smite wrote:Makes sense. Do you feel its been a worthwhile purchase? Its interesting how little chatter there is from owners of this vs the Monoliths or Niche....

Absolutely. Yesterday I made an espresso so sweet it was as if I'd added a tea spoon of sugar. I've never experienced this before. Today I was able to do it again, which I was particularly happy about as I had switched to pour over brew in between and able to get back to the same grind.

Which burr set do you have, Geoff?

The unimodal set

I ordered mine with the high uniformity burrs but might also buy the unimodal as well. I was reading on the german site but it sounds like some members were grinding fine and passing through a sieve - maybe on lighter roasts? Is that necessary?

No, not necessary at all.

there was some concern on KN that the lagom was unable to grind fine enough for long PI/blooming shots with light roasts. i can confirm that the unimodal burrs are able to grind fine enough to choke a decent on a blooming profile, using a kenya from tim wendelboe roasted for filter. again, the grinder behaves rather differently once there's been some coffee through it when compared to new out of the box.

the unimodal burrs are no doubt tricky to dial in. in fact, there's a thread on the decent diaspora where several ek and monomax owners have aired their grievances in this regard. I have especially noticed that small changes in grind size make big differences on flow profiles.

given the finicky nature of dialing in with unimodal burr geometry, i have stopped chasing grind once i am close. for example, the blooming profile on a decent is meant to peak at 8-9 bar. i had a grind setting that peaked at 11 bar yesterday and initially tried going a touch coarser but bumped down to a 5 bar peak. it was easier to stay at the 11 bar grind setting and down-dose the basket.

njw wrote:there was some concern on KN that the lagom was unable to grind fine enough for long PI/blooming shots with light roasts ...

Better say not concern, but suspicion of burrs misalignment caused by Misumi hex roller balls not exactly the same final height when tightened (confirmed later by dial indicator as far as I remember). That's why Option-O recommended to remove hex rollers and put paper shim instead. But honestly, single case of misalignment only.

njw wrote:there was some concern on KN that the lagom was unable to grind fine enough for long PI/blooming shots with light roasts. i can confirm that the unimodal burrs are able to grind fine enough to choke a decent on a blooming profile, using a kenya from tim wendelboe roasted for filter. again, the grinder behaves rather differently once there's been some coffee through it when compared to new out of the box.

the unimodal burrs are no doubt tricky to dial in. in fact, there's a thread on the decent diaspora where several ek and monomax owners have aired their grievances in this regard. I have especially noticed that small changes in grind size make big differences on flow profiles.

given the finicky nature of dialing in with unimodal burr geometry, i have stopped chasing grind once i am close. for example, the blooming profile on a decent is meant to peak at 8-9 bar. i had a grind setting that peaked at 11 bar yesterday and initially tried going a touch coarser but bumped down to a 5 bar peak. it was easier to stay at the 11 bar grind setting and down-dose the basket.

Would you also describe it as finicky when dialing in non-blooming shots ?

I have not necessarily found the grinder finicky to dial in, I would have said it was quite flexible and repeatable. I'm also using Nordic filter roast coffee with pre infusion, and I think This kind of coffee is unforgiving of Any issues with puck prep, combined with burrs that will show flaws as there isn't the fines to cover them up.

valoben wrote:Would you also describe it as finicky when dialing in non-blooming shots ?

ben, i do find it easier to dial in with less advanced profiles. for example, i made a profile based on a la marzocco linea since of the 5-7 "god shots" ive had out at shops, probably 4 were from a linea. that profile doesnt require quite the amount of precision as a blooming or slayer-type/long PI flow profile.

geoff, i agree that the settings are repeatable and i do have a reasonable range of settings to work with (i used anywhere from 1.2 all the way to 3.0 from burr lock). the term "finnicky" was not meant to detract from the lagom specifically but was speaking to unimodal grinds in general, as evidenced by similar feelings from folks that have an ek and a monomax on the decent diaspora. some have commented that the specific unimodal+decent combination may play a factor because those with more than 1 machine (LR, e61, or LM etc) seemed to have an easier time than with the decent.

regardless, i am very happy with the grinder and definitely having fun experimenting with the decent. i think the clarity and extractions provided by unimodal grinds are worth the effort. i dont regret picking up the lagom and still feel similar to my post from april: to definitively best this grinder, i think youre likely spending over $3k for a titus ek, monomax, eg1, etc. plus, my roller-ball replacement piece is on the way from hayden as well, so that will be yet another improvement!