Baratza Forte - Coarse Grind After Cleaning

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savaytse66
Posts: 7
Joined: 12 years ago

#1: Post by savaytse66 »

Hello all. It's been a while since visiting after picking up my 1st espresso setup: a Baratza Forte with a Quickmill Vetrano 2B. It's been a pretty solid set up for a beginner like me, but I ran into a problem this morning.

I removed the hopper and upper burr to give the grinder a thorough cleaning between batches of beans. That went fine, but after putting everything back together, I am getting a grind that is way too coarse for espresso, even towards the finest setting. I usually hover between 2 and 3 on the coarse adjuster on the left depending on my roast. Now, setting it to 1C, I still get gushers out of the espresso machine. Gushers to the point that I get massive squirting from my naked PF and have to pull the lever off after about 5 seconds.

When I removed the upper burr for the first time, it was pretty hard to break loose, but once I did, it twisted off easily. When I put it back on, I did not use nearly as much force to tighten it, but rather "finger tightened" it, then gave a small twist with the burr tool to snug it up, per the manual.

So, any advice? I don't want to try any fine adjusting since it has always worked fine, and from what I can tell, this shouldn't be necessary at every cleaning. But I'll do whatever I need.

Thanks

kize
Posts: 271
Joined: 13 years ago

#2: Post by kize »

Your upper burr carrier is not seated to the stop. Set grinder macro and micro levers to the bottom of machine ( coarsest setting). Remove the upper burr carrier and clean all grinds out. Re install making sure carrier is tight- it should tighten all the way against the stop. You will see a gap if not seated properly. It is possible that the calibration settings have shifted- and a recalibration is necessary.

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savaytse66 (original poster)
Posts: 7
Joined: 12 years ago

#3: Post by savaytse66 (original poster) replying to kize »

Not sure what you mean by the "stop". All I can do is tighten it, and tighten it some more. The manual says not to over tighten, so I am being cautious. I could certainly put more force into it, but a visual sure would be nice. Is there a point where iI should be able to "feel" it hit this stop? As far as a gap, do you mean between the burrs?

savaytse66 (original poster)
Posts: 7
Joined: 12 years ago

#4: Post by savaytse66 (original poster) »

kize wrote:Your upper burr carrier is not seated to the stop. Set grinder macro and micro levers to the bottom of machine ( coarsest setting). Remove the upper burr carrier and clean all grinds out. Re install making sure carrier is tight- it should tighten all the way against the stop. You will see a gap if not seated properly. It is possible that the calibration settings have shifted- and a recalibration is necessary.
Ok, after speaking with Baratza and trying this a few more time, you pretty much nailed it. I'm not sure what was restricting it, but the top burr simply was not threaded in tight enough. There is not a "stop", per se, but after making sure the grinding chamber, and especially the threads, were completely free of grounds, the top burr threaded in more easily to the point where there was a clear change in resistance. Once done, I checked my touch point and found it to be around 2H, which is a little coarser than factory default. I used the adjustment tool to re-calibrate it back to 2Q, and life seems good again.

kize
Posts: 271
Joined: 13 years ago

#5: Post by kize »

Sorry about not clarifying the stop. If you look at the carrier- its threaded like a "tapered groove". The stop is that point when it won't go -reasonably- any tighter. It's made of some sort of nylon- so effectively you could crank on it till it breaks. There is a definite point in which the upper burr is seated. Once you remove and reinstall it a few times you get the "feel" of it. Glad you got it sorted out.