# Mignon not grinding when only a few beans in the hopper



## Bursar (Aug 4, 2013)

I don't want to load the hopper with coffee as it will take me days to get through it all, but if I only put in enough for a single drink the beans all sit in the neck of the hopper and don't feed into the burrs.

What's the easiest solution to this dilemma?


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## forzajuve (Feb 2, 2011)

Take the finger guard off and drop your tamper on top of the beans to stop them jumping out.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Mine sucks all the beans down no problem.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

jeebsy said:


> Mine sucks all the beans down no problem.


Same here. Have you cleaned out the retained grinds by taking off the hopper and slapping the top with a cupped hand?

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## Bursar (Aug 4, 2013)

I've only had it a few days, so there shouldn't be too much retained in it yet, but I'll try it.

I've just tried loading the hopper up, and it barely seems to grind anything. If set to fine (just a bit back from when I can hear the burrs touching) I get nothing come out. If I move it to a more coarse grind I'll get few large clumps spat out every few seconds. Needless to say, if it's having a detrimental effect on my coffee making. It's coming out like brown water and the puck is really wet.

I'm not exactly using high quality beans (a 1KG bag of some Kenco beans that we use at work for the B2C machines), but I wouldn't have thought I'd have too many problems grinding them up. It seems the Mignon is really struggling


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## Gangstarrrrr (Mar 4, 2013)

The mignon shouldn't have any problems working through them. One thing for consideration, take the hopper off. Fit as many beans in the throat as you can (don't jam them in) and cover the opening, perhaps using a tamper. Turn it on. They should all get ground no problem (minus small amount of retention).

The mignon IS clumpy, so use a toothpick or unfolded paper clip to break them up and distribute in the portafilter.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

It may be worth videoing a clip of this to see what's going on.

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## Bursar (Aug 4, 2013)

urbanbumpkin said:


> It may be worth videoing a clip of this to see what's going on.


OK, I'll try and upload a video tomorrow.


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## Eyedee (Sep 13, 2010)

Interesting comment re the finger guard, is it removable, mine appears to be solidly fixed on two of the four points.

Ian


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Eyedee said:


> Interesting comment re the finger guard, is it removable, mine appears to be solidly fixed on two of the four points.
> 
> Ian


Mine too

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