Monolith Flat early impressions - Page 9

Grinders are one of the keys to exceptional espresso. Discuss them here.
ds
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#81: Post by ds »

jaredw wrote:Yeah, it is just moving between the two that takes time. The burrs sort of stick. In some cases ive gone to move it back, tighten it, and the grinder has stalled.
I have seen that when moving from non-espresso coarse to espresso fine and its due to the some of the coarse particles remaining on the burrs. They provide resistance and if you press them its easy to jam. That's why pretty much every grinder manufacturer tells you to adjust the grind fineness with grinder running. So if you are adjusting from non-espresso coarse to espresso fine, run the grinder so the coarse particles get ground and not jam the burrs.

jaredw
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#82: Post by jaredw replying to ds »

Was a tad worried about doing this as ive seen the lower burr turn with the upper burr. I guess this could be because of stuck particles.

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FotonDrv
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#83: Post by FotonDrv »

I would also think when loosening up the grinder for drip of french press some of the bottom threads of the cone might have a few small bits of grounds on them.
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jaredw
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#84: Post by jaredw »

Just gave it a shot with the grinder running. No problems... Well one slight problem but that was user error.
Let go of the upper burr chamber before turning it off and ended up having to repeat the process.

Nate42 (original poster)
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#85: Post by Nate42 (original poster) »

coffeekid wrote: I have seen no user reviews or first impressions on the grinder's performance with french press. Can anyone speak to the Monolith's performance and ease of use for french press?
So just for coffeekid, I made a French press this morning. I used 70g of coffee and 1 liter water in a Planetary designs tabletop press (I usually use an Espro but that is at work).

I set grinder to about 12 noon, roughly 180deg out of espresso range. Here is what grind looked like:


Obviously there are some boulders and fines in there, which is why I didn't go for any coarser than that. Probably would have been more even if I went for a smidge finer.

Grinding 70g requires two batches. Fortunately it grinds quite fast at a coarse setting. I also made a static-y mess. Pro-tip: more coffee requires more RDT water. :oops:

Resulting cup was quite good, nice body and sweetness. There was a fair bit of very fine silt in the bottom of the cup, enough that you definitely wouldn't want to drink that last little bit. This presumably would have been reduced had I been using my Espro. 2nd cup was much cleaner, due to the magic of gravity and time.

Conclusion: Is it an ideal French press grinder? No. Can it make a good press? Absolutely. If money and space are no object, a bulk grinder is going to give you best brew and press performance. The Monolith is quite capable of being your only grinder though if that's what you need to do.

Nate42 (original poster)
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#86: Post by Nate42 (original poster) »

jaredw wrote:Just gave it a shot with the grinder running. No problems... Well one slight problem but that was user error.
Let go of the upper burr chamber before turning it off and ended up having to repeat the process.
You are experiencing the same thing I mentioned earlier in the thread. I always run the grind when making large adjustments from coarse to fine. Not everyone finds the need to do this, but local humidity and choice of coffee probably make a difference. All it takes is a few larger coffee particles to become trapped between the burrs to bind them up, and running the grinder is an easy way to remedy this. Denis assures me there is no problem with this.

coffeekid
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#87: Post by coffeekid »

coffeekid wrote:I'm strongly considering ordering a Monolith Flat in Denis' next round of orders, but was wondering if users and owners might be willing and able to answer two questions.
Wow, thanks for the thorough and thoughtful responses, everyone.
peppersass wrote:Given the expense and availability of equipment, I think it might be a while before laser diffraction particle analysis gets done on the Monolith grinders. But the folks over at the Socratic Coffee website have been using a sieve technique to compare the particle distributions of various grinders.
Good to know I'm not missing a report somewhere. Thanks for the advice on this, Dick. I'll reach out to Socratic soon.
Nate42 wrote:I think this grinder comes very close to the holy grail of the true "do everything" grinder.
I'm glad to hear you put it this way, Nathan. I realize that the greatest limiting factor is that certain burrs have ranges of tasks they can perform well (hence the existence of "turkish burrs," even if they're falling out of fashion). But, my thought has always been that it is rather inefficient to invest in two sets of burrs (i.e. - two grinders) when that money could be combined and invested in a better, single grinder that can potentially perform well across a larger range. Again, the EK43's impressive performance across the board is what started me thinking this way. Your commentary confirms that I'm approaching the Monolith Flat from the right angle.
Nate42 wrote:So just for coffeekid, I made a French press this morning. I used 70g of coffee and 1 liter water in a Planetary designs tabletop press (I usually use an Espro but that is at work).

I set grinder to about 12 noon, roughly 180deg out of espresso range. Here is what grind looked like:

Obviously there are some boulders and fines in there, which is why I didn't go for any coarser than that. Probably would have been more even if I went for a smidge finer.

Conclusion: Is it an ideal French press grinder? No. Can it make a good press? Absolutely. If money and space are no object, a bulk grinder is going to give you best brew and press performance. The Monolith is quite capable of being your only grinder though if that's what you need to do.
This is immensely helpful! Seriously, thanks for taking the time to do this.

180 degrees to 12 o'clock isn't too bad. I do wonder, however, if Denis might consider updating the top cap for future versions, simply to have markings beyond the espresso range. I imagine if I were to purchase a Flat, I would probably end up resorting to Post-It notes or Sharpie markings as a point of reference for coarser grinding-something that is advertised as within the capabilities of this grinder.

You're right that this grind does look like it has a considerable amount of boulders and fines, so it's not surprising to hear that there was a bit of silt. This is something I've never been able to avoid with french press (short of sieving out fines with a Kruve), so it might be unrealistic to scrutinize the Flat's performance in coarse grinding because of this. I realize that coarse grinding inherently leaves more room for diversity in grind size, because wider burr spacing allows for a larger spectrum of fines to get through. So, perhaps this is as good as it gets for french press?

The more I process this all, the more I'm thinking I'll be placing an order. Again, I really appreciate everyone's feedback. I'll be excited to see more data in the future on Denis' excellent grinder.

ira
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#88: Post by ira »

coffeekid wrote:180 degrees to 12 o'clock isn't too bad. I do wonder, however, if Denis might consider updating the top cap for future versions, simply to have markings beyond the espresso range. I imagine if I were to purchase a Flat, I would probably end up resorting to Post-It notes or Sharpie markings as a point of reference for coarser grinding-something that is advertised as within the capabilities of this grinder.
I've not done it yet, but the arrow is just a plastic stick on arrow, so different colored arrows for different grinds is all it takes. THen you just fint the arrow and setting you need for the grind you're about to do.

Ira

coffeekid
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#89: Post by coffeekid replying to ira »

Okay, this is genius. Or, I was just way overcomplicating things.

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dumpshot
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#90: Post by dumpshot »

I am with Ira. I have a red arrow sticker ("art tape" from Office Max) for espresso. About 180 degrees on the other side is a blue arrow for pourover. I just eyeballed the 180 degrees since everything is relative. For my purposes, I note exactly where my setting is for espresso, then turn coarser so that the blue arrow comes around to the espresso setting and adjust from there. Right now, my pourover setting is 180 degrees plus a little for pourover. Works great. No muss, no fuss. I just have to remember to turn it back to espresso setting after finishing.

Pete


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