innermusic wrote:Never considered the size of the load in the hopper as a mitigating factor. I always measure out one dose of beans and load into the hopper and grind. Almost all of it comes out.

That's single-dosing, which avoid the variation between various levels of beans in the hopper. But I was never able to get consistent results with the Vario when single dosing. It's sort of the same thing that happens when the hopper starts running out of beans. I think the problem is that there's no good way to prevent popcorning. The only way I got good results was to have at least an inch or two of beans in the hopper. Even then, periodically the flow would go all to pieces for no apparent reason. That never happens with my K10 WBC.

I cannot speak for the general case. But I explictly tried both with my vario two weeks ago (i.e. single dosing into the hopper and filling the hopper). I could not find a difference, not even for grind size, at least at the level of the vario's micro steps (at a generally fine setting).
When the grinder heats up, having beans in the hopper is not a good thing, so I reverted to single dosing.

In addition, the greatest sources of inconsistencies were:
Sticky waste in the grind path (remedied by a manual clean, required at least weekly). Varying grind retention (easily solved by weighing after grinding). Finally, the vario already reached recalibration stability (but that took me a year or so).

jc69 wrote:When the grinder heats up, having beans in the hopper is not a good thing, so I reverted to single dosing.

If your burrs get so hot that they transmit heat to the hopper (which I find unimaginable), you should be using a commercial grinder. No consumer grinder is designed for that much daily use.

Sticky waste in the grind path (remedied by a manual clean, required at least weekly).

I clean the path after every use, but just by removing the hopper and brushing out grinds from the top of the burrs, as well as the chute. Do you do more than that for your weekly cleaning?

Well, I start getting worried about cleaning when grind retention goes up (I tend to weight before and after grinding), the grounds start to get clumpy or I change coffee. I would expect the critical part to clean is the space around the lower burr and from there down the chute.

Marshall wrote:If your burrs get so hot that they transmit heat to the hopper (which I find unimaginable), you should be using a commercial grinder. No consumer grinder is designed for that much daily use.

I was referring to the beans in the hopper just above/inside the upper burr (they surely get heated up).
And yes. I am thinking about a new grinder. But things already improved simply by watching the temp of the vario and taking a break once it gets too hot (which usually only occurs when I try to dial in a new coffee or use new baskets ).

It's alarming how fast the Vario can heat up if you're pulling a lot of shots in quick succession. I remember experiencing that on the TGP II when I was trying to dial it in to a very specific flow rate and having bad luck. I'm guessing the heat contributed to my difficulty after awhile.

jc69 wrote:Finally, the vario already reached recalibration stability (but that took me a year or so).

I guess it's really true that the BV grind setting for espresso needs to break-in. I don't understand why. Some say it's around 5lbs but you're saying it's one year. I doubt it took you one year to go through 5lbs.

It seems that not only do inconsistencies exist within each Vario, they exist from Vario to Vario as well. And of course, from user to user.

A/B comparison between VST 18g and my old favorite noname that came with my old Gaggia. This morning I pulled some shots as follows:
Blend: Social - Peoples Daily; Temp 195; Dose 19g; Time ~25 sec; Yield ~27g liquid.

Finally getting used to distributing into the VST, resulting in no spritzing and a more even pour, but still seeing multiple streams at times. In the cup, the tastes are different but both good.

The Vario definitely is inconsistent with the results. Two back-2-back shots with the exact same parameters were markedly different in terms of pour, color, yield, and results. Bummer.

I find that down-dosing in the basket eliminates channeling and 'double tails' into the cup a lot more easily than trying to distribute the grinds consistently from shot to shot. The VSTs, in my experience, don't pour well after a certain dose into the basket, I've identified mine - YMMV.

Also - I'm not a fan of the Vario. I wish I didn't waste 600CDN after tax on this thing. Should've just went with a titan.

I'm not a fan of the Vario. I wish I didn't waste 600CDN after tax on this thing. Should've just went with a titan.

What would you get instead?