Lonely Grinders, Part 2

The second grinder is a bit more of a mystery. Like the first one, it's been painted and had decals applied, only not quite so nicely.


This one was so dirty and the burrs so clogged that when I took it out of the box and stuck some stale beans in to test it, they wouldn't drop through the burrs to the drawer. When I pulled the burrs out, the channels in the bottom burr were completely clogged with a concentrated tar of old coffee oils that nothing could get through. They took quite a bit of soaking and scrubbing, but, in the end, were in excellent shape with very little wear (I guess all that goo was a fine protective coating).


It's a finger-jointed drawer, but the rest of the box seems just nailed together.



Inside is clean and springs are intact.


I've seen this 'hourglass' type bottom adjuster before, but I don't necessarily associate it with any particular manufacturer.


Maybe the crank gives some clues, but I don't recognize anything.


It grinds well, though, fine enough to choke the Caravel (and the Synchrony, too). Not sure if it's a keeper or not. I'll have to give it a little bit more of a try.

IMAWriter wrote:George, looks like you have a certifiable case of manual grinder influenza.

Tell me about it. I've got a Pe De Mokka grinder arriving in a couple of days, and I'm keeping my eyes open for a KyM, an older Zass, maybe a C.A. Lenhartz, and a Gesko. Heck, it's cheaper than collecting espresso machines. The plan is to get a couple of good examples that can grind fine enough for espresso from each manufacturer and have a nice display area for them.

As mine is a stepless grinder, how big (in seconds) would you say each step is? Or have you noticed much in the way of longer/shorter pulls per step?

It's a quarter turn between steps, and with the blend I'm currently using, it seems to be about a 10-15 second difference per step, provided I don't change anything else. But I find that by varying my tamp and minor variations in lever pressure, I can keep shot time (and what's in the cup) fairly consistent between steps until it gets just too fine or too coarse to be usable for espresso.

I don't know, GVDub, a red-and-blue hand grinder seems to go well with an orange Caravel and those multi-colored cups you've got in the background.

I'm sensing a worldwide shortage of vintage hand grinders coming on....

George,

#2 may be an Armin Trosser, though I'm hoping that Doug chimes in here. The basic handle and burr adjustment look just like one I've got. Also, the hopper of mine is wood. Could be.

I remember that wonderful flood of great looking mills, mainly new-looking Zass's, on eBay. How do you say "mother-load" in Deutsch? I was able to pick one up too. I certainly didn't need it, but the wood work looked (and is) beautiful. I was also intrigued by the burr-adjustment on top. It grinds incredibly well, but I'm beginning to see that the adjustment knob on top made a simple act too complex - I'll get into how the burr gets adjusted later (got to get back to work). What I really like is its diminutive size. This will be perfect for taking on the road.

I live a little too close to DE now, so I've had to give up looking at Ebay. My grinder closet is full, and I just can't justify any more. Now I've taken to rotating weekly, to have the joy of using each one. It usually takes a day to get it dialed in. Then, if there is more than one coffee on hand, its nice to have two grinders dialed in. Then, if I want to make two consecutive shots, its nice to have two dialed in for the same coffee. Then, there are the machines - let's see, Caravel at work, PV at home, and a very new (today) surprise open-boiler 58-mm spring lever (but that's another thread). Let's see, three coffee makers x two coffees x two shots - my math is rusty, but that's at least twelve grinders. Maybe I do need to start checking ebay again....

RAS wrote:I'll get into how the burr gets adjusted later (got to get back to work). What I really like is its diminutive size. This will be perfect for taking on the road.
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Like this?

This will be the last one for a bit, I swear.

I mentioned that I had a Pe De Mokka on the way. It showed up today. I pulled it from the box, gave it a once over, and realized that whoever had owned this had loved it and taken care of it. The burrs didn't even need cleaning. The eBay seller had said that it had been her grandmother's, and that grandma had used it everyday to make her morning espresso. I believe it. It's perfect. 45-50 turns for 14 grams with moderate effort. It's quick, and it's more than fine enough.








It's a model 510, which I guess is the countertop version of the 520?


So here's the current collection of grinders that I'm keeping. The '30s Pe De countertop with the bakelite drawer doesn't do consistent espresso grinds (if the beans need a grind on the coarse end of the espresso spectrum, it can do okay, but won't go quite fine enough sometimes), so I'm selling it to help pay for my grinder and coffee roasting habits.
From left to right: The new Pe De, the disguised Leinbrock's Ideal, the small Leinbrock's, and the two no-names (or at least I don't know what they are at the moment, but they both grind really fine and well).

GVDub wrote:A couple weeks ago someone on a military base in Germany put up a whole slew of hand grinders. Most of them started getting bids pretty quickly (and there were some nice ones), but there was a pair that wasn't getting any love, probably because they'd both been painted red and had decals put on them. Placed together as one item, they were sad and lonely until I came along and bid. Nobody else wanted them, so I got them for the minimum. They arrived this week, and I did a little cleanup and some testing.

Hey George, I was watching all those hand grinders too! Great that they worked out for you.
Cheers!
Craig.

That is the "newest" Dienes Mokka label. I think the dome-top design provides the best stability for the upper end of the axle. I've only met one Dienes that did not grind well for espresso, but I didn't give it much of a chance. It was an older one, so maybe it had been damaged. The blue PeDe I use daily is also very old, and it still grinds very finely and evenly.

I think you'll appreciate the "speed" of the Dienes for those times that you're in a hurry...

PC