Owner experience with HG one grinder - Page 32

February 18th, 2013, 12:23 am

Wow. That's a lot of static.

No offense to the lucky HG-One owners, but I'm not excited about spending nearly a grand for a grinder that would require me to add moisture to the very expensive, expertly roasted beans I buy. I suppose there's no proof (yet) that this has any negative impact on flow rate or flavor, but something about this "kludge" rubs me the wrong way. Perhaps I'm too much of a purist. Funny, because I thought lever-heads and hand-grinder afficionados were much more likely to be purists than I

.

Maybe this has been mentioned before, but isn't the infamous oft-broken (or is it misadjusted?) tab on the Versalab M3 some sort of anti-static device? Perhaps static is inherent in this type of design. Bottom line, it's on the HG-One folks to fix the static issue, not the customer. Hopefully, they'll be able to do it in a different way than Versalab.

Oh, and not putting permanent reference marks on the grinder is bewildering to me. One of the joys of a conical grinder with large burrs is the ability to return the setting to a reference mark previously used with a particular coffee when a new batch has arrived. It's not always exactly on the mark, but it will be very close. I have a large set of coffee preparation and tasting notes with grinder setting numbers. It would be a shame to have entries like, "third little mark past the second large mark from the right end".

#312: Post by **erik82** » February 18th, 2013, 1:08 am

For me the black dots are whole numbers and the open dots are 0.2. I also keep notes of the settings with different beans and use terms like 3.4 to tell me it's the third back dot and then 2 open dots. It's that simple and nothing weird about it and works great.

Yesterday I visited [anonymized] and we played with his HG One and the Londinium 1. It was fun to see that every shot we tried without using RDT I had much more static than [anonymized]. I always get a shock when I touch my car and other things. It seems that the person grinding also has an influence on the amount of static. We where both on socks.

All the tests I've done gave me the following insights about static with the HG One:
- Older beans (8+ dys post roast) have lees static than younger beans (3-5 days post roast)
- Slower grinding speed gives less static
- Most beas only require 2 drops of water and the Malabar 3 drops of water and this gives no static at all
- The person grinding has an effect on static
- Partially breaking in the burrs gives a bit less static (run around 4Lbs through the HG One so still not yet fully broken in)

#313: Post by **DJF** » February 18th, 2013, 2:08 am

Help me out here so I don't have to read the whole thread again but..

If the lower funnel was Teflon coated, on the inside anyway would this not mitigate the static issue?

#314: Post by **dsc** » February 18th, 2013, 3:05 am

Indeed I think there should be some sort of etched scale on the side of the grinder to allow you to track where you are, even if it's not for communicating the grind size, just for your own info on where you are and where you've been before. Mazzer's been slapped quite often for not having a proper scale, just a few numbers scattered on the top of the collar, which don't help much, the HG One doesn't have anything at all.

As for coating the funnel, I think you'll end up with problems anyway, as the grinds will be charged and so will be likely to stick to something. If it's not the funnel, it's the edge of the basket, the outside of the funnel etc. I've seen grinds do crazy things on the funnel of a Mazzer E.

I'm surprised people have just discovered that fresh beans produce more static than old beans.

Regards,
dsc.

#315: Post by **erik82** » February 18th, 2013, 3:16 am

Indeed I think there should be some sort of etched scale on the side of the grinder to allow you to track where you are, even if it's not for communicating the grind size, just for your own info on where you are and where you've been before. Mazzer's been slapped quite often for not having a proper scale, just a few numbers scattered on the top of the collar, which don't help much, the HG One doesn't have anything at all.

If you had a look at the posts you would have seen that the HG One has 2 different scales which are included.

I like the solution of the HG One even better then that of any other grinder. You try and try until you've found your ideal settings and then put the scal on the side of the grinder the way you like it best. Or for you can use the single dot if you like. This works perfect to dial it in for different kind of coffees and betwen espresso and drip. Every time spot on.

February 18th, 2013, 3:21 am

I have a pencil on the shelf where I use the HG One, and when I get a new bag of beans, I mark the upper and lower burr carriers, when it is right, I leave it and as it ages, I adjust accordingly if necessary.

The pencil marks can be completely removed with a wet finger.

#317: Post by **dsc** » February 18th, 2013, 6:06 am

I meant etched like micrometers do:

http://www.europacprecision.com/product ... /287_1.jpg

What's the use of a stick-on scale which you can't even align properly?

Pencil marks are fine, but we are talking about a rather expensive piece of equipment.

Regards,
dsc.

February 18th, 2013, 7:51 am

I reckon that it's a bargain and Craig and Paul should be justly proud of their achievement.

Pencil marks do not sully the beautiful simplicity and finish, and I remember reading that the supplied stick-on systems were something that were discussed as to whether even they should be provided...

...It doesn't really need them, but here they are anyway seems to be the mantra.

#319: Post by **FotonDrv** » February 18th, 2013, 8:04 am

Ha! Boy did I stir up a hornets nest

A spritz of moisture and almost no static at all, problem solved, end of worrying about it.

The Versalab, which I also own does indeed have a "Wiper" inside the lower cone. Its main function it to knock off any grounds that stuck to that lower cone. There is a separate static reducing connection to the lower cone and neither work very well. A spritz of water and PRESTO, the static cling is gone.

It even works when single dosing the bigger Mazzers like my Kony-E.

I do not live in a coffee shop where several pounds of beans are used a day. I dislike stale coffee so I single dose the grinders. and the extra 3 seconds to spritz the beans before I grind them is just fine.

The HG-One is a very good grinder and much easier to use than my Mazzer in a single dosing environment.

#320: Post by **dsc** » February 18th, 2013, 8:06 am

Don't get me wrong, I'm not slagging the creators off, believe me I know how hard it is to design a grinder (been there and still not finished). I simply said that etched marks would be a nice addition and that stick-on scale don't work as well (it can probably if you make it right).

The 'but' was there to imply that pencil and grand worth of grinder doesn't go that well together. At this sort of price I'd assume a proper scale comes factory made. Then again maybe someone decided that scale isn't needed at all.

Regards,
dsc.