I have an EKS and use V60 regularly. I think 12.5 is too fine - I use 14 - 15 and even 16 occasionally and check results with a refractometer to get EY between 20-21%. I brew 500grms of water with doses between 30-32grms and most brews are complete in under or around 3mins with four pours.

Would suggest you open the grind before engaging in costly realignment work.

 

I have been bombarded with people telling me it's an alignment issue as "ek's are poorly aligned" I would rather pay the money and have peace of mind. But if you say so I'll give it a shot!

 

You hear lots of stories about EK burr alignment problems which you can take as gospel or a pinch of salt.

Tell us your routine for making V60 and Kalita and you will get plenty of useful feedback.

 

My routines are fairly similar for both

My recipe

15g/250g

2xweight bloom

Do a Rao spin

40 second wait

120 gram pour

Wait until 1:45

Light Rao spin

Pour remaining weight

(Here is where it clogs)

Drawdown at around 4-4.5 mins

I know the Rao spin might impact the drawdown but I also tried without doing it to no avail...

I'm sure I'm screwing up somewhere but it's not my first rodeo just my first EK

Thank you for replying and being generous with your time.

 

Is it a kalita 185? Always drew down slowly for me when I had my EK, and mine was aligned very well. The smaller 155 was always fine. Do you get the same with other brewers? V60 for example?

 

Yes, I have both the ceramic 185 and the tsubame 185... It's quite interestiing because I know Kalitas are prone to clogging due the filter clogging the holes so if I had that issue only with my kalita I'd say fair enough put a metal mesh below and call it a day!

But my V60 does the same which blew my mind (I'm a little skeptical of the white paper filters in the plastic wrap as opposed to the boxed ones, they seem to be a little thick but maybe I'm being paranoid

 

Yes, I have both the ceramic 185 and the tsubame 185... It's quite interestiing because I know Kalitas are prone to clogging due the filter clogging the holes so if I had that issue only with my kalita I'd say fair enough put a metal mesh below and call it a day!
But my V60 does the same which blew my mind (I'm a little skeptical of the white paper filters in the plastic wrap as opposed to the boxed ones, they seem to be a little thick but maybe I'm being paranoid [emoji4]

Well I know there are different v60 papers and some are known to be slower, I forget which are which.

Aligning can never hurt but may not be the cause here. Can't help thinking it would have to be miles out to cause real problems like that. Do you make espresso? Poor alignment might show up as having to grind right on the limit of 0

 

I use a separate grinder for Espresso (Ceado E6P, but ordered Levercraft Ultra Grinder which is arriving June) - my decent espresso machine should be arriving anytime so that's a whole other journey but I'm a pourover guy at heart so unfortunately my heart is currently broken haha

What makes me think it's an axial alignment issue is that when I calibrate my birds I don't get one loud chirp its first faint then loud as if one section of the burr is touching prematurely. But due to my inexperience I'm to do it myself along with a minor physical disability that prevents my right hand from "properly" functioning... so I would rather have someone who knows what they're doing take the challenge

I totally see your point regarding the alignment though another member mentioned that 12.5 can still be too fine for an ek43s so I will try at 14 or so tomorrow and see where that gets me!

 

What makes me think it's an axial alignment issue is that when I calibrate my birds I don't get one loud chirp its first faint then loud as if one section of the burr is touching prematurely

Last time I tried calibrating birds in my EK43S, the chirping stopped dead quickly. Bloody mess to clean up, too.

Sorry!

In all seriousness, is it possible to return the grinder to shop? I ask because it sounds way out (if new). For comparison, I have brew burrs in my EK43S, which is about 8 months old, and using a 1 cup V60, I can't get near a 2m30s brew time using 2 pours and a bloom unless I grind at 1 or finer, and even then I have to use a large dose (20g in to 313g out) in a 1 cup V60 to slow things down. There's just no way I could clog a brew. Needless to say, I coarsen the grind to about 5 and do 4 pours + bloom to slow things down to a 2.5 min brew.

For reference: I have 0 calibrated to be 2 or 3 small increments off chirping and use 0.2 for a 13g in 26g out espresso on my post mil La Pavoni. I brew v60 with light and medium light roasts from SqMile and Assembly, mainly.

 

Hahahah nice catch! It's been a long day my mind is pureed from working

The place I got it from aren't very helpful I sent mahlkonig a rather hard email hopefully theyll get back.

I have the original coffee burrs, and most people grind in the 6-10 range so I'm trying to figure out what's wrong...

Isn't 1 or fine near espresso range?

 

Hahahah nice catch! It's been a long day my mind is pureed from working

The place I got it from aren't very helpful I sent mahlkonig a rather hard email hopefully theyll get back.

I have the original coffee burrs, and most people grind in the 6-10 range so I'm trying to figure out what's wrong...

Isn't 1 or fine near espresso range?

Yeah 1 is pretty fine, although with brew burrs, because they produce relatively few fines, using standard parameters an espresso needs to be ground closer to 0 than 1. I tend to prefer a small dose so grind at 3 or 4 small increments above burr chirp (0.3 to 0.4, if I had 0 set to burr chirp). That gives a 32 second 2:1 pour on the La Pavoni (with about 5s of that being 0 to 2 bar pre-infusion).

 

I was lead to believe the EK43s was pretty much aligned from factory? I had an old EK43 with Turkish burrs for a while, and I had a few attempts at aligning that beast. Patrick (@The Systemic Kid) had it for a while to check against his and they were pretty close in when I'd fettled mine. You're right in not wanting to do it yourself, it's a pain in the backside..

 

Totally agree! Plus the last thing I need is to buy another 2.5k grinder if I screw it up hence my call for help

 

Yeah I tried to do espresso on my pavoni at around 0.2-0.3 seemed like a sweet spot... hard to dial in though range was too narrow

 

I often grind at 0.5 on my EKS.Have you calibrated the burrs recently? That might be a good idea if you haven't.

 

I found the finer the better on the La Pavoni, but it was too much faff dosing at 11g so I settled on a coarser grind and 13g dose. Much easier to distribute.

 

@The Systemic Kid Yes I have calibrated the burrs to chirp at zero but I can't seem to shake the feeling that its not chirping evenly it first has a faint sound then a loud one making me think it's an alignment issue which is why I'm looking for someone to have a look

 

Can you video it and post here?

 

It might be worth taking the plastic chute off, to give the exit hole a good clean. Removing it is Dead easy to do with a large flat head screw driver.

It can be a real magnet for espresso fines, which might be contributing to your slow pour overs. They get embedded like glue in the narrow metal opening at the top of the chute and need a stiff brush to clean up.

 

How old is your EKS? When you say the seller hasn't been helpful, could you be more specific.

 

Please see attached @The Systemic Kid

Thank you so much for taking the time to help me out...

/monthly_2021_01/VID-20210120-WA0006.mp4.7be39e87338905a1f9513927bfc3c3e1.mp4" type="video/mp4"> View attachment VID-20210120-WA0006.mp4

 

@The Systemic Kid I bought my EK 4 weeks ago, I asked the seller if he could help me with alignment he said he would get someone to call and no one did, it was an online store shopcoffee?

 

@AJP80Thank you for the advice! I thought the same and grinded into my catcher without slapping the "clearer" or whatever that's called thinking that might help but no avail

 

That sounds pretty normal to me and I've calibrated several EKs

 

Understood, if you say so, Ill try grinding coarser at 14 or so and see where that takes me... @The Systemic Kid

 

Sounds normal to me as well.

 

Ok I guess I let my paranoia get the better of me @Rhys back to the drawing board

 

Sounds the same as mine.

What beans are you using?