Baratza replied within 10 minutes, and pointed me to the relevant parts. The price was as Cwilli described. Thanks all!

Can they be ordered online in Europe? Can you link me up?

I know that https://coffeehit.co.uk/ carries Baratza parts and can rebuild your grinder for a flat rate. You'll probably have to email them the specific part numbers.

No doubt there are others; all are listed listed at: https://baratza.com/international-impor ... retailers/ and here is the Belgian distributor: https://www.itmonline.nl

Hello all! Jake and all, you are an amazing bunch! I've been lurking around HB forums for years and learned a lot, but it was this thread that finally persuaded me to post something! I have just ordered a refurb Vario from Baratza and they are putting in the Forte grind chamber and upper burr carrier for me. I also bought steel burrs. I currently have a Sette 270 which does a decent job (although my crappy Breville Infuser is limiting what I can pull no doubt), and for pour over I have been using an Encore that I upgraded to the M2 burr. My main goal at the moment is to get a much better pour over grind, and I'm sure the Vario with steel burrs will do that even without an alignment. If I'm not using it for espresso right away, is the upgrade that noticeable for pour over?

Other questions: 1) Since the burrs are new, is it better to wait for them to season before doing any alignment or it doesn't matter? 2) I don't have spacers for the alignment - how critical is that or can I get by without it? 3) If I am successful with an alignment, how much better would the espresso grind be than what I get from Sette, or should I just leave Vario dedicated to pour over and keep Sette for espresso (going back and forth on Vario might be a pain)?

jamesb23 wrote: Other questions: 1) Since the burrs are new, is it better to wait for them to season before doing any alignment or it doesn't matter? 2) I don't have spacers for the alignment - how critical is that or can I get by without it? 3) If I am successful with an alignment, how much better would the espresso grind be than what I get from Sette, or should I just leave Vario dedicated to pour over and keep Sette for espresso (going back and forth on Vario might be a pain)?

Jake has discovered that after a first hyper-alignment, it may drift and you may want to do it again. Basically my take on what he said is that it should become more stable each new time you do it. So I would do it even if brand new. With the steel burrs.

With steel burrs, I would get the spacer file and have it printed, whatever way you can. BUT don't just ignore the ceramic burrs. After you have done the alignment with the steels, give the ceramics a go, until you get your spacer situation sorted out.

And finally, I don't like going back and forth. Just because a grinder can do it, doesn't mean it won't drive you crazy eventually. It did me, and I don't even drink much drip. Find out which grinder you like better for espresso and keep it for that, and use the other one for drip.

-Peter

Thanks Peter!

Should say a couple other things:
1) the ceramic burrs don't need spacers
but
2)the steel burrs are better for aligning because the dry ink wipes off easier on steel than ceramic
3) I think the ceramics are more versatile than the steels. They might not be as good for extracting the last tittle out of light roasts as a well aligned set of steels, but for many others, they may be just as good or better. The ceramics also seem to make more beautiful grinds than steels when alignment is not perfect

-Peter

Are you suggesting that ceramic, once aligned, would be better for pour over as well? I thought the consensus was that steel is better?

Probably not pour over. Since I think only in terms of espresso, most of what I say assumes espresso. I think the ceramics will produce a greater variety of grind sizes out of one setting. This is probably not so good for pour over or light roasts with a small target zone. But better for more conventional "comfort" blend espresso. Ceramics are probably more like a shot gun and steels (if aligned), more like a rifle.

-Peter

Makes sense. I need to determine what I like better for espresso between Vario steel/ceramic and my Sette. I'm probably not going to want to swap steel for ceramic every weekend just to do espresso. I also sadly may not be able to tell since the Breville Infuser isn't the most reliable machine. If I can justify the expense with my wife, I may get an ECM Classics or something similar in the future. The new flow control on these machines is intriguing too.