I think the flour sifter is a great idea if the grinds fit through. Maybe with a funnel, like the yogurt cup.

Has anyone tried restricting the flow on the doser? More thwacks but less coffee per thwack. Similar to dosing while grinding but without cooling the portafilter as much. A "grinder gicleur".

Keith

I placed a filter basket on my cellphone on vibrate and the vibration did cause the mound to settle a bit. But one small cellphone vibrator wasn't enough. You could use an array of such vibrators in a filterbasket tray, or built into a portafilter (SharperImage catalog stuff ) or even one from a sex toy store, to settle the coffee and break clumps in the filter basket. The sound might be less annoying than the thwack thwack thwack thack thwack thwack thwack thack thwack thwack thwack thack thwack thwack thwack thack of the doser.

Regards
Timo

It is OK for a man (or woman) to thwack their doser in the privacy of their own home, Man Law.

Sorry buddy, I'm a strict constructionist, and there's nothing about dosers in the U.S. Constitution.

timo888 wrote:I placed a filter basket on my cellphone on vibrate and the vibration did cause the mound to settle a bit.

A few months back when the WDT was still a new idea, Lino and I were talking about a grinder modification that would improve distribution. He mentioned some sort of vibratory device, but I don't think that would really help. The problem is as much the uneven distribution (too much here, too little there) as the micro-clumps. Then again, I think that jewelers use ultrasound to clean. Maybe it would work to break up clumps. Combining the ultrasound and opposing direction doser vanes... OK, now this is getting too silly.

I still think grinders that "extrude" or clog easily would benefit from delicate agitation. Hey, how about this thing mounted directly in front of the exit chute?


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HB wrote:A few months back when the WDT was still a new idea, Lino and I were talking about a grinder modification that would improve distribution. He mentioned some sort of vibratory device, but I don't think that would really help. The problem is as much the uneven distribution (too much here, too little there) as the micro-clumps. Then again, I think that jewelers use ultrasound to clean. Maybe it would work to break up clumps. Combining the ultrasound and opposing direction doser vanes... OK, now this is getting too silly.

I still think grinders that "extrude" or clog easily would benefit from delicate agitation. Hey, how about this thing mounted directly in front of the exit chute?

If the vibration is applied to the filter basket it would break up the clumps and settle the coffee. Not sure if it would work if applied to the chute.

Same level of silliness, I think, as the big needle, only safer .... you can't poke yourself in the eye.

In the micro-clump, Eubulides has met his nemesis.

Regards
Timo

jrtatl wrote:How long do you think Dan plans on agitating the beans? I'm no scientist, but I can't see how an agitation of less than 30 seconds would stale the coffee.

Can you elaborate?

I don't have any concrete evidence, especially time-based evidence, to back up my statement. I simply think that overmixing coffee with oxygen and moisture rich air, eliminating any CO2 envelope that may protect the coffee, is a quick way to release volatiles and oxidize the coffee. It is my opinion (which should be taken lightly, I'm not a scientist either), that the extended exposure and subsequent staling are worse for the espresso than clumping.

Time for me to re-read Espresso: The Science of Quality...

cpl593h wrote:I don't have any concrete evidence, especially time-based evidence, to back up my statement. I simply think that overmixing coffee with oxygen and moisture rich air, eliminating any CO2 envelope that may protect the coffee, is a quick way to release volatiles and oxidize the coffee. It is my opinion (which should be taken lightly, I'm not a scientist either), that the extended exposure and subsequent staling are worse for the espresso than clumping.

Time for me to re-read Espresso: The Science of Quality...

While I agree that excessive agitation can actually accelerate the rate of staling, I think that poor distribution will have a much greater impact on the flavor than even a solid minute of agitation resulting in nearly perfect distribution.

Just my $.02

I tried the flour sifter and it works, in the sense that the mesh pitch is a pretty good match. Being that the sifter was a little larger than the basket diameter and I used a funnel, more was distributed along the perimeter than in the middle. But it was absolutely without clumps, and was a beautiful sight to see espresso grinds gently "snowing" into the basket. With practice and a little more hardware I bet this could go somewhere for the ambitious home user. Unfortunately, like the dosers, this would probably work a lot better if the sifter were full. So the mechanics of the sifter scaled down may be a good start to a useful contraption for the home.


Keith

Jasonian wrote:While I agree that excessive agitation can actually accelerate the rate of staling, I think that poor distribution will have a much greater impact on the flavor than even a solid minute of agitation resulting in nearly perfect distribution.

Just my $.02

There are other methods to "fix" poor distribution. I don't see how anything that accelerates staling can be beneficial.