Has anyone used the Mahlkonig double grinder? I got a steal on an Elektra at Fortuna Enterprises, a Greensboro NC vendor who sells mostly to coffee shops, but was very welcoming to me as a home user. I went back the other day to pick up some cups and he'd just replaced his Mahlkonig K30 on his espresso bar with a new grinder that was slightly wider, but not quite as deep and had two hoppers and two grinding mechanisms instead of one.

Nasi, the owner, demonstrated it for me and it seemed very cool. It is stepless (I can never remember which version of the K30 is stepless, but this grinder is). It has a timer programable on each side to .01 seconds, and had all the other conveniences of the grind on demand of the K30.

I thought it would be perfect to have decaf on one side and regular on the other, but he had it set up with an espresso blend for straight shots on one side and one for milk drinks on the other (do we need three grinders?).

I am happy with my Super Jolly so I didn't ask a price or even the model name (I already knew the K30 was out of my price league). Being an equipment junkie, even though I'm not going to buy one I was curious if anyone had seen/used it? He pulled a few great shots for me on it, but I didn't get to play around with it enough to really evaluate it.

By the way, I've had great experiences with Chris and Stefano, and I'd put Nasi right up there in the great equipment and great customer support category with them. I'd previously only known about vendors in the Northeast and out west, so I loved going to the showroom and seeing so many cool machines first hand.

Hugh

Are you talking about the K30 Twin? It's just 2 K30 grinders in one, AFAIK. Takes up more counterspace... even less of a home barista machine than the K30, unless you really want to have 2 titan grinders on your bench. Then I guess it could be a real space-saver.

However, there is this grinder by Mahlkönig that looks interesting:
New Mahlkönig Prosumer grinder. [google cache; original post removed]

The twin is it, you are correct. Thanks for the link. It is bigger than the K30, but not as deep, and yes it did seem like owning two titans, so overkill for the home barista, but aren't the Robur, K30, Nino, and perhaps even the Super Jolly already overkill, so why stop dreaming there?

Hugh

Hi guys,

am I wrong to think that you need a different burr set when grinding for espresso and for FP/drip? I mean look at the stuff the big Mahlkonigs, like Guatemala/Kenia produce, there's very little fines and we all know we need that for proper espresso pours (I think Jim tried using a fine-less grind for espresso I confirmed this).

If what I'm saying is true, why are the manufacturers yapping about grinders good for both espresso and filter?

Regards,
dsc.

The 930 Euro prosumer grinder looks cool, but I think it might be a repackaged Baratza. There doesn't seem to be enough room for a larger burr in that narrow case.

For cupping, a grinder that produces fines is not such a big deal; the weight of the fines is very small, so the effect on the taste is small. But for drip or any paper filter, fines are not so innocent. They clog the paper and make getting the grind setting and dose right for proper extraction and concentration a lot more tricky. But even snarky German manufacturers will say exactly what they think consumers wish to hear; and that means saying they have grinders perfect for both espresso and brewing.

another_jim wrote:The 930 Euro prosumer grinder looks cool, but I think it might be a repackaged Baratza. There doesn't seem to be enough room for a larger burr in that narrow case.

I disagree. From what I can tell in the video, the prosumer grinder is quiet and fills a LarMarzocco standard ridged double basket over the rim in about 3 seconds....Baratza makes more noise and is much slower. It will be interesting too see what it really is

those are Baratza grinders with mahlkonig burrs there are also ditting burr versions as well

just like intel inside stickers they have the 'mahlkonig inside' stickers if it has ditting burrs

'ditting inside' stickers instead of mahlkonig ones

ditting mahlkonig one family just like the VW motor group audi, vw, lamborghini all under VW group

Not to be difficult, but . . .

There are THREE!

The K30 ES/Vario (the ES is stepped):


The K30 Twin:


AND there is the K60 ES:

The list prices, BTW, are:

-- K30 ES: Suggested retail $2,150
-- K30 Twin ES: Suggested retail $4,250
-- K60 ES: Suggested retail $3,250 (but Mahlkönig USA has a demo model for sale @ $2,395)

JonR10 wrote:I disagree. From what I can tell in the video, the prosumer grinder is quiet and fills a LarMarzocco standard ridged double basket over the rim in about 3 seconds....Baratza makes more noise and is much slower. It will be interesting too see what it really is

The speed of the grinder seems to be equal to Mahlkönig K30. The two-dial user interface seems a lot nicer than all the buttons on Vario...

The original page where the video was available for a short time positioned Pro-Am as an intermediate model between Vario and K30. I don't think it is exactly correct, as K30 is an espresso only grinder.

another_jim wrote:The 930 Euro prosumer grinder looks cool, but I think it might be a repackaged Baratza.

It's not.

another_jim wrote:For cupping, a grinder that produces fines is not such a big deal; the weight of the fines is very small, so the effect on the taste is small.

I disagree, I think it's very important to minimise fines.

All the beans ever see of a grinder are the burrs. So does anyone know which burrs this grinder sports?

Not really, but... I would venture a guess that they use larger version of the Vario burrset. Why? Pro-Am has a dual purpose burrset, but grinding speed seems to be on par with that of K30.

akallio wrote:The original page where the video was available for a short time positioned Pro-Am as an intermediate model between Vario and K30. I don't think it is exactly correct, as K30 is an espresso only grinder.

I have to correct myself: they wrote that it is aimed to fill the niche above Vario. That's nice, because I kinda feel like being in that niche.

Oh, and the correct name is ProM, which stands for "promestic" (pro-domestic).

Now they have a lot of info at the Mahlkönig site:
http://www.mahlkoenig.de/produkte/ProM- ... uage=en_EN

akallio wrote:Now they have a lot of info at the Mahlkönig site:
http://www.mahlkoenig.de/produkte/ProM- ... uage=en_EN

I like the specs. Does anyone know when this grinder will be available in the US?

The burrs are the same size, type and material as the K30 (65mm flat steel), but they don't say if the geometery of the burrs is identical to the K30 burrs. Does anyone know?

Jim, in one of your posts on the Baratza Vario, you say that the ceramic burrs have an unusual pattern that makes their effective grind path longer than the Mini's. Is that true of the K30 burrs, too?

As a Baratza Vario owner, I see several things I like about this new grinder: bigger (better?) burrs, more rugged build quality, what looks like a much better mechanism for adjusting grind, and better PF support. I don't think the lack of a display and preset buttons is a big deal. Faster is nice, but not particularly important. Assuming the grind quality is in the league of the K30, and clumping/static aren't a big problem, retention would be an important deciding factor for me. It will be interesting to see if it's as messy as the Baratza Vario.

The burrs are the same size, type and material as the K30 (65mm flat steel), but they don't say if the geometery of the burrs is identical to the K30 burrs. Does anyone know?

They should not be the same, as K30 is an espresso only grinder and this one is general purpose?

Mahlkönig has published those particle size charts showing their high-end drip/press grinders plotted against Vario (and demonstrating that Vario is not perfect for drip/press, at least on the particle size distribution side). It would be very interesting to see ProM included in those charts: is it comparable to Vario, or closer to those high-end ones?

I don't think the lack of a display and preset buttons is a big deal.

Display will be available later on. However I agree that in home use there's not much value in that.

Assuming the grind quality is in the league of the K30, and clumping/static aren't a big problem, retention would be an important deciding factor for me. It will be interesting to see if it's as messy as the Baratza Vario.

The grinder is designed to complement K30 as a decaf, press etc. grinder. It should be able to hold it's own when placed next to K30. However it is not aimed to be a primary grinder for a commercial setting, or at least the max. recommended number of 150 double shots in a day would tell you so.

ProM is smaller and therefore should have quite a bit shorter exit chute. It is also slower with identical sized burrs. So there's hope that it would have little retention, no static and no clumping. But we'll see...

The K60 twin also appears to have flat steel burrs of the same size, but a much smaller motor (see consumption in Watts) than the K30 twin.

I have sent a few emails to North American distributors to see who and when this new model could be supplied. I am sure that it will be available in Europe before North America.

Wow, it's really pricey for the home market at 900 euro.