Hi,
I've been using a blade grinder for years and just recently realized how badly it affected the brew (took me a while, please don't hate haha).
So I started looking for a better alternative, with burrs, and from what I gathered, a good manual grinder will beat any fancy electric one, so I guess I'll be grinding my beans myself now.
I still need your help picking the right grinder for me, so here is my situation :
- I mostly use a moka pot and a dripper, and more rarely a French press, for lack of a proper espresso set up
- I'm also an espresso guy but I will probably end up investing in a decent espresso set up sonif the grinder could manage all of these that'd be neat! (I haven't started benchmarking for a proper setup yet because enjoying a good ristretto from time to time is fine by me for bow, but any advice on a a machine that is not too pricey is welcome too!)
- most of the time I grind approx 20g of beans
- I buy my beans from a local roaster, in small quantities (by 250g), dunno if this is any relevant
So far here is a list of grinders I've seen recommended on this sub :
- 1ZPresso JX pro
- Commandante c40 (but there are different burrs and I don't know which one I'd pick)
- Capresso Infinity
- Hario mini mill
Haven't bern really checking the the last two though. There seem to be quite we difference in prices range, so I need your help picking the right model (and size?). I don't want to spend too much, but I'm okay for a little pricey one if it makes a great deal of difference and it'll last! Also I'm open to look for second hand grinders unless you thinks it's a bad idea ?
Cheers and thank you for your help,
Edit : kingrinder's P & K series are also seemingly a solid choice, if any of you guys have an opinion, I'm interested!
It will beat any electric grinder in the same price range. There are many fine electric grinders, but even the most affordable "good ones" are several times the price of a great manual grinder.
Now, I have at home an 1Zpresso J-Max. It's excellent for espresso and super fast. It's part of my travel kit with a Flair Pro 2. The J series are more espresso focused, from memory I think the K series are more drip/moka focused. The differences seem marginal at best. Good stuff, and pretty affordable. Kingrinder makes 1Zpresso clones, half the price but factory calibration is a joke.
My main grinder is a heavily modded DF-64. It's very good for the price too if you're ok with tinkering, being one of the cheapest good grinders and probably equivalent to any grinder at least twice the price, especially with SSP burrs. They need some calibration out of the box but afterwards, they're great.
Avoid the Hario grinders like the plague. They're absolute shit. Grinding takes literally FOREVER and is super uneven. It's mind blowing how a company with such a name recognition can sell such a shameful and worthless product.
If youn don't mind le asking, can you elaborate on the 'factory calibration' part ? Is it something I can easily correct by myself at home?
I've read several reports that they need a complete rebuild to perform at their best. You can do it at home with common tools but I don't know about the easy part. I know how to calibrate flat burrs but I've never tried calibrating conical burrs.
FWIW I've done a similar procedure with my flat-burred DF64. Basically you need to align the burrs to be as close to parallel as possible by modifying the stationary burr orientation and adding shims and checking with a marker. It's a simple but sensitive operation and must by done by trial and error. The good news is that, unless something goes very wrong, you only need to do it once.
Thank you very much for your insight!