The Great Grinder Challenge

rockbeer

My samples went in the post today, hopefully they should arrive tomorrow. Hope staleness won't be a factor, the batch I'm using up is weeks old...

Looking forward to the results...

RE*AC*TOR

I don't think it'll make a difference. Not to the physical grinding anyway.

RE*AC*TOR

Right so.

I will prelude the pictures by saying that I felt that the grind produced by all the burr ginders tested looked broadly similar. I would include in this the commercial elektra that Insomnia use.

Gut feeling from just looking through the grinds was that the MDF and MC2 had a bit more of a propensity to produce some (a small amount really) fines, but otherwise were quite similar to the others. The one exception I would say was that the i2 seemed to produce more "cut" edges. You'll see what I mean from the pics. But based on that I would probably be able to pick out the i2 grind in a blind test. In my limited knowledge, based on these findings, and my knowledge of how burrs should cut coffee under ideal circumstances - I think the i2 would shade things here. They seem the most uniform, with the cleanest cut edges.

Of course the next logical test would be to use the various machines to brew espresso on the same espresso machine. Then we could determine how the grind observed influences the taste delivered.

The whirly blade grinder, unsurprinsingly produced boulders of various sizes. Whereas the burr grinders grinds generally looked flully, these looked more granular.

Lastly, before I put up the pics I'll say its actually quite difficult to take these pics because the grinds want to stick together. So its hard to avoid clumping. So a lot of the pics are of grinds at the eges of clumps. I'll also say I maybe rushed it a little so as to get some done, as it was already overdue. But I've kept the samples and can revist them if needs be.

RE*AC*TOR

Most images taken at 12x, a small few up to 32x.

First up the Elektra commercial grinder (i think its a rebadged super jolly) - Insomnia house beans.

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RE*AC*TOR

Next the Nuova Simonelli Grinta - Indian Peaberry Bold beans - roasted two days ago.

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RE*AC*TOR

Next - the Ascaso i2 - Ristretto Espresso blend beans - Roast date unknown.

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RE*AC*TOR

Next - the Iberital MC2 grinder - Celebes Toraja Kalosi beans - roasted 21/5/08

Sorry about the white balance in these.

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RE*AC*TOR

Next - the Gaggia MDF - Indian Peaberry beans - roasted two days ago.

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RE*AC*TOR

Last but not least Khannie's whirly blade grinder - beans (? remind me Khannie).

17seconds grinding:

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20seconds grinding:
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eclectichoney

Wow thanks for all the work on this Reactor. It's very interesting to see. It must have taken a good bit of time to do the photos and upload them and everything so cheers

Khannie

RE*AC*TOR wrote: »

beans (? remind me Khannie).

Not entirely sure, but I think it was Lidl's finest.

rockbeer

That is amazing, RE*AC*TOR, thanks so much.
Really interesting.

And of course the results are just what I would have expected, with the i2 coming out on top

The output from all the burr grinders does look remarkably similar - it's be a tough job to identify one from the other from the photos, don't you think? Although I see what you mean about there being less 'dust' from the i2 and Elektra. The thing that sold me the i2 was the supposed quality of the burr set - looks like maybe that wasn't just marketing speak.

It would be interesting (if a little impractical) to rerun the test using beans from the same batch in all the grinders.

Anyway thanks again. If you want to do the taste test sometime let us know! Cheers.

Feels like time for an espresso.

Mr Magnolia

Sterling work RE*AC*TOR, fair play.

RE*AC*TOR

I will add one last point. In this test, the Grinta, MDF, and MC2 had beans that were air roasted (iRoast2). There is a suggestion out there that because so much dry hot air is used in this process, the beans dry out more than standard roasting, and are more prone to fractures, hence more "dust". I don't know if this is true, but I get that feeling from my vaccuum brewer, which only tends to clog when I use dark roasted iRoasted beans. If I use medium iRoast, or dark professionally roasted, I don't tend to get this problem.

There may be a case for using the same beans as a more accurate test.

However, I will say that I saw more straight "cut" edges on the i2 than any other machine. They jumped out at me almost. If you look at these photos you can see the flat edges as opposed to the more rounded / jagged ones of the others.

Khannie

RE*AC*TOR wrote: »

There is a suggestion out there that because so much dry hot air is used in this process, the beans dry out more than standard roasting

Does a professional roast not use hot air too? Or is it more static air?

RE*AC*TOR

Direct heat. Ie a drum. The iRoast uses a fluid bed (like a popcorn popper), which not only uses the air to apply heat, but also to keep the beans moving.