# Hi, new poster from Sussex.



## cfBarry (Sep 22, 2013)

First post, but I signed up a couple of months ago. I was looking to buy a new coffee machine at the time, but found all the answers I needed via the search facility. There is a lot of very helpful information here, so thanks to everyone for that.

The outcome was that at the start of October I purchased a standard Cherub from Espresso Underground (good service and price from Peter).

My espresso machine history is a couple of Gaggia Classics followed by a Rancilio Silvia and Rocky (doser) grinder which I purchased back in 2007. The Silvia still works, but I thought it was time for something more capable and forgiving. The Cherub seemed the best for my needs and budget and I have not yet been disappointed. It is obviously a domestic machine, built to a price, but most of the key components (e.g. group head, valves) are solid commercial quality.

I tend to make frothy milk based coffee. I quite like Espresso blend beans from Monmouth, and have more recently tried Signature and Fudge from Rave, and a starter pack from HasBean. The only one I really hated was the HasBean Blake, to me it didn't even smell like coffee when I opened the packet.

The weak link in my setup now is probably the Rocky grinder, which is still on its original burrs.

With the Rocky, I don't think I have the fine adjustment or consistency to get the best from each blend. I tend to leave it on the same setting and weigh out around 22g of beans for a Latte. Pour takes 25-27s with good crema, which seems about right. Going to 1 click finer grind and 18g would sometimes choke the Cherub, especially with Rave Fudge (if I remember correctly).

The above is probably a good enough excuse for a grinder upgrade. I have seen from other posts that a budget of £300-400 should get me a decent used large burr commercial machine with very fine or stepless adjustment. I would appreciate any comments and suggestions on the good makes/models commonly available on the used market. I would prefer to buy from somewhere/somebody known to the forum rather than take my chances on ebay or the like.

Some other background information - I tend to make single drinks/single dose, although don't mind a machine with a doser as long as retention is low, or can be reduced with tweaks/mods. It needs to fit under kitchen cupboards which are about 43cm above the worktop. Most commercial grinders seem quite tall, so it would probably need to work ok with the hopper removed or

replaced with something smaller.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Barry.


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## Jon12345 (Dec 2, 2013)

From East Sussex too. Welcome.


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Rather than trawling the forums for grinder information your best bet is to contact Coffeechap he is a fount of knowledge on grinders and he refurbishes and sells grinders too so he would be best placed to talk to, he will give you serious unbiased advice, the thing is we all like our own grinders and have a bias towards them a Mazzer owner would suggest Mazzer, a Compak owner Compak etc, I guess we all tend to have similar views about the ultimate grinders to aspire to owning. These seem to be, in no particular order, Malkonig K30, Vario preferably or the ES model (stepless vs very fine steps), Eureka Mythos, Compak K10 Fresh, Mazzer Kony, Mazzer Robur, HG One and the Versalab.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Hi and welcome , most mazzers can be adapted with a camera hood to single dose and replace the hopper. Your price bracket opens up a lot of options . SJ possibly a royal for a little bit more . Coffee chap is the man to talk to as discussed . Unsure whether with a camera mod you will get them under a cabinet , but CC could tell. Mythos , k30 , K10 aren't in that price range currently though , unless your prepared to take a risk on gumtree or eBay and have the potential cost and time of repair , repaint, replace .......


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Mrboots2u said:


> Hi and welcome , most mazzers can be adapted with a camera hood to single dose and replace the hopper. Your price bracket opens up a lot of options . SJ possibly a royal for a little bit more . Coffee chap is the man to talk to as discussed . Unsure whether with a camera mod you will get them under a cabinet , but CC could tell. Mythos , k30 , K10 aren't in that price range currently though , unless your prepared to take a risk on gumtree or eBay and have the potential cost and time of repair , repaint, replace .......


Hence my saying they are the ultimate ones to aspire to. Sj with a camera hood mini hopper would go under a standard kitchen cabinet as they're shorter without the hopper than my RR55 and that fits in a lower height space than standard.


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## cfBarry (Sep 22, 2013)

Hello everyone, thanks for the replies.

I managed to find myself a used Brasilia/Rossi RR55OD grinder within an hours drive from home. This allowed me to check it was in good condition etc. it cost just under the lower end of my budget. It is not stepless, but the adjustments are fine enough to give the grind control I was looking for. I am currently using it without the hopper but with an old plastic tamper in the hole to prevent low flying beans.

I will try adding a lens hood mini-hopper as per the SJ, there seems just enough room under the kitchen cabinet. With the grinder sat on a metal tray it can slide in and out easily for refilling.

There is some retention with grinds sticking to the sides of the output chamber. I saw a picture of a mod for this somewhere on the forum, so I am sure it can be fixed with some tape to direct the grinds downward.

I intend to get some spare burrs for the machine, since Brasilia no longer exist as a company, and I don't want to find that they become very difficult/expensive to obtain in the future. A search on this forum showed there had been some problems finding the correct replacements, so if anyone has suggestions of a reliable source I will be very grateful.

Thanks again for your comments.

Cheers,

Barry


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## mike 100 (Jul 15, 2010)

Jon12345 said:


> From East Sussex too. Welcome.


Me too! welcome along seem to be a few of us in East Sussex!


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

cfBarry said:


> Hello everyone, thanks for the replies.
> 
> I managed to find myself a used Brasilia/Rossi RR55OD grinder within an hours drive from home. This allowed me to check it was in good condition etc. it cost just under the lower end of my budget. It is not stepless, but the adjustments are fine enough to give the grind control I was looking for. I am currently using it without the hopper but with an old plastic tamper in the hole to prevent low flying beans.
> 
> ...


Ok some quick pointers regarding the RR55 OD, the mod in the funnel is really simple you take the top of it off, I leave it unscrewed so I can take it of easily to brush it out, you then remove the plastic unit that is in the funnel. Having removed that you should see a thin metal flap unscrew the 2 small allen headed screws and that comes off, you then need to add some tape to the right hand side of the flap. I found that aluminium tape such as that used to seal heating and air conditioning ducts to be the best option for this, although I keep meaning to try and find a drink can with a similar thickness sides and cut out a larger flap, you then need to reinstall the taped flap and once fastened back in the funnel pull it upwards so as to make a slight crease just where the top of the exit chute from the burr chamber is. You're then good to go, put all the bits you remove somewhere safe just in case.

Regarding the burrs it was me that organised a group buy and have finally received the burrs which my supplier has told me give the same performance as the oem ones. I can't really make one off orders as there is a minimum order of £60 and £9.90 carriage plus VAT on the total. In the new year I am going to be organising a group buy for brass dispersion plates for Gaggia Classics so I can order you some burrs at that time if you want. This supplier has confirmed it will keep the burrs in stock. They also sell the titanium burrs for the RR55 OD but they are a lot more expensive around £85 plus VAT vs ~£21 delivered to you for the normal ones.

The lens hood you need is a 52mm collapsible one from ebay, the metal thread at the base just fits inside the throat of the grinder, and I found a lid for it amongst the scented candles at tesco.


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## cfBarry (Sep 22, 2013)

Charliej said:


> Ok some quick pointers regarding the RR55 OD, the mod in the funnel is really simple you take the top of it off, I leave it unscrewed so I can take it of easily to brush it out, you then remove the plastic unit that is in the funnel. Having removed that you should see a thin metal flap unscrew the 2 small allen headed screws and that comes off, you then need to add some tape to the right hand side of the flap. I found that aluminium tape such as that used to seal heating and air conditioning ducts to be the best option for this, although I keep meaning to try and find a drink can with a similar thickness sides and cut out a larger flap, you then need to reinstall the taped flap and once fastened back in the funnel pull it upwards so as to make a slight crease just where the top of the exit chute from the burr chamber is. You're then good to go, put all the bits you remove somewhere safe just in case.
> 
> Regarding the burrs it was me that organised a group buy and have finally received the burrs which my supplier has told me give the same performance as the oem ones. I can't really make one off orders as there is a minimum order of £60 and £9.90 carriage plus VAT on the total. In the new year I am going to be organising a group buy for brass dispersion plates for Gaggia Classics so I can order you some burrs at that time if you want. This supplier has confirmed it will keep the burrs in stock. They also sell the titanium burrs for the RR55 OD but they are a lot more expensive around £85 plus VAT vs ~£21 delivered to you for the normal ones.
> 
> The lens hood you need is a 52mm collapsible one from ebay, the metal thread at the base just fits inside the throat of the grinder, and I found a lid for it amongst the scented candles at tesco.


That is all very helpful, thanks.

I think I already have some thick aluminium ducting tape somewhere, so I should be able to fabricate a chute/deflector thing as you suggest.

I am very interested in getting a new set of standard burrs the next time you place an order with your supplier (thanks for the offer). I am in no rush as the old burrs seem to be ok at the moment, early next year would be fine for me. Just PM me near the time and I will transfer the money to you in advance of the order. When I have enough posts, I will also PM you my email address.

Next step, order the 52mm collapsible lens hood.

Cheers for now,

Barry.


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