# Budget Grinder for V60?



## Mouzone (Dec 9, 2017)

Looking into getting my brother a v60 kit for Christmas and want to couple it up with a cheap grinder (ideally £30-£40). Does anyone have any recommendations / does such a thing exist?

I'm hoping it's easier to get cheaper grinders that only have to go as far as filter fineness.

Thanks in advance.


----------



## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

I would just get a Rhino hand grinder.


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Mouzone said:


> Looking into getting my brother a v60 kit for Christmas and want to couple it up with a cheap grinder (ideally £30-£40). Does anyone have any recommendations / does such a thing exist?
> 
> I'm hoping it's easier to get cheaper grinders that only have to go as far as filter fineness.
> 
> Thanks in advance.


Will there be a pouring kettle in the kit, it's pretty essential for a v60


----------



## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

V60 is cheaper than Aeropress, but V60+pouring kettle not so much. Aeropress can use grinds from a hand grinder or cheap electric, and takes very little effort, skill or technique to get right. Plus they are great for travel as you don't need to take your gooseneck kettle with you.

Just thought I'd mention it as an alternative.

___

Eat, drink and be merry


----------



## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

My Pouring jug was £8 off Amazon.


----------



## Mouzone (Dec 9, 2017)

Mrboots2u said:


> Will there be a pouring kettle in the kit, it's pretty essential for a v60


Yes, which is the main reason for a budget grinder. The kit will almost undoubtedly be the cheapest bit of the lot!

I may have to see if anyone else wants to contribute for the full package but I'd prefer to pull together the bare bones together myself, just to get him started so he can see whether he wants to pursue the interest.

Thanks all for the replies so far


----------



## Mouzone (Dec 9, 2017)

hotmetal said:


> V60 is cheaper than Aeropress, but V60+pouring kettle not so much. Aeropress can use grinds from a hand grinder or cheap electric, and takes very little effort, skill or technique to get right. Plus they are great for travel as you don't need to take your gooseneck kettle with you.
> 
> Just thought I'd mention it as an alternative.
> 
> ...


This is a useful consideration, thank you. I've only recently got my v60 setup sorted and have been loving it and think he would enjoy too. I haven't got an aeropress myself.

Is there much difference in grinder requirements between the v60 and aeropress? I (naively) hadn't imagined there was really any.


----------



## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

MJWB would have an authoritative answer on that. I haven't got a V60, primarily because I've got no space left for the goose neck kettle. AP is small, almost Muppetproof (I'm not insinuating anything, but it is hard to get wrong), and remarkably forgiving of grind and even temperature within reason.

You can make an aeropress with pretty much any grinder. I use the Aergrind as it's quick, consistent and fits inside. Not cheap but worth it IMO. But any of the usual suspects will do. The grind is just a bit coarser than espresso but as it's immersion, flow rate isn't a factor. If you use the paper filters it'll catch most of the fines too, so really very forgiving.

Biggest factor is fresh beans, water about 90°C, and getting the coffee:water ratio correct and consistent. You can make one in as little as 2 minutes, or you can leave it for 15 minutes for a long steep which actually is really nice and doesn't overextract like you might think, due to the coffee settling at the bottom and 'taking itself out of the extraction' combined with the declining temperature.

TL;DR. For about £60-70 you should be able to pick up an Aeropress including filters and a Rhinowares, Porlex or Hario type grinder.

Have a look at Cream Supplies. They've got an AP and a Hario grinder in their clearance/ deals/ Black Friday section, total price about £60. I think the Hario will go fine enough.


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Mouzone said:


> Is there much difference in grinder requirements between the v60 and aeropress? I (naively) hadn't imagined there was really any.


V60 can use a wider range of grind size, you can slow the brew by pulse pouring. This will mean that the V60 can use a wider range of grinders as some don't go fine enough to properly extract an Aeropress. for example...

Zassenhaus Panama could be used for V60, sometimes ~£50 on Amazon. Small, fast to grind, catch cup falls off so you need to hold it place while grinding. Set 3-5 clicks from burr rub.

Swan SF16020N - blade grinder, always traps unused grinds under the blade so a bit of wastage (~6g), but small, cheap, clean to use.

For both I'd start at 12-13g coffee & pour 20g every 20s in spirals. 60-65g/L.


----------



## Mouzone (Dec 9, 2017)

Thanks hotmetal and MWJB, truly appreciated.

I'm determined to stick with the v60 I think. Would I be better off with either the Swan SF16020N (Blade) or the Rhinowares (Burr) grinder? Can I be safe to assume that whilst they are relatively cheap they will still produce a good quality grind for V60?


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Mouzone said:


> Thanks hotmetal and MWJB, truly appreciated.
> 
> I'm determined to stick with the v60 I think. Would I be better off with either the Swan SF16020N (Blade) or the Rhinowares (Burr) grinder? Can I be safe to assume that whilst they are relatively cheap they will still produce a good quality grind for V60?


They will both produce a tasty V60 if you use tasty beans. Both make a normal drip grind. Which one is best depends on whether you want to crank by hand but have adjustability (for use with other brew methods in future), or whizz the beans with an electric motor (faster, less elbow grease).


----------



## Iris (Oct 29, 2018)

the bodum bistro burr grinder is actually a good grinder, it has conical steel burrs, I often see on offer for around £45 from harts of stur, ebay amazon etc. I had one of these grinders and it will easily grind for v60, will be more consistant than a blade grinder and much less effort than a hand grinder. Its just wont grind enough for espresso but then that doesn't matter for your needs.


----------



## Iris (Oct 29, 2018)

https://www.hartsofstur.com/bodum-bistro-electric-coffee-grinder-black-1090301uk.html


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Iris said:


> I had one of these grinders and it will easily grind for v60, will be more consistant than a blade grinder...


Probably no more consistent than the Swan blade grindermentioned. The Bodum is adjustable though.


----------



## Iris (Oct 29, 2018)

MWJB said:


> Probably no more consistent than the Swan blade grindermentioned. The Bodum is adjustable though.


will have to agree to disagree, even a cheap burr grinder is always better than a blade grinder, that junk should be kept for grinding spices only.


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Iris said:


> will have to agree to disagree, even a cheap burr grinder is always better than a blade grinder, that junk should be kept for grinding spices only.


It's not a question of agreeing, or not, on what we think, but examining what is. Most of what is said is based upon hearsay.

Burr grinders are adjustable, the Swan isn't, but otherwise they perform very similarly.


----------



## Iris (Oct 29, 2018)

will just leave it as agree to disagree.


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Iris said:


> will just leave it as agree to disagree.


You're rolling your eyes, why?


----------



## Iris (Oct 29, 2018)

MWJB said:


> You're rolling your eyes, why?


Because how can you say a blade grinder performs similarly to a burr grinder, if that the case why would you bother spending aload of money on a decent burr grinder on your logic, should just get a cheap blade grinder.

Yes the grinder I suggested the bodum bistro is a very cheap burr grinder but its still a burr grinder with stainless steel conical burrs, it obviously at that price point isn't going to grind fine enough for espresso, but you know what it actually was a decent grinder and would absolutely be a good grinder for v60/aeropress.

I have actually owned one of those grinders have you? if not how can you comment on it?


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Iris said:


> Because how can you say a blade grinder performs similarly to a burr grinder, if that the case why would you bother spending aload of money on a decent burr grinder on your logic, should just get a cheap blade grinder..


Because both a burr grinder & the blade grinder I specifically mention have a gap. The burr gap limits the upper size of the particles produced, in the Swan it has a mesh to do a similar job. The smaller particles produced don't seem to vary enough to make either grinder incapable of making good cups.

If you have a load of money to spend, you wouldn't start a thread on budget grinders.



Iris said:


> Yes the grinder I suggested the bodum bistro is a very cheap burr grinder but its still a burr grinder with stainless steel conical burrs, it obviously at that price point isn't going to grind fine enough for espresso, but you know what it actually was a decent grinder and would absolutely be a good grinder for v60/aeropress.
> 
> I have actually owned one of those grinders have you? if not how can you comment on it? .


I'm sure the Bodum is adequate. I never said otherwise. I do own a bunch of burr grinders, I use them all regularly for V60 & Melitta (I don't know how espresso & aeropress figure in this discussion). I also bought the Swan on a wild punt, turns out it works fine too and is half the price of the cheapest burr grinders I have bought (& you don't have to crank a handle). If I had bought the Swan first, would I still have bought the burr grinders? Yes, sure, but it would have been nice to know there was a £20 something, electric grinder that I could use to make a very acceptable V60 when I was starting out. I could have focussed on making that work properly from the off, made plenty of tasty cups & chased the rather intangible notion of a budget grinder with an amazing grind distribution at my leisure...or not.


----------



## Iris (Oct 29, 2018)

how can you replicate it results with a blade grinder? its not adjustable and yes you can certainly get it fine enough but it wont be consistent, and it will have heated your coffee so much it will have affected the taste of it.

Sorry will just have to agree to disagree, I'm my humble opinion blade grinders are junk. will leave it at that.

No offence intended to you


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Iris said:


> how can you replicate it results with a blade grinder? its not adjustable and yes you can certainly get it fine enough but it wont be consistent, and it will have heated your coffee so much it will have affected the taste of it.
> 
> Sorry will just have to agree to disagree, I'm my humble opinion blade grinders are junk. will leave it at that.
> 
> No offence intended to you


No offence taken.

Fine enough for a pulse poured V60 is actually fairly coarse.

On consistency, my 10 brews (each with a different coffee) with the Swan spanned only 1.5%EY. I normally consider a span of 3% for 10 brews consistent.

A shame you don't seem open to objective discussion.


----------



## richwade80 (Aug 25, 2017)

Jony said:


> My Pouring jug was £8 off Amazon.


Which jug did you get?

This could be a great stocking filler idea. I don't really want a kettle, but currently use a milk jug for v60....


----------



## Jony (Sep 8, 2017)

@richwade80

here


----------

