chipman wrote:I hope that is minute rice and not regular. Actually, I don't think you need to go through that rice routine. I just used my grinder right out of the box.

Thanks for the heads up, Steve.

I have read on the forum, the debates about dry rice vs minute rice and see the preference expressed for minute rice.

This is directly from LWW http://lynweber.com/products/eg-1/basics/breaking-in/

"Shopping List

Your EG-1 is on its way and you're dashing off to the store to buy provisions for the impending arrival of your new grinder. In addition to coffee beans and milk, add a few kilos of dry long grain white rice to your shopping list. Any inexpensive brand will do, just be sure that you're not buying wet or instant vacuum packed rice. If you're friendly with a local roaster, stale coffee beans will work just as well for seasoning the burr set."

What do you think?

I have always read that instant rice is the way to go, and always been warned against regular rice. Their advise is a little confusing. When I got my EG-1, I just used it to make espresso right from the get go.

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chipman wrote:I have always read that instant rice is the way to go, and always been warned against regular rice. Their advise is a little confusing. When I got mine, I just used it to make espresso right from the get go.

Their break-in page also says...

"
End Results

As your burrs break in you'll begin to notice a few things. Micro-spurting or gysering, which can be seen more clearly with a naked portafilter, will diminish; the amount of time required to grind a set dose will decrease, and the quality of your extractions will generally improve. In addition, the effects of static will become less obvious depending of course on the relative humidity of your environment and bean type.

For any set of burrs, it's difficult to formulate a specific time period associated with the breaking in process. The process can be dependent on a multitude of variables such as bean hardness, quantity, darkness of roast, fineness of grind and even the surface finish of any given burr set.

Some burrs right out of the box perform well, while others might need breaking in. You can either let the burrs bed in at their own pace or choose to speed up the seasoning process. Every burr set is different, and some may not require any seasoning at all.

In regards to the specific quantity of either coffee or rice to use in the process, it's difficult to quantify an exact amount. But with direct feedback from our existing customer base, users are reporting improved results after 4 to 5kg of coffee or rice run passed through the grinder." (emphasis is mine)

Perhaps the thing to do is start using it and try to gauge whether breaking-in is needed. Of course, that is a rather subjective determination unless one is a longtime expert in all this. Clearly I am but an 'emerging barista' not an expert.

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I guess I'll defer to the experts. I was just giving my personal experience. I'm still confused with their regular rice advise. I hope you get some more feed back here before you get your grinder. Congratulations, and you will love your new grinder..

I value your advice Steve. I wont use the rice until I know more about the pros and cons. Clearly this is not a burr cleaning application, rather a break-in application so that might make a difference as to the suitability of dry rice.

Minute rice in place of Grindz for cleaning, white rice for breaking in big grinders. That's what was recommended for the burrs in a Bunzilla.

Ira

Why not go to a few coffee shops and ask them to sell you some out-of-date or stale coffee?

IMHO breaking in affects much more dosing than taste (of course that inconsistent dosing will result in inconsisrent shots ...)
That is specially important if you time dose, as your dosing will be very inconsistent.
However weigh dosing and shaking, or doing WDT should help greatly.
My HG-1 took about two years of daily use till I could dose directly in the filter without having to use WDT.

ira wrote:Minute rice in place of Grindz for cleaning, white rice for breaking in big grinders. That's what was recommended for the burrs in a Bunzilla.
Ira

This is useful information, Ira. Can you provide citation to that effect for us? I have to believe the idea of dry rice for break-in was not a mistake on LWW's part and likely came from their burr supplier.

I received my HG1 yesterday evening, unboxed it, set it up, ran the motor and fiddled with the rpm control. Was surprised it came with a blind shaker. I initially set up the very cool rail system to feed into their blind shaker instead of a portafilter with their supplied funnel. Still haven't put any beans in it to grind but I will today.

OMG is it awesome looking

Moved the NS G60 over to feed the Technivorm and placed the EG1 next to the Andreja. It fits perfectly in height, width and depth. When my sister saw it she commented, "what's with the microscope?"

andy G. wrote: Why not go to a few coffee shops and ask them to sell you some out-of-date or stale coffee?

Clearly, that would be the thing to do. It is hot as blue blazes here in the Phoenix area and I really don't want to get out in that. Was 117 yesterday and 121 the day before. I'm wimpy

You guys rock for suggesting the Rocket Air Blaster. That has solved the stuck beans issue. I find it's even more effective if I click at the same time as blasting air.