drgary wrote:With opposed jar openers. I showed this in the beta thread. BTW we were able to adjust the LIDO 2 for different espresso machines and pull consistent shots. But like you, two big guys (me and yakster) found grinding for espresso pretty tough.

+1
I did not experience any problem of dialing in and grinding for espresso, no locking, unlocking, and consistency issue either, but really tough for grinding. I am also a big guy in Taiwan, 6 feet, 187 lbs.

If the locking ring is stuck do try an elastic band around it as a grip - it solved the problem for me when it was fairly thoroughly tightened! (The same works for jars of course;) )

I managed to over loosen my bottom ring again (are we back on stiff knobs and lubrication?!) when adjusting for french press. Anyone else have this problem - am I doing something wrong? I'm trying to reset to 0 (just to see how much it's moved) each time before trying a grind setting and am worried about grinds caught in the thread... am I worrying needlessly or should I be trying to clean them thoroughly?!

In other news, I think the french press was the best I've ever tasted... short pre infusion and stir followed by the rest of the water at about a 17:1 ratio and steeped for a further 3m30s... ground at 1 full turn + 6 from where I think 0 is now... (2 from the original mark)

I have run about 2 kilograms of coffee through the Lido 2 set for espresso and have not experienced any difficulty grinding or jammed rings. I have experienced locking rings loosening during grinding but that has been attributed to operator error, rapping ring area to shake loose static cling.

I used mine as my primary espresso grinder while on vacation in Colorado for a week last month, serving all the coffee needs of four people on a Pavoni. My take is that precision adjustments to the grind setting are hard to do as it tends to slip a bit when locking the rings down. Also, I didn't enjoy grinding lightly roasted beans very much. But if you are grinding darker roasts, and are working with a machine that is forgiving of grind setting (which includes most manual levers), then the Lido2 will do just fine as a temporary espresso grinder, and is capable of producing very tasty shots when everything is adjusted right. In other words, it isn't ideal, but it will do in a pinch.

I would agree with your observations, considering that the Lido 2 was not designed or intended to be a primary espresso grinder I would say it does a fine job as long as you do not try running lightly roasted beans through it. Precision grind adjustment for espresso requires close attention to detail to get it right.

You can never have too many grinders.

+1

Seeing this latest addition to the Lido 2 discussion got me thinking that I really wish I had something cool or useful to add. I just don't. The Lido 2 is turning out to be the most boring grinder I've ever used. No drama or idiosyncrasies. I dump beans in (typically 40-45 grams), grind them with ease (light roast, large beans, peaberries... just doesn't matter with the grinder set to - anywhere from 1'0" (one full turn only) to 1'8" (one turn + 8 hash-marks)), then dump into whatever brewing thing I'm using (so far, pourover with paper filter, Chemex with Able Kone, press-pot), and start brewing. Coffee has just been fantastic.

Okay, one observation I've made is that some coffees, even with a wet-finger-stir of the beans right before grinding, does result in a bit of static cling. No biggie though - a simple thump of the grinder into the plastic base usually dislodges it all.

So all I have to say is thank you to Barb and Doug for making a perfectly boring grinder. The thing just works.

Considering that the Lido 2 has demonstrated the ability to grind beans of any roast level that is beyond raw with a particle size from almost dust to perk pot I would say that it is a hit. Its idiosyncrasies are hardly insurmountable or a deal breaker.

I agree with RAS, not that much to say that hasn't been said. I recently visited my folks for a quick trip, and I make a habit of bringing my own coffee while I visit to brew in their coffee maker or bring along brewing equipment to holiday dinners. I usually like to strip down their grinder and clean out the burrs, or false burrs in this case, but this time I just ground up the coffee in the Lido 2 which worked out great.



Don't even get me started on their choice of grinder. I bought them a Baratza, but they prefer the Cuisanart because their darker roasts clogged up the Baratza.

Since getting my Lido 2, I've been using the grinding stance recommended by Doug and Barb with the grinder at a 30-45 degree angle and the base supported by my hip. This worked well for me and I felt that I had the grinder dialed in for my brew preps. Recently, however, I've been wondering about the effect of holding the grinder at an angle on the bean feeding rate and the resulting grind. I only grind a small amount of beans at a time (typically 12-15 grams) and the column of beans in the grinder is definitely at an angle with respect to the vertical axis of the grinder when using the hip supported grinding method. A few days ago, I experimented with grinding while sitting with the grinder gripped between my legs, leaving the grinder completely vertical during the process. There was a noticeable change in the grind output. Using this method, I had to coursen the grind setting by 2 tick marks to achieve the same extraction in the brew (aeropress and pourover) that I was getting previously when using the hip supported method. Also, using the same coffee and prep method, the resulting brew with from the vertical grind seemed to be cleaner and sweeter to my taste (but I will need to experiment more before making any more claims to this). Has anybody else experimented with this or noticed a difference in grind output depending on grinder orientation?

After almost six weeks of using the Lido 2, I have nothing but positive things to say about it and would highly recommend it to anybody in the market for a quality drip grinder.