Power up dialling in your grinder

How to dial-in your commercial coffee grinder

In this quick power-up training we explain how to dial in your grinder to make espresso using a commercial coffee grinder. The grinders we recommend at Extract Coffee Roasters and feature in this training, are La Marzocco Swift, Victoria Arduino Mythos One, Sanremo SR50 and Compak F8 coffee grinders.

Below, you'll find short videos showing you how to adjust the different models of coffee grinder, a step by step guide to dialling in your grinder and a quick glossary explaining some of the technical terms.

Once you've finished your dialling in training, try our other online training resources about cleaning your coffee machine and milk steaming.

VIDEOS: HOW TO CALIBRATE YOUR COFFEE GRINDER

Victoria Arduino Mythos One

A short training video explaining how to calibrate your Victoria Arduino Mythos One Coffee Grinder.

Sanremo SR50

A short training video explaining how to calibrate your Sanremo SR50 commercial coffee grinder.

La Marzocco Swift

A step by step video tutorial on how to calibrate your La Marzocco Swift coffee grinder.

COMPAK F8

In this video we show you how to calibrate your Compak F8 commercial coffee grinder.

STEP BY STEP GUIDE: HOW TO DIAL IN YOUR COFFEE GRINDER

1

WEIGH YOUR COFFEE: 18g

Grind 18g of coffee into your portafilter. A dose between 17.8g-18.2g is acceptable.
2

TIME YOUR ESPRESSO: 25-30 seconds

Tamp and pull a shot of espresso on your machine. Time your shot & taste it. Your espresso should pour in 25-30 seconds and should taste balanced.
3

ADJUST AS NEEDED

Under-extracted: If your shot poured in less than 25 seconds or your coffee tastes sour, it is under-extracted. The coffee grinds have not had enough contact time with the hot water. To solve this, adjust your grinder to make the coffee finer.

Over-extracted: If your shot poured in more than 30 seconds or your coffee tastes bitter, it is over-extracted. The coffee grinds have had too much contact time with the hot water. To solve this, adjust your grinder to make the coffee coarser.
4

PURGE ONE SHOT

Your grinder retains about 15-20g of the last setting, so after making an adjustment weight out an additional dose of coffee and discard this in your knockbox. Once you've purged a shot, you're ready to re-test.
5

TEST AND TASTE AGAIN

Pull another shot of coffee with your adjusted dose, time and taste again. Re-adjust your dose if required remembering to purge a shot between each adjustment.
TIP

SMALL ADJUSTMENTS ARE BEST

Your coffee grinder is a sensitive soul! A tiny adjustment to the dial will have a big impact on your extraction time. Two to three small adjustments is more efficient than huge adjustments which take lots of time (and coffee) to correct later.

Grinder definitions and key points to remember

Extraction: Grinders break down coffee beans into tiny pieces. When these particles (or grinds) have contact with hot water, the flavour of the coffee is extracted from the coffee grinds into the water. This is called extraction. Changing the grind size changes how intensely the coffee extracts into the water and is the quickest and easiest way to change the taste of your coffee.

Dialling in: Dialling in is the process of adjusting your grinder to ensure that an espresso shot is pulled in 25-30 seconds. A correctly dialled in grinder using the right amount of coffee is the key to making great tasting espresso.

Adjustment: To make your coffee taste right you may need to adjust your grinder to grind your coffee more finely or more coarsely. Coffee will react to its environment, so sometimes you need to make several small adjustments throughout the day to keep your coffee tasting great. This is why you should weight and time every shot.

Dose: The amount of coffee that is set to come out of your coffee grinder. When set correctly, your grinder should give you a dose of 18g of coffee. You should weigh each dose to check you are using the right amount of coffee in your espresso.