As the title says, I'm a new owner of a Eureka Olympus 75E with Titanium Burrs. I've owned a Vario and Sette over pretty much all of my coffee years (8ish), so this is my first major grinder--and I'm struggling.

I've dialed it in pretty well, shots taste good and all, but the grind feels off. I'm getting a basket full of clumps. The Sette grinds are much fluffier. In fact, when I grind 18g in my IMS double basket, the Sette grinds fill the basket for nice and easy distribution. When I grind 18g (dialed in) through the Olympus, my basket looks half full. I can't even distribute well with Stockfleth's. Is this partly because of the clumping? I've upped my dose to 20g, but I don't need that much in a double and would prefer to keep it lower.

Apologies if these are just a bunch of newbie questions. I've tried to search some but haven't been able to find answers. FWIW, the Olympus was an Open Box item and has had a couple of pounds through it (maybe more?).

I know nothing about the Eureka Olympus 75E, but I do know the Sette is an excellent grinder. It produces unusually fluffy, clump-free grounds.

How much coffee has gone through your Eureka Olympus 75E? Depending on the burrs, it might take 20+# before the burrs settle in. Are you getting static too?

Probably still settling in and filling all the gaps with static retention. I've owned an Olympus with TiN burrs for over 2,5 years but have never had problems with clumps. The grinds where always fluffy and the timer very consistent to within 0.2gr 9 out of 10 times (that one time max 0.5gr deviation). Grind quality was superb and should beat almost any grinder out there.

All large burrs need around 20-50lbs to break in and the first 10lbs will give some problems. You have large burrs which also have a coating which makes breaking in take even longer. It took me almost a year (2KG a month) before everything was fully settled in although after 3 months everything was already really good. Once that's done they'll last a lifetime.

I agree with the other posters that it may take a little while for the burrs to break in. But even straight out of the box I got fluffy grinds with minimal clumping. Can you post a picture of what your grinds look like?

Grinding too fine can result in some clumping issues. If it doesn't start to settle down I'd recommend you check the burr alignment. There are some online guides on how to do this in the Olympus (same as for Mythos), including a thread here on HB.

Eureka Olympus 75e Burr Alignment and Retention

Thanks for the replies. I checked the alignment when it first came in and everything was good. My guess is that it's just the break in period, and I'm grateful for y'all helping me see that. There's not much on HB and elsewhere about the Olympus, so I've been searching stuff on large burr sets / titan grinders, but when it comes to clumping, most of what I found dealt with mods on Mazzers, so I wasn't sure if it's normal for new burrs or not. So far, I really like the grinder, and I love how consistent the timer is.

So another question for clarification: Is my worry about "volume" of coffee in the basket related to the clumps? i.e. if there are less clumps, would the filter basket look fuller?

I've used a Mini V (53mm) and Vario/Sette for years, I'm out of practice when it comes to determining an ideal dose. I'd love to stick with 18g, but man, it just looks like so little coffee in the basket (pre- and post-tamp). I'll try to remember to post a pic when I get a chance.

I'm having a similar experience switching from a ROK hand grinder to a La Cimbali Casadio Enea so switching from a seasoned conical to a new flat burr. My 16.2 gram doses in a Mini Vivaldi with the ROK were fluffy and filled the basket. The Cimbali with 18 grams had much less volume. I think (and hope) it will change when a few more Kg's are put through the new grinder. I also suspect there may be more fines with the new grinder which I think would result in a more compact grind.

tglodjo wrote:So another question for clarification: Is my worry about "volume" of coffee in the basket related to the clumps? i.e. if there are less clumps, would the filter basket look fuller?

You might be grinding a little fine and hence they tend to clump. For instance, if you went to a 20 g dose, for similar flow rate you'd need to coarsen the grind up some. How much are you yielding from your 18 g in, and what time? You might consider getting a smaller basket so you can still Stockfleth, or you could get a LWW shaker to crush those clumps.

Also the Sette has conical burrs and those tend to grind with fewer clumps compared to flat burrs. Conicals tend to have a different grind distribution and more fines, hence you'd grind coarser for a given in/out/time recipe. With a well aligned flat burr grinder, you'd have a unimodal grind distribution that allows you to grind finer overall and still get the same in/out/time recipe.

al3xx wrote:You might be grinding a little fine and hence they tend to clump. For instance, if you went to a 20 g dose, for similar flow rate you'd need to coarsen the grind up some. How much are you yielding from your 18 g in, and what time? You might consider getting a smaller basket so you can still Stockfleth, or you could get a LWW shaker to crush those clumps.

I stick with a 50% ratio most of the time. So when I'm dialing in for 18g, I'm getting about 36g out in 25-28 seconds. When I adjusted to 20g, yeah, I coarsened it a bit to get 40g out in the same time.

I had the exact same problem with a new Olympus (steel burrs) and i confirm, after about 2kg there is no more clumping.

FWIW, here is a picture of the clumps I'm getting. It's pretty tightly packed too, as a paperclip does not break them up very well. Looking forward to getting enough coffee through to avoid this