So I just got a slightly used Bunn G1 from ebay and have been evaluating my options for a burr upgrade to bunnzilla the grinder. It seems like the main options have been the ditting 804 with aluminum spacer from millcityroasters for $430 or sourcing the burrs from ditting themselves and having a machine shop make the spacer (much more of an inconvenience, not much $ savings I believe).

SSP burrs have been getting such good reviews lately that I thought I would drop them a line a few weeks ago while I was searching for a used Bunn to see if they would be interested in making the Burr set. Hansung said that he had not made them before but had heard of them and could make the burrs with built in spacer. Earlier last week he posted on his Instagram site that he will be offering the bunn-ditting burr replacement :

I have exchanged a few emails and this is the info he provided:

"We plan to make burr set for Bunn 80 mm soon. I think we can start selling it on January. You do not need to use Ring for Bunnzilla with it. It will have almost same geometry as original machined 804. But we will make some modification on it for espresso usage. "

When I asked about the effect the mods would have on pour over, if it would be coated, and price he responded

"We just add some fine to help espresso extraction. it does not make big effect on normal pour over. It will costs 350 USD red speed coated, including delivery fee by Fedex."

Obviously it is nice to have a choice in addition to the ditting with a few extra benefits (built in ring, coated and preseasoned burrs should require much less time/coffee to break in, $80 cheaper!). Of course these are going against the tried and tested ditting burrs which we know are excellent.. Thoughts from people with experience with ssp burrs?

PS. I normally wouldn't quote a private email conversation in a public forum but since it is based on a commercial offering with a company and I don't think I can fully convey the message paraphrasing due to the language barrier I hope is alright, I'm sure there are people out there that are interested

Would definitely get these if I didn't already have the Ditting in mine. SSP graphs great compared to Ditting/Malhkonig, plus it's coated where the Ditting isn't and they're offering it a decent bit cheaper.

True, the ssp burrs seem to be as highly rated or even more so compared to Ditting/Malhkonig lately. The coating and especially preseasoned burrs would be a big benefit to me as Hansung has said in the past that they only take a few kg of coffee to break in the coating (vs me spending months with tons of rice trying to break in the ditting burrs like a shlomo). The modification to improve espresso range has me wondering though.. Will it negativity effect the pour over range range in any way or will it not effect pour over range and add functionality to the Bunn. Could the bunnzilla even be used for espresso in the unlikely event that I decide to experiment with it in that range (does it even have sufficient adjustability in the espresso range?)

Madman13 wrote: Could the bunnzilla even be used for espresso in the unlikely event that I decide to experiment with it in that range (does it even have sufficient adjustability in the espresso range?)

It can but the stock adjustment doesn't give you much range. There was a mod posted a while back that helps with that. Shots are closer to the Brewspresso/EK style shots then a conventional shot.

As for the SSP burrs adding more fines I'd probably pass. I built the original Bunnzilla back in 2010 because I wanted to see fewer fines then what I got with the stock Bunn burrs. Of course I was going for an ideal vacuum brew grind & wasn't thinking about using it for espresso grinding.

I've been contemplating SSP burr too for my Ditting 804. Hansung from SSP did say that they optimize the burr geometry for the RPM and that it should work for espresso. I am not sure however if they use exact same geometry for both.
I have both old cast burr and new machined burr from Ditting but actually prefers the old cast burr for espresso.

I was almost pretty excited about this but then he says he is changing the burrs to make them more for espresso, specifically for a bunnzilla, either he or I have a pretty big misunderstanding of what the bunnzilla is primarily about.

Probably because he uses exact same geometry as his 804 burr. Another point to consider is that now Ditting has 804 lab sweet that uses old cast burr but optimized for brew grinding. Maybe that burr would be more suitable for Bunn conversion.

I saw that post on Instagram as well, and will probably order a set to try out in lieu of ditting with spacer. Love that they are coated and built specifically for the bunn. Adding trifecta plate today to allow for finer adjustments. Not really concerned with espresso performance, but would be interested to see if they can perform for both styles!

Madman13 wrote:Could the bunnzilla even be used for espresso in the unlikely event that I decide to experiment with it in that range (does it even have sufficient adjustability in the espresso range?)

JohnB. wrote:It can but the stock adjustment doesn't give you much range. There was a mod posted a while back that helps with that.

Adding fine adjustment screw to Bunn/update

I have two G9 waiting to get a replacement burr set. I have a new original Bunn set and i will get this new SSP burr set too as soon as they are availables and will be able to test both side to side.