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quality budget grinder?
Lawnmowerman
Top  #1 Print Post
Posted on 04/28/2013 12:55 PM
Upcoming birthday. Bed bath and beyond. 200 dollars is way above budget. Looking at phillips seaco, capresso infinity, espressione mec-5198,delonghi kg 89. Good enough? One more question; do I have to wait till my birthday? Thanks in advance. Ben.
Bad coffee prevails when good coffee roasters stand by and do nothing.
 
ginny
Top  #2 Print Post
Posted on 04/28/2013 1:59 PM
http://www.costco...78793.html

Ben:

a friend bought one of these and is extremely happy with it.

ginny
 
MassWineGuy
Top  #3 Print Post
Posted on 04/28/2013 5:20 PM
I've read many good reviews about this one:

http://www.wholel...encore.cfm

I own this Bodum and think it does a great course grind for French press. But I've never used another burr grinder. The Bodum feels a little flimsy, but it's held up well:

http://www.wholel...rinder.cfm
 
yantacaw
Top  #4 Print Post
Posted on 04/28/2013 5:22 PM
i'm very fond of our kitchenaid burr grinder although new it is above your budget. if you are faimiliar with the iconic k. itchenaid mixer, the build of the grinder is very much in line with thatwe bought ours used off of craigslist for a very good price several years ago. maybe i'm wrong but it actually appears to be more expensive than it was years ago.

if you're open to gently used, i would recommend looking for one on the secondary market. i have a suspicion that these may be more readily available used as a whole legion of coffee drinkers no longer require grinders since they are using pods, kcups and other jetsonsian devices.
 
imaroaster
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Posted on 04/28/2013 8:43 PM
I bought a refurbished gaggai mdf. A quick google found it for 175 here. http://www.essent...urbished_2 ( disclaimer: I don't know anything about this site)

I know it is an older model but I couldn't be happier. I use it for brewed coffee as well as espresso.
 
Koffee Kosmo
Top  #6 Print Post
Posted on 04/28/2013 10:04 PM
I would save my money and get a better grinder
Far to many people underestimate the job a grinder does and the resulting taste in the cup

KK
I home roast and I like it. Designer of the KKTO
Roaster Build information
https://homeroast...ad_id=1142

https://docs.goog...lide=id.i0
Blog - http://koffeekosm...gspot.com/

Bezzera Strega, Mazzer Robur Grinder, Pullman Tamper Convex,
(KKTO) Turbo Oven Home Roaster.
 
Web
DavidG
Top  #7 Print Post
Posted on 04/29/2013 7:58 AM
Easy! I'd say your best bet is a new Baratza Encore ($130ish) or any one of their other grinders through their site as a refurb or through craigslist, etc. Understanding though, you can't get good espresso results at this price point unless you go to a manual grinder.

Cheers,
David
europiccola | yama + coryrod | chemex | AP | clever
wbp1 | wepp1 | bm/hg | co hybrid (still coming soon...)
 
Lawnmowerman
Top  #8 Print Post
Posted on 04/29/2013 11:06 AM
Thanks Ginny. With the capresso thrre is a silver or a black model bit the silver one costs more. At least one the bed bath and beyond. Would we expect them to perform differently? Tjank you Paul. My wife is doing the shopping and I dont have the budget this year. I have a coffee emergency. As for my discriminating tastes, we have been using a black and decker from target for 4 years. It is spitting grinds out the bottom. I do believe thete is s grinder thay I can afford that will still enable me to feed my family but much better quality than I could get at Wal-mart. I would love a mill attachment for my kitchenaide if it wrre readily available. Momma bought shoes for the kids yestetday so I will have to wait for more cadh to roll in
Bad coffee prevails when good coffee roasters stand by and do nothing.
 
ginny
Top  #9 Print Post
Posted on 04/29/2013 11:13 AM
Ben:

Have you bought a grinder yet? I may have found something?

let me know here or via PM.

gin

beach
 
Lawnmowerman
Top  #10 Print Post
Posted on 04/29/2013 3:22 PM
Not purchasef it yet. Please keep me posted. Thanks
Bad coffee prevails when good coffee roasters stand by and do nothing.
 
happycat
Top  #11 Print Post
Posted on 05/07/2013 10:59 PM
Get a used or refurb Baratza Encore. I've seen them in your price range.

New stock listed Thursdays

http://www.baratz...egory=RFRB
 
Lawnmowerman
Top  #12 Print Post
Posted on 05/08/2013 12:10 AM
I ended up getting a new Baratza encore. Very nice grinder. But. I really should have let my wife pull the trigger.
Bad coffee prevails when good coffee roasters stand by and do nothing.
 
Koffee Kosmo
Top  #13 Print Post
Posted on 05/08/2013 7:09 AM
The word out in Australia is that the Baratza Forte is a grinder one should consider

Although you have already purchased a grinder
My post is more info for all that read this thread

KK
I home roast and I like it. Designer of the KKTO
Roaster Build information
https://homeroast...ad_id=1142

https://docs.goog...lide=id.i0
Blog - http://koffeekosm...gspot.com/

Bezzera Strega, Mazzer Robur Grinder, Pullman Tamper Convex,
(KKTO) Turbo Oven Home Roaster.
 
Web
Lawnmowerman
Top  #14 Print Post
Posted on 05/08/2013 11:45 AM
This is like day and night compared to our old b and d. The visual appearance is obviously a great improvement. The grind is very consistent. I highly recommend this grinder. I will most likely need to adjust my ratios. The flavor profile is different. I wont do a side by side with the old one. It is destined for the trash. Nothing on it will be salvaged. More to follow...maybe.
Bad coffee prevails when good coffee roasters stand by and do nothing.
 
happycat
Top  #15 Print Post
Posted on 05/08/2013 10:14 PM

Quote

Lawnmowerman wrote:

This is like day and night compared to our old b and d. The visual appearance is obviously a great improvement. The grind is very consistent. I highly recommend this grinder. I will most likely need to adjust my ratios. The flavor profile is different. I wont do a side by side with the old one. It is destined for the trash. Nothing on it will be salvaged. More to follow...maybe.


Glad you're enjoying the Encore.

The Encore can be modified pretty easily.

- if you want finer grinds, see this Youtube video
http://www.youtub...yQ_AywdBRQ

- if you want more control than just 40 clicks, you can remove the little piece of plastic inside that forces you to click through settings... then just wrap some masking tape around the bottom of the hopper and you have a stepless grinder (gives you probably 80 or more settings instead of 40)

http://coffeeforu...epless-Mod

I suggest cleaning it out each day by grinding a few beans on the max coarse setting to clean out the fine gunk (which you discard), then adjust the setting to the fineness you want
 
ginny
Top  #16 Print Post
Posted on 05/09/2013 8:43 AM
Good choice as I have a friend who has one as well and loves it...

He waited to make any mods in case there was an issue with warranty and he needed to send it back for some reason.

What type of coffee do you usually serve at your home Ben?

ginny

beach
 
Lawnmowerman
Top  #17 Print Post
Posted on 05/09/2013 10:41 AM
Ginny, I usually have a manual drip with a basket filter. Im going to try the cone pourover again though.Happycat when you say afew beans on course you mean 8 or 12? I do want t keep this maintained. Thanks for the mod tips. Ive noticed that the grounds arr more like granules wheras the b and d produced more like flakes. Im sure this affects the flavor profile.
Bad coffee prevails when good coffee roasters stand by and do nothing.
 
ciel-007
Top  #18 Print Post
Posted on 05/12/2013 2:35 PM

Quote

Koffee Kosmo wrote:

The word out in Australia is that the Baratza Forte is a grinder one should consider


KK, thanks for the heads-up.

Some experts argue that the coffee grinder is the single most important piece of equipment responsible for high quality pulls. In my experience, there is some truth to that. I am amazed by the quality of the grinds dispensed by my little Baratza Vario, and I have it going head-to-head with an upscale Mazzer. From what I have seen to date, the Forte seems to be a enhanced version of the Vario. I am looking forward to reading user comments concerning the new Forte grinder.
Ciel
Ciel... seeking Heaven in my cup with ................................................................................................................. EXPOBAR Brewtus II - MAZZER Mini E - MAHLK?NIG Vario - GeneCafe - RAF-1 Extreme (Modified B-2 HOTTOP) - BellaTaiwan XJ-101
 
ginny
Top  #19 Print Post
Posted on 05/14/2013 1:04 PM
Hi Ben,

How is it going with your new grinder? Have you noticed a difference from the blade grinder?

Let us know since I am sure other members will be interested in your input.

Ginny

party
 
Koffee Kosmo
Top  #20 Print Post
Posted on 05/15/2013 9:26 AM

Quote

ciel-007 wrote:

Quote

Koffee Kosmo wrote:

The word out in Australia is that the Baratza Forte is a grinder one should consider


KK, thanks for the heads-up.

Some experts argue that the coffee grinder is the single most important piece of equipment responsible for high quality pulls. In my experience, there is some truth to that. I am amazed by the quality of the grinds dispensed by my little Baratza Vario, and I have it going head-to-head with an upscale Mazzer. From what I have seen to date, the Forte seems to be a enhanced version of the Vario. I am looking forward to reading user comments concerning the new Forte grinder.
Ciel


I totally agree that the grinder should be carefully chosen as its very important
Hence my 4 upgrades to my current grinder a large conical the BNZ MD74 - It's similar to a Robur with a smaller footprint

I have made posts in the past noting that a grinder is more important that the machine
KK
I home roast and I like it. Designer of the KKTO
Roaster Build information
https://homeroast...ad_id=1142

https://docs.goog...lide=id.i0
Blog - http://koffeekosm...gspot.com/

Bezzera Strega, Mazzer Robur Grinder, Pullman Tamper Convex,
(KKTO) Turbo Oven Home Roaster.
 
Web
Beaner
Top  #21 Print Post
Posted on 05/17/2013 1:31 AM

Quote

Lawnmowerman wrote:

It is destined for the trash. Nothing on it will be salvaged. More to follow...maybe.


Don't throw away that blade grinder as it can be used to grind other stuff like nuts, chocolate, seeds, etc. I have two of them and am using one of em to grind egg shells to mix in my potted tomato plants.

Glad that the Baratza is working out for you. I bought one and after about 10 grinds it jammed and wouldn't unjam. I sent it back and got the Capressa Infinity. That thing is built like a tank and wouldn't fail on me even with the beating I gave it to shake out grinds. It does however have a couple of things I don't like about it.

One is the hopper lid, it's clear and I've poured a few scoops of beans on the counter thinking the lid was off. I solved that by sticking a postit note on the top to let me know the lid is on. The other thing is the grind collection bin. It has a weird shape and can trap grinds which will spill out the sides when dumping the grinds in a cone. I have to tap the bin to get all the grinds into the middle before I dump. It's a poor design. I'd also like the grinds to be more consistent.

Having said all that I recently sort of killed the Infinity. I wanted to do a deeper cleaning of the lower burr and removed the screw that held it in. That was a mistake. When I removed the lower burr there were 3 ball bearings sitting under it and not an obvious way to determine how exactly they were set during assembly.

I was able to get it back together but the grinds were all the same no matter what setting I chose. I removed the lower burr again and found that one of the springs was bent. Well, I figured that repair would cost at least half of a new one so I bought a new grinder.

I decided to try the Krups GX610050.
http://www.wholel...rinder.cfm

It seems to be a well built grinder and has more consistent grinds. I would like the most course setting to produce courser grinds though and also has more static cling than the Infinity. The verdict is still out on it.

I hope I didn't hijack this thread with my Infinity problem. I was going to make a separate thread on it with pics to see if someone could tell me how the lower burr is supposed to be reassembled. All it needs is a new spring.

That refurbished Gaggia seems like a good deal if I end up returning the Krups.

Anyway, grats on the new Baratza.
 
happycat
Top  #22 Print Post
Posted on 05/18/2013 10:04 PM
FYI the Encore is very easy to take apart and the support staff at Baratza were amazingly responsive to me when I was modding the grinder to grind finer. I've heard great things about their support in general.
 
Lawnmowerman
Top  #23 Print Post
Posted on 05/19/2013 12:50 AM

Quote

ginny wrote:

Hi Ben,

How is it going with your new grinder? Have you noticed a difference from the blade grinder?

Let us know since I am sure other members will be interested in your input.

Ginny.


:smiley-1705.gif:
Blade grinder? The grinder I/we were using is a b and d cbm210.A very cheap burr grinder. I could never get much variation between grind settings with it. And not very consistent grind either. The Barratza; well there is still no comparison. Thanks again for the tip on sacrificing a few beans to get the crud out, Happycat. Now if I can always rrmember to return it to the fine setting before grinding to brew...
Bad coffee prevails when good coffee roasters stand by and do nothing.
 
Lawnmowerman
Top  #24 Print Post
Posted on 05/19/2013 1:09 AM
We do have achopper with the same blade design as a coffee bean chopper. Dont really use it since we acquired(free) a cuisinart. And about the eggshells beaner grinds up. The scale on the bottom of my teakettle looks like the same stuff as eggshell. I put a couple marbles on the bottom and it keeps it clean but the eggshell substance stays inside. When I rinse it , out pours a bunch of eggshells. So if you need to fortify your tomatoes with calcium and have a compulsion to use everything and keep scale from building up on the bottom of your teakettle at the same time...put a couple marbles in it. Did I threadjack my own thread?
Bad coffee prevails when good coffee roasters stand by and do nothing.
 
Beaner
Top  #25 Print Post
Posted on 05/19/2013 10:03 PM
I'll let you be the hijacker. The eggshells are mainly a experiment. Most cases of veggies not getting enough calcium is with watering, either too little or too much. Plants are unable to absorb the calcium very well under those conditions.

Wait, did I just out-hijack you on your thread? Doh!
 
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