# Sage Barista Pro Grind Adjustment



## Gaz_chops (24 d ago)

Hi, new owner of a SBP, received today, before I start using it a quick question about adjusting the grinder settings, external not internal, is it ok to make adjustments without the grinder running? I read somewhere that the grinder had to be running, but videos I have watched appear to make changes (+ & -) when the grinder is not being used!

Just want to be sure I’m not causing any potential damage to the grinders on day 1.

Thanks
Gaz


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## ImthatGuy (Dec 4, 2015)

SBP user here - I never adjust while the grinder's running. I can't even see how that works well - what grind am I getting if I adjust the grind while the beans are going through. If I change from (say) 5 to 6 mid-grind, is my output at 5, or 6 or 5.66332875?

Where did you read that the grinder has to be running?


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## Gaz_chops (24 d ago)

But when you change grind, do you not run a few grams through and discard them? Else you would have a mix!
I think the idea was that you would ‘purge’ the grinder with a few grams so as not to have a mix of sizes, then discard them, so changing the grind size whilst doing so would kind of make sense.

I had to speak to tech support about something else, they said it makes no difference either way.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Only one step at a time going finer without running it. Don't alter the upper outer burr setting. All it does is change the number for the same grind coming out.

On Sage grinders I'd be inclined to say there is no need to worry too much about retained grinds from the previous setting. The main thing with them is the time taken for some grinds to compact in the grinds chamber, It takes several shots. When that has happened the carry over is small so if some grinds are wasted just a simple pulse should do. It needs lots throwniing away on some grinders,

The other aspect is going coarser. Go too coarse and then fine to where you want to be, It takes out play in the mechanism, This can be confusing. Set coarse and all ok but without this the next shot will be coarser,


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## Gaz_chops (24 d ago)

Not sure I understand any of what you said!

Especially “Don't alter the upper outer burr setting. All it does is change the number for the same grind coming out.”

But thx anyway.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

Gaz_chops said:


> Not sure I understand any of what you said!


Page 17 of the manual. If you use that to set finer you may one day find the burrs rub which wont do them any good at all, And as i said the adjustment just change the grinder setting number for the same size grind coming out.

Having put that in the manual they should warn about this aspect. I bought a used SGP and some one had adjusted it probably thanks to a number of youtube videos. If I hadn't checked this I may have finished up with wrecked burrs and a burnt out motor if I used a rather fine setting,

This area is the same on all of their grinders except a separate that no one sells. I doubt if Sage make that one now,


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## Gaz_chops (24 d ago)

I don’t understand what you mean “as i said the adjustment just change the grinder setting number for the same size grind coming out.”!
If you adjust this by 1 up or down it will shift the external adj by 3, so if you adjust the Internal say from 6 to 4, then 
6-15 effectively = 4-21, this therefore gives you 6 extra ‘fine’ settings!


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## ImthatGuy (Dec 4, 2015)

Gaz_chops said:


> But when you change grind, do you not run a few grams through and discard them?


I hardly ever change grind. When I do, I set the new grind with the grinder stopped, and then run it for a second or two to clear any retained grounds. But, as @ajohn said, it's not really a major thing with Sage grinders.



Gaz_chops said:


> If you adjust this by 1 up or down it will shift the external adj by 3, so if you adjust the Internal say from 6 to 4, then
> 6-15 effectively = 4-21, this therefore gives you 6 extra ‘fine’ settings!


I can't confirm the numbers (I haven't checked) but it's correct that adjusting the burr moves the entire grind range finer or coarser, but it's not an alternative to using the grind adjust knob. Adjust the burr only if you can't get fine enough (or coarse enough) with the control knob. And as @ajohn points out, be very careful when adjusting burrs to make the grind finder - it is possible to damage the burrs by going too fine.

In practice, I would say that it's very rare to have to adjust the burr on a new or new-ish Sage; in most cases, if people are struggling with the shot, it's more likely to be down to the tamp or the age of the coffee. Just my opinion


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## Gaz_chops (24 d ago)

ImthatGuy said:


> I hardly ever change grind.


Wow, you must rarely change beans or are extremely lucky dialling in!


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## funkmuncha (22 d ago)

It's interesting to see the split in opinions on whether or not the user should adjust the inner burr on these Sage grinders. I couldn't get my SGP to grind fine enough until I adjusted it. I moved the inner burr 2 steps finer than it was set at the factory and can now get a drinkable shot with my Gaggia classic with the SGPs front panel indicator at around 5 or 6. I'll aside that the steps seem quite far apart on the outer dial and I find myself wishing I had a 5.5 to grind on. I'm left experimenting with adjusting the dose to fine tune the shot. I was in a large department store yesterday and there was a Sage rep making coffees and giving demos of one of the integrated machines. He was (incorrectly) selling the grinders as having effectively 300 grind size settings, reasoning that 30 on the outer dial and 10 on the inner meant 300 different grind sizes. Lifestyle Labs appear to have tested the full range on the SGP and suggested that one inner burr step amounts to 3 outer dial as steps, and this seems in line with my own experience.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

funkmuncha said:


> moved the inner burr 2 steps finer


The inner burr isn't adjustable, I've posted several times why changing the setting of the outer burr needs care and can cause problems - serious ones, Up to the user. Sage do seem to mention it now but no warnings. It is the correct thing to do if it wont grind fine enough but if that is down to crap beans ,..........................

The usual way of adjusting the flow on a stepped grinder if the steps aren't fine enough is to change the dose of grinds a touch. Not a problem I have had on an SGP. Not a complaint I have noticed being mentioned either.


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## Gaz_chops (24 d ago)

funkmuncha said:


> Lifestyle Labs


This is what I had seen


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## ImthatGuy (Dec 4, 2015)

Gaz_chops said:


> Wow, you must rarely change beans or are extremely lucky dialling in!


Indeed, I don't change beans very often. If I'm able to get a coffee I like from the beans I have, I'll continue to use the same beans. Occasionally, I might try something different.

I will sometimes adjust grind a little if it's taken me a while to get to the end of a large (1Kg) bag of beans (I'm the only coffee drinker here, and we're sometimes away for a while). In those cases, I'll simply make he grind a little finer (1 step is normally enough) and tweak the grind time to get the output I want.

I only use this grinder (Sage Barista Pro) for espresso. I use different grinder for cafetière


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

l) Well each step on the outer burr = 3 steps of the usual way of setting grind level.

It reminds me of people buying an SGP as it has more steps than the ordinary BE. The BE grinder is restricted to the espresso range, The SGP isn't so that it can grind for different brewing methods.


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## funkmuncha (22 d ago)

@ajohn I'm interested to know why you recommend not adjusting the top burr setting please, is this something you have learned the hard way, ie did you damage a machine by making this adjustment in the past?

The owner manual explains how the user can adjust this setting, and I've seen a you tube vid of a Breville technician adjusting the upper burr setting. I've also seen a few forum posts in which people say they have successfully adjusted it to a similar point as I have adjusted mine.

The only other place that I've seen it said that one shouldn't adjust the upper burr setting is on Seattle Coffee Gears you tube channel. The lady from Seattle Coffee gear suggested that the adjustment was there for when the burrs start to wear down (she suggests in 3,4 or 5 years time). This doesn't hold water with me as if this was the case I'd expect it to come set at the coarsest end of it's scale from the factory, as if adjustment was due to wear then one would only ever have to adjust finer.


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## ajohn (Sep 23, 2017)

ajohn said:


> Page 17 of the manual. If you use that to set finer you may one day find the burrs rub which wont do them any good at all, And as i said the adjustment just change the grinder setting number for the same size grind coming out.


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## Gaz_chops (24 d ago)

ajohn said:


> “the adjustment just change the grinder setting number for the same size grind coming out”


Which allows an extra 3 settings finer or coarser per adjustment, depending on whether you decrease or increase the setting!


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## ImthatGuy (Dec 4, 2015)

Gaz_chops said:


> Which allows an extra 3 settings finer or coarser per adjustment, depending on whether you decrease or increase the setting!


Like I said above, it adjusts the _range_ finer or coarser. So instead of (for example) a range of 1 to 28, you could set a range of -2 to 25, so all your grinds are 3 steps finer, or 4 to 31, so everything is coarser. You get a range of 28 settings per burr position regardless.

This is something you might want to do if you can't get the grind you want from the standard settings.


In the end, this is all abut how you get the grind that works for you. Credit to Sage for giving us the option of adjusting th burrs if the standard grind control doesn't work for us.


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## Gaz_chops (24 d ago)

I know, you are describing exactly what I said! 
See post #7 
“If you adjust this by 1 up or down it will shift the external adj by 3, so if you adjust the Internal say from 6 to 4, then 
6-15 effectively = 4-21, this therefore gives you 6 extra ‘fine’ settings!”.

And see the chart I posted above, from Lifestyle Labs.

What I don’t understand is what @ajohn means by repeating that it doesn’t change the Grind, just the number!


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## funkmuncha (22 d ago)

Sorry posted something incorrectly so have deleted it


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