# Ascaso I-1D - unsure how to get fine grounds. Please help!



## drgekko (May 19, 2013)

Having acquired this mean machine from the classifieds, I'm struggling to find out how to use it! I can see a dial knob on the right with a bean size gradation symbols next to it - on turning the knob, the hopper revolves.

I tried 20g of beans and they just came out far too coarse - this is despite turning the knob clockwise in the direction of the smaller bean setting (or what I think is that).

I can't find any videos on how to use this nor any pdf manuals.

Please could someone help? Hope I haven't made a big mistake here!


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## shrink (Nov 12, 2012)

The worm drive is highly geared... It takes ages to get it to espresso grind. Just keep going


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## drgekko (May 19, 2013)

shrink said:


> The worm drive is highly geared... It takes ages to get it to espresso grind. Just keep going


So I simply keep turning the knob clockwise (in direction of small beans) until when??? 30 mins? 1 hour? 'Til it stops turning???? I find this all a bit bizarre - I expected only a subtle difference between fine & extra fine and therefore a few different "settings" to choose from, maybe 3, where the burrs would click into position like gears. Oh well...


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## mike 100 (Jul 15, 2010)

just as shrink says, i had an Ascaso i-mini when I first got it could not belive how many turns you need to get an acceptable espresso grind.. keep going!


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## drgekko (May 19, 2013)

Right - I turned the dial all the way up until it stopped and now the beans just sit in the hopper and the grinder is just really loud... and nothing's coming out at the other end??!!! Aaaagggghhhh!!!!


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

You have probably got the burr teeth touching. Now wind it back the other way. just a guess but say 5 complete turns. make a note of how many. try and grind. If it is too coarse tighten it and vice versa. this is called dialling in your grinder and we all have to do it


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## drgekko (May 19, 2013)

Wow! What a pain in the ass! I'm sure the results will be good in the end though. So what do very expensive grinders do? Is the "dialling in" a lot simpler and more stepwise?


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Worm screws ........you also get what you pay for! We all have to dial in but some grinders are easier I guess


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## glevum (Apr 4, 2013)

stay patient. step less grinders are worth it in the end!


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## uma_bica (Mar 28, 2012)

I'd say it took around 30-50 turns from how I got my MC2 (also a worm drive one) to get it right. I just used the single basket for the first few coffees to spend less until I got close to something decent.


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## Savo (Apr 9, 2013)

Did you not get the PDF I sent along with the video of a similar grinder? I have to admit I have wasted a fair amount of coffee messing about with my own grinder but I'm not sure I'm tamping consistently and I could do with a better tamper. Hope you get better results soon. BTW you have to redial a little even between bags of coffee.

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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## glevum (Apr 4, 2013)

Don't they ship these grinders in a general espresso setting?


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

glevum said:


> Don't they ship these grinders in a general espresso setting?


 It was a used grinder so it could be anywhere from wide open to tightly closed/touching but i would expect most to be close to espresso if used with an espresso machine.


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## drgekko (May 19, 2013)

dfk41 said:


> Worm screws ........you also get what you pay for! We all have to dial in but some grinders are easier I guess


I wonder how much the grinder is at my local starbucks - when I purchase beans and ask them to be ground, they ask for "for what machine" - 30 seconds later, I get my ground coffee.


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## drgekko (May 19, 2013)

At last, I've got somewhere! Took ages, about 80 turns then back, then forward and making fine adjustments. Only problem now is that I didn't like the beans I bought and there was a little residue.


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## mike 100 (Jul 15, 2010)

drgekko said:


> I wonder how much the grinder is at my local starbucks - when I purchase beans and ask them to be ground, they ask for "for what machine" - 30 seconds later, I get my ground coffee.


I wonder what they do?


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## drgekko (May 19, 2013)

mike 100 said:


> I wonder what they do?


I'm sure there are just some simple "step" settings as they need to do it quickly - probably different settings for "filter" and "espresso" I guess. Anyway, I played around a little more yesterday and brewed some espresso - there was some residue in the cup though, not sure why.

I've learnt so much in a week and I'm feeling rather overwhelmed and I must say, a little disheartened at present. I had no idea about the complexities involved and feel even more so knowing that different beans need to be dialed in individually!! So I think my journey for now should simply be towards tasting espresso from beans which I'm really happy with and learning to work with those beans.

Any decent tasting venues in the West Midlands folks????


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## painty (Jul 25, 2011)

Good to hear you are making progress drgekko; the path to espresso nirvana is a long one, with many obstacles along the way to test us.



drgekko said:


> I'm sure there are just some simple "step" settings as they need to do it quickly - probably different settings for "filter" and "espresso" I guess.


Yes the shop grinders have generic settings for the different brew methods, but they cost thousands.



> Anyway, I played around a little more yesterday and brewed some espresso - there was some residue in the cup though, not sure why.


This may indicate the burrs are past their best and producing excess fine particles. Buyers of second-hand grinders need to add the price of a new set of burrs to their buying decision...


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## glevum (Apr 4, 2013)

Yep, i would examine the burrs on the arrival of a 2nd hand grinder!


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## uma_bica (Mar 28, 2012)

painty said:


> This may indicate the burrs are past their best and producing excess fine particles....


I'm actually curious about this. Would you care to elaborate? I'd expect exactly the opposite - as in producing coarser grinds - but my experience is quite limited and I'm probably seeing things the wrong way.

(p.s. - sorry for shifting a bit from the thread's main topic)


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## painty (Jul 25, 2011)

^ I'm not sure, but perhaps because the cutting edges are blunt, they are then rubbing and crushing the beans rather than cutting, which produces fines. Add that to what you suggest that overall particle size grouping gets coarser for a given setting, which means you end up having to adjust progressively finer, which will worsen the fines problem. Definitely more fines appear at all grind settings, though.


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## uma_bica (Mar 28, 2012)

True, that sounds like a plausible explanation. Since you brought this up, I'll try to do some research on this as it got me quite curious. Cheers!


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