Anyone use there Vitamix to grind coffee beans?

Quote:

---

Anyone use there Vitamix to grind coffee beans?

---

Your not going to get good grinding out of this. It would be no different than a blade grinder. The grinds will not be uniform enough and you would be left with some grinds and a lot of bigger broken beans.

Got it. They have dry grains container with a different blade but seems similar to a blade grinder still

For the price of the grain mill, you can get a decent burr grinder that will handle it for you.

Have these started shipping yet? I may wait to see what you think before I order

bonfirewillburn said:

---

Breville Smart Grinder

Is what we use. Been holding up really well for how much we use it.

---

I have one just like it. Works great!

Quote:

---

Have these started shipping yet? I may wait to see what you think before I order

---

Still waiting to hear from Baratza on it. I have seen one, but was not able to play around with it. It was recommended as a secondary grinder for a shop that I have been working with. So with that in mind, Baratza is pretty high on this grinder. I will let you know more once I hear back from them.

I'm currently looking to purchase my first grinder. I'm torn between the Baratza Encore ($130) vs the Breville Smart Grinder Pro ($160) anyone here have experience with either or both of these grinders?

Waiting on my handground.com Kickstarter to arrive!

Quote:

---

I'm currently looking to purchase my first grinder. I'm torn between the Baratza Encore ($130) vs the Breville Smart Grinder Pro ($160) anyone here have experience with either or both of these grinders?

---

This all depends on what type of coffee you are trying to grind with it. If you are trying to do espresso then the Encore is not a good choice. It is more for the drip and french press. I have no experience with the Breville but the Baratza grinders are better made in my opinion.

Anyone had a chance to play with their handground? Would love an upgrade over my hario and would love if I could do so without shelling out 150+

Curious if it's worth twice the Hario.

Anybody got their handground?

I received my handground. I have only been able to play with it a little and use it once so far. It seems solidly built. I have a percolator, so I used the coarse grind. The grounds seemed uniform in size. Looking forward to using it some more over the break.

aggielax48 said:

---

Curious if it's worth twice the Hario.

---

I got one for Christmas today, and so far I think it is well worth the price. I had a Hario previously, and the hand ground is by far a better grinder. The burr and driving components have almost no detectable play, and everything feels solid. I also like the rotation motion being in the vertical rather than horizontal, just feels easier. I'll be interested in how long this grinder lasts, since it supposedly rotates on metal bushings as opposed to the hario rotating on plastic. My hario got real sloppy due to the plastic wearing not too long into its life. The grind adjustment is also so much easier than the hario.

I ground some beans for drip coffee (grind size 4 out of 8), and the uniformity of the grind was way better than the hario. It was mostly uniform, with a few inevitable dust particles mixed in. Coffee tasted great too. I also ground a bit at the finer levels just to see how uniform it was, and this is where it really shines. The fine settings were amazingly uniform. The number 1 level should be great for espresso, but I may play around with the adjustment shims to see if I can get a good Turkish grind.

So far, the only downside I see is the grind time. This one is very slow. But, in my opinion, it's a small price to pay for the level of quality you get.

Max Power said:

---

http://www.amazon.com/Cuisinart-DBM-8-Supreme-Grind-Automatic/dp/B00018RRRK/ref=sr_1_5?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1463082343&sr=1-5&keywords=coffee+grinder

This is what I have, adjustable and gets the job done for $50. Never had a nicer one so I can't tell you if you spend more money it will truly be worth it but I use it prior to brewing in my Aeropress.

---

I have one of those -- technically two, if you count the one my coworker brought to the office and left there when he took another job. I agree that it gets the job done and is way better than a blade grinder, but both of them have now broken in the same way: the plastic threaded part of the hopper, which screws into the base, and has the top burr screwed to it, has broken apart. I got 7 or 8 years out of mine, which isn't too bad I guess, and you can get a replacement hopper from Cuisinart for $30, which I'll probably do.

There does seem to be some variation in tolerances. Some reviewers said they shimmed out the top burr with washers or foil to get a finer grind, but mine went plenty fine for espresso (and also coarse enough for French Press). On the other hand, the work unit was coarser -- all the way fine was more like medium on mine (and appropriate for drip coffee) -- and on the third hand, using the work hopper with my grinder resulted in a finer grind than my original hopper.

I rate mine as good for espresso (but results may vary, see above) and drip, and OK for French press -- it produces a little bit of fine powder even on the coarse settings, which mostly sticks to the walls of the bin, so you can avoid it or just say screw it and mix it in. Cleaning is best done outside, with compressed air and a toothbrush. I'll probably buy something nicer in the future, but it's way better than not having a burr grinder, and is pretty affordable.

My ideal grinder would have a straight-through path, with no bin to clean, and grind 100% of the beans poured in (without more beans weighing them down), so I could measure beans by weight, throw them in, and grind them. Doing a consistent grind from espresso down to French press goes without saying.

Assuming you've gotten your Sette by now, how are you liking it?

Sorry did not see this. Very good grinder. Comparable in grinding to the Vario. It will not get course enough for French press, but will for drip coffee. For Espresso it is great and gives a very consistent grind.

BlueMiles said:

---

Waiting on my handground.com Kickstarter to arrive!

---

How is it?

I have one as well.. Really consistent grind with a 10+ different settings. Takes a while to grind though, and would likely be a pain in the ass if using it daily for large pots. I use it for an aeropress and it works fine.

Got a Baratza Encore for Christmas. As all I ever do is french press, it's perfect.

Had a Mr. Coffee plate burr grinder prior, and while it was better than a blade grinder (and about $35) and made pretty good coffee, I was really impressed by how much better the coffee is when ground with a conical burr.

Got a Breville Smart Grinder Pro for Christmas and it is outstanding. Really impressed with it so far.

Had a Bodum Burr Grinder that worked great for about 2.5 years. Upgraded to Rancillo Rocky, it's pricey but 4 year later it still works perfectly.

Safe place, right?

I flipped my whole situation in October/November. Off-loaded the PIDed Silvia and moved into a Lucca M58. Vario has moved into a dedicated pour-over role and bought an HG-1. I think I'm done!

**** just got real!

Sounds like a heck of a setup. I'm pretty sure that I don't have a sophisticated enough palate to justify that level of quality (which is a good thing for my wallet). I use a Vario for espresso, and a Lido 2 for the occasional pour over.

What machine are you on? I've been very happy with the results, repeatability, and reliability of my Vario over the past five years.

My standard espresso tinker buddy is a master sommelier who makes a living off this palate. I wouldn't claim a sophisticated palate - but I've learned how to associate what I'm tasting by cupping with him and also using a flavor wheel. I'll never be able to discern the nuanced flavors, but when a bean is dialed on either the Silvia or M58 - it's not hard to pick-up the dominant flavors! Red Bird Espresso has been my daily driver since I got my Silvia. When it hits, it rings like a champ of chocolate and peanut butter. Seriously, there's no mistaking it - it's a snickers espresso. The difference between the M58 and Silvia has been the consistency of dial and everything in the cup has more umph!

I use a Breville dual boiler with a VST 18g filter. Between that and the Vario, I get enough control to feel like I'm doing something, but not enough to really screw it up .

My only complaint about the Vario is that if I make a big adjustment, for example, going from an espresso grind to pour over and back, it seems to take a few grinds to settle in.

I also roast my own beans on a Behmore, so yet another variable to contend with.

It's fun to tinker with. Luckily, I've avoided going too deep down the rabbit hole!

It's like y'all are speaking a different language. I got a Cuisinart coffee grinder for Christmas and just bought my first bag of whole beans.

I like black coffee, strong. Approximately 12 molar, made in a $14 Mr. Coffee pot in my office. I have to say, this mornings pot was strong, black and oily. I will play around with the grind settings and figure out what I like. Right now, I'm one tick finer than "medium".

Yeah I'm a bit lost in all this as well.

I just started on French press coffee but now I need to find a grinder so I don't have to grind in HEB with their blade grinders.

Any suggestions on a decent burr grinder for a recent French press convert/beginner?

I've never used the BDB, but I've read good reviews on Home-Barista! With a VST basket and Vario, you're there! And dope that it has pre-infusion. I still need to build a flo-jet system to plumb mine for convenience and pre-infusion.

Ahh, the chaff king Behmore! I have one friend that's still on a Behmore and another on a Huky. I had placed, but canceled an order for an Aillio Bullet. You say you've avoided the rabbit hole - or maybe you're so deep you've lost perspective! Home roasters are a different breed of enthusiast.

Edit:
I spent a lot of time on water in an effort to avoid scaling issues on the M58 from using Houston water. It turned out to be yet another rabbit hole of coffee! I can't recommend re-mineralizing your own water enough - both for pour-over and espresso. It's very noticeable in the cup, eliminates another variable, and reduces descaling down to once a year. I mix in 5 gal. batches at the below spec for my machine:


And some different specs for pour-over I aggregated from HB and Matt Perger: link. You can really push the hardness with pour-over which aides in extracting the solubles. The M58 spec pushes the hardness to the highest range of Sulfates that La Marzocco recommends for their stainless boilers.

I've been french pressing for awhile now, but have been using a cheap blade grinder. A JavaPresse manual burr grinder is arriving today, so I'm anxious to see how it does versus the blade grinder.