My Niche Zero arrived in record fast time last night. I then utilized @"DavecUK"#1 ’s great video on calibrating the grinder upon opening. There were however no grounds in the grinder (from quality control testing). But as the burrs were now out, I recalibrated anyway. Btw, its so easy peasy to get to the burrs. Anyway, I worked to dial in a bean that I had tried before (not my go to favorite but it was all I had around). Its a medium-dark decaf of unstated origin. It has rested about 1 week in a sealed bag, then frozen in 4 ounce mason jars. I ground the beans from frozen. However I was only able to dial in the beans (to flow using a 1:1.5 ratio - 16.5 in, 24.0 out in a 18g IMS basket, 9.5 BAR) **at a Niche setting of 5.0, which is only 5 marks from 0 (finest). This does not leave much remaining room for finer grinding.** I had thought the bean would dial in at 20, but at 20 I got a gusher! _Any solutions to this low grinder setting issue (with only 5 number marks apparently remaining until I at my finest grind)? What are your experiences? Is this normal? Is it a problem?_ _How do I fix it?_ Fyi, my Lelit Elizabeth is blind basket set at 10.5 BAR, which had optimized my shots when using my Eureka Mignon. But my shots thus far struggled to get up to 9.5 BAR, and only got there once I got close to a 5 mark on the Niche. Also, grind retention was initially huge but reduced to minimal after about 4 shots. I expected that, as the grounds were filling various spaces within what was a pristinely clean grinder. So no concerns on the retention front, at this early stage. As for work flow, I initially tried dosing straight into the basket using a funnel, the coffee grind spray from the chute created quite a mess. **I’d quite like to be able to dose straight into my basket or portafilter/basket. Has anyone been able to do that, without spraying grinds beyond the funnel?** I was able to do that with my Eureka Mignon, and rotate the basket to ensure even distribution. I was (with the Mignon) able to have the basket reasonably below the chute exit while doing that. With the NZ, I suspect that I might be able to reduce the outward spray by raising the basket higher (much closer to) the chute. But that might cause chute clogs. _Any answers to this, other than: “just use the cup”?_ One other issue arose. When I grind into the cup, I place the basket on top and then invert. I thought that the grinds would all fall into the basket. **However some of the grounds remained in the cup, even when inverted.** I then tried a solid downtap, which still left some grounds. It took a combination of solid downtap and two (2) taps to the top of the basket to ensure complete grounds transfer from cup to basket. _Is this usual? Is that what I will need to do? What do you do?_ **The above might be a static electricity issue,** as the grounds sure do cling to that cup! I have not been RDTing, as @"DavecUK"#1 indicated that this is a no-no with the NZ, as it will result in increased grounds retention and other issues. _Do I have a static electricity problem? How do I solve it?_ Fyi, I have still been WDTing once all of the grounds are in the basket, as the grounds did seem to be evenly distributed or level enough for tamping. So I have been WDTing, then bottom tap, then tamp with a 20 lb spring installed in my EazyTamp. Flow distribution looks fine using my bottomless portafilter. Have not yet sufficiently evaluated taste, as it was late evening. My wife is now jealous of my NZ girlfriend. So I will need to pay more attention to her and less to the NZ girl. 😘 Any help with/suggestions for the above NZ learning pains will be gratefully appreciated.

its just newness and you chose a hell of a bean to dial in with lol the static will slow down as the burrs season, you will get irregularities till then, decaf needs a really fine grind,

Once i went down to 6 for a decaf. 5 is ok I guess no need to worry. Static is also my problem especially for beans straight from freezer. I just keep tapping the grind cup until it's empty.

With my Niche, after dosing into the supplied cup I give the sides a couple of taps and tap the bottom a couple of times on my counter top and that seems to dissipate any static. Grinds regrdless of size, always come out whether tipping into a portafilter or Clever Dripper/V60. Having said that, I have been using it for just over a year now so as others have mentioned, I guess it is because the burrs are well seasoned. I always grind beans from frozen too.

Zero will be no where near burr touching, so don't worry about that. Grinding from frozen causes moisture to condense on the beans, so you might get less dose consistence, more retention and other things. The burrs do need to bed in…and they are very hard. I will improve markedly up to 5kg, then slowly improve over the next 10. The burrs are good for about 750 Kg

@"DavecUK"#p30836 One other item that I have noticed. The grind speed is quite slow, with the control disc in place. I have not timed it (I will), but it seems like a solid minute. This being said, I understand that there is benefit to slower RPMs, due to lower heat generation. I understand that the disk is there to reduce popcorning and to provide a steady grind pace/flow. In actuality I notice that very little gets ground in first 20 or 30 seconds, and then the pace significantly picks up. Definitely not an even flow. Not sure why this happens or if it is a good thing or not? Should I remove the disk or just be patient? I’m fine with this for just my 2 shots in the AM. But if I had guests, the slow grinding pace would slow the overall production pace down. BTW, this mornings cappuccino coffee tasted pretty good, with good body and mouthfeel, and good length of taste. It also had the chocolate and caramel notes that I like. And a couple of notes that I didn't like, which is the bean. But great that I can finally extract these flavours 😋

@"JHCCoffee"#p30840 Does not sound right, unless it is down to the burrs being new. Mine grinds at the same rate from start to finish. I do not think the flow control disc adds anything to the time spent grinding. This was tested by our host ages ago and I am sure that was the conclusion.

I will shoot a video, with a timer next to it, tomorrow AM, and post it.

@"JHCCoffee"#p30842 I'm wondering if the hold down nut is loose and the disc isn't rotating well until there is less beans.

> @"dfk41"#p30841 I do not think the flow control disc adds anything to the time spent grinding I think it does. However, it's not significant. As Dave said before many times, either way, you can grind away with the Niche, prep, tamp etc and the machine might not even have recovered yet. 👍

If some coffee clings to the cup after tipping into the portafilter you can just use the brush.

First Night With My Niche Girlfriend (and a couple of questions)

DavecUK

JHCCoffee God I hate YouTube shorts, no time scale, you can’t skip back or skip forward, have to watch the whole thing each time. So if there’s a machine problem, you might have to watch them in full a few times.

That said old, oily, overroasted decaff….Yeah that’s totally normal for those beans. Let them mummify fully and you might have to go so fine, they won’t even feed through

JHCCoffee

DavecUK God I hate YouTube shorts, no time scale, you can’t skip back or skip forward, have to watch the whole thing each time. So if there’s a machine problem, you might have to watch them in full a few times.

Thanks for putting up with YouTube, Davec. Appreciated! I shot the video with my iPhone and then uploaded with YouTube. Is there a better way?

Re the beans, the video makes them look darker than they are. They were labelled medium dark. I would call them a Vienna Roast. Looking at Sweet Maria’s roast scale Roast Scale the beans are a 14, on a scale of 1 to 16. They were frozen 2 weeks post roast, but I suspect that they may be stale due to moisture creation when I open the frozen jar. Here is a pic: They are a tad darker than I usually enjoy (I prefer Full City roasts (#13 on that scale).

FYI, the grind starts slow; it seems like the beans are having trouble getting through the control disk. Once the beans start to flow into the burrs, the pace picks up. It takes about 30 seconds to grind all the beans, but then another 15 seconds to get the last grinds out, to the full 16.5g in, without retention. So 45 seconds total.

While the NZ is great, I have ground frozen Full French roast through my Eureka much faster. Something seems not quite right.

hornbyben

I agree, looks normal. You’d expect it to be slower with the very fine grind you need for them. My morning coffee was 16s for 19g of medium with the NFC disk, at a grind setting of 12.

DavecUK

JHCCoffee Yes…the coffee.

Cuprajake

portrait mode auto goes into a short, as does a less 1 minute vid

ken0062

JHCCoffee I am using the “NFC_Disk_alternate.stl” found on Thingverse Here I believe that one has a larger hole than standard but found it to be a ideal compromise between not using a NFC disc at all and the genuine NFC disc that i bought

JHCCoffee

ken0062 I am using the “NFC_Disk_alternate.stl” found on Thingverse Here I believe that one has a larger hole than standard but found it to be a ideal compromise between not using a NFC disc at all and the genuine NFC disc that i bought

Hi Ken. Thanks for the 3D Printing file. I am entirely new to 3D Printing and do not own a printer. So I will either go to my local public library to print it, or have the UPS Store or Staples (an office supply and services store) print it. Question: What filament, resin, etc could/should I specify? Or do I just upload the file and set the machine to work? I am not asking for a primer on this (I wouldn’t trouble you with that); just need to know whether there are any 3D materials preferences that I should specify. Thanks again for your help with this.

And everyone: I’m confident that the NZ will work out to be a great grinder for me (after a break-in period, for both the machine and me). However, I do tend to drink medium-dark roasts more than light or medium-light roasts, and all of my coffee must unfortunately be decaf, so I do need a little help with grinding speed/time. I know that it will take longer to grind these beans even if I use a 3D disk with a slightly larger hole, but if we can get the beans into the burrs just a tad faster, especially at the beginning when the beans just don’t seem to be feeding through that small disk hole, that would be great. Additionally, the final grinds still take another 15 seconds to come out (after the grinding stops, based upon my view of the hopper and the sounds that I hear). So anything is worth a try.

whinmoor85

JHCCoffee Matey you don’t have to over-think these things 🤦‍♂️😂

If the hole on the disk is too small for you then remove it. The Niche isn’t a quick grinder and it wasn’t designed to be.

ken0062

JHCCoffee Question: What filament, resin, etc could/should I specify? Or do I just upload the file and set the machine to work?

Never used a 3d print service before but made mine out of PETG filament, only other thing you may need to specify is 100% infill, I’m afraid my 3d printer has not been set up for a while otherwise I could have bunged you one in the post.

Like others have said I would definetly give it a go without the disc and see how you get on.

I have posted a couple of dimensions of the NFC disc i was sent below if anyone fancies comparing it to theirs just to see if there has been any changes since the original ones where sent out

JHCCoffee

Just curious. Is everyone using a flow control disk? Why or why not? When and when not?

MediumRoastSteam

JHCCoffee - I got bored of the disk, so decided to remove it. No doubt I’ll install it again at some point. It does give you a slight difference in flavour. To me, the disk brings more clarity, at the expense of mouthfeel.

Cuprajake

Give the lid a few lift drops at the end of the grind

LMSC

MediumRoastSteam disk brings more clarity, at the expense of mouthfeel.

I don’t obviously have a niche. Why should a disk make a difference in the cup?

MediumRoastSteam

LMSC - it’s to do with the even flow rate of beans being ground and the uniformity of the grind when the disk is installed, and thus resulting in having to grind finer. Without the disk, there’s a wider distribution.

At least that’s my understanding. 👍

LMSC

MediumRoastSteam I thought it’s for mainly pop corning. Interesting what it does to the grind, distribution and the cup. Thx

whinmoor85

LMSC It’s for both preventing popcorning and improving grind consistency according to the website
https://nichespares.com/collections/niche-zero-accessories/products/niche-flow-control-disc

JHCCoffee

whinmoor85 Matey you don’t have to over-think these things 🤦‍♂️😂

If the hole on the disk is too small for you then remove it. The Niche isn’t a quick grinder and it wasn’t designed to be.

One of the things I like about this espresso hobby is it’s challenges and the need to analyze / think about things. I am an analyst by profession, so this aspect resonates with me.

I am sure that you were well meaning, but please do be more respectful in your choice of words and emoticons when responding to posts. Everyone has their own perspectives and preferences. This forum is quite respectful of this. Everyone seems to be on this forum to be helpful (as distinct from critical), which is why I like this “worlds most friendly” forum, relative to others. Enough said.

I am pursuing an in between solution by 3D printing a disk with a larger diameter hole. If that does the over thought trick for me, I will let this forum know.

Cuprajake

only thing id say with the bigger hole is watch for beans getting stuck under the disc, only had it twice with some giant beans

hornbyben

I’d try without the disk first. If that’s not significantly quicker then a disc with a bigger hole won’t either.

JHCCoffee

ken0062

Thank-you Ken, for taking the time and trouble to provide these files, pics and measurements for all of u! Very kind of you.

This Forum continues live up to the friendliness and helpfulness bar set by DaveC.

MediumRoastSteam

What’s the second measurement?

ken0062

MediumRoastSteam What’s the second measurement?

Second measurement is from the back of the cut out to what I judge to be the centre of the bolt hole 7.68mm,that is the only way I could see to judging the depth of the cut out

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