Ascaso I-Mini I2: my changes and experience so far

#1: Post by **Hummertime02** » January 23rd, 2023, 9:59 pm

I recently got I-mini as my first espresso grinder after reading some of the posts here and I found them extremely helpful. So, I wanted to return the favour and share my experience so far and changes I made to make the grinder work for me.

Things I found:

Consistency of the grind is excellent, although clumpy

Retention is on the high side, 10g single dose on average yields 7.5g

Porter filter prongs are not the best, I prefer to grind in a dosing cup

Things I did to fix some of the issues for me:

WDT is essential with this grinder.

I bought a baster from dollar store, cut off the excess tube to make it fit in the grinder. After a grinder I use my so called bellows after about 3 pumps my yield is 9.5g from 10g dose. Much better than 7.5g I was getting before.

Removed the prongs to fit a dosing cup. Doing cup is from dollar store as well.

Pictures of my current setup:

February 7th, 2023, 12:48 pm

I ended up designing and printing a single dose mod, I uploaded the design to thingiverse for anyone looking to print one for themselves. Heres link to the cheap bellows I use with it. https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01D0I21CI?psc ... ct_details

3d design can be found here: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5840609

#3: Post by **boren** » February 8th, 2023, 7:54 am

I have this grinder at work and I dislike it so much I practically never use it. I much prefer using a manual grinder, even a lowly Kingrinder K2. Zero retention and almost no hassle (except RDT). It just takes around 30 seconds of mild effort to get a grind that's clearly superior to the Ascaso.

#4: Post by **bgnome** » February 8th, 2023, 2:13 pm

Is the i2 the conical one? Mine is the flat burr version and it took some work, but does pretty well with the Vario Steel burrs: Ascaso i-mini I-1 with Baratza 54mm Vario/Forte steel burrs

#5: Post by **borrik** » February 10th, 2023, 3:33 pm

I've own such thing few years ago. Main issue is worm wheel (that attached to grind size regulator) sitting in some flexible plastic mount, and upper burr is constantly dancing while grinding. This issue causing inconsistent grind size which is not good at all. I wanted to fix this issue, but grinder has died before.

June 5th, 2023, 7:33 am

This one is conical one, I've been finding it to be fairly consistent so far.

June 5th, 2023, 7:35 am

I can certainly see that, I've opened it a few time to clean it. Definitely need to be very gentle with it.

June 5th, 2023, 7:38 am

Few months in, so far so good. I've been exclusively doing pour over with it. It's been consistent so far, but take this with a pinch of salt because this my first "real" grinder.