Espresso grinder tech support request
I have a rather impressive collection of thrifted equipment I use for my morning latte. Each piece has required a little bit of investigative repair in order to get it working just right, but I've recently been stumped by my newest addition, a Bodum conical burr grinder.
My current espresso machine is a single boiler Breville with a standard portafilter (no diaphragm or valves in the portafilter, so the resistance needs to come from finely enough ground coffee.)
My question is this; is it possible to calibrate the Bodum grinder at all? It's finest setting is apparently not quite fine enough to provide the right resistance for the espresso maker, so I've needed to regrind my coffee with a blade grinder to get the right consistency.
Cheers in advance!
Former espresso equipment field service technician/hobbyist roaster/coffee nerd here. I have to agree with other posters here — you’re going to struggle to get the coffee ground fine enough with the Bodum, even with modifications. It’s kind of like trying to do a delicate wood carving with a chainsaw. The chainsaw is not a bad or useless tool and can be used to make wonderful carvings at a larger scale, but there’s no way you could get it to perform well on a small object.
People tend to focus on how fine a grind is, but consistency of the grind is equally (if not more) important. Pressurized water still follows the path of least resistance. If you’ve got 95% consistent grinds with one big chunk that just bounced off the blades of your blade grinder, the pressurized water will find the gaps created by that chunk and the water will force itself through and create a channel, which prevents proper extraction and leads to a quick, watery shot. Worse yet, the next time you pull a shot following the exact same steps down to the gram and second, you may have better luck with the blade grinder and create an overly-fine puck, which will lead to a long, bitter shot. There’s a reason the pros all say your espresso is only as good as your grinder!
You may have trouble getting an appropriate grinder in your price range, however there are some wonderful hand grinders such as the Hario Skerton that can not only get the coffee fine enough, but also offer incredible consistency due to the conical burrs and the slower pace of hand-grinding. They’re fairly ubiquitous so I’d imagine you could get a deal on eBay or thrift one if you keep an eye open.
One thing that may help regardless of the path you choose is a Weiss Distribution Tool (WDT). You can spend a stupid amount of money on it if you want, but I made a perfectly effective one out of a wine cork and a few Bobby pins. This lets you rake your grounds before tamping to ensure a more even distribution and break up clumps. I’d imagine when your coffee comes out of the blade grinder at step 2, there are probably some clumps under the blade, and this would help you to redistribute those for a more even puck.
With all that said, taste is subjective and coffee is coffee. If you like the shots you’re pulling, who cares what the pros do! If you want the project of hacking the grinder, please hack away, my friend. I’m rooting for you!
Thanks for the experienced and learned reply!
I hear what you, and others with far more means than I are saying, and if I do find a manual grinder in my searches, I will for sure default to it over the machines currently in my stable.
That said, I will say that I am not as completely concerned with precision as some others in the hobby are, at least, not yet. The way I see it, if I can pull a good shot most of the time then I'll have a beverage that I can enjoy more often than not. I don't believe my capacity for anxiety would allow me to chase the perfect shot for long before it started to adversely affect other parts of my life, so I'll keep it at a dull roar.
Who knows? Maybe that 3D printed burr mount mentioned earlier will deliver a perfect grind!
Just to warn you, while the recommendation of the Hario Skerton is good intentioned, the grinder itself is unfortunately quite bad. The grind consistency is poor, and it takes a lot of effort and time to grind a dose. This is already the case for filter grind sizes.
Decent hand grinders start unfortunately at the $100+ range though there may be good second hand deals. The Youtuber Lance Hedrick has done a ton of reviews that might be worth checking out as well as the coffee subreddit for specific recommendations.
Agreed! Here’s to many drinkable coffees within one’s means!
I'm not positive if this is true for the Bodum you have, but there are 3D printed burr holders that you can order (example here) to allow for a grind fine enough for espresso.
Unfortunately from the sound of it you have a setup that has many weak points for espresso, from the grinder to the espresso machine. I don't mean any judgement, my setup is just as bad for espresso if not worse. I personally do pour over instead, and my espresso machine lives in my cupboard and hasn't come out for a year or nore. The 3D printed mod is an inexpensive investment you can make to see if pursuing quality at home espresso is something you want to do before you potentially invest hundred or thousands of dollars in a new grinder or a new espresso machine down the line.
Well damn.... I had no idea!
That appears to be exactly what I was after. To date, I've gone through several different disc style grinders with little success, and the Bodum is my first of the conical variety. I will give that link a shot and see how much difference it makes. Thank you for an incredibly useful response!
Awesome, happy to help. Keep in mind that even if you manage to get fine enough for your machine to reach higher pressure, it likely doesn't get hot enough or have good enough distribution to make a decent and consistent cup. A big problem I hit was channeling, too. I saw some random posts where people use paper filters on top but I've never tried it.
YouTube is surprisingly good for coffee hardware hacks, too. And unlike with health or politics, the negative side effects of bad youtube advice is a poor tasting cup of coffee.
I'd move the Bodum to at finest pourover duty and go for a hand grinder or the new Encore ESP for a fine enough espresso grind without spending too much. I would consider secondhand grinders too as high end ones are built like tanks.
That grinder is marketed as an all-purpose grinder, and only has 12 settings, and so it will be very difficult to dial in your grind for espresso. The first grinder I used when I was starting out with espresso (single boiler Saeco Poemia machine) was a Baratza Encore. That had 40 steps, and was still a weak link in my setup.
I think that you would get a lot more out of your machine by upgrading your grinder. You can pull decent shots from that Breville, but your grinder is most likely your weakest link in your setup.
I'm hoping I can answer a few of the points brought up in this thread by answering yours. At this point, I have been through several thrifted grinders, as thrifting is the only way I can afford to feed my hobby for the time being. A Cuisinart, a Presidents Choice (store brand in Canada) which is the exact same machine as the Cuisinart, and a capresso which shares the same flat burr as the other two. The Bodom is the first conical grinder I've been able to find over the two years I've been looking, and since I had been able to calibrate the other three to a degree, I figured there must be a way to get it to bend to my will. According to the first answer, there is!
On my budget, the Bodom was 6 bucks. My Breville cost me 20 and an afternoon with a few screwdrivers to get it going and hasn't failed me since. The only other piece I use is a blade grinder I got for like 3.50, in which 24 seconds of spin produces a close grind.
I also have a Starbucks barista express I can use (20 bucks), but it's the one with the pressure diaphragm, and I'd like to get the Bodom working with the Breville if I can 😁
Espresso is a very finicky thing with a lot of variables that have to align in order to make "good" espresso. Ultimately, only you get to determine if your coffee is "good" enough for you. If you're happy with your setup, then go for it! I think that the Breville is a more capable machine than the Starbucks one, so you're headed in the right direction.
I do agree with the other comment about looking at a hand grinder, if budget is your main constraint. You will get better consistency with that than with a cheap multi-purpose electric grinder.