Dose weight - Is it that accurate?

[shawty]

I have a question to ask about dosing.
I see many people weigh their dose as a means of consistency.
The problem I see with this is that it depends on the bean density and the grind size as to how much volume the ground beans fill the basket.
Think filling the basket with sand as compared to filling with styrofoam ground to the same size (pretty extreme example for density)
Is bean density (between types) that similar as to make this OK
Grind size would change the amount of volume it would occupy as well - the finer grind would occupy less space (be more compacted)

Any more ideas on this?

[Fresh_Coffee]

Re: Dose weight - Is it that accurate?

Yes you have just described my sentiments and I dose volumetrically to the level I want in the coffee filter irrespective of whatever weight it could be (which is dependent on humidity, density of beans, grind setting etsetterarrrhhh)......

In any case....thats my opinion and is how I do all my pro cupping and coffee drinking for pleasure.

[Yash]

Re: Dose weight - Is it that accurate?

I think most people would arrive at dose weight by first determining the ideal dose level and grind combo - and then measuring the weight.  From this point on dosing by weight does seem to (for me at least) really improve consistency.  Even taking into account slight changes to your grind.  If drastic volume changes occur due to different beans/grind then just re-measure the ideal dose and continue.
I think measuring weight does improve shot-to-shot consistency... HOWEVER. it also makes you look nerdy, and in my opinion detracts from the fun of making coffee - thats why I stopped

[David8]

Re: Dose weight - Is it that accurate?

HOWEVER. it also makes you look nerdy

Is this a bad thing?

...and in my opinion detracts from the fun of making coffee - thats why I stopped

I agree, also, the other reason I dont dose by weight is because I dont have scales that have 0.1g increments... However, I do have a vision of the grinder sitting on top of a set of scales to dose by weight. However... Hadnt thought of this due to the lightness of the EM0480, but the Compak K3T is too heavy for the range of my basic kitchen scales... Anyway, I dose by volume, i.e. the volume of my scoop, a happy dose is approx. 2.3 scoops. As Im sure you can tell, there is some variation, but as Yash said, thats the fun of it!

David

[jaybee]

Re: Dose weight - Is it that accurate?

I dont get any fun whatsoever in wasting my beutifully home roasted beans. I weigh just enough with rarely more than .2 grams surplus (Yup, occasionally I weigh the excess to calibarate my dose!) - BTW Shawty, you still make subtle adustments to the final dose to take account for changing environmental factors, but they are very small.

My grinder has a doser on it - I could do exactly the same job by grinding a whole load of beans and chucking away the rest. Just dont see the point...

Buy a decent set of scales, it will be the best $60 you spend after your tamper

[Ronin]

Re: Dose weight - Is it that accurate?

Lets be honest, I dont know anyone who can taste the difference between shots that have any less than half a gram of coffee difference.

Ill even throw out a challenge to blind taste test.
If you get it, enter the international cupping comp as youll do well.

That said, do what works for you as long as you enjoy the process. Thats the whole point of it

[Yelta]

Re: Dose weight - Is it that accurate?

Buy a decent set of scales, it will be the best $60 you spend after your tamper

Heaps of small digital scales available for less than $20 on the biggest online auction site, been using one for a couple of years, paid $10 for it including postage.

[Yelta]

Re: Dose weight - Is it that accurate?

I dont know anyone who can taste the difference between shots that have any less than half a gram of coffee difference.

I agree, however some of us have a penchant for accuracy and consistency, weighing the beans for each shot cant do any harm and will certainly help some of us achieve the repeatability we desire.

That said, do what works for you as long as you enjoy the process.

Exactly, hopefully you will also be enjoying the fruits of your labour as well as the process.

[tiddler2]

I agree, however some of us have a penchant for accuracy and consistency, weighing the beans for each shot cant do any harm and will certainly help some of us achieve the repeatability we desire.

Exactly, hopefully you will also be enjoying the fruits of your labour as well as the process.

I was cleaning my grinder with Grindz the other day and was amazed to see how much coffee came out of the chute before the Grindz appeared. I had run the grinder empty and cleaned as much as I could out of the chute before starting the clean.

The first question I have is, how much of the freshly weighed coffee goes in the cup, compared to the old residue left in the grinder? (It seemed like 25% of an 18g basket to me - around 6.5g.)

Secondly, other than cleaning the grinder out completely, after each use, how do you ensure fresh coffee each use, run about 10gm of beans through before use?

[TampIt]

I was cleaning my grinder with Grindz the other day and was amazed to see how much coffee came out of the chute before the Grindz appeared. I had run the grinder empty and cleaned as much as I could out of the chute before starting the clean.

The first question I have is, how much of the freshly weighed coffee goes in the cup, compared to the old residue left in the grinder? (It seemed like 25% of an 18g basket to me - around 6.5g.)

Secondly, other than cleaning the grinder out completely, after each use, how do you ensure fresh coffee each use, run about 10gm of beans through before use?

G'day tiddler2

You kinda answered your own question (even if your maths is a little off this time - we all do that every so often). In the case of your "unspecified" grinder, about 1/3 of an 18g is stale coffee unless you purge / waste a single shot (i.e. 7g) first. Considering I only make singles at home which may be widely spaced in time - I can make the effort to dial in the shot precisely, so a single has more than enough flavour - I would be running 50% wastage or forever be consigned to stale coffee (which I cannot abide) if I used your grinder.

The second question could start off another pile of flames, however my own answer is simple - buy a Mahlkonig Vario gen2 - it retains less than 0.4g at a time and effectively nukes that issue. Most commercial grinders retain far too much coffee for domestic use. Those with dosers retain even more. Even the most common domestic grinders tend to retain a few grams of rapidly staling coffee.

http://www.coffeegeek.com/pdfs/Barat...rs%20%20SM.pdf page 11 has grind retention figures for the previous (original) Vario - Baratza is the name Mahlkonig market their grinders in the US, rest of world uses Mahlkonig labeling (odd, my two gen 2's are made by Ditting in Switzerland and retain less than the "gen 1"). I still clean out my Vario's every 250g batch of coffee, however I could probably leave them alone for a kilo or so.

The other "solution" - adopted by so many CS'r's is to clean the whole grinder out, weigh an exact amount of beans and run it through until the grinder is empty. The problem is that most grinders feed by weight, so the last few beans going through the grinder are exiting at a texture unrelated to the chosen setting. The particle spread goes to custard and the resulting shot proves it - only dark roasts and shorter shots can get away with that method (unless you really, really love the taste of bitter).

Enjoy your cuppa

TampIt
PS: The other issue - The Vario's timer is so accurate that successive grinds are within my scales 0.1g error margin.