Hi everyone,

I've been experimenting with coffee equipment for a while, but this is my first time posting here. I'm excited to find a community so excited about brewing! Now, on to my troubles...

I recently borrowed a friend's Zassenhaus and was very pleased with it. I decided to buy my own, and found a gently used one on eBay (not sure which model, but one of the more recent ones with the plastic lower burr holder).

I've got two issues:

1. At the coarsest possible setting (adjustment knob screwed all the way to the bottom, it's just ever so slightly too fine. This seems abnormal, because I'm brewing with a Kalita that needs a medium-fine grind. The one I borrowed from my friend was able to grind French press consistency. Any ideas on how I can remedy this? I just need to drop the burrshaft down by a hair.

2. Inconsistency of the grind. I've heard that these models of Zassenhaus have trouble with burr wobble, and I'm hoping to get a Lido 2 when they come out, but in the meantime my Zass will have to do. Any suggestions on reducing burr wobble or amount of fines?

Thanks
-Loren

From what I hear these plastic zasses are pretty awful. Like the company stopped trying. You can't really avoid the burr wobble or other problems associated with a plastic housing. If you had a hario ceramic grinder (skerton cm-50 or mini mill cm-45) you could do the OE PFP mod, and give it a lower bearing, which is a problem with most hand grinders. These are extremely cheap now. I remember a few years ago a cm-45 was $50, but I've seen it and its rebadged clones in the $25 range recently. Until lido 2 arrives, you can:

-Buy a japanese hand mill and do the OE upgrade, then have a viable back up/second coffee/second brew method grinder post lido 2

-Opt for what appears to be a great brew grinder in the knock hausgrind instead

-suffer with your current grinder until lido 2 is available, knowing that at least your coffee is fresh ground

You could also try dropping your dose in the meantime for a faster drawdown. This may compensate for the grind being too fine, but may lead to over extraction as well.

Thanks for the advice,

It's such a shame about the Zassenhaus. I think I'm going to clean it up and re-sell it. Any tips on the cleaning portion? I attempted to take it apart when I first had this problem and wasn't able to get the handle off the burr shaft, does it just screw on? It's insanely tight...

The Hausgrind looks wonderful (and much more in my aesthetic style than the Lido 2). I hope Knock releases a second batch soon!!!

The handle just unscrews. The easiest way to budge it is to grab the axel with some vice grips, then rotate the handle. Here's an example of a breakdown:

http://www.orphanespresso.com/Vintage-H ... 546-1.html

Obviously, your machine is different, but you get the basic idea.

You can line the jaws of the vice grips with leather-I just cut fingers off an old garden glove and duct tape them to the jaws-to protect the axel from the metal jaws. Otherwise, you may wind up with some marks on the axel. (If so, you can use sand paper or similar to knock down the raised metal.)

pacificmanitou wrote:From what I hear these plastic zasses are pretty awful. Like the company stopped trying. You can't really avoid the burr wobble or other problems associated with a plastic housing.

Perhaps I'm just lucky but my Zassenhaus Panama grinds great. Admittedly not for espresso or french press (too many fines) but everything in between it does well and consistently without burr wobble. It did have a break in period of perhaps two pounds of coffee and that might be what Loren is struggling through.

There is, though, a major functional flaw. The grounds box is attached to the bottom by friction only. I've had it fall off a half dozen times while grinding, spilling grounds everywhere. The only way to keep it on securely is to not clean it well, which annoys me as it's clear plastic so it always looks dirty. Even then I don't trust it anymore and grind over the sink.