Fellow Ode brew grinder review - Page 79

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
kram
Posts: 3
Joined: 3 years ago

#781: Post by kram »

Coffiend wrote: I'm in the UK, so I'll attach a link for a website I found with a range of burrs, although I'm sure there are plenty of sources.

https://www.theespressoshop.co.uk/en/Gr ... c-260.aspx
I can confirm that the mazzer super jolly burrs fit the ODE I recently purchased via Coffee Hit in the UK.

The Particle Size Distribution (PSD) of the factory burrs had basically zero fines (<100microns) and the Median particle size (x50) on setting 1 (finest) was 750mircons.

With the mazzer jolly burrs you can get the x50 down to 200microns. I've got mine set around 300microns on the finest setting. I found the PID controller struggled to keep the motor speed constant during grinding down at the 200micron output (as Fellow have commented).

Lots of myths about a grinder providing flavour...be careful here - it's the shape and size of the particles that affect extraction, the grinder is just the cause.

Ps. It takes way more than 5kg to season the burrs (so that the PSD is independent of how much coffee you have ground). I'm a researcher and had some old coffee lying around... Previously I've found the EK43 requires 25kg of coffee to season, so I imagine the ODE won't be far behind...have fun putting that amount of coffee through 80g at a time.

...Kram...

Coffiend
Posts: 33
Joined: 3 years ago

#782: Post by Coffiend »

So I ended up biting the bullet and buying an Ode. Despite being well aware of the concerns everyone has had with it, I was keen to find out for myself. Also, I really like the look of it, and that's a pretty big consideration for me.

MESS
It is messy. The exit chute isn't very focused, so it's pretty reliant on the catch bin lid to aim the chaff. I don't find the fit of the lid to be too fiddly, but it could definitely be improved to mitigate static attraction. It's not badly messy though. I have a spray bottle, and use one spray to a 15-18g dose of beans. I have tried just omitting the catch bin lid and seeing how it copes, but chaff ends up gathering on the underside of the chute exit.

HUM
The mysterious electrical hum was present when I first plugged it in, but it vanished within 48-72 hours (note that it was plugged in the entire time).

DOSING & AUTO GRIND STOP
I don't like to weigh into the grinds catch bin. It's just not a workflow that I enjoy, with having to take it in and out twice every time I grind. Plus, I turn the grinder on before putting the beans through as a matter of practice. I doubt there's any reason to do this with such a coarse grind, but the shallow hopper coupled with the RDT means that you get some straggling beans if you load it up prior to the motor running, so the vibrations help to jiggle things along. (Also, I always load in from the front of the hopper because it's so much steeper than the rear). I have found the Auto-Stop feature to work flawlessly while grinding in this way. It turns off about 2-4 seconds after it's finished, which accounts for any pop-corning beans (of which I've rarely seen). I always purge the grinder when switching between grind settings/different coffee. I find that in this scenario of grinding a couple grams, the auto-stop does not work. It's likely programmed to measure the avg resistance over the time to grind the first beans, so I'd imagine that a couple grams doesn't give the PID enough of a reference to know when it's done grinding. Also if you run the grinder without coffee, it will run indefinitely. (It probably times out, but I never waited long enough to find out)

GRIND SIZE/NOT GOING FINE ENOUGH
This is by far the biggest issue with this grinder. It's actually worse than I even imagined after hearing other people's experience. It's finest setting is really pretty coarse by modern light-roast coffee standards. I mean, it is shockingly coarse. I don't understand how it made it through any form of R&D with such a limitation. On the first day of getting it, I even had to dismantle it and calibrate it, just to check that it wasn't a setup issue. For reference, this grinder is an upgrade for me, having spent the last couple of years with a Wilfa Svart electric burr grinder and a Porlex tall hand grinder. I've found myself really having to re-assess my pourover technique, and adjust a lot of variables to get to a point where I'm getting consistent results. I will say, however, that I've had some of the best tasting coffee (that I've made) with this grinder. It seems to have opened up a whole new level of potential in cup quality, so all is not lost!

PRACTICAL BREWING EXPERIENCE
I typically brew 60g/L for pour over. If I'm making a single cup V60, that equates to 15g coffee to 250g water. For Kalita Wave 185, I brew 18g coffee to 300g water. For lower altitude South American coffees at a medium/light roast, I haven't had much of an issue dialling in, but I have been between 1-2 on the dial, so there's very little wiggle room. I've dropped brewing temps by a couple degrees celsius for these coffees, as this seems to help with a more even extraction and increased contact/brew time. So for a medium/light washed Colombian Caturra ~1500masl, I'm brewing around 92c, where I'd previously be at 94c+. For brewing a light roast Ethiopian Guji natural ~1950masl, I'm really struggling to get a good cup out of it at the 15g to 250g v60 setup. I've tried many combinations of high temp, fine grind, low temp fine grind and vice versa with coarser grinds. I've tried more and less turbulent pours. I settled around 96c on the finest setting, and I'm getting an ok result, but it seems underextracted compared to the same coffee brewed using the Wilfa Svart. I did a side-by-side brewing identically on a v60 and using the Ode vs the Svart. The Ode was notably better as an overall flavour profile, but the Svart had a distinct sweetness that the Ode was missing. This all suggests that a finer grind should yield the results I'm after. I know I could up-dose to aid in this, but feels like more of a bodge, than a proper solution.
Brewing on an Aeropress (inverted) at 72g/L has had some great results, but that's not hugely surprising considering it's predominantly an immersion brew.
(Setup: Stagg EKG kettle, plastic V60 01, using Origami filter papers, these are ~medium flow rate. Kalita 185 stainless, using oem bagged white papers)

CONCLUSION
I actually love the Ode, and don't regret buying it. It's a lovely size, and being single-dose orientated with auto-stop means I don't have to compromise my workflow to a large hopper/timed dose grinder. The Baratza Virtuoso+ was the next choice for me, but it's mainly just ugly. The Wilfa Uniform has been out of stock since December, and I don't love the look of it.
Aside from my experimentation with one-cup pour-over brews, I'm most often brewing for my partner and me. That's 30g coffee to 500g water. The Ode has a bit more scope for adjustment at this range, so it's certainly fine for now. She actually noticed a positive improvement with the new grinder, so there's something!
I am keen to get the SSP multi-purpose brew burrs as soon as they're back in stock, and I'm sure this will mean I end up with a fantastic grinder at £420GBP, which puts it into Baratza Vario territory (but that comes stock with ceramic burrs and would be an additional £100GBP to go for steel brew burrs anyway). So all-in-all I'm happy.

For a bit of fun/experimentation I bought a set of Mazzer Super Jolly burrs to try out. I know they're espresso burrs, but I got them for £27 which seemed worth a punt, for science! Oddly, most Mazzer SJ, Mazzer mini burrs dimensions are 64x37x8.5, but I measured the Ode burrs, and mine seems to be 37.78mm for the internal diameter, so I wonder if the SSP Lagom/Mazzer brew burrs will even fit my grinder? If anyone else happens to have measured their Ode, I'd be keen to hear what theirs is!

I also have a Kruve Brewler on the way, so I'll try and document pictures along the way to get some handy references for prospective buyers, and again, for science!

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chirospresso
Posts: 49
Joined: 9 years ago

#783: Post by chirospresso »

kram, can you also get it course enough for french press with the mazzer burrs?
Thanks

JustPruIt
Posts: 30
Joined: 4 years ago

#784: Post by JustPruIt »

FYI Fellow sent out a Kickstarter update today.

They've made a slight tweak in tooling which has resulted in Odes manufactured in January to grind 100 microns finer. They are calling these new burrs Version 1.1.

There will be a Version 2 which will grind from 400-1200 microns. This will be released at the end of the summer and will be free to Kickstarter backers.

If you want to try the Version 1.1 burrs, these will be available for sale on the Fellow website.

kram
Posts: 3
Joined: 3 years ago

#785: Post by kram »

chirospresso wrote:kram, can you also get it course enough for french press with the mazzer burrs?
Thanks
@ 1, fines (<100microns) are about 25%, median particle size (x50) at 300microns
@ 6, fines are at 8%, x50 at 800microns

lots of small steps in between for coffee specific tweaks!

beyond 6 it's too coarse for most things imo

make of this what you will but with a £30 set of burrs, the grinder is transformed...

chirospresso
Posts: 49
Joined: 9 years ago

#786: Post by chirospresso »

Kram, Are they the 64 x 37 x 8.4mm. OEM?
Thanks

Whitecrane
Posts: 67
Joined: 3 years ago

#787: Post by Whitecrane »

Did you guys here about the January update? Burrset was changed. 100 microns finer now. It was a backer update.

Nevermind... I see it now.

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iamdean
Posts: 4
Joined: 3 years ago

#788: Post by iamdean »

Is it possible newer units are shipping with different burrs? I took delivery of a Fellow Ode in February 2021, and I haven't found the grind to be too coarse. I find between 2-3 is perfect for most coffees, any finer and my drawdown would be way to slow. The burrs rub slightly on the lowest setting. Been brewing V60 and Origami with Kalita filters. Also, I've had 0 issues with the automatic on/off switch I had read about in the earlier reviews.

zip15
Posts: 6
Joined: 3 years ago

#789: Post by zip15 »

iamdean,

you are correct. Any grinder made in Jan 2021 is shipped with the 1.1 burrs, so yours might have them if it's a newer production model.

kram
Posts: 3
Joined: 3 years ago

#790: Post by kram »

chirospresso wrote:Kram, Are they the 64 x 37 x 8.4mm. OEM?
Thanks
I got the 64x38x8.5mm long life burrs.

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