# pre ground vs krups grinder



## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

About to get a sage duo temp pro, and it has come to my attention a decent grinder is the next step in improving the coffee making process, however, I had not budgeted for an additional £250 outlay. Am i better off using preground or my krups grinder until I get a better quality grinder?


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## PPapa (Oct 24, 2015)

Is neither an option?


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

I guess what I am asking is the grind quality of preground better than what can be achived on a krups grinder.


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## James811 (May 10, 2014)

muffs said:


> I guess what I am asking is the grind quality of preground better than what can be achived on a krups grinder.


Certainly better quality, but only better for using for the first day or even less. Consider the amount of surface area there is in ground coffee to allow all those flavours to be sucked up by evil oxygen! A grinder is the first piece of kit to buy really if a budget is limitation as it allows you to do brewed coffee until you can get an espresso machine if that's your end goal. Take a look in the for sales section on here once you get enough posts


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

ok will do. See you have a smart grinder and dtp, how you getting on with both?


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

muffs said:


> I guess what I am asking is the grind quality of preground better than what can be achived on a krups grinder.


Grind quality is better with a lot of preground, but once ground the coffee will dry out...this is the probem in trying to maintain consistency. You'll be wasting your time with the Krupps. If a hand grinder is also out of current budget (£150-200 for a good one with fine adjustability)/too much work maybe best trying better quality preground & the pressurised/double wall basket until you can source a grinder.


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## James811 (May 10, 2014)

Love them. The grinder I think is very good. For espresso and brewed. I had a wilfa grinder that I used before which was decent for brewed and for espresso using pressurised baskets but the smart grinder pro is a real step up, talking of that, need to get the wilfa up for sale


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

jeeze you can pay that much for a hand grinder?!


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

I think the cheapest I have seen the smart grinder for is £180, is there anything else you would consider? It will be mainly used for flat whites and expresso, occasional french press


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

muffs said:


> jeeze you can pay that much for a hand grinder?!


And more! Look at the HG1


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

muffs said:


> jeeze you can pay that much for a hand grinder?!


Ha ha....you can pay as much as you want for just about anything in life, there's no ceiling 

Cheap in comparison to £1-2K for electric, but I really wouldn't recommend a hand grinder for espresso if the budget will stretch to a reasonable electric grinder.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Drink brewed coffee instead


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

wow thats a impressive looking grinder, lol guess your right you can blindly pay over the odds based on the fact its expensive its better. Think I like the idea of an electric one. Its another world making coffee at home so I am discovering, lots to learn. guess the two together will make a nice looking set up, love the look of the lights. I know its the taste but lets face it its got to look good too at these prices.


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

so what is it that is different on higher priced grinders compared to say the krups that make them do a better job and make the coffee taste better?


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

muffs said:


> so what is it that is different on higher priced grinders compared to say the krups that make them do a better job and make the coffee taste better?


Better burrs & tighter tolerances, less variation in particle size.


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

what does tighter tolerances means?


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

muffs said:


> so what is it that is different on higher priced grinders compared to say the krups that make them do a better job and make the coffee taste better?


The burrs on my grinder are coated with 'special stuff' (true).


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

muffs said:


> what does tighter tolerances means?


The parts are more accurately machined/cast.

Here is a pic of the Krups burr, if you look closely you'll see it is ring with a few studs/teeth & fins at the edge...http://www.konacoffeebeans.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/krups-burr-coffee-grinder.jpg

Here is a burr from an entry level grinder...https://www.bellabarista.co.uk/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/650x/040ec09b1e35df139433887a97daa66f/e/u/eureka_50mm_burrs_1.jpg

I have owned a Krups, it was useable, if not amazing, for manual immersion brews like Clever Dripper & French press. But it always made a lot of dust at any setting & took a fair bit of cleaning/brushing out. For brewed coffee you might find a hand grinder for £50-ish that will be better. Hand grinding for espresso will be a chore with a hand grinder, a handgrinder that will be bearable for espresso will cost as much as a used/cheap new electric espresso grinder.

This may all sound like nonsense to you, but please bear in mind, you are not the first to try this route, we have all tried to cut corners ourselves & learned the hard way


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

muffs said:


> what does tighter tolerances means?


That you will actually be able to make espresso with them ( which you won't with the Krups ).


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

Mrboots2u said:


> That you will actually be able to make espresso with them ( which you won't with the Krups ).


 still do not sure what tighter tolerances actually means.

Thanks MWJB, doesnt sound like nonsense, at the time I brought the krups for the wife I thought I was buying a decent grinder with the knowledge I had. Since researching new coffee machines it has opened a whole new world to me and I am learning lot. I never massively rated the coffee we got from the magimix machine we had in comparison to ones you got in cafes, I just never understood why. more reading on the forum for me.


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## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

With the tighter tolerances on the more expensive grinders, the burrs will produce a more consistent grind particle size. There will be less 'slop', 'lift' and 'play' as it spins in the bearings. Cheaper grinders are built with less exacting tolerances and 'slop', 'lift' and 'play' more whilst rotating. You end up with less consistent particle sizes, and then you will not be able to hit a 'sweet spot' extraction because the small grinds will be already over extracting, and the boulders will be under extracting.

And if the burrs are not cut to exacting tolerances then this makes the problem even worse.


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## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

More expensive grinders 'do a better job' because they have been designed and engineered to do the job in the best possible way. They are built using better quality, precision parts. A cheap screw is just that, cheap, made from poor quality metal, made in massive quantities in factories that produce goods to a price, not a standard. Add up all the parts in a grinder designed to produce ground coffee that can then deal with the vagaries of creating the perfect shot of espresso where everything needs to be spot on to extract the best you can from a decent quality bean (there's another subject) and compare it to a mass produced grinder, parts 'off the shelf', fitted together so they basically just manage to grind, with little thought to the design or even suitability (it grinds, doesn't it?) then you will get some idea of why the cost is so much more.

Many people are happy with an inexpensive grinder and machine, just as they are with a mass produced camera, and other people are not.

Some good reading would be the 'Decent Espresso' thread. The work that has gone into the design, time and ingenuity to build something for the discerning coffee maker is very revealing.

Hope that helps a bit!


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

got it thanks Lake!

decent expresso thread ,will do Mildred.


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## hippy_dude (Sep 22, 2015)

You can get super cheap second hand conical burr grinders on say gumtree or eBay that could tide you over till you can afford better as long as you're willing to put a bit of work into them; don't expect an easy ride as the variance in grind size will still be the limiting factor. I managed to get a cheap Dualit with conical burrs in for £30 recently to ride me over for brewed while I was in between returning my old one and purchasing a new one.


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Where are you muffs?


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## rgoodcoffee (May 25, 2016)

Its a tough one... What most people don't always realise is that the grinder is just as important, if not more important that the machine itself.

So it's tough to expect people to pay up another load of cash for a quality grinder, but that being said there are bargains to be had on gumtree/ebay (mainly gumtree) with a bit of patience. I managed to get a Compak K3 grinder for £60 off there, which will grind perfectly well for espresso. Have a bad grinder really is a pain, but it comes down to money at the end of the day


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

y


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## muffs (Apr 27, 2017)

rgoodcoffee said:


> Its a tough one... What most people don't always realise is that the grinder is just as important, if not more important that the machine itself.
> 
> So it's tough to expect people to pay up another load of cash for a quality grinder, but that being said there are bargains to be had on gumtree/ebay (mainly gumtree) with a bit of patience. I managed to get a Compak K3 grinder for £60 off there, which will grind perfectly well for espresso. Have a bad grinder really is a pain, but it comes down to money at the end of the day


rgoodcoffee I have come to terms about a decent grinder


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