Weber Moonraker? - Page 17

#161: Post by **mathof** » May 5th, 2023, 7:27 am

lancealot wrote:Here here!

I think you mean "Hear hear!" [Llisten up!].

#162: Post by **BaristaBob** » May 5th, 2023, 9:19 am

Chrispy513 wrote:I ordered a Moonraker Ultra when this last preorder opened up for August delivery. Totally over the top? Yep. But if it feels good to use and does the job as well as my manual WDT, then at the very least it can clean up my workflow some by replacing 2 tools (WDT and funnel).

Also went ahead and ordered a Unibasket to go along with it so we'll see how that goes.

Well, either great minds think alike or it's warped minds...but either way...I did the same!! Maybe between the two of us, we put the Unibasket back on "back-order, notify me."

#163: Post by **BaristaBob** » May 5th, 2023, 9:26 am

JB90068 wrote:Chris - I got a Unibasket about four months ago and have been using it daily. Be prepared to waste a few shots dialing it in with your grinder. I mention this only because it took me several shots before I started feeling comfortable with it. Now it's all I use.

Back on topic, my son in law who joined me at the recent SCA show, just surprised me yesterday by giving me an Ultra when they become available. Here I thought it was just my daughter who is blessed to have him in her life.

Well Jock, I'm fortunate too. My daughter and Aussie husband (super avid coffee drinkers) asked me what coffee stuff I needed for my b'day...so of course I said, a LM GS3 or the Moonraker...Moonraker Ultra ordered!!!

#164: Post by **RapidCoffee** » May 8th, 2023, 2:48 pm

Douglas Weber was kind enough to send me "one of the first-off-the-line of our most recent accessory, the Moonraker".

The Moonraker arrived with coffee grinds and bent needles, clearly used.

First impressions: it works, and works well.

17g grinds (Niche Zero) in 17g LM basket, left to right and top to bottom:
0,1,2 revolutions
3,8 revolutions, downward tap
tamped, pour, cup

Does it work better, or more consistently, than manual WDT? I ran a few comparisons and found little (if any) extraction differences.

L: manual WDT, R: Moonraker

Is it more aesthetic or ergonomically pleasing than manual WDT devices? That's a personal preference. IMHO the Moonraker is beautifully engineered, but somewhat large and heavy. I found no obvious ergonomic advantages over a lightweight funnel and manual WDT tool.

Pros:
Does a good job of distributing (and leveling) grinds.
Nicely engineered device.

Cons:
Not height adjustable. Needles scrape the bottom of shallow baskets (e.g. LM 14g).
Not width adjustable. Requires a 58mm basket.
Pricey.

#165: Post by **BaristaBob** » May 8th, 2023, 3:09 pm

RapidCoffee wrote:Douglas Weber was kind enough to send me "one of the first-off-the-line of our most recent accessory, the Moonraker".
image
The Moonraker arrived with coffee grinds and bent needles, clearly used.

First impressions: it works, and works well.
image
17g grinds (Niche Zero) in 17g LM basket, left to right and top to bottom:
0,1,2 revolutions
3,8 revolutions, downward tap
tamped, pour, cup

Does it work better, or more consistently, than manual WDT? I ran a few comparisons and found little (if any) extraction differences.
image
L: manual WDT, R: Moonraker

Is it more aesthetic or ergonomically pleasing than manual WDT? That's a personal preference. IMHO the Moonraker is beautifully engineered, but somewhat large and heavy. I found no obvious ergonomic advantages over a lightweight funnel and manual WDT tool.

Pros:
Does a good job of distributing (and leveling) grinds.
Nicely engineered device.

Cons:
Not height adjustable. Needles scrape the bottom of shallow baskets (e.g. LM 14g).
Not width adjustable. Requires a 58mm basket.
Pricey.

John,

Thanks for the honest, thorough review. Pics are also worth a thousand words!

Added note: I'm on the preorder list for the Ultra. What can I say...started years ago with the paper clip, moved through the various offerings, now using a well made, manual version housing six 0.3mm acupuncture needles. Looking forward to over the top WDT opulence!

#166: Post by **BaristaBob** » May 12th, 2023, 9:24 am

RapidCoffee wrote:
Cons:
Not height adjustable. Needles scrape the bottom of shallow baskets (e.g. LM 14g).
Not width adjustable. Requires a 58mm basket.
Pricey.

John,

I'm curious as to how deep these fixed needles extend into a basket. Most of my baskets are 24mm deep, so this property is important to me. If you have a spare minute or two down the road, if you could take a measurement it would be much appreciated.

#167: Post by **RapidCoffee** » May 12th, 2023, 1:49 pm

BaristaBob wrote:I'm curious as to how deep these fixed needles extend into a basket. Most of my baskets are 24mm deep, so this property is important to me. If you have a spare minute or two down the road, if you could take a measurement it would be much appreciated.

You can hear the needles scrape the bottom of the LM 14g basket, but not the 17g basket. Without calipers I'm guesstimating the 14g basket is slightly under 24mm and the 17g is slightly over. So I think you're right on the cusp.

But I doubt this is much of a problem. A light scraping with thin flexible needles is unlikely to cause damage to the basket, or impact performance. (And actually, the height is adjustable: you can trim the needles with wire cutters. It's just not easily adjustable.

)

#168: Post by **bonjing** » May 12th, 2023, 6:35 pm

RapidCoffee, would you mind doing a simple test of WDT, tamp, then WDT again to see how well it can move things around and break stuff up?

May 12th, 2023, 10:19 pm

Excellent idea!

18g espresso blend in a Decent 18g basket, ground on Niche Zero

moonraked, tamped to 30#
moonraked again, manual WDT
moonraked again, in the cup

The Moonraker was not effective at breaking up the tamped puck. The needles are too thin and flexible. You can't see it in the picture, but the bottom half of the puck was still compressed into a solid mass. I broke it up with a manual WDT tool (keypad puller with four stiff wires), moonraked again, tamped, and pulled a nice 1:2 shot in 33s on my DE1:

Based on this, the Moonraker is not the best device for breaking up clumps. Fortunately, today's crop of grinders tend to produce nice unclumpy grinds.

Thanks for the suggestion.

#170: Post by **ETisME** » May 15th, 2023, 10:56 am

I love how you present your process and findings! the Moonraker looking really sweet in the photo

Just wondering if by chance you can do one without any WDT all together? (just tamp). one thing I still don't understand is: clumps are produced by grinders, which shouldn't be as dense as those produced by the tamper.

Why WDT matters if a calibrated tamper make densed peck through equal pressure? shouldn't any clumps produced by grinder should become similarly dense?