Originally posted by Bosco_Lever
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Regardless, happy to see that something I introduced to CS all those years ago is still doing the rounds

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As to the post directly above this #22:
I'll have to disagree with the "time" thing because it really is about the volume of beans that have been ground through the grinder rather than how old the grinding plates are (what if the grinder is 10 years old but has only had for the sake of the example, say 25 kilos put through it....) ....HOWEVER...I fully understand its probably easier to advise those who are not in the know to change out the plates at some kind of time interval rather than by giving them a figure of kilos that will be
a) hard for the grinder owner to work out and
b) will be "rubbery" in any case due to grinding plates wearing out at different volumes of through put due to differing types of beans / blends put through, different supply/hardness of plates, different environmental conditions, etc etc etc.
In the end, grinding plates on these kinds of grinders are about the only thing that will ever wear out in the lifetime of home ownership and use, and service people are reliant on an owner realising that something has changed, and it will usually mean the plates are worn out and need replacing. Otherwise you could go for years without changing them out....as long as you are still happy with the result in the cup.
My preference then, for knowing when to replace a set of grinding plates/burrs, would be in order of descending pertinence:
1) When you realise through your experience that they need replacing (irrespective of kilos and time);
2) when a certain number of kilos have been put through (arbitrary);
3) after an interval in time (also arbitrary).
Just for your own interest, I would advise you to pick an arbitrary figure of your normal weekly use of coffee. Say 250 grams would be reasonable for an "average home user". 250 grams x 52 weeks in a year x 10 years = a theoretical throughput of 130 kilos.
Dont know what kind of grinder you have (only mentioned a *brand* name not a model), and we dont know if it is an ex commercial grinder. So the figure could be way out and much much higher than the theoretical 130 kg. As I said, its just for your own interest. If it were say an ex commercial 64mm grinder (a common size in older cafe grinders commonly purchased by CS people), with the kind of symptoms you were describing, my (educated) guess would be that the grinder has probably done well in excess of 500 kgs. if always used with nothing less than good FAQ quality 100% arabica blends, and less if commercially using some of the imported low grade robusta based blends. I've seen enough old style cafe people do this....
You will notice a HUGE difference in the cup quality of your coffee when the jobs been done, using the same beans as before.
Hope that helps put a little more perspective/interest into the equation.

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