Orphan Espresso Apex Grinder - Page 47

March 30th, 2019, 6:14 pm

Just a note for people replacing their auger spring/screws: Although the process is simple and straightforward, you may find occasion to use, ah, "colorful metaphors" getting the new spring in place. I'd also recommend wearing eye protection

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P.S. Still loving the V60's from this grinder. Based on my sieve tests, my guess is the cup quality is in part coming from the near-total absence of 'boulders.' YMMV.

April 4th, 2019, 11:48 am

How well does the grinder work with finer grinds for Aeropress, or moka pot?

#463: Post by **Prosounds** » April 5th, 2019, 12:33 am

I grind pretty fine for my V60 pours (my preference), about the same as an aeropress consistency... and it's fantastic.

#464: Post by **Yan** » April 10th, 2019, 2:48 am

Finally the funnel arrived ... it looks so simple... but it was very precision made, I try to put on the Apex. No 1 take out the Auger Spring and I put back the 6mm screw, remember I already used the M4x10mm the longest one so I put back the original 6mm.

No 2 slide the funnel to the hopper, put back everything and you are good to go.

Tomorrow morning I will try to grind some light roasting Kenya Karogoto from my local roaster, hopefully it help the grinding process...

#465: Post by **bytheway** » April 10th, 2019, 3:36 am

Yan wrote: Tomorrow morning I will try to grind some light roasting Kenya Karogoto from my local roaster, hopefully it help the grinding process...

Interested in your findings, please take a look at this video https://1drv.ms/v/s!AvfGVoSnpXdZ7wYxDs99qp7omVK3 with my funnel installed, this is Tim Wendelboe Kenya Karogoto, took more than 10mins to grind a 24g dose on the finest setting...I put 27.59g in and got 23.97g out = 3.62g retention. The grinder is well seasoned but I had vacuumed out the grinder just prior to grinding this dose.

I do the back and forth in the video whenever the beans are not feeding into the grind chamber (ie when I feel that I have done 1-2 revolutions with no resistance and no grinds coming out of the chute). My grinder jammed again today and I can't move the handle and was jamming in the video a bit.

10mins is too long for me to grind, should it be taking this long even at the finest setting? There seems to be an inherent problem in the beans feeding into the grind chamber. Any thoughts appreciated.

I was thinking putting the auger spring back on (when I receive the replacement as mine snapped) might help the feed issues, but Barb doesn't think it will...

#466: Post by **Yan** » April 10th, 2019, 4:54 am

bytheway wrote:Interested in your findings, please take a look at this video https://1drv.ms/v/s!AvfGVoSnpXdZ7wYxDs99qp7omVK3 with my funnel installed, this is Tim Wendelboe Kenya Karogoto, took more than 10mins to grind a 24g dose on the finest setting...I put 27.59g in and got 23.97g out = 3.62g retention.

After I seen your video I can't resist to try right away, I put 20.6 grams and put my timer, I set 2 clicks from finest setting, total grinding time takes 3m:35s, by experience it feels longer from my normal time but maybe 1-2min longer, because when the paddle feels light I reverse the rotation back and forth. My first attempt with the funnel the retention very low before I brew I check the grinds 20.5 grams, only 0.1 retention, I have done deep cleaning when I put the funnel.

I will try to measure 2-3 times after this so I can get the average for grinding time and retention after using the funnel.

April 10th, 2019, 4:59 am

Thanks Yan, can you try the finest setting? ie all the way to the finest click? I think finer may take longer but not sure if it should be as long as I experienced ie >10 mins

April 10th, 2019, 5:03 am

Tomorrow morning I will try at the finest setting...

#469: Post by **dale_cooper** » April 10th, 2019, 9:36 am

I have so many questions after watching that video and reading these grind time posts....

My 25g / 400 v60 brews which finish brew time 3mins plus - I grind 4-5 clicks fine, of center (start at center and click towards fine). Why are you guys needing to grind at a setting that is so much finer? Particularly with Wendelboe coffee or really light roasted coffee, which is going to be VERY hard, you're making matters worse grinding that fine. Personally, I don't believe the apex is effective in that usage. Having to go reverse direction so often means you're not utilizing the sharp side of the burr - doesn't that lead to consistency issues? Are you having to go reverse (counterclockwise) 50% of the time because its too much effort to keep going clockwise? Again, why are you grinding so fine?

I have started noticing that with my own really light roasts - how I pour the beans in is very important. I need to spread out the pour so the beans are going into the burr at a somewhat uniform basis. Otherwise, if I pour everything towards the burr, I have the vast majority of beans in the burr at one time and its more difficult to grind and keep speed.

Generally, I finish grinding the 25g batch of beans in 1 minute. 3 minutes, let alone 10 minutes, seems insane?

April 10th, 2019, 2:37 pm

dale_cooper wrote:Generally, I finish grinding the 25g batch of beans in 1 minute. 3 minutes, let alone 10 minutes, seems insane?

I believe that grind rpm affects taste. For example, I found a grind at a measured 120rpm does not taste as nice as a grind at 100rpm. I now grind as slow as seems reasonable to me; averaging about 60-70rpm, but going that slow does result in a lot of start/stopping, and takes around three minutes for 20g IIRC

ETA: to clarify the time, that is the time from weighing/RDT the beans until the grounds are in the V60. I use a brush, blower, etc., to keep the (net) amount retained by the Apex to under 0.1g. I'm actively grinding (spinning the handle) for less than half of the three minutes.