# Help....I'M GUESSING GRIND SIZE



## Wuyang (Mar 21, 2014)

I tend to go on drain time for the clever dripper, but really I'm guessing grind size and really have no guide to go buy. Short of somebody sending me examples of what size I should be aiming for I'm just guessing.

I tend to do French press, clever dripper and I may try drip.....but I'm guessing grind size. Also for the clever I think I was watching sweet Maria's are something on YouTube and they used just a slightly courser than espresso grind for the clever dripper which was quite finer than I thought.

Im surprised there isn't a grind size example card you can buy or something to use as a rough starting guide.

help! Plus I've just ordered a lido2 from coffeehit after a long thinking session between that and the feldgrind....I went for the lido in the end after previously owning the lido3....only downside I really remember was the adjusting of the grind ring.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

People have different preferences and targets for immersions, but I would say that drain time has no useful relationship to a Clever brew. If you grind fine the drain takes longer (I have had delicious brews up to 6min drain time), if you grind coarse it will be quicker, if you grind very coarse you will always hit a lower extraction. The drain part of a Clever brew does not do the bulk of the extraction as far as I can tell.

For French press & Clever I grind between espresso & fine drip.


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## PPapa (Oct 24, 2015)

Also, the best reference are the time and taste, not the grind size. There's no universal brewing technique and coffee will be different depending on the water and its temperature, pouring technique (time/flow/agitation/etc), etc. There's no such thing as the right grind size for any bean.

I know this sounds like pretentious stuff, but that's just the way coffee brewing works.


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## Wuyang (Mar 21, 2014)

All the above makes sense, but on a scale form Turkish outwards what would the order from smallest to largest grind size be.....found guide....so no need for this.

Also......if anybody has a lido2/3 with the Swiss burrs where as a guide do you have your lines for clever....French press......drip?


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

Here's an example. The coffee I'm currently drinking the grind looks mostly like caster sugar 17.5g in 35g out about 30seconds. Raves San Pascual ends up looking more like icing sugar 17.5g in 38g out in about 30secs. Both taste yummy. Grind size varies between grinder (eg what the distribution of actual sizes is- does it vary massively or sit in a tight window) how roasted the coffee is. How easy the bean is to extract. How humid/hot the weather is.

It's why you have to play around and not get too hung up on a "golden rule"

Aim for sweet not bitter or sour and change on variable at a time. With brewing rather than espresso I tend to keep the grind size the same and vary the contact time with the water.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Immersion brewing (French press & Clever) is a bit more predictable with respect to grind size as there is no flow/difference in bed/puck depth/pressure, whereas with espresso & drip, grind size ties in with brew time & beverage mass more. With immersion, there is less variation in extraction with respect to brew ratio, it's a bit more intuitive in that brews that use more coffee are stronger, those that use less are weaker. More time/finer grind (up to a point) = more extraction, coarser grind/less time = less extraction. Once you have a grind setting in the ball park of your preference, there's less reason to tweak & adjust.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Wuyang said:


> All the above makes sense, but on a scale form Turkish outwards what would the order from smallest to largest grind size be.....found guide....so no need for this.


Your guide is probably wrong, French press & most immersions are no coarser (& can be finer) than most drip grind.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

No pics, but this is a useful guide...

https://www.mpechicago.com/coffee/images/uploads/pdfs/handoutsweb.pdf


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

PPapa said:


> There's no such thing as the right grind size for any bean.
> 
> I know this sounds like pretentious stuff, but that's just the way coffee brewing works.


I think roast level might be more pertinent than "bean" per se. If you have a solid recipe & aren't shifting between the lightest of the light to the darkest of the dark, the vast majority of brews should fall within a predictable range for a reasonable selection of beans, at a given grind setting for a specific brewed method. If say 5/100 coffees fall outside that range, it's more likely the coffee/roast than the grind/method.

In other words, grind is much less of a lottery/uncontrollable/unpredictable variable than people tend to perceive.


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## Step21 (Oct 2, 2014)

Rather than worry about grind size it might be more helpful to describe in detail your current Clever Dripper technique and the types of coffee you are using. So coffee/dose/brew water amount (tap/bottled/filtered?)/temp/steep time (before the drain)/typical drain time etc...

Do you like the coffee you are making at the moment? If not, what do you think is wrong with it? How would you like it to be better?

There is a lot of spurious info out there telling you that "this method is best" and requires "grind size x". Ignore all that. There is no magic bullet. But it should be fairly straightforward to get a decent Clever brew whichever grinder you are using. You just need to be methodical about it. You'll soon find that there is a grind setting that gets good results with 90% of the beans you try as long as you keep everything else constant.


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