My final setup. After several years and various machines and grinders here’s my endgame.
Lilet Bianca V3 in black.
Timore Sculptor 078S grinder for fullcaf.
Compak K3 Push grinder for decaf. (Don’t have to worry about changing grind between).
The Compak has been a great grinder for several years. I use it as single dose and it has very little grind retention if I flick the spring loaded shute and use the duster bulb that came with the Timemore to puff in the hopper after the last bean grinds.
Interestingly, I went through the “chasing my tail” spiral at one stage when I couldn’t seem to get a good shot and thought the burs must need changing. Did that and aligned them but seemed worse. Then the Timore came up on Kicksterter and I bit the bullet. Over the several months wait the Compak came good. Then the Timore finally arrived. Through YouTube research there seemed to be a general view that the 078S burs need seasoning with many Kgs of beans before being useful. I sourced 5Kg of some failed roasts from a local roaster who was very obliging. (He won the Australasian championship in roasting and has been invited to compete internationally, so will follow his progress).
I wouldn’t have believed this except I painstakingly went through the process. The shots out of the Timore were terrible and varied so much with choking on a shot, then after a miniscule grind change squirted everywhere. Absolutely no consistency at all.
Then, within a day and about 3 shots it suddenly came good and am doing near perfect shots with ease now with great consistency. In retrospect, this was the case with the new burs in the Compak too. Shots were rubbish for months while putting several Kgs of beans through…then it came good.
So if you got the Timore, take heart. It will come good and when it does it’s terrific.
by Harbspan