Can someone give me a starting point for grinding for french press on my Rocky? Just a ballpark, by the way. Like 30 or 40?

Thanks!

I like Sweet Maria's guide to French Press: http://sweetmarias.com/brewinstr/...r.frenchpress.html

They say to use "the finest even grind coffee you can, but coarse enough to avoid having the grind pass through the filter... a grind just a few notches coarser than filter drip". That works well for me. I don't dring a lot of French Press, but when I do, I usually grind somewhere between 20 and 30 (start with 20 and see how that works).

Good luck!

The Sweet Marias instructions are fine, and a 20ish setting is a good place to start. Note though, that that advice goes along with a 2 -2 1/2 minute steep.

The more traditional story is to use a regular grind (that's where the 30 to 40 setting comes in), and a five minute steep.

The Sweet Marias procedure will give you a slightly hotter coffee with more sediment, the traditional procedure yields a slightly cooler brew with less sediment.

Sweet Marias says the finer grind yields a better extraction. I don't find this to be true or are least meaningful to me. Finer grinds extract faster but better? Not to my taste.
YMMV as to what grind/time/sediment/temperature outcome you like the best. Experiment away!

I agree with the SM directions, but it all depends on your taste. Finer grinding equals less steep time, which reduces your chance of over-extraction of the unavoidable fines you'll get (esp with Rocky). This, in theory, will produce a smoother cup (over-extraction causes bitterness).

If you enjoy a little bit more bitterness, grind a little coarser. The longer steep time required will inevitability over-extract some of the fines (to give it some bite) plus you'll have fewer fines in your cup.

I like about 25 on Rocky, but it depends on the coffee.

Figured I would put my two cents in. I have a French Press recipe that works fine, but requires a coarse grind. I am doing a ratio of 70 grams of coffee per liter of water and skimming off the bloom after 3.5-4 minutes. However a setting of 25 on a Rocky grinder is way too fine for this recipe. There is a lot of sediment and hardly any bloom. Though I haven't tried it, I think the same can probably be said with a setting of 30. I am going to go from the max setting on the Rocky and work my way down. Though, qualitatively, the max setting still looks finer than what I can produce with a hand burr grinder, it is much more consistent. This consistency may be why it looks finer. It lacks the big chunks. That's all I know for now. I'll post as things develop.

To calibrate, my Rocky currently touches burrs around -2, and I use it at around 33-35 for French Press.