'Static'again

MBdoc

I started a post on ‘static’ with ground coffee a while ago and received several very helpful and technical explanations as to why this was simple with coffee grinders and went far beyond any issues with earthing of the grinder.

My problem was with a new Mignon Zero grinder which I had recently bought to replace one of my other grinders. As predicted by the techies after running coffee through the grinder for a while (and initially using James Hoffmann’s water spray technique before grinding) the problem resolved and the grounds no longer clump and stick to the sides of the spout and dosing cup.

When I bought the new grinder I also bought the single dose hopper and bellows for my older Mignon grinder (which didn’t seem to have a problem with ‘static’).

Since returning to France, where I use this one now, the ‘static’ problem has been severe. Grounds stick to the spout and sides of the metal dosing cup as well as on the outside of the spout. This grinder has been in use for a couple of years so is well ‘run in’. I am not spraying the beans before I grind them.

I checked the grinder today while cleaning it and confirmed that there is a good connection between the earth wire and all metal parts of the grinder.

Can anyone suggest a solution?

dfk41

MBdoc More likely to be atmospheric ie a warmer, drier climate…..

MBdoc

Maybe. I hadn’t thought of that. I will try the water spray again and see if it helps.

sketchy

See this post: https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/2055-acaia-ion-beam-get-it

MBdoc

It might be an interesting idea but at $150 (plus shipping and tax) I think I will try James Hoffman’s technique of a small fine spray on the beans before I add them to the hopper. It worked very well for me in the past. I will report back on the results.

dfk41

MBdoc I think I will try James Hoffman’s technique of a small fine spray on the beans before

Afraid it is nothing to do with Hoffman, the idea of spraying water onto beans! RDT stands for Ross Droplet Technique!

MBdoc

I defer to your knowledge. I got it for JH!

dfk41

MBdoc I hope I did not come across as condescending…….LOL But remember, if you introduce water to your beans then the same water enters your burrs…..

MBdoc

dfk41 I take the point but recalling that James Hoffman does this and, according to one of his videos on grinders, he spent about £3,000 on his grinder I guess if he isn’t worried about damaging it I needn’t be either.

MBdoc

Not at all. I quoted JH in good faith as I had seen this in one of his UTube videos. You were quite correct to draw attention to an incorrect attribution as I am sure JH would agree.

I can see that any water added to the beans would touch the burrs but beans already have some water content anyway and the spray I used was very fine and a very small volume. I suspect that any moisture retained on the burrs would disperse very quickly and when I cleaned the grinder today there was no sign of rust on the burrs.

MediumRoastSteam

MBdoc - did he say he will test this extensively with his own grinder? I didn’t hear that part. 😉

MBdoc

MediumRoastSteam it in this one but, as I understand it, he does use this technique routinely and added a special warning stating that he does this himself but accepts that others might not want to take any risks with their grinders. He mentions that grinders cost a few hundred pounds! He didn’t refer to the very expensive one this time but I got the impression from his earlier video about it that after he had done his usual tests he was so impressed he bought one for himself (I think he usually gives the test equipment away to some of his Patreon subscribers).

MediumRoastSteam

MBdoc - I suppose for him, it’s all relative. Say the burrs do rust on his grinder… he can the. Just go and replace those, for a relatively “low” cost. But for the majority of mortals like the members here… we might be gutted.

For the very little time I used RDT back in the day, I DID see signs of corrosion on the burrs. Coincidence or not, I’ll never know, unless I have a test/control equipment.

MBdoc

Understood. Of course JH and the rest of us do live in different worlds as far as sophistication of equipment and taste (certainly true for me anyway) although we can still learn a lot from his experience and expertise. I didn’t notice any rust on the burrs of my grinders but don’t actually look at them very often. I suspect with regular use and a bit of oil from the coffee it won’t be a problem. I clean them with Beanz every so often as well.