Posted Fri May 16, 2008, 9:09am Subject: Re: CMHybrid - june
Just wanted to update this thread. I got an email from Chris' Coffee just now stating that the new shipment of Max Hybrid grinders is going to arrive Monday. My grinder will ship Tuesday. Woot!
Posted Fri May 16, 2008, 12:23pm Subject: Re: CMHybrid - june
To be honest, I would have thought a Mini or Jr. would have been more then enough for my taste. Problem with that would be that I would be wondering how the hybrid would be. No chance I would ever put a full on commercial conical on my counter top so this is it. This Is The Last Grinder I Will Ever Buy.
Posted Thu May 29, 2008, 8:32am Subject: Re: CMHybrid - june
So my Max just arrived last night. Man, it's a beast. It seems like it's twice as big and heavy as my old Macap M4, which is no lightweight. The casing is a bit less attractive to my eyes; it's just sheet metal as opposed to the nice polished cast metal of the M4. Kind of like a Mack truck compared to the gleaming Porsche looks of the M4. But it still looks all right when sitting next to my Anita, which is also sort of boxy. My wife wasn't thrilled, though. "Where are you going to hide that thing?" Oops. Hopefully she'll get used to it.
The motor is also has a much deeper and more powerful sound to it than the M4. Not exactly loud, but it definitely makes a low and heavy humming noise that just sounds intimidating. It's also much faster grinding than the Macap. It takes almost 30 seconds to grind a double with the M4, but Max grinds the same amount in about 10 seconds. Nice. The doser lever also makes more of a subdued thunk noise, versus the M4's loud "thwack-thwack" sound. That's a relief, since the noisy doser lever was one of my (and my wife's) biggest complaints about the M4.
It took me about three tries to get the grind setting into a reasonable range. Now the shots are pouring at about the right speed, but I haven't yet gotten a really good shot out of it. There seems to be a bit of channeling, with the pours favoring the front of the PF. There are some big clumps in the grounds when I dose into the PF, so I may have to do some WDT grooming to get the shot to pour right. Unfortunately, I really don't want to have to do the WDT here. In fact, the biggest reason for me to get this grinder was to eliminate the WDT ritual from my routine. I think I'll keep working on distribution and tamping. Hopefully I can avoid having to do any extra stirring of the grounds if I get the other variables right.
At this point, the jury's still out, by I'm going to try to reserve judgment until after I've had some time to get used to the new toy. In the meantime, I'll try to post some pics and maybe a video later if I have time.
Posted Thu May 29, 2008, 10:49am Subject: Re: CMHybrid - june
Hi Beezer,
Congrats on the new grinder! Don't worry, my wife wasn't too thrilled either with the looks. I'm sure sooner or later she'll throw a cozy over it.
There seems to be a bit of channeling, with the pours favoring the front of the PF. There are some big clumps in the grounds when I dose into the PF, so I may have to do some WDT grooming to get the shot to pour right. Unfortunately, I really don't want to have to do the WDT here. In fact, the biggest reason for me to get this grinder was to eliminate the WDT ritual from my routine. I think I'll keep working on distribution and tamping. Hopefully I can avoid having to do any extra stirring of the grounds if I get the other variables right.
I have a thread going on discussing big clumps. I'm trying to see if anyone has been successful is dosing a clumpless amount of grinds straight into the portafilter, without the use of WDT. I too don't want to start using WDT, and I'm hoping it's just a learned technique that I have yet to discover with the Hybrid (or learn from someone here). I posted some pics in the post of how my portafilter looks after dosing. I've been trying to dose while grinding, after grinder, splitting the grinds into different veins during the grind... but I still get a bit of channeling and spritzers.
It'd be great to get some of your feedback possibly posted (vids & pics) on the other post (if you don't mind?). :)
Posted Thu May 29, 2008, 2:09pm Subject: Re: CMHybrid - june
Hi Gabe. I saw your comments in the other thread, and I definitely want to post some pics and maybe videos. I'll try to take some photos tonight when I get home.
I was seeing some pretty substantial boulders in the portafilter this morning, which surprised me since this grinder has a reputation for being clump-free. So far, my Macap grinder was less clumpy, though clumps can be the result of different coffees, changes in humidity, etc. I want to keep working with Max and try to find out what techniques work best with it.
I also need to get more scientific with my dosiing, like maybe start using a scale to measure the amount of coffee that goes into the filter. Once I get a sense of what works best with the grinder, I'm hoping I can get back to basics and just grind, distribute, tamp, and pull shots without a lot of fuss. That was my original goal when I ordered the Max, but so far it hasn't quite worked out. But to be fair, it's only been a day and I haven't pulled many shots yet. There's still plenty of time to experiment.
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