# Why does coffee clump out of grinder.



## Kofe (May 4, 2014)

Hello

Apologies if this topic has been talked about before on here somewhere.

But, can anyone answer the question as to why coffee grounds clump together when they go into the portafilter basket.

Every time I'm doing it there's these clumps appearing.

Now I've read on here how to deal with them in various ways. Like cocktail sticks on corks.

But why do they appear?


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Static and humidity play a part.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Plus depends what grinder your using


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

All depends on the grinder, you tend to find the slower smaller grinders are more prone to clumping, this can be because of the rate at which the grinder pushes the grinds out, staic also plays a part as well as how fine you grind.

which grinder do you have?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Ill put this up for discussion purposes rather than it being "THE DEFINITIVE" answer....

From James Hoffman link to full article below.....

"Annoyingly most of these clumps are created because even doserless grinders are based on doser grinders, and therefore have horizontal burrsets. To get the coffee from the burrs to the portafilter it passes through a little tunnel and in that journey gets somewhat compacted causing clumps. Not all grinders have horizontal burrs - a number of shop grinders have vertical burrsets. The Simonelli Mythos grinder was interesting to me because it has angled burrs, fed by an auger. However, the coffee still travels through a little tunnel on the way to the portafilter so clumping remained an issue"

"http://www.jimseven.com/2009/12/30/the-problem-with-grinders/


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I can think of a few grinders with vertical burrs


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

I still maintain a lot will be down to how the burr assembly throws the coffee out, a robur and royal have flat grind paths but are not really prone to clumping as they fire the coffee out so rapidly.


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## Kofe (May 4, 2014)

Now that all makes perfect sense. The compaction while travelling threw the tunnel.

I have an MC2 by the way.

Now I bought that only really based on my budget at the time, and the really good review of said grinder on the Happy Donkey site.

But while I've been reading around the forum I've come to the conclusion that I wish I'd been more informed about grinders before I bought it.


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

K10 goes against all of this, horizontal burrs, slow grinding, no clumps. Lol.


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## Kofe (May 4, 2014)

And the other thing was at the time I massively underestimated the importance of a good grinder with regard to making good espresso.


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## Kofe (May 4, 2014)

Im just thinking.

After I've ground., I always tip my grinder forward and pat it's back to get the last bits of coffee out.

It's become part of my coffee making thing.

But what if the grinder was inverted forwards while grinding.

It would all just fall out into said receptacle.


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## DannyMontez (May 19, 2014)

Kofe said:


> Now that all makes perfect sense. The compaction while travelling threw the tunnel.
> 
> I have an MC2 by the way.
> 
> ...


I have an MC2 and have never found it to clump.


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## Kofe (May 4, 2014)

But what do you grind your coffee to be used for?

French press

Pour over

Or espresso

Maybe I should buy my coffee where you get yours then lol


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## DannyMontez (May 19, 2014)

Kofe said:


> But what do you grind your coffee to be used for?
> 
> French press
> 
> ...


I grind for espresso and I've tried lots of different coffees and none of them have clumped. (Not bragging or anything)


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