Baratza Vario porta holder, anyone actually use it?

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mariobarba
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#1: Post by mariobarba »

My regular prep routine usually involves resting the portafilter on the metal forks with an OE dosing funnel attached and rotating it as the coffee grinds to ensure an even distribution. Yesterday, I had some people over and was going to be making more milk drinks than usual so I tried using the porta holder as it was designed so as to free up my hands to prep the milk.

I ended up with and uneven mountain in my basket and coffee all over the counter in the process.
Does anyone actually use the porta holder on their vario or is it really a useless feature?

ryguy
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#2: Post by ryguy »

I do regularly. I use a yogurt cup dosing funnel and it all makes it in there - there's not much gap between the chute and the funnel. Any grounds on my counter seem to come more from static on the funnel and the tamper. I get a mound in the center of the basket that can usually be evened out by shifting the pf around. Occasionally it's still uneven so I'll do WDT. I use a small dose so that may help it stay in the basket more than it does for others.
Ryan

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mariobarba (original poster)
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#3: Post by mariobarba (original poster) »

Do you have a portion of the funnel cut out of the back? how does the top hook lock into the pf with the funnel there? Just to clarify, I mean use the porta holder without any hands so it hangs on its own.

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JmanEspresso
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#4: Post by JmanEspresso »

You can use the porta-holder without holding the PF level, but you will need to adjust the forks specifically to your PF so it locks in as close to level as possible. And its going to be tricky to use a dosing funnel/yogurtcup/WDT helper thing while trying to do this.

That said, when I used the Vario for espresso(its been a while since my Vario has been used for anything but brewed coffee), I would take the whole portaholder thing out, and just hold the PF in the air, under the chute. Allows you to freely move the PF around to get a non-wdt-needing distribution, but also if you like the WDT(I do), there is nothing stopping you from using a dosing funnel/yogurt cup, because you are just holding the PF in the air, there is no hieght restriction.

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yakster
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#5: Post by yakster »

I don't use the hook, and actually removed it within days of receiving my Vario. My practice is to rest the portafilter or bare filter basket on the forks and grind into the basket while I rotate it for a more even distribution. I can rotate the basket (with the OE funnel on it) with my thumb if I'm grinding into a basket in the portafilter or I just hold a bare basket in my thumb and forefinger and rotate it that way.

I have the hook... somewhere with my grinder parts but have no desire to find it.
-Chris

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mariobarba (original poster)
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#6: Post by mariobarba (original poster) replying to yakster »

That's what I thought. So just to be sure, no one really goes "hands free" with the Vario?

john_ertw
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#7: Post by john_ertw »

I do what yakster described, but I have yet to remove the hook (I did lower the forks to allow some movement of the portafilter). I think I'm going to remove the hook though as it does interfere with rotating the portafilter.

Dogshot
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#8: Post by Dogshot »

I use the hopper to hold a day or so of coffee rather than single dose, and I use the timer to get very close to my dose, but ultimately I weigh every single dose. I don't have a scale large enough to hold my entire pf, so I tare the scale using my basket, hold the basket while grinding, then weigh, do a fine adjustment, and then go. It takes less time to do than to write (almost).

The timer is not reliable enough to get my dose within .3gm.

Mark
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orphanespresso
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#9: Post by orphanespresso »

+1 remove the hook

True hands free operation

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jfrescki
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#10: Post by jfrescki »

I've ground into the Vario basket for a long time. So much cleaner, and still get a great pull.

I weighed the beans in the basket (single dose), dumped them in the hopper, returned the basket and grind.
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