So, those of you with Mazzer grinders (and maybe others ), do your burrs have a gap between the bottom of the burrs and the top of the carriers? Both of my Majors have a ridge around the outside edge of the burrs (where they meet the carrier, obviously not on the 'toothed' side) that stands them off of the surface that they are screwed to by a millimeter or a mil and a half, and coffee accumulates under the burrs. This coffee isn't cycled through with each new dose, but gets under the burrs in the first or second dose that goes through the grinders after cleaning, and remains there until the next time the grinder is cleaned. Is this a burr cooling gap? It would seem that there would have to be less accumulation to function as a cooling gap. Is it possible that I have the wrong carriers or burrs?
What do y'all have? Anyone out there with a clue for me?
(yeah, I cleaned both the grinders yesterday...
Oh, and if anyone is considering upgrading to a Major and are wondering what to do with their Mini...)

An espresso grinder imponderable?

To help those reading along, below is a photo of the backside of the Super Jolly's grinding burr. The outer perimeter (lighter color ring) is machined to assure it's parallel with the opposing face. The grinder's carrier has a raised circle that mates with the burr's ring, assuring that the burr centers itself. According to Michael Teahan, some burrs have no centering ring, i.e, they are completely flat on the bottom. In the case of the Mazzers, there is a small gap and indeed it does fill with loose grounds on the first use. Evidently that caused the Mazzer design engineers no concern, and I agree with them.

HB wrote:there is a small gap and indeed it does fill with loose grounds on the first use. Evidently that caused the Mazzer design engineers no concern, and I agree with them.

Yep, the Major's burrs look remarkably similar. I'm not sure that there is a a design issue, but those grounds that fill that gap are a week old if I remove my burrs every week! Since I only take the thing down that far every coupla months, it begins to smell a bit like old grounds far sooner than I'd like it to. I guess I'm concerned about gasketing that gap. I dunno, am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Would I be less worried if those grounds cycled through and became part of every next basket I filled? Is there a problem with putting some gasket material down to keep the grounds out?

Psyd wrote:Is there a problem with putting some gasket material down to keep the grounds out?

You could, but grounds will get trapped there anyway. Here's a before picture of my grinder's innards after a couple month's use. You may wish to avert your eyes:


See the rest of the story in Cleaning a Mazzer Mini

How much and where these ground coffee ridges build up is a matter of the design and how often you clean. Grinding is a messy business, there will always be some left behind, especially those designs that rely on a sweeping mechanism instead of straight-thru grinding.

HB wrote:How much and where these ground coffee ridges build up is a matter of the design and how often you clean. Grinding is a messy business, there will always be some left behind, especially those designs that rely on a sweeping mechanism instead of straight-thru grinding.

Well, with the Majors, other than what gets trapped underneath the burrs, what goes in must come out with my cleaning and sweeping technique. At least according to the .1 g scale that I get to use. I still clean fairly often, but it seems that my grinders are smelling a bit stale long before I'm getting buildup anything like the photo you've posted.

The conicals are no better (Kony)