yet

Posted Sat May 10, 2008, 8:32am Subject: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

First off the destructions are woefully brief on just where the increments line up to actually read where i might be on the settings ;-). Thanks to the great mod pictures for this grinder i think ive gotten close at least but its to fine at this point for my Expobar Pulser. Does anyone have some tips tricks or hints as to how i might best get what im looking for ? I have already gone through a hlf pound of Black cat trying to get it right but that is a way to expensive to keep up this way. So far even hte choking grinds are making better esspresso than my Baratza so i am very pleased with this grinder. Nice and quiet too. Thanks for reading :) s

TagTeamJesus
Senior Member

Joined: 12 Sep 2007
Posts: 238
Location: San Francisco, CA
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Silvia with Watlow PID
Grinder: Macap MC4; QuickMill...
Drip: French press, oui, oui!

Posted Sat May 10, 2008, 5:22pm Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

Unfortunately, there is no real rule for dialing in a grinder perfectly, and everyone's will be slightly different. It will take the sacrifice of some beans before you find a sweet spot, which you judge based on what you get in the cup. Valiant beans that gave themselves up for the good of future espressos. Furthermore, everytime you go to brew, there will be minor adjustments or even some slightly larger adjustments that need to be made to find where a bean wants to be at that specific time post-roast. I find a good number of single origins are sweetest at ~1.5 ounces in ~30 seconds. So when you can achieve that, that is about right for your grinder's sweet spot at that time. So, sweet spot floats around, but of course there is a narrow range where it can always be sought. To get myself in that range, I did two simple things to my Macap MC4: 1) The first time I found a sweet spot for some of my favorite fresh beans, I marked the rotating collar. I just used a thin strip of one-side sticky white adhesive junk. I find that I float within 2-3 ridges on either side of the marking I made on the collar. This varies depending on bean, age, and dose. 2) I mounted the tip of a calligraphy pen to the clip on the MC4 to point back at the collar....this just serves as a fixed reference point so I can get better accuracy with my eye while adjusting. FWIW - if I am facing my grinder, the point on the collar right in front of my nose is almost exactly between the 7 and the 8. This is where I marked my collar. Yours will most likely be slightly different.

JVBorella
Senior Member

Joined: 29 Oct 2007
Posts: 474
Location: northeastern CT.
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: LaSpaziale S1 Vivaldi 2
Grinder: Mazzer SJ,KA Pro,Zassenhaus...
Vac Pot: Press Pots/Finum Filters
Drip: No Thanks
Roaster: Before Long

Posted Sun May 11, 2008, 4:10am Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

The zero point on my M4 is just about exactly half way between the #1 & 2 setting & I do the majority of my Espresso grinding about 2-3 teeth past the #3 setting. Of course the exact setting varies from blend to blend & as the beans age but only small changes are required. Finding the true zero on your grinder & moving up 1.5+ numbers should get you to the point where only small changes are required to dial it in completely.

John

Quoddy
Senior Member

Joined: 17 Mar 2008
Posts: 29
Location: NY/VT Border
Expertise: I live coffee

Espresso: Andreja Premium
Grinder: Macap M4 - Stepless w/Doser...
Drip: Bodum French Press
Roaster: HotTop B

Posted Mon May 12, 2008, 12:53pm Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

JVBorella Said: Finding the true zero on your grinder & moving up 1.5+ numbers should get you to the point where only small changes are required to dial it in completely. Posted May 11, 2008 link 1.5 from my M4's zero was very close for me, too. I ended up going a notch more with my regular roast, Black Cat, but needed to go quite a bit finer with my home roasted SM Monkey Blend. I marked the notches with white-out for the two espressos, then also marked the French press setting and even a drip grind for when my daughter visits. I recently picked up an MCI Doserless Grinder by Nuova Simonelli for my FP so that I wouldn't have to keep changing the settings on the MACAP.

"There is no such thing as strong coffee, only weak people"

cdrikari
Senior Member

Joined: 8 Mar 2007
Posts: 39
Location: Port Orchard, WA
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Rancilio Silvia
Grinder: Macap MXKR, Baratza Virtuoso

Posted Mon May 12, 2008, 1:14pm
Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

JVBorella Said:

The zero point on my M4 is just about exactly half way between the #1 & 2 setting & I do the majority of my Espresso grinding about 2-3 teeth past the #3 setting.

Posted May 11, 2008 link

That's really interesting. I would have assumed that the settings for a MXK and the M4 would be closer, but my zero is at about 0.5 and I'm grinding at ~4.3 right now. (I tried 3 when I started dialing in the grinder and choked Silvia for about a minute.) I wonder what the difference is...

essjay22
Senior Member

Posted Mon May 12, 2008, 2:47pm
Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

JVBorella Said:

The zero point on my M4 is just about exactly half way between the #1 & 2 setting & I do the majority of my Espresso grinding about 2-3 teeth past the #3 setting. Of course the exact setting varies from blend to blend & as the beans age but only small changes are required. Finding the true zero on your grinder & moving up 1.5+ numbers should get you to the point where only small changes are required to dial it in completely.

Posted May 11, 2008 link

OK Thanks for that But, where are you marking from? the worm gear? I assume that if i turned the collar to Zero ( trueish ) then the numbers 1 or 2 would be close to the worm gear so that is where it should be marked from/where you all are marking from. Yes after i find Zero i can mark from anywhere but just to be sure I am on the same page :).
i hate wasting so much Black Cat, i tried using old beans and drawing a shot but old beens, well you know what has beens do :p.
I have it now so that if i tamp very well and hard, i get a good shot but i need to refine it a bit more still .
Thanks for all your help and effort here.
s

kinolau
Senior Member

Joined: 15 Feb 2008
Posts: 114
Location: Rhode Island USA
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Pasquini Livia 90S
Grinder: Macap M4 Stepless /...
Drip: Chemex / Cuisinart

Posted Tue May 13, 2008, 9:04am Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

Once I found the zero point (the second time), I removed the collar and remounted it with the lower numbers ( 1, 2, 3...) in a position that was easier to read. Then I marked the zero point with a piece of a Post-It note on the base and set my grind from there. I'm currently running at about 1.1 - 1.2 for the beans I've got on hand. I find myself in the 1.1 - 1.4 range for the most part...but different machines are going to effect those numbers as much as the beans I would think. Grind for my Livia would be different from an Expobar which would be different than an Anita which would be different than a Silvia which would be different than a... ~~~

essjay22
Senior Member

Posted Tue May 13, 2008, 1:57pm
Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

kinolau Said:

Once I found the zero point (the second time), I removed the collar and remounted it with the lower numbers ( 1, 2, 3...) in a position that was easier to read. ~~~

Posted May 13, 2008 link

I thought of that actually. It looked easilly enough done, 3 screws and presto.
Thanks
s

FlyRod
Senior Member

Joined: 5 Sep 2007
Posts: 160
Location: Modesto California
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Miss Silvia
Grinder: MACAP MC4C83R Doserless...
Vac Pot: AeroPress
Drip: Milita Pour Over
Roaster: Behmor 1600; Wagner 775...

Posted Wed May 14, 2008, 8:03pm Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

When you refer to zero point I am assuming it is when the burrs start to make contact and you can hear it. On that assumption are you referencing the number on the collar at the very front center of the ginder as you reference point? When my burrs start to make contact the number 7 on the collar is almost dead center in the front. Maybe 7.05. Using SM's Monkey I am usually at ther 3rd ridge past the 8 on the way to 9. I am wondering how you removed the collar and moved it. I would like to have zero correspond with true zero point. Are you guys using front dead center as your static reference point? I got tired of having to dial in the grinder all the time between drip, aeorpress and espresso so I bought a Zassenhaus hand crank to use for everything but espresso. Needed that hand crank this morning too. Just started heating my coffee water this morning and heard a wham and power went out. Owl arced out the power lines and blew the line fuses. pulled out the camp stove and pot and ground with the zassenhaus....had my coffee by lantern. Tasted even better. The Owl was unavailable for comment.

Posted Thu May 15, 2008, 5:08am Subject: Re: Dialing in my Macap m4 stepless ?

I made a line dead center on top of my worm drive with a Sharpie to reference with the setting on my toothed ring. So when I reach my zero point (audible burr contact) that line is half way between the 1 & 2 on the ring or 1.5. Most of my regular Espresso grinding is done in the 3.1-3.4 range depending on the blend. Decaf Espresso is usually done between 2.6-2.8.

John

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