I need some help with my brewing. Everything was working pretty consistently until last weekend. Everything suddenly went out of whack and I started changing the grind. Several times this week, i just bought instead of making my own because i was frustrated. Due to all this, I ordered a single shot basket which came today (in order to waste less coffee). Today I had more problems. Initially, nothing would even come out. Made the grind a little more coarse, and it came out too slowly. Another adjustment and I got a good shot. When I went home at noon i thought I'd pull a single. AGAIN, very slow, over-extracted pour started happening, so I adjusted the grind one-quarter turn in the coarse direction (1/4 usually makes a noticeable difference) and this time NOTHING! GRRRR! I'm really starting to think my grinder is the culprit here.

Can anyone offer suggestions on this? I have a Zassenhaus, which is supposed to be a good hand grinder.

If you get two different results with the same grind size, i would check up these variables before looking at the grinder:

-Did you use equal amounts of coffee?
-Did you use the same distribution technique?

Just try adding a bit more or a bit less, use the same distribution technique to make sure it's evenly dosed and see where the sweet spot is. Having a 0.1gr scale nearby will help you with getting the same weight every try.

Hoenen wrote:If you get two different results with the same grind size, i would check up these variables before looking at the grinder:

-Did you use equal amounts of coffee?
-Did you use the same distribution technique?

And three, is this the same batch of coffee? Older coffee (older than two or three weeks) is going to act way different than fresh, and different coffee beans roasted differently will be, well... different.

Could be swings in humidity, bad beans, are you weighing your dose, could be variations in dose. Could be the grinder, you list a hand mill, while the grinder is usually the last culprit, I have not had much luck with hand mills in general. Is the machine left on all the time, swings in temperature will cause flow changes, a not quite warmed up machine vs one that has been on for an hour heating up is quite noticeable. Just to name a few possibilities. My first look would be dose especially if you are not weighing your doses while troubleshooting, second would be swings in humidity/temperature which can make for surprising changes in grind, third would be the beans and lastly the grinder. And FYI, single baskets are incredibly picky about dose. 0.25 grams +/- can blow the shot.