# Hario Skerton hand grinder slow and inconsistent grind



## SeeNoWeevil (Jun 25, 2016)

The grinder is adjusted by tightening the notched washer and then loosening it off by about 7 notches. It's taking a good 10mins to grind a single Aeropress scoop of beans! The burrs seem to get clogged and the grinding slows down rapidly, you can hear the beans not 'catching' any more in the burrs. Seemingly it's worse with older/cheaper beans. The only way to improve this is a few winds of the handle in reverse every minute or so to seemingly clear the burrs, but this might be making the grind a bit irregular with large chunks.

The grind on this setting looks something like this


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Your grind looks coarse for Aeropress, but that doesn't explain why the grind is taking so long. Can you take a pic looking down into the burrs at this setting.


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## Jonbignall (Jun 26, 2016)

My Skerton did the exact same thing last week and I too had been experimenting with cheap beans. I took the inner burr out and it was caked with coffee oil and old grounds. After cleaning and reassembly, the speed and consistency seemed to return to normal. Might be worth checking for gunge on yours! I don't know if they're all like this, but the burr on mine looks a bit off centre when viewed from below and the handle is turned. I guess that explains the inconsistent particle size at coarser settings.

The design of this grinder seems a bit flawed, but for the price I guess it's forgiveable.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Jonbignall said:


> My Skerton did the exact same thing last week and I too had been experimenting with cheap beans. I took the inner burr out and it was caked with coffee oil and old grounds. After cleaning and reassembly, the speed and consistency seemed to return to normal. Might be worth checking for gunge on yours! I don't know if they're all like this, but the burr on mine looks a bit off centre when viewed from below and the handle is turned. I guess that explains the inconsistent particle size at coarser settings.
> 
> The design of this grinder seems a bit flawed, but for the price I guess it's forgiveable.


All the ceramic burr hand grinders in this price range have floating burrs, they work OK, just slow to grind. I wouldn't set any of them particularly coarse.


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## SeeNoWeevil (Jun 25, 2016)

MWJB said:


> Your grind looks coarse for Aeropress, but that doesn't explain why the grind is taking so long. Can you take a pic looking down into the burrs at this setting.


It's difficult to get a picture looking down the burrs but I'll try. I wound it in a little (5 notches) to make the ground finer and it just ended up taking even longer. I got bored around the 10mins mark! Several guides say the Skerton should be adjusted by loosening by 2 notches on the washer for Aeropress, but that results in a fine dust and a ridiculously long grind time.



Jonbignall said:


> My Skerton did the exact same thing last week and I too had been experimenting with cheap beans. I took the inner burr out and it was caked with coffee oil and old grounds. After cleaning and reassembly, the speed and consistency seemed to return to normal. Might be worth checking for gunge on yours! I don't know if they're all like this, but the burr on mine looks a bit off centre when viewed from below and the handle is turned. I guess that explains the inconsistent particle size at coarser settings.
> 
> The design of this grinder seems a bit flawed, but for the price I guess it's forgiveable.


Older/cheaper beans just seem to clog the grinder and prevent the grind from dropping out and new beans being pulled in. You can feel all the resistance and 'crunch' stop and the handle just spins freely. Winding backwards a few times, or back and forth will clear it for a bit so you can continue but to be honest, my sanity is long gone by this point. I do clean it frequently with a brush but it'll only clog again. I think I'll try a batch of fresher/better quality beans again but I think the Skerton will be tossed out the window fairly soon.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

SeeNoWeevil said:


> It's difficult to get a picture looking down the burrs but I'll try. I wound it in a little (5 notches) to make the ground finer and it just ended up taking even longer. I got bored around the 10mins mark! Several guides say the Skerton should be adjusted by loosening by 2 notches on the washer for Aeropress, but that results in a fine dust and a ridiculously long grind time.


10minute grind time for an Aeropress is hugely abnormal, even at a fine grind 2 mins would be plenty for a ~15g dose. If your grinding takes 10mins there is something massively wrong with your grinder. You are turning the handle clockwise?


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## SeeNoWeevil (Jun 25, 2016)

MWJB said:


> 10minute grind time for an Aeropress is hugely abnormal, even at a fine grind 2 mins would be plenty for a ~15g dose. If your grinding takes 10mins there is something massively wrong with your grinder. You are turning the handle clockwise?


Yep. There's quite a few posts on the net complaining of the same problem. I'm guessing maybe some skerton's are manufactured badly.


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https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/31eicl


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https://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/3l86xy


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Return it


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