Ahmad H. wrote:How do you guys calibrate the grinder?

The annoying problem I found is that the grind adjustment ring can be taken out and rotated without actually adjusting the grind setting, that can happen by accident. When it does it hard to figure out the precious position.

How do you guys deal with that?

that's a weird problem to have, just.. don't pull the ring out completely really.. you have to be pretty careless for that to happen and not remember at all where you were to put it back into place since it only rotates like 1/3 of the entire ring each time to get the ring back on to the adjustment part

for anyone using it for pour over, what is your experience like so far?
fines? sludge?
taste?
consistency?
I imagine the 5 micron change is too small and you'd need to move the grind setting quite a bit to get changes

With my Hario Switch it is roughly 1.5 full turns open from my espresso setting. I'm using the Switch in immersion mode and find that it is very clean with a decent amount of separation of flavors.

I'm still getting the boulder sludge. With my style of brewing I'm getting much more uneven extractions with lower TDS (still). Mouthfeel is thick, good tactility usually. Lower extraction than I would want. A lot of brews choke from fine accumulation and we all know how choked brews taste...

I'm still making up my mind about this grinder. I enjoy that it fits under my kitchen cabinets and can sit beside my moccamaster and kettle. I think the workflow is fine. I love the magic tumbler and how it fits the Aeropress and V60. Yet if I can't get excellent brews out of it I don't see the point of keeping it.

Leaving aside finer espresso-levels of grind size, the impact of sufficient burr seasoning, and rpm:

While everyone has a different definition of "excellent brews," if you want a C40-ish pourover brew but 'more,' I don't think that a bigger (currently-available) conical burr is going to give you 'more' of what people think of when they think of a C40, or the results from other grinders that use burrs 'inspired' by the C40 burr design. To me, if I wanted 'more,' that would be with a brew-focused flat burr; which is arguably the polar opposite of a Mazzer conical's design.

IIRC, Weber characterized the EG-1 Ultra (brew-focused flat burrs) as a nimble sports car and the Key as a big luxury sedan. Both can be excellent, but I'll take the sports car for a blast up through a twisty mountain pass, and the luxury sedan for cruising the Interstates - so I'll use a flat brew burr for coarser-than-espresso grinding of a light-roast high-grown microlot for pourover, and a big (currently available) conical for pulling a medium to dark-roasted espresso blend.

Just my opinion. YMMV.

I'm running into an issue with my Key grinder which I can't find a solution to after looking around on the internet. I was hoping someone here could help me on my way as I got the grinder second hand.

Background
I've had my key for a couple of months now. It is the first grinder I have capable of grinding for espresso and I've paired it with a Cafelat Robot. I was enjoying my first foray into home made espresso with the duo.

Issue
Without a clear cause my grinder seems to have gotten unable to grind fine enough. This was in the middle of a bag of beans that was previously producing fine espresso. When I try to adjust the grinder to the point it cannot physically go finer, the ground coffee it produces is still way too coarse.

I do not see a visible misalignment of the shaft when the grinder is running. The grinder has stopped itself on light roast beans on three occasions before.

JB90068 wrote: Overly simplified, the Key offers a bit more mouthfeel and the EG offers a bit more separation of flavors.

Would love to know which burrs you are using in the EG-1: Core, Ultra or Base. Thanks.

rajbangsa wrote:try tighten up the burr screw?

Thanks, it was very loose and tightening it solved the issue! I can get stuck in my head sometimes. At 10 major ticks from zero It needs to be quite a bit tighter than what others are reporting but that shouldn't be a major issue.

baldheadracing wrote: IIRC, Weber characterized the EG-1 Ultra (brew-focused flat burrs) as a nimble sports car and the Key as a big luxury sedan. Both can be excellent, but I'll take the sports car for a blast up through a twisty mountain pass, and the luxury sedan for cruising the Interstates - so I'll use a flat brew burr for coarser-than-espresso grinding of a light-roast high-grown microlot for pourover, and a big (currently available) conical for pulling a medium to dark-roasted espresso blend.

that's a great way of seeing things actually - I like a luxury sedan especially if it's a Lexus. Reliable, consistent, nice to look at, nice feel and user experience. I also came from the Sette 270 so for me the difference in clarity/texture is huge - I also drink with some milk and sugar so I guess mouthfeel is less of a thing (though did feel it was less thick with the KEY and more clear).

I have yet to try a flat burr with my set up - though plan on it one day with my friend's flat burr grinder. I would assume most cafes have conical just because of ease of use but also most cafes don't seem to serve up light to super light roast and stick to dark and mediums (from what I've seen - probably also what most customers are used to/like).