rmongiovi wrote:The last dozen or so messages have been about brewing techniques that have nothing to do with any specific burr set. This thread was supposed to be about the new SSP 98mm brew burrs. Like discussing how well they perform or how they compare to alternatives.

If you want to discuss brewing techniques it might be better to start a separate thread.

To be fair, if you expect to just plug in any of SSPs burrs especially in a filter scenario without catering recipes/techniques to them, you're not going to have a fun time. They're way more finicky and fickle to get the most out of than a lot of other burrs TBH and none of the available sets are a universal panacea without some drawbacks.

I absolutely agree! I have only a few weeks of experience with the brew, but in contrast to any other grinder that was new to me these burrs really behave completely different in some regards. Apart from the need to grind much finer I just can not use some of the recipes I used with my A burrs. And A burrs are really no scrub.
My initial takeaway that is basically generous advice from a friend is that using a large bloom of 1:5 helps a lot with saturating the grounds and a rather fast overall brew time. I have the feeling that both are needed with common brewers like V60. On the other hand using no bypass is strange in a different way, I have not yet figured it out but going much coarser like I previously did does not lead to the expected result.
I feel that especially for the brew burrs talking about brew recipes is vital.

What refractometer is everyone using? Is vst the standard or can I use the difluid R2?

Eiern wrote:--

Hi!

Could you please share your experience on EK43 vs P100? For V60/Chemex/Aeropress, which one taste better/what kind of profile? I see you like Tim. Personally I prefer Kaffa, but same "Nordic light" profile, especially for Africa.

Hi!

My EK43S with early Brew burrs and Titus carrier is excellent for filter coffee. I do V60/Kono/Kalita/April brews daily at home, Aeropress I mostly do when away with a handgrinder and I haven't done Chemex in years. I have done some Gagné 10 min press and no bypass stuff with AP at home.

In general I prefer P100 more than the EK as it can provide a little higher clarity with the same burr set, and I like clarity. Brew burrs has enough clarity to me that it works well with the EK, other burr can be too blended or muddy to me. Cast matched well too, but was a more blended presentation anyway and I didn't prefer them more than Brew for a daily driver but got some good cups.

For dual use or espresso use I prefer P100 as it has less retention and dose straight into the portafilter. P100 is also smaller, and can be ordered with Brew burrs, not much to upgrade, in most cases come well aligned from factory.

The P100 I've had great filter cups from with Brew and LU (and the rest of the SSP 98 burrs are good too) but as I enjoy the P100 for espresso (HU or ULF) and Brew in EK for filter I haven't done as much filter with the P100. I have done blind tastings between the two but always with different burrs obviously.

Brew can be so exposing with lesser beans that it's not making enjoyable cups, and maybe even more so with the P100 vs the EK. Higher RPM setting might help, but this is the downside of high clarity. I'd still rather have the great beans presented the Brew way and use something else for beans that don't play nice. I also swap between my brewers to fine tune presentation. With some beans I have switched to my P100 with ULF burrs for a different presentation for filter.

I like 98 Cast and Brew in the EK, the other burrs hasn't been as good match for me personally.

By the way the Titus coated Brew burrs I bought have very little static without RDT (I don't do RDT) but when I borrowed a well seasoned Silver Knight Cast set it produced a lot more static with the EK so I needed to do RDT, two sprays for a 24g dose to get a similar result, don't know if it's geometry/friction or coating, or the combination.

If one has the room, like the look of the EK and get a good price on one I think the EK43S is a great filter grinder when aligned (mine is wery well aligned with the Titus carrier)

Eiern wrote:-

Thanks for such compression, I'm sure a lot of people will find it beneficial!

After back and forth, my choice was EG-1v3, EK43 (get Titus/SSP burrs + alignment tools), P100 or Titus Nautilus.
EG-1 got smaller burrs, and as it seems, great all-arounder. It gives more body to the coffee, but atm I want clarity that EK does provide. So no EG.
As P100 is harder to get (I do visit US frequently, but it's on pre-order only atm), I decided to skip on it.

When choosing between EK43, that I love and always wanted and Nautilus, its was pretty easy choice. Nautilus.
Price wise they are about the same (if I calculate EK + burrs + alignment tools). Nautilus runs at a slower RPM (seems to produce more clarity). I didn't find a single bad thing about any Titus grinder or their customer service. And I don't need to go through hassle of changing burrs, aligning, etc.

One thing that puts me off from EK is retention. I mean, not only "18g in, 18g out", but how much is old/new coffee? Perhaps you've seen Hoffmans comparison, how he tested it? EK43 and P100 did a lot better. What I could find online, Titus grinder does amazing job of spitting out everything you feed into them as well. As I like to change beans from day to day (or cup to cup, depending on my mood), this was big deal for me.

Anyway, I'll come back with details once I get titus grinder.