Baratza Vario burr upgrade

#1: Post by **maccompatible** » June 26th, 2023, 5:23 pm

Hey all. Anyone have any advice for getting better coffee out of my Vario? The taste has always been somewhat disappointing from the stock ceramic burrs, so I finally upgraded to the steel brew burrs a couple months ago. The difference in taste was MASSIVE, especially with lighter roasts, but dialing in has been nearly impossible. I calibrated to 1D as burr touch, which chokes most coffees, but 1E-1F pours way too fast a lot of the time. I switched back to ceramic out of frustration, and I'm back to nice and easy to dial in, but disappointing flavor. Would the Mahlkonig X54 burrs be worth trying? I really don't want to have to buy a new grinder..

#2: Post by **Jeff** » June 26th, 2023, 5:35 pm

Have you aligned the grinder?

See, for example, The Alicorn: Achieving Precision Alignment with the Baratza Forté/Vario

June 26th, 2023, 5:55 pm

No. I don't really see it as something worth the time. I know the burrs are the issue just based on how much substantially better the brew burrs taste. They just don't have as much ease of dial in, and I'm wondering if the X54 burrs would solve that problem.

#4: Post by **baldheadracing** » June 26th, 2023, 6:05 pm

maccompatible wrote:I calibrated to 1D as burr touch, which chokes most coffees, but 1E-1F pours way too fast a lot of the time.

Do you have the Forté metal grind chamber upgrade?

You shouldn't have this issue if you have done the upgrade - and alignment. I can't tell you which to do as I did both at the same time.

The X54 burrs are supposed to be in between the ceramics and the Dittings. No idea if this is true as I have the Dittings.

June 26th, 2023, 6:15 pm

What's your usable range for espresso with the ditting burrs?

Also, would it be worth a quick trial of shimming to see if that makes the steel burrs more usable? I don't mind to go through the effort of hyper aligning and upgrading the chamber. I just want to make good use of my time.

#6: Post by **Jeff** » June 26th, 2023, 7:38 pm

I would definitely try alignment first.

#7: Post by **PIXIllate** » June 26th, 2023, 8:30 pm

My Vario now has the steel brew burrs in it. Calibrated to burr chip at 2q as per Baratza. Aligned but I have not replaced the parts with the Forte versions. Used only for pour over. Almost all of my brews have been in the mid 4 range.

#8: Post by **bgnome** » June 26th, 2023, 8:33 pm

maccompatible wrote:Also, would it be worth a quick trial of shimming to see if that makes the steel burrs more usable? I don't mind to go through the effort of hyper aligning and upgrading the chamber. I just want to make good use of my time.

A dry-erase marker test would be a quick way to determine if your burrs are badly misaligned.

#9: Post by **jfjj** » June 26th, 2023, 9:41 pm

maccompatible wrote:Hey all. Anyone have any advice for getting better coffee out of my Vario? The taste has always been somewhat disappointing from the stock ceramic burrs, so I finally upgraded to the steel brew burrs a couple months ago. The difference in taste was MASSIVE, especially with lighter roasts, but dialing in has been nearly impossible. I calibrated to 1D as burr touch, which chokes most coffees, but 1E-1F pours way too fast a lot of the time. I switched back to ceramic out of frustration, and I'm back to nice and easy to dial in, but disappointing flavor. Would the Mahlkonig X54 burrs be worth trying? I really don't want to have to buy a new grinder..

I did the hyper alignment and still found the range pretty small for espresso. It's doable but not fun. The stock burrs are way more forgiving. I don't have any experience with the x54 burrs but certain worth the experimentation.

June 26th, 2023, 9:46 pm

I tried the marker test. It wasn't as bad as I expected, but still far from perfect. After some trial and error, I got about 90% wipe with some aluminum foil shims. If this makes a meaningful difference, I'll update here. Otherwise I'll probably spring for the X54 burrs and see how they do.

As for burr chirp, I never thought much about going finer with the ceramic burrs, but it stresses me out with the steel. Is there any reason to worry if I have to grind finer than when I first start to hear the chirping noise while the hopper is empty?