I have had my Baratza Vario for a little over a year. Normally I only use it for Espresso. Because of this, I almost always do adjustments using the micro adjuster on the left of the machine and I hardly ever use the macro adjuster on the right of the machine.

However, yesterday I tried to do a grind for a french press. I set the grind to as coarse as it would go, but visually looking at the coffee grinds they were not much larger than my espresso grind. They did not look as large as sea salt does for example. The french press coffee was pretty bad.

I adjusted the grind back to my normal espresso setting and now my espresso is filling a 3oz shot glass in about 15 seconds (way too coarse) but it is at the same setting I have been using for a long time.

It feels like to me that the Macro grind adjuster is not working correctly. Could someone please help me troubleshoot this issue?

Thanks!
Jeremy

that's why people don't recommend the Vario if you're going to change the grind that drastically. Each time you change the setting you need to grind some beans to throw away to settle the burrs. Also, I don't think the Vario with the ceramic burrs is really suited for French press.

I did grind beans through it both times after the adjustment finished. Still didn't make much difference.

I'm talking like 25grams worth. But you'll never get back to the exact spot after you leave it. I'm not going to comment on the French press aspect as the Vario with ceramic burrs isn't suited for that.

When adjusting back to espresso was the grinder running? If not maybe coffee compacted onto the burrs. You may have to clean them out and re-zero the grinder.

I'm using the Vario since last December and I must say going from finer to coarser is an exercise in frustration for me.

I was going to post in my own thread after my morning experience but this thread is right on the same topic.

The point about the burrs having to settle seems to be right on but I have now idea how it works out internally or why so much coffee has to be wasted when going coarser; and 25g is nowhere near what I experienced. It was at least 200g if not more this morning.

So I just changed beans -- going with fresher beans, you typically have to go coarser right? Still, you never know so I began with the same setting as I was currently using, 2-J. I kept the dose fixed (16g). I began by running the grinder empty just to purge it, and shook it a bit to dislodge any leftovers. I'm pretty sure the Vario was totally empty beginning the process.

First try at 2-J choked the machine (nothing got out after 15+ sec).
Then at 2-M, choked the machine.
Then at 2-R, choked the machine.
Then at 2-W, choked the machine. Visually the grinds were not different than at 2-J.
Then at 3-A, choked the machine.
Then at 3-J, choked the machine but got a few drops. Visually, still no difference.
Then at 3-W, choked the machine.
Then at 4-A, choked the machine.
Then at 4-M, choked the machine, still no difference visually in the grinds produced.

At this point, I knew this was not normal -- I never grind in coarse-3 for espresso. I ran the grinder and slid the levers all the way to the coarser setting, then reduced to test calibration -- motor began to strain at about 1-J so I think it's well calibrated. I reverted to 2-R, still choked the machine.

Got to 2-W, and now I could see the grinds were visually much coarser than before. Pulled a shot in ~10 sec.
Reduced to 2-R, still too coarse.
Reduced to 2-M, still too coarse.

Can you guess the final setting? 2-J.

So I spent half an hour, spent 14x16 = 224g of coffee and ended up at the initial setting...

In retrospect it seems I should have left the setting just a bit coarser and use up 2-3 shots to let the burrs adjust. Still, I can't understand how the burrs would need to grind 40g of coffee to "settle" to a coarser grind. Is this the same on other grinders? E.g. if I ditched the Vario for, say, an equivalent-grind-quality grinder such as a Quamar M80E, would I have to fiddle as much with the grind setting each time I change grind settings?

I don't know any other grinders that go from espresso to French press that would be comparable except for the forte, which I have never used.

changes in espresso settings just require a smaller 10g purge on most machines.

neutro wrote:If I ditched the Vario for, say, an equivalent-grind-quality grinder such as a Quamar M80E, would I have to fiddle as much with the grind setting each time I change grind settings?

The Vario has some issues with calibration and consistency because of its flexible, plastic, inner works.

It's a better brew grinder with the optional metal burrs than with the ceramic burrs -- but even with the ceramic burrs it's still good. Even though the ceramic burrs are nominally the "all purpose" choice, there's some question about which burrs are really better for all purpose use. The Baratza folks say they prefer the metal burrs for SO espresso as well as brew; but the ceramic burrs for espresso blend. Why there should be a distinction escapes me, but I don't know the grinders well enough.

Why you had problems grinding for FP, I don't know.

The Quamar doesn't have any reputation as a brew grinder that I know of. You might try calling 1st Line or WLL.

The Forte is very similar to the Vario, just much stronger. The Vario perfected, you might say. Same burr choices, but without the calibration and consistency issues. The Forte is probably the best choice for those who choose to use one grinder for both espresso and brew.

However, while the Vario and Forte are excellent brew grinders. They're merely good/very good espresso grinders. There are much better.

Many of us choose to use two grinders, one for each purpose. A two grinder setup absorbs a lot of space and money, but this is HB.

Rich

boar_d_laze wrote: [snipped]
A two grinder setup absorbs a lot of space and money, but this is HB.

Rich

Damn STRAIGHT!!!