The funnel is where you put the beans in. There is a slight conical shape to it closer to the burrs. If you have the blower mod, that blower will help the last beans down into the burrs.

To get the last bits out of the chute - it has a fair bit of retention, especially when the grinder is new and if the air is dry - I use the brush, and I follow OE:s tips of turning it backwards/forwards a few times to nudge the rest of it out.
I tried knocking the grinder down on the bench like you did as well, and sure, you get a lot out, but the brush and the reverse/forward of the crank gets most of it out in any case.

blutch wrote:What is "The funnel?"

Parts for helping the beans queeing/drop to the Burr chamber, I used one with the auger in the past Orphan Espresso Apex Grinder

Yan wrote:How much retention do you get? Let say for 15.0 gr in or 20.0gr in how much do you get after grinding? Knocking the body or blowing in the burr chamber are lead to pushing all the fines at the chute or burr chamber to the cup, I never do that but after grinding and brewing I clean those fines at the chute using portable vacuum cleaner to get the fines, I think the spring/auger are more agressive than the funnel, I never compare the retention between Auger vs funnel, my last settup it's the funnel more annoying and slow but it's Apex either way you need extra patience

What's the funnel? I just ground my usual dose for my evening coffee - 27gr. 5gr left in the grinder before knocking it out. These are not just fines either. Took four big bangs to get it out. Is there something wrong with my grinder? Do I need to take it apart and clean it? I'd really like it better if I didn't have to bang the whole thing so much.

Normally I have 0.5gr ‐ 2.0gr range of retention in 12gr/15gr/20gr depending on the beans mostly under 1.5gr retention, I never banging the grinder unless when I do deep cleaning after 3-6 months to release some beans debris/boulders stuck between the burrs. I also don't do RDT but some members have better experience with RDT, btw how many kilograms coffee you already use with the Apex ? some members also have lesser retention after let's say 6+ kg, I haven't got any issue with excessive retention from the beginning. If you have the funnel maybe you can try vs the spring auger which one have lesser retention or try easier with RDT just in case it help reducing the retention.

Perhaps you're knocking out the semi-permanent retention every time? I.e. including most of the grounds that accumulate in nooks and crannies. If left alone they might not contribute much to exchange.

I don't have an Apex, but a whole bunch of grinders would have staggering retention if the grinder was cleaned thoroughly between every session.

But my dose is 5 gr short. I think there might be something wrong with my grinder. Perhaps I didn't put it back together correctly last time I had it apart. 5-6gr is too much retention, isn't it? I have to bang to get even close to my dose. I have started grinding .5-.8 gr over what I need, but I still need to bang it 3-4 times to get my needed dose. Granted, I'm making a large pour over at 27gr. but that's how I use it.

I was able to over the cover with the blower, but I doubt the blower is going to blow 5 gr though. It seems like that stuff is getting stuck somehow...

Yan wrote:Normally I have 0.5gr ‐ 2.0gr range of retention in 12gr/15gr/20gr depending on the beans mostly under 1.5gr retention, I never banging the grinder unless when I do deep cleaning after 3-6 months to release some beans debris/boulders stuck between the burrs. I also don't do RDT but some members have better experience with RDT, btw how many kilograms coffee you already use with the Apex ? some members also have lesser retention after let's say 6+ kg, I haven't got any issue with excessive retention from the beginning. If you have the funnel maybe you can try vs the spring auger which one have lesser retention or try easier with RDT just in case it help reducing the retention.

I don't know how much I have run through it. I usually make one large pour over per day... 27gr. I've had the grinder since the middle of June. I started without the spring auger and it was a pain to have to push the beans into the burr area. The spring does it now. I wonder if I reassembled it incorrectly after I tore it down.

zix wrote:The funnel is where you put the beans in. There is a slight conical shape to it closer to the burrs. If you have the blower mod, that blower will help the last beans down into the burrs.

To get the last bits out of the chute - it has a fair bit of retention, especially when the grinder is new and if the air is dry - I use the brush, and I follow OE:s tips of turning it backwards/forwards a few times to nudge the rest of it out.
I tried knocking the grinder down on the bench like you did as well, and sure, you get a lot out, but the brush and the reverse/forward of the crank gets most of it out in any case.

I have found there is no way to brush with the rocks glass in place.. do you brush it out onto the pad and then transfer those grounds to your dose? I'm confused about that. Banging it lets the stuck grounds go into the cup.

blutch wrote:But my dose is 5 gr short. I think there might be something wrong with my grinder. Perhaps I didn't put it back together correctly last time I had it apart. 5-6gr is too much retention, isn't it? I have to bang to get even close to my dose. I have started grinding .5-.8 gr over what I need, but I still need to bang it 3-4 times to get my needed dose. Granted, I'm making a large pour over at 27gr. but that's how I use it.

I was able to over the cover with the blower, but I doubt the blower is going to blow 5 gr though. It seems like that stuff is getting stuck somehow...

What I meant was perhaps you'll have a better time if you leave most of those 5 grams in there, maybe just giving the chute a quick brush.. Hopefully the next dose would be closer to 27g out. If it works, you can grind one dose of dark beans and one dose of light to try to find out if the 'stuck stuff' is exchanged when you grind or kindly stays stuck out of the way.

Try a tiny bit of water, no more than one drop. It may make all the difference in the world.