# Changing grind settings in the middle of the grind & problem with output weight



## dabac (Oct 2, 2013)

Hi all,

I'm in possession of Rocky doserless, and am normally grinding at setting between 3-5 for my Silvia (16-18g). However, I've encountered a few beans for which none of the steps are really suitable, e.g. I feel I need something inbetween 4 and 5. Thus, I've tried grinding cca. half of the dose on setting "4" and half on "5" and then doing WDT - this seemed to have given me somewhat better results, but has not really provided consistency. What do you think of this technique? I've seen described somewhere on the forum a modification that makes Rocky stepless - would you recommend me trying to do this instead?

Furthermore, I think part of the problem also lies in the fact that it's hard to get exactly the wanted dose (in grams) outputted with Rocky. I weigh my beans before putting into the grinder, however what comes out is not always equal; it seems that part of the ground coffee sometimes "gets stuck" somewhere in the tube and is only pushed out when I put in more beans. Any advice on solving this? Weighing post-grind is pretty difficult since I grind directly into the portafilter, and taking out the basket filled with coffee seems destined to spill it all out.

Thanks!


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Weigh your beans on the way out of the grinder, it's not just the Rocky, few grinders will have a matching input vs output. Stick a few g through before your dose to purge the grinder, then guesstimate the dose of beans & weigh the grinds as they come out. Don't use the PF fork, I grind into a little steel shot pot (on scales) that perectly fits the Aeropress funnel. Then funnel goes in the PF, empty the pot back through the funnel & distribute.

There are a few threads on H-B on how to make the Rocky doserless, you can also adjust dose to correct a degree of under/overextraction (but stepless would be ideal).


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## forzajuve (Feb 2, 2011)

That is essentially the problem with a stepped grinder, unless the steps are minute you will inevitably land between them for espresso where such fine tuning is required. The stepless mod would be worth doing, alternatively you can adjust your dose but this is not ideal.

Regarding retention I agree with Mark. If you are trying to single dose and/or have inconsistency that requires weighing each dose then it is best to grind into a pot then transfer. Almost all grinders have retention, you can either try to clean out each shot = time consuming, purge a few grams before each grind to remove those retained = wasteful, or just accept that a couple of grams if not going to kill your enjoyment!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Possibly get a ridgeless basket so easier to weight and put back in the portafilter. Or remove the portafilter spring so you can dose into the basket and pop it straight into portafilter. Not used a rocky but presuming the gap in steps cant be compensated by dose and tamp variation to achieve the required taste?


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