Quickmill doserless grinder with stepless adjustment - Page 3

[Tag Team Jesus]

zin1953, mock me as you may for saying I feel like a pioneer, but I still feel like a pioneer. With a covered wagon and an unknown grinder. Yeehaw! Maybe you're one too. So ok, you've had this grinder since the beginning. Great. But, it still has only been around for a year and half, and in the life of a product, especially a potentially good grinder, this isn't that long of a market life. From all the searches I have conducted, a wealth of information is yet to be written on this grinder. I took your advice and did a search in forums other than the Marketplace, but was unable to really find that much. I have only found threads that begin by asking for advice on the QuickMill, and by the end, involve mostly plugs for Mazzer and Macap without ever addressing the QuickMill. So, if you have a favorite posting, by all means, please link me to it. That's the kind of thing I am hoping for. Also, as of this posting, there are no consumer reviews on CoffeeGeek for the QuickMill: http://www.coffeegeek.com/reviews.../quickmillgrinders

I know I am not grinding too fine, because I am just setting the grinder to make 14-15 grams of 2-day old roasted coffee yield a 25 second double. And in that range of grinding, I hear the scraping sound. Actually, my ritual is to get 18 grams in the basket, knock the portafilter down twice, and then scrape it level, which then probably ends up being 14-15 grams. As I have written previously, a technician at Chris Coffee listened to my grinder over the phone and he heard the same sound of metal scraping. So, I am not crazy and there is still a degree of ambiguity here. Also, I would like to recall LeoZ's posting back from "Sun Aug 06, 2006 2:05 pm" which mentions the same sound/concern I have with the thing. Once he adjusted the safety screw to allow him to produce a properly timed shot, he heard the sound. This concern was never resolved in this thread or any other I can find. I got my grinder from a fantastic vendor, betterespresso.com, who gets her stuff from Chris. And when I got my QuickMill, the safety screw did not need to be adjusted to go fine enough, so it appears these are now being shipped with the ability to grind finer. However, as far as I can tell, these grinders make a metal scraping sound when grinding fine enough, and no one can seem to answer this. The technician at Chris Coffee assured me the sound was just fine, but all things considered, I think it is more than appropriate to try to rally for more information/experience on this younger grinder.

That being said, do other people's QuickMill's have a safety screw around the marked Zero so that it cannot be turned any further? Are you all able to produce 25 second 14-15 g doubles without hearing any metal scraping sounds? If you are, isn't it interesting that LeoZ and I have both experienced this sound? How do we explain this?

Just to clarify my experience with this grinder: for freshly roasted (2-5 days from roasting date) beans from Blue Bottle Coffee in San Francisco, I am able to achieve my 25 second 15 g shot in a range on this grinder between the marked Zero and 1.5-2 hashes finer than Zero. My shots taste wonderful, wonderful. This thing can do it. But, I hear the scraping starting about a half hash below zero, and that concerns me.

once again, any information is appreciated. Thanks to all who have contributed thus far.

I would just love it if Chris could make a reappearance in this forum to address this issue. Maybe I will call him soon and see what information I can get. Kim at betterespresso.com and Chris have been nothing short of the best customer service I have ever experienced, so I would like to know their opinions on this one.

I will be getting a Macap M4 stepless doserless soon, but I really want to contribute to the clarification of what is going on with the QuickMill. I may even keep the QuickMill as a dedicated French Press grinder.

[atomicpop]

Well, Jeez, I haven't spoken to Chris, but I did notice that the grinder isn't available on his website anymore, and it's not shown on the Quick Mill site, either. The Quick Mill Grinder link on Chris's site now takes you to a Nuova Simonelli grinder.

Quick Mill does appear to have a similar one:

http://www.quickmill.it/MyIndex.p...rodotto&id_prod=72

[zin1953]

Well, Jeez, I haven't spoken to Chris, but I did notice that the grinder isn't available on his website anymore, and it's not shown on the Quick Mill site, either. The Quick Mill Grinder link on Chris's site now takes you to a Nuova Simonelli grinder.

I noticed that, too, as I was thinking of buying a second one. I was told by the people at Chris' Coffee Service that they were out-of-stock for at least a couple of months, but it will be back in the Spring. Meanwhile, they linked to the NS.

[Tag Team Jesus]

Ok, cool, I finally got some really useful information today after speaking with another technician at Chris Coffee. The person I spoke to today was really helpful and honest, and I more than appreciated that. Here is what he told me:

It's true Chris is not currently stocking the QuickMill until later this year, but not just because it is out of stock, but rather, a newer model is being designed. According to this technician, the QuickMill had some issues they were not entirely satisfied with: he told me the safety screw from the factory was an issue because people were not able to grind fine enough, so Chris techies were having to go in and remove the screw by hand. I told him my grinder was one of the ones that came with the removed screw, because I was always able to grind fine enough. Definitely, making some very good espresso. Very capable of even choking my Silvia with some pretty good control over the stepless adjustment. zin1953, since you ordered yours in the beginning, I am guessing you got one with the safety screw in place. Did you ever move or remove that screw?

He then said another issue was that the motor was too loud. My experience is that this is not a loud grinder, but I did urge him to discuss the scraping noise I have been trying to address. He said that they are aware of the noise I was referring to. Yay! I'm not crazy for hearing what I'm hearing. But, he said the scraping sound is not the sound of the burrs touching. It's the result of "modifications" Chris techies made to improve the grinder. I do not know exactly what this refers to, but he did mention something about the motor. So, I guess the grinder is just fine, and I can rest assured the burrs are not being harmed. It's just that the modifications they had to make made extra work for them, and the grinder has a scraping sound in it not related to the burrs. The redesign will address these things.

So, ok, many of us purchased generation 1 of this grinder. All in all, it's not bad. Dang, it's pretty good, indeed. From what I hear, it's grind consistency is not quite as uniform as a Rocky. I have never seen a Rocky except online, so I cannot attest to this, but I will say that my grind does not look completely uniform. It's more than sufficient to pair with Silvia, as I have had shots that drove three of my roommates and I into a state of speechlessness, including one roomie who doesn't really like espresso. Also, even though the grind consistency may not be as strong as a Rocky, it's pretty neat to get a stepless grinder at this price. The ability to tweak a shot is better than the fixed steps on the Rocky. I actually rather like the QuickMill now that I know the burrs are safe.

In summary, and exactly as this technician stated, this grinder could be better in grind consistency and the scraping sound isn't ideal, even though it is no indication the burrs are being harmed. But, it performs rather well, and the stepless option at this price is pretty sweet. The next incarnation of this grinder will work out the issues related to the safety screw and the noise, including the scraping noise. I do not know if the redesign will feature a better grind consistency. If I had to do it again, I would seriously research the Ascaso mini grinder because it offers similar stepless adjustment and I have not yet heard of these issues with that grinder. Between this incarnation of the QuickMill and the Rocky, it's a tradeoff because the grind consistency may not be as good on the QuickMill, but the tweakability is better.

When I get my Macap M4 stepless, doserless, it will be interesting to compare the two grinders. I will also be PIDing my Silvia next week, so it will be interesting to see how both grinders perform with the new temperature control. Again, I may sell the QuickMill, or I may keep it for French press.

[atomicpop]

Any word on the Apollo grinder that QM has on their site?

[Tag Team Jesus]

That Apollo looks pretty sweet. The Replica grinder looks even sweeter, but the specifications don't tell you anything. Flat/conical? Stepped/stepless? Good/not good?

Anyway, I have no idea if any U.S. vendor carries the Apollo and whether it would be any better than the Chris version anyway. I just did a Google search on the Apollo and the first page of results were all links to European vendors and forums. So, it looks like it's on that side of the Atlantic. If you are looking for a QuickMill, stay posted to Chris in the spring. But, really, at this point, I would do some research about Ascaso grinders for a stepless grinder in this price range. I previously mentioned the Ascaso I-mini, but I found out today they have other ones too that are a bit more expensive but very well priced still. I don't know the difference, but these are called the I-2/-2D models, and can be found at 1st-line, among other places. 1st-Line may be able to say more on the matter.

CoffeeGeek Ascaso first look: http://www.coffeegeek.com/prorevi...ook/innova/details

Does anyone have an Ascaso (formerly Innova)? Does it produce really good grind consistency? I wish I had known about these before I decided on the QuickMill. It would be really interesting to find out what's the next best stepless grinder after the Mazzer mini and Macap M4.