Kruve Sifter to compare grinders - dumb idea?!

#1: Post by **fzman** » July 24th, 2021, 2:33 pm

I have a small army of grinders at home, and have been trying to compare them in the cup as well as one more objective performance criteria -- grind distribution, specifically. I brew both filter coffee with Ratio Eight, and shots in my BDB, for lattes. So, the questions:

Is there ever a chance that a coarser grind can yield a higher drip extraction %?

Any recommendations on which specifc pair of sieve ##s to use for dosing vs brew drip?

Is it insane to get a second Kruve, and do 5 sizes per grind?

I am just starting to work on this project for fun, and am curious if anyone else has gone down this path, and has some guidance to share.

Thans!

#2: Post by **Snidel337** » July 24th, 2021, 2:50 pm

fzman wrote:Is there ever a chance that a coarser grind can yield a higher drip extraction %?

Technically it's possible, if you go too fine you can make clogs and could go very badly for extraction, specially if your grinder has a higher variability in size if you go finer

Any recommendations on which specifc pair of sieve ##s to use for dosing vs brew drip?

No idea. But i suppose it also depends on your technique, i mean, you can even go quite coarse, with lower pressure and 15seconds https://www.cell.com/matter/fulltext/S2 ... %2930410-2 therefore, the number of your sieve should be detemrined qith your technique, there are no definitive rules. Depending on the sieve number you get a size, and depending on that you can also determine your pressure and time. Maybe the best would be to have a sieve and also a refractometer and good taste buds

Is it insane to get a second Kruve, and do 5 sizes per grind?

I don't really see the sense... you could just use a dish/plate to keep what you sifted already

#3: Post by **ira** » July 24th, 2021, 2:53 pm

If you search on Kruve, sometime back there was a thread asking the question, do you still use your Kruve? As I recall and I'm one of those who answered, most people used it for a very short time and then stopped. It's interesting and it will let you play with sifting coffee to see what a more unimodal grind will do for the taste of brewed coffee. If the money is not an issue and you like to experiment, it can be a fun tool. You might try putting a wanted posting in buy/sell as you might get a 12 screen for slightly more than a new 5 screen one. And if you find an older one, the screen holder is to my eye, a much better looking piece.

Ira

#4: Post by **baldheadracing** » July 24th, 2021, 3:44 pm

I think that it would be good to follow namelessone's Kruve sifting procedure for comparison's sake.

Kruve grinder comparison

July 25th, 2021, 10:15 am

Folks, Thanks for the thoughtful, informative replies. I am always teetering at the edge that divides the realm of 'making a tasty cuppa/shot' and 'let's get some science and quantitative projects going'. Given that, it i true that something like a Kruve is a limited use tool, not unlike jumper cables--not a 'sexy' fun thing, but glad you have one when you need it.

That said, I would love to have a 3 or 4 tier version of a Kruve, or even just 2 Kruves. (I find it really hard to swap the screens for fear of mangling them.) @ would be expensive, but way less so than the real scientific sifter products that would be the next-level variant.

#6: Post by **ira** » July 25th, 2021, 11:57 am

The thing about the Kruve that makes it more useful than any of the more professional is the ability to use them to prepare coffee for brewing. The shape makes it easy to pour the coffee into a basket or filter, the advantage of the professional ones is the number of screens and the motors.

Ira