Mini arriving soon - advise?

[chefbear]

My Barista Athena literally blew up last week and I couldn't have been happier! I was waiting for it to die so I could step up to something way better. After talking with the gang at Chris I decided on the LaSpaz Mini. I went with the 15 amp. I added the timer.

Mazzer mini doser gridner.

I didn't buy the bottomless pf - I know it will happen but was already at 2k and thought I should stop before my wife divorced me.

Anyway, I've been reading all of your comments on a variety of subjects and just thought I would ask my fellow friends who might have a coffee "problem" if they had any tips for setting up my new machine.

Anything you would have done differently?

[PBL]

First great move! You will love it at first pull (maybe second or third but you will love it .) Second the only thing different I would have done is gone for a plumbed S1 or S2. The convenience of plumbed in is worth the effort. Price is almost the same.

Again congratulations and lets us know how it goes when you get the new baby.

PS Make the wife a few great caps, lattes, or shots and well you know.

[zoey]

I wouldn't be surprised if your machine comes with a naked PF. I didn't order one but got it with the new machine. Honestly, I don't think I will ever use the single and double spout PF's that came with it after using the naked.

I love my Mazzer Mini! I never installed the bean hopper and need to get a 58mm tamper to put in the mouth.

I would never suggest doing this but, I removed the finger guard because a lot of ground coffee gets stuck at the exit point into the doser. My Mazzer came with a small paint brush to clean out coffee grinds. I took a razor blade and thinned out the brush so that I could easily get the grinds out of the exit point.

Do you have a good scale? I just got a My-Weigh MX-300 scale and love it. It was pretty cheap, it's really small, and extremely accurate.

[chefbear]

I will cross my fingers and hope that uncle Chris throws me a freebie bottlomless pf. If not, it will go on my 'purchase soon' list as it sounds like the way to go.

I just took a look at my trusty digital baking scale and I'm thinking that I might need to upgrade that as well. It measures in 1/4 ounces or 5 gram increments so probably not acceptable for these purposes.

So you just weigh out what need for your shot and then grind that?

[JohnB]

You want a scale that measures down to a tenth of a gram. Some weigh the beans & some the ground coffee. I weigh the beans & dose into the p/f.

[chefbear]

You want a scale that measures down to a tenth of a gram.

A tenth of a gram? Why? What scale are using and when does NASA need it back?

[chefbear]

wink:

[chas]

Not NASA in this case....eBay.

Search for gram scales...

They're 12 bucks. 5 bucks for the scale and 7 bucks for shipping.

Get one today! Several of us have bought from this vendor on eBay and are very happy with the product. They are others that cost a little more if they suit your needs better.

[chefbear]

Nice! I'm on it. Thanks for the link. Does NASA know about these prices?

Still curious as to why the .1g is an important measure but at that low price ($12 or so including s/h) not too worried about it.

[JohnB]

Accuracy. If the scale only reads in full grams theres really no way of telling how much you are using. It could be 16.9g or 16.1. When I'm grinding for a 16g double I'll start with an extra .4-.5g of beans as there will be some loss in the grinder.

[chefbear]

thanks for clarifying. My new scale is on the way.

[chas]

thanks for clarifying. My new scale is on the way.

As designed by NASA's Shanghai Technology Center...

[zoey]

There is a significant difference in my shots when I go from 16g to 17g.

[chefbear]

It seems that, with the weight of the coffee being so critical, that it would make the most since to weigh the coffee post-grinding. Is that more trouble than it's worth?

A whole gram makes a big difference but does a half of a gram? At some point the grind, the bean, freshness and all of that stuff comes into play, right?

I need this machine to arrive so I can obsess other things..

[Weska]

If you tend to view everything with suspicion as I do, chefbear, then weighing after grinding is just a way to see that you are retrieving everything you put into the grinder. It takes almost no time if you grind into a container and not into the full portafilter, which would be beyond the capacity a cheap scale.

Does it make a difference? Hard to say. At worst, I have found that half a gram can go missing in the grinder. At my 13.5 gram typcial dose, that's not even four percent. Maybe I should just forgeddaboudit. Maybe you should too. Or maybe you are the curious type. It cannot be a big deal either way, can it?

[JP]

It takes almost no time if you grind into a container and not into the full portafilter, which would be beyond the capacity a cheap scale.

No time at all. I'm grinding into my filter basket directly, out of the portafilter. I can zero the scale with the empty filter and cup funnel and grind until the scale reads my desired dose. I level the dose, remove the funnel, tamp and drop it in to the hot portafilter. My cheap scale is a 500 gram scale so the whole portafilter exceeds the scale capacity. I've found I really prefer dosing and tamping out of the portafilter anyways.

[chefbear]

thanks! Those are both great ideas and I will definitely give them a try.