ziggomatic wrote:
So this morning I swapped back in the ceramic burrs, only pulled a couple shots as I already had several espressos this morning, but the first couple shots with the ceramic burrs tasted more to my liking, what I was previously used to with this coffee, and I wasn't as close to the burr contact point (calibrated to 2Q). It was a quick procedure to swap out burrs, so I plan to do a lot more testing and comparing between steel & ceramic burrs, now that im fairly positive my grinder is in excellent alignment (did two dry erase marker tests and both came out perfect).

Will report back with more findings next week!!!

Ziggomatic did you check alignment after reassembly? Also do you have the forte bits in? Would be great to get a comparison of ceramic to steels!

Folks...I can see the steps I need to do but wanted to ask folks who have Fortifyied their Vario...

Do I basically follow something like below? Just don't want to wreck this grinder I've fallen in love with it...

1) remove burr
2) remove the four Alicorn screws - this will release the gear and belt
3) remove motor
4) remove levers - how??
5) reinstall all this on the metal chamber - and pray?? How will the bottom burr be aligned?

Usually the bottom burr is used as a reference, won't this mess up the alignment royally??

sheedapistawl wrote:Ziggomatic did you check alignment after reassembly? Also do you have the forte bits in? Would be great to get a comparison of ceramic to steels!

I did check alignment after reassembly twice and the marker test showed perfect wear pattern

I do not have the Forte bits installed, I just want ahead and performed the work on my semi-recently Baratza repair program serviced Vario (18 months ago). I did not check the alignment before taking everything apart and performing the work.

I also have the Forte bits here waiting to be installed but with the grinder currently performing extremely well without the upgraded Forte metal parts, I am considering leaving it as-is for a while or maybe indefinitely.

So figured it out, installed forte grind chamber - I couldn't figure out that the Vario lever arms cannot be removed from the plastic motor plate so just removed the metal grind chamber from the associated plate and installed on my varios motor plate.

I put it back together I also have the flapper flipped - but now I have this problem where the Vario is vomiting out grinds - shots are amazing but what do you guys think is going on?



Alignment outcome after reassembly - looks good to me so what could be the problem?

Two things...

1) You're not using a funnel
2) Are you doing RDT? The grinds might be a little staticky

-Peter

Peter! Just the person I was hoping to catch haha. did you look at the GIF of the pull? I am enjoying the best shots of my life! The vario is competing neck and neck with my Anfim (75mm burrs also in immaculate alignment). I am a believer - the difference in taste I am quite sure is down to the thick mouthfeel you get with ceramics in the Vario and more flavor separation/clarity with the TiN steels in the Anfim.

1) I am not using a funnel - previously also with hyperalignment but with the same coffee and the plastic grind chamber, the grinds came out neatly in a little mountain on the PF. I am wondering...if this is a non issue, and the chamber and re-hyperalignment have just made the grind EVEN better and therefore they are going everywhere?

2) I am doing RDT but just 1 or 2 drops of water in a blind disk shaken over a container I put the beans in...

is this a non problem then? the beans are a medium roast Redbird sweet blue....

Riz...

Flipping the flapper changes things quite a bit. While I never did try to grind into a portafilter without a funnel, flipping the flapper for sure made it impossible. The grounds are sooo much fluffier with the flapper out of the way that the pile becomes too high to manage without risk of spillage.

As seen here:


And ^^^that^^^ isn't even as bad as I've seen it get.

Good observation on the ceramics versus steels. That jives with my experience too. Though the Baratza steels (in a hyper aligned grinder), are capable of producing that fine narrow banded, high clarity experience too. But as long as you have two grinders, one for each purpose, that is way less of a PITA than swapping burrs back and forth.

-Peter

Peter....this isn't a bug, you're right, it's a feature. I just hadn't seen grinds this fluffy and consistent. Only 16g fits in an 18g VST basket without compacting grinds... extraction is beautiful, flavor is amazing. I think I got the same jump from fortifying it as I did with hyperaligning it - with the plastic chamber alignment was a bit off after a while I think because of retention buildup Around burrs that flexes the plastic wings perhaps, but with the forte bits this is amazing.

Thank you again for your help. I wanted to revert and post this for other folks.

Some grind photos from a hyper aligned, fortified Vario with ceramics:





And the outcome - :O

I hear you here, mate. It's just one of those "who knew?" Amazing things that you discover in life from time to time. All because for whatever reason or another, the bottom burr on these things has world class runout.

-Peter

we did the same thing to my vario...bought the necessary parts from Baratza....Im using metal burrs and have it at girlfriends for sunday brew coffee...
grind i so void of fines its weierd to look at it