I got my vario in last night, with the goal to replace my Mini so i can use it for both drip and espresso...and i'm having some interesting issues

1) I had to recalibrate it finer (holy crap that's a nice allen wrench they ship with it). Upon receipt at full fine on both levers it wasn't really loading the motor. Adjusted and now my espresso setting is 1 notch down on macro, and 2 clicks down on micro. My concern is that at this setting, with an empty grinder, i hear what sounds like the burrs "ticking" or touching just a tiny bit. This obviously concerns me for burr wear. Any thoughts? This is especially true with this blend, where i'm using 19g for a double...whcih means when i go to other blends that require 14-16g i'll have to tighten up the grind even more.

2) The crema produced with the vario vs. the same blend, temp, and pull time from a mini grind, seems to be airy-er, fluffier and not as dense and long lasting. Has anyone noticed this as well? Flavor from the vario is very good...quite different from the mini.

Any thoughts on the 2 items above?

thanks

Wow. I just got off the phone with Baratza customer service and all is well. You gotta love good service these days. So rare to find. Forever a fan.

I've checked my Vario using the "change in the motor sound" technique, and it *seems* to change half way up the micro adjustment on the finest macro setting, but I'm really not sure. I guess I could post a video. I seem to be constantly running a few notches from the finest micro setting, using 16g doses of fresh (rested) beans, which gives me very little room for adjustment. It sounds like a lot of people are running their Varios in the middle of the second macro notch.

I've also had occasional problems with the grind setting and belt slipping. With the grind setting, what usually happens is it just falls out of the notch slightly, rather than actually changing an entire notch. For the belt, sometimes when I'm grinding I hear a loud crunching sound, which I assume is belt slippage changing the grinding speed. I thought I'd run a rock through the first time it happened!

My waiting is finally over and I got myself a Vario for my birthday. I was surprised to see that the Vario came with a nice allen wrench for adjusting the secondary 2 mm allen head alibration screw to set the burr calibration. It's heavy like a paperweight and looks like a restaurant check holder. I took a picture which shows what it looks like, it's even labeled in which direction to turn to make it grind finer which is a nice touch. I also picked up the Orphan Espresso dosing funnel for my 45 mm basket (La Peppina) which has been working great and a burr wrench for the Vario. I pulled off the portafilter hook at the top.

Baratza has updated the manual with a very clear (for me) instruction on burr calibration, and I didn't even feel the need to log into H-B to check when I first got the grinder. I adjusted it until I heard the clicking... a little before the grinder starts to sound labored and slow, probably should have gone further, but I can make the grinder labor by sliding the micro adjustment all the way up. I guess I'm like others and a little nervous about adjusting the burrs so that they make contact.

I justified the Vario mostly for drip coffee, since I already have a hand grinder I use for espresso, but I'm thinking now that I'll not only see an improvement in espresso with the grinder but it'll be much easier to use and I'll end up making espresso more often. It's going to take some getting used to now, I used to single dosing with my Kyocera and getting out the same weight I put in (after the Kyocera eats about half a gram in the crevices below the lower burrs and the spindle adapter the first grind after cleaning). I just put in about 16.5 grams single dosed in the Vario and got 14 g out, then ground again and got another gram out... will have to check this further as I've only pulled a couple of shots so far.

p.s. I just ground another shot and got 16.2 g out after putting in 16.6 grams and almost completely choked my La Peppina.

Bob_McBob wrote:I've checked my Vario using the "change in the motor sound" technique, and it *seems* to change half way up the micro adjustment on the finest macro setting, but I'm really not sure. I guess I could post a video. I seem to be constantly running a few notches from the finest micro setting, using 16g doses of fresh (rested) beans, which gives me very little room for adjustment. It sounds like a lot of people are running their Varios in the middle of the second macro notch.

I've also had occasional problems with the grind setting and belt slipping. With the grind setting, what usually happens is it just falls out of the notch slightly, rather than actually changing an entire notch. For the belt, sometimes when I'm grinding I hear a loud crunching sound, which I assume is belt slippage changing the grinding speed. I thought I'd run a rock through the first time it happened!

It's been 7 months and my Vario is all of a sudden NEEDING to grind at the highest/finest notch and almost well to 4 notches from the top on the macro... ludicrous when I used to grind at one notch micro below top. So, ya that sounds about right.

I'm not happy with this 'toy' at all. How can I get a consistent grind when it sounds like my burrs are flopping around inside? I'll re-calibrate... but this thing isn't even a year old and it's the second one I've gotten because of the first one coming 'broken' out of the box.

I almost bit the bullet on a grinder worth 4x as much as this just because I now realize I'd rather build quality, but this machine wasn't CHEAP, relatively speaking maybe, but 500+ canadian after taxes isn't anything to ho-hum about. Also, this great customer service hasn't made it to Toronto, because I've called twice, no answer or return of my voicemail, I've emailed - no answer after a week already and I've pm'd kyle and no answer. I guess it's only perfect if you get to a live person....

uranium wrote:My Mahlkoenig Vario seems to grind coarser over time (about two months of use now). Is this normal? Is it time to re-calibrate using the procedure at the beginning of this thread?

kyle anderson wrote:It is possible that after a bit of use and a short "break in" period that your Vario could benefit from a minor recalibration. Since your Vario is a Mahlkoenig i don't know the serial number when they began with the secondary calibration screw (the 2mm one, NOT the 2.5mm). I would not recommend adjusting the 2.5mm screw unless the secondary screw is not present. You can check by looking up at the grinder near the discharge chute. The secondary adjusting screw is on a round hole between the discharge chute and the rubber grommet.
Let me know if you have further questions.
Regards,
Kyle (of Baratza)

This is exactly what happened to mine. I just adjusted the 2mm hexscrew, like Kyle said in the quote in the first post, and that did the trick.

Many thanks Kyle.

I've had my Vario for about a month or 2 now, and i've put about 4 or so lbs through it.
I've already had to recalibrate it 3 times. Is that normal?

I have also used it for single dose of brewed coffee, so i've adjusted it almost all the way coarse a few times...seems that the recalibration is required after i've ground coarse with it

Any thoughts before i give Kyle a call to see if this is normal?

Let me suggest that, unless you have one of the following problems, recalibrating a grinder is a total waste of time. The coffee does not know (and would not care if it did) whether the dial reads "0," "-5" or "5" when the burrs touch.

Those problems would be:
1. You can no longer dial in your preferred grind.
2. You work in a coffee bar, where all the baristas are told to use a specific grind number.
3. You have a debilitating OCD condition.

I recalibrate b/c the grinder no longer grinds fine enough, even at minimum setting.
I'm not trying to keep the levers in a certain consistent location.

Marshall wrote:Let me suggest that, unless you have one of the following problems, recalibrating a grinder is a total waste of time. The coffee does not know (and would not care if it did) whether the dial reads "0," "-5" or "5" when the burrs touch.

Those problems would be:
1. You can no longer dial in your preferred grind.
2. You work in a coffee bar, where all the baristas are told to use a specific grind number.
3. You have a debilitating OCD condition.

Marshall, I'm afraid your comments don't apply to the Baratza Vario, which has a unique calibration system that sometimes requires adjustment. In this case, calibration does not mean aligning the grind setting numbers with a particular degree of fineness. Rather, it means adjusting the range of the grinder so that it's capable of grinding fine enough for espresso.

The grinder has two internal adjustments that set the grind range. Basically, you can slide the entire range of the grinder towards the espresso end or the french press end. If set too far to the french press end, the grinder will not be capable of grinding fine enough for espresso. That is, the grind will be too coarse for espresso even when the macro and micro levers are at the finest setting.

I don't know why, but it's common for new Baratza Vario grinders to require an adjustment. Evidently, the factory sets the range a bit too coarse for us espresso types. For example, when I got my BV, it was able to grind fine enough for a 14g dose of my favorite SO, but there was no more headroom left in the fineness adjustment in case I wanted to lower the dose, grind finer for a different coffee or grind for a single. So I adjusted the range to be able to grind finer. That probably resulted in a less-than-optimum grind for french press, but I rarely prepare coffee with a press.

All that said, I don't think a BV should require frequent readjustment. I did it only once, when the grinder was new, and didn't have to do it again in the succeeding seven months that it was my main grinder. It sound like something is loose or broken in the poster's grinder.