Hi all,

Nick from Fellow here. I'm currently VP of Hardware and R&D; responsible for all product development. I also design a fair bit of the products myself. I've been a member of this board for some years now, and was originally posting answers to questions regarding some Fellow products under my original username "nicholasnumbers".

The time has come to completely separate my old handle from my current job, so let's use this thread here to openly discuss anything Fellow related that you have questions about. We'll leave the standard boards for enthusiast discussion only, and if anyone needs help feel free to reach out here. Overall, my goal is just to help people make better coffee at home, so whatever I can to do assist you, I will!

Now, onto the fun stuff:

Fellow Ode Gen 2 Brew Burrs are now available to the public. You can purchase them here: https://fellowproducts.com/products/ode ... brew-burrs

We are also offering a 30% discount on these burrs to anyone who would like to purchase them. Use code "GRIND30OFF" until 9/23.

Anyone having a hard time with a product can also drop a note directly. We're very committed to customer service and will work to get you sorted as soon as possible.

Thanks and I look forward to discussing Fellow stuff in this thread going forward!

Nick

Welcome Nick and Fellow Products! For those who may have missed it, Fellow Ode V2.0 burrs almost here is the unofficial "user experience" thread and this is the official Fellow thread, hosted by Nick Terzulli as fellowproducts (his personal login is nicholasnumbers).

NB: If you just want to keep up with their updates, you can subscribe to this thread - use the "wrench" drop down on the bottom-left of this page and click "Subscribe topic". Thanks!

Hi Nick,
Glad to see this forum has been set up. How would you advise someone that has the Ode with the SSP burr set? Is it worth getting the V2.0 burrs? They certainly are affordable but do the express the coffee in a different and interesting way?

Also, we started to talk about alignment in the other forum. I'm curious about your QA processes. I get that a precision alignment is cost prohibitive and I wouldn't expect it at the Ode price point, but is there some alignment criteria as part of the QA process? Just curious, I'm not experiencing any issues.

Thanks!

Glad to continue the conversation here!

1) When I think about the SSP burrs "vs." the Gen 2 burrs, they really are totally different animals. The SSP MP burrs are almost laser focused in clarity and acidity. The pristine clarity is a beautiful thing for perfectly executed, lightly roasted coffees in my opinion. On the other hand, when you start getting into coffees where processing can be very present, or there is a slight roasting defect, the SSP MP burrs do not hide it at all. They show exactly what the coffee is. With the Gen 2 burrs, they are lower clarity than the SSP and focus more on general sweetness and body. The acidity is dialed back a bit and tends to be more malic instead of pointed. So in testing, I found that coffees with heavier processing tend to have a bit of an edge taken off and can be perceived differently with the Gen 2 burrs vs. the SSP. As a whole, the Gen 2 burrs tend to be more "forgiving" on both coffees and brewing. I would say that if you are enjoying what you are getting from the SSP MP burrs, stick with it and continue enjoying the cups! If you want to explore the Gen 2 burrs, see if you can find a friend with an Ode who has them installed, and then brew the same coffee off of both units, match extractions, and then taste the differences. I can't say that one is "better" than the other, because it all comes down to personal preference and the coffee that you are using.

2) I can't go into detail about our QA or manufacturing, but can say that we do things during the build that assist with getting alignment as good as possible. We hold parts to certain tolerance bands and then randomly inspect certain pieces at an acceptable quality limit (AQL) to ensure that the grinders are meeting our specifications. When it comes to burr alignment, you've probably seen people putting aluminum foil under their burrs to get the alignment as close to perfect as possible. One piece of aluminum foil is typically about .0006". Even if someone used 4 sheets of foil, that's just a smidge over .002". The average sheet of paper has a thickness of .004". So when you think about the chain of every part that has to be absolutely, literally perfect in dimensions to get burrs perfectly aligned, it is a massive challenge. The more money you are able to spend on manufacturing and inspection, the closer you can get to that perfection. Overall, we do the best we can at the price. I hope that helps a bit.

Thanks,

Nick

Thanks Nick! Good info. I appreciate the insight.
So far the SSPs are doing great so I'll likely stick with them for the near term. But good to know what the V2.0 burrs bring to the cup.

Nick nice to have you.
I have a fellow stag kettle the black paint is flaking off it now and the water leaks through the lid.
I thought you would want to know.
The first one I had was replaced because it stopped heating all together.
The QC for these seems to have its challenges.
I thought you would want to to know.
I really like your kettle and would buy a new one still today.
I hope the issues get fixed with them because I do think they are great.
Thanks Jason Casale jasongcasale@gmail.com

Hi Jason,

We are aware of leakage through the sides of the lid at aggressive pouring angles. Unfortunately right now that design is metal on metal, and was never intended to be leak proof. We recommend pouring a bit less aggressively to control this.

In terms of paint, we'd be happy to help you with that if the kettle is under warranty. Just shoot an email to hello@fellowproducts.com and we'll take care of you.

Thanks again for the feedback on the lid!

Nick

Nick,
It's out of warranty now and it still works.
No replacement needed I just wanted to pass along the feedback.
Appreciate the good products you make..

Hi Nick, cool that you're here. I got my Ode/SSP this afternoon. Long (edited) story short - I made the best light/medium roast cup I've ever had. Very impressed. Overall it's much noisier than expected and I hope I can at least turn off the beeping.

With regard to the burr noise; unfortunately that is just due to the cutting geometry of the SSP MP burrs. They are phenomenal; but do present a higher pitch frequency when grinding than our stock burr or our Gen 2 Brew Burrs.

In terms of the Ode beep, we have taken that feedback. Unfortunately there is no setting to turn it off, and hope it's not too loud for you.

We're always collecting feedback and analyzing it, so thank you for your comments.

Nick