I recently decided to clean my Vario for the first time (taking burrs apart etc, what a mission, they are so tight)

Before cleaning I had my grind dialed in on 1 (finest) on the macro setting, now after cleaning, for espresso I had had to change my macro grind setting to 3 - which is quite a major change - Anyone know the reason for this?

Also it seems that the settings dont seem to stick as I keep on having to make adjustments every day to get the grind right again.

update: Tried my grinder again today - cant even get the machine to choke on the grinds using finest setting :/

I haven't had any issues like that with my Vario, but I wonder if you have the top burr holder tightened all the way up? If you use the provided tool it's tight, but make sure you get the burr holder all the way in.

Give Baratza an email or call and they'll get back to you. They are generally very good with service and diagnosis of issues - and perhaps they've even seen your problem before and know the issue.

Another possibility is that you need to re-calibrate the grinder. I recommend getting a "real" 2mm hex key for this, as the one supplied by Baratza is soft and quickly rounds over.

Also, if you removed the lower burr, it's critically important that all surfaces were clean and free of any stray coffee before re-installing the lower burr again. I believe that if this is not taken care of, you could have burr misalignment issues as the lower burr may not seat fully and be level.

Two very critical things when removing the burrs on the vario, or any grinder really.

1-the surfaces where the burr mounts must be 100% clean of any debris

2-make sure the upper burr carrier is tightened down all the way

There shouldn't be a need to recalibrate after taking apart the burr chamber, but there is always the possibility.

My 7 month old Vario W needs to be cleaned every week due to my use of dark oily beans.
An air compressor hose blows the unit clean after taking the top burr off. A tool helps, but strong fingers will do it too. After using this grinder on two very different espresso machines, I find it's happy at M on the left side and 4 on the right. Give a few notches up and down on the lettered side. I suspect that calibration would only be needed if I was to switch grinds to something coarser but all I ever use it for is espresso so what works, stays working for me.
Calibration is needed for those switching grinds in the extremes? yes?

I suspect the mating surfaces of the grinder don't always line up correctly or some other detail of construction. I've just found a sweet spot and stick with it.

Dave

yakster wrote:Also, if you removed the lower burr, it's critically important that all surfaces were clean and free of any stray coffee before re-installing the lower burr again. I believe that if this is not taken care of, you could have burr misalignment issues as the lower burr may not seat fully and be level.

Nope just the top burr for cleaning - it has been replaced correctly (i.e tightened all the way).

I recalibrated one last time (havent been grinding for anything other than espresso) and I have seem to come right on getting a consistent grind and it is no longer "sliding" - I am not sure if by removing burrs the calibration slide changed or if it was not tight enough to begin with.

D'Laine wrote:My 7 month old Vario W needs to be cleaned every week due to my use of dark oily beans.
An air compressor hose blows the unit clean after taking the top burr off. A tool helps, but strong fingers will do it too. After using this grinder on two very different espresso machines, I find it's happy at M on the left side and 4 on the right. Give a few notches up and down on the lettered side. I suspect that calibration would only be needed if I was to switch grinds to something coarser but all I ever use it for is espresso so what works, stays working for me.
Calibration is needed for those switching grinds in the extremes? yes?

I suspect the mating surfaces of the grinder don't always line up correctly or some other detail of construction. I've just found a sweet spot and stick with it.

Dave

Whats the difference between the Vario and Vario W? Just ceramic versus steel burrs?

davebm wrote:Whats the difference between the Vario and Vario W? Just ceramic versus steel burrs?

Vario is a timer based grinder.
Vario-W is a weight based grinder.

Burrs are ceramic and identical unless you special order for the steel burrs. (As I understand it.)

Very cool. I didnt know Baratza had weight based grinders.