My new HG one just arrived!

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
User avatar
rpavlis
Posts: 1799
Joined: 12 years ago

#1: Post by rpavlis »

My new Hg one just arrived! It is a beautiful machine. I carefully unpacked it and then put the feet on it. When I attempted to put the handle on I noticed a problem! The threads into which it was supposed to be screwed were not properly tapped. I simply took the correct bottoming tap and in a few seconds I had the problem solved. Everything else was perfect!

I ground some beans and pulled the first shot. I discovered the starting point suggested by the instructions produced too coarse a grind. I ground an entire box of minute rice. Then I adjusted the collar so that the burrs were closed near "f". I set the index nearly all the way around back to "e" and ground a batch for my La Pavoni. There was a lot of crema, and the shot was decent. I do not want to zero in on it any more until tomorrow morning.

The grind is very fluffy. I find the La Pavoni portafilter only holds 13 grams this way. Hg one is very easy to turn, though grinding minute rice took a bit of muscle.

The "build" of this device is extraordinary. The system for transferring the ground coffee to the filter basket is near ideal. It is especially wonderful for me because I hate electrical gadgets that are needlessly electrical! The slow turning burrs guarantee that there will not be excessive heating during grinding.

I will examine the Hg one ground coffee with a metallurgical microscope when I get the correct grind setting.

OldNuc
Posts: 2973
Joined: 10 years ago

#2: Post by OldNuc »

Sounds like a nice new toy. :D Now you can compare it to the rest of the stable of grinders.

User avatar
UseIt4Toddy
Posts: 66
Joined: 11 years ago

#3: Post by UseIt4Toddy »

Congrats! I adore my new HG-One also. Perfectly suited for my single-dosing needs. I haven't played with it and my Europiccola as often as I should, I'll admit, which is mostly a function of the extra time required for cooling when dialing in the machine with a new grinder. Last week, the difference between the pump and lever baseline on a given coffee seemed to be roughly 4 steps coarser for the Pavoni. Hopefully, this or a similar relatively-constant variance presents itself at least for drinkable starting points. Enjoy!

User avatar
drgary
Team HB
Posts: 14345
Joined: 14 years ago

#4: Post by drgary »

rpavlis wrote:The grind is very fluffy. I find the La Pavoni portafilter only holds 13 grams this way.

... The slow turning burrs guarantee that there will not be excessive heating during grinding.
Robert,

Congratulations on your new HG One!

If you're using a double La Pavoni basket and grinding sufficiently fine, you should be able to get far more than 13 gm into the basket. I have other comparable grinders and easily fit 17 or 18 gm in that size.

I appreciate your love of things that can be done by hand, so this is not a question about that. Does the heating of electrically rotating burrs make much difference in the flavor of the coffee if you're brewing it at near boiling temperature? Jim Schulman questioned that assumption, and I wonder too, especially when working with electric grinders that are optimized for espresso and run at about 400 rpm if memory serves.
Gary
LMWDP#308

What I WOULD do for a good cup of coffee!

ziggomatic
Posts: 128
Joined: 10 years ago

#5: Post by ziggomatic »

I myself just bought one less than a month ago, and have had a similarly amazing experience with it. I went through 4 boxes of minute rice, and probably around 3 lbs of coffee, I think now she has broken in very nicely. Delicious espresso every morning is an absolute treat to wake up to.
I'm currently going through all the local espresso blends I had previously tried with my old grinder (Baratza Vario) with very pleasing results.

One big thing I have noticed is that there is less need for a drastic change in grind settings between coffees (light roast to medium roasts). Where as before on my Vario I would sometimes move about 20-24 micro steps, i'm noticing I only have to move about 5-7 notches on the HG One. Makes things a lot easier to dial in new coffees. Am very happy with the purchase, and its actually nice to now have my Vario set as a dedicated drip grinder.

User avatar
rpavlis (original poster)
Posts: 1799
Joined: 12 years ago

#6: Post by rpavlis (original poster) »

I have the HG one grind adjustment about perfect now. I made two cups of espresso this morning, one with the La Pavoni the other with the MCAL using a medium roast Kenyan coffee. With the "range" adjustment set so that the burrs touch at about "f" on the scale, the grind adjustment seems to be very near "b". The machine turns much easier than I thought it would, and it is extremely smooth. I made a Braille chart and put it on the wall above the grinder!

While I was grinding the box of minute rice it seemed to me that the "minute" particles of rice that resulted from grinding it would be a wonderful breakfast cereal. So this morning's breakfast cereal was hot "cream of rice". I brought a cup of milk to boil and added a quarter cup of the rice ground with the Hg one. The small particle size resulted in its being an instant hot cereal. I added a bit of vanilla, sweetener, and threw in some chopped frozen mango. (Other fruit would have been just as good). Hg one as a cereal maker is a wonderful thing. Because there is so little grounds retention the "rice cereal" was not contaminated with coffee. Hg one rice cereal is so good that I intend to have it often for breakfast. Who would have thought that it could serve "double duty!" It is so good that I think I will grind more instant rice from time to time even after the burrs are seasoned!

I do think that the slow moving burrs are a good thing. All the energy that one puts into the system goes into heat. I have worked with polymers a lot. If one attempt to saw them or grind them rapidly the teeth of the saw or grinder get locally so hot that the ceiling temperature of the polymer is exceeded, this is usually at least 300C, and can be higher. This results in depolymerisation, and the strong odour of the monomer. (This can be a very bad thing for those working with polymers because many have high acute or chronic toxicity.) If one saw a piece of polymer slowly the heat is dissipated rapidly enough that this does not happen.

The workmanship of the Hg one is extraordinary. It is strange that the threads for mounting the handle were faulty. The threads looked like they were cut with a taper tap. When I ran a bottoming tap into the bore the problem was instantly solved. (I normally use a taper tap on aluminium first, and then finish with a bottoming tap when I make things like this. Perhaps they used this technique and somehow did not do the bottoming tap step.)

When I got near the ideal grind adjustment I could get close to 15 grams into a La Pavoni basket. The shots as I got near ideal were excellent with lots of crema, so much, in fact that with the La Pavoni the cup I used ran over a bit with a single pull!

User avatar
achipman
Posts: 190
Joined: 10 years ago

#7: Post by achipman »

It is strange that the threads for mounting the handle were faulty. The threads looked like they were cut with a taper tap. When I ran a bottoming tap into the bore the problem was instantly solved.
Have you notified Paul and Craig about this apparent defect/qa issue? In my experience they have been more than ready to help and would be very interested to know about a quality issue.
"Another coffee thing??? I can't keep up with you... next you'll be growing coffee in our back yard." - My wife

DanoM
Posts: 1375
Joined: 11 years ago

#8: Post by DanoM »

rpavlis wrote:While I was grinding the box of minute rice it seemed to me that the "minute" particles of rice that resulted from grinding it would be a wonderful breakfast cereal. So this morning's breakfast cereal was hot "cream of rice"... Who would have thought that it could serve "double duty!" It is so good that I think I will grind more instant rice from time to time even after the burrs are seasoned!
I liked the idea so much when I was cleaning out a TreSpade La Pavoni grinder that I did the same with my regular rice. The TreSpade grinder is now a dedicated rice grinder, as I got it at a thrift store for $7. Takes longer to cook regular rice, like the difference between grits and instant grits I guess. Makes a good rice polenta too.

Congratulations on that HG One. Many great cups in store!
LMWDP #445

User avatar
rpavlis (original poster)
Posts: 1799
Joined: 12 years ago

#9: Post by rpavlis (original poster) »

The Hg one is still an amazing device. The build quality is extraordinary. I seem to have mastered adjustment including a feel for the rate of grind change with rotation of the adjustment system. Grinding a box of instant rice resulted in substantially faster grind rate. It takes muscle to grind instant rice, but it is very easy to turn with coffee beans. (And I am even more enthusiastic about using the ground rice as instant cream of rice breakfast cereal. The ratio of milk to water needs to be exact, and I achieved that by adding the ground rice to the milk in small portions and stirring today. I used a cup of milk, and perhaps a third of a cup of ground rice. I cut up and entire banana and added it to it after it was cooked and thickened. A wonderful breakfast cereal!)

I also contacted Hg one about the problem I had with the improperly tapped handle bore. Most people do not have a set of bottoming taps to deal with the problem as I did! They contacted the supplier.

I installed the anti static wiper. It seems to work very well. Without it, I was surprised at the extreme static problem even though it is humid here this time of the year. Another approach would be to wet the beans slightly. I will try that approach later.

KingSmono
Posts: 20
Joined: 10 years ago

#10: Post by KingSmono »

rpavlis wrote:I also contacted Hg one about the problem I had with the improperly tapped handle bore. Most people do not have a set of bottoming taps to deal with the problem as I did! They contacted the supplier.
I have an HG One (TiN 83mm burrs) on the way, and am now a bit worried. I definitely do not have a set of bottoming taps on hand, and would not even know what to do with them if I did. Can you tell me exactly what to look for to see if my handle is not properly tapped? Will the handle just not screw onto the flywheel / lever?

Post Reply