# Do you empty hopper at night?



## JamesMac (Apr 7, 2020)

I have been emptying my hopper on my mignon specialita each night and recently I moved my setup around to fit the osmio RO unit in and now it's not so easy to access the hopper and have been leaving the beans in it.

The shot tastes fine but the naked PF is starting to spray a little and the steady flow of liquid gold looks a little thin and fast. I usually keel my beans in an air scape at night but haven't since the reconfigure of my setup and wondered if the beans where spoiling. I leave around 100g in the hopper so they are technically in the hopper for a round 48 hours.

I will likely revert back to having the grinder easily accessible and emptying the beans each night but thought I would ask fellow members to see if they leave some beans in the hopper? The mignon seems to need tweaked more on the grind when I tip it upside every night and give it a light shake compared to leaving it on the top with the beans in it. Single dosing is a no go with the specialita, the beans just bounce around like popcorn in and out of the channel down to the burrs.

What's your process?

Cheers,

James


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## 8144 (Oct 9, 2014)

Hi James Mac, I have just started single dosing on the Specialita and despite a bit of popcorning I have pulled some very consistent and flavoursome shots. There are some "hacks" to stop the popcorning - see Youtube- but I don't like the look of the grinder without the hopper. I started single dosing as it seemed to me that the beans are not keeping quite as well in the hopper as in an airtight container- which seems similar to what you are saying in terms of your extraction. So far I would say that keeping the beans in an airtight container rather than the hopper seems a better option, whether you single-dose or do as you do and re-fill the hopper each day.


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## 27852 (Nov 8, 2020)

JamesMac said:


> I have been emptying my hopper on my mignon specialita each night and recently I moved my setup around to fit the osmio RO unit in and now it's not so easy to access the hopper and have been leaving the beans in it.
> 
> The shot tastes fine but the naked PF is starting to spray a little and the steady flow of liquid gold looks a little thin and fast. I usually keel my beans in an air scape at night but haven't since the reconfigure of my setup and wondered if the beans where spoiling. I leave around 100g in the hopper so they are technically in the hopper for a round 48 hours.
> 
> ...


 I just put 250g bags of beans into the hopper at a time and give it a brush out once the bag is done, then start the process over. I rarely have to make changes to grind, maybe hairs finer but it's probably more to gain the illusion of control over the process.


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## HDAV (Dec 28, 2012)

I went from single dosing to leaving beans in the hopper haven't had any complaints


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## John Yossarian (Feb 2, 2016)

I usually put around 100-120 g, which means that in a couple of days I need to top it up. It is not such a big deal and this is why I do not empty it every night. Too much hassle for little gain IMHO.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Same as John. I bung a couple of days worth in the hopper, keep the rest in the Airscape. Taking beans out of the hopper is a faff.

I keep toying with the idea of an acrylic tube 'hopper' and a ball bearing to simulate the weight of a full hopper with fewer beans, but never quite get around to it.


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## Dallah (Jan 31, 2015)

hotmetal said:


> Same as John. I bung a couple of days worth in the hopper, keep the rest in the Airscape. Taking beans out of the hopper is a faff.
> 
> I keep toying with the idea of an acrylic tube 'hopper' and a ball bearing to simulate the weight of a full hopper with fewer beans, but never quite get around to it.


 @hotmetal When I was using an acrylic tube hopper I used a short length of copper rod stock. It weighed about a kilo and wasn't expensive. It was just a couple of millimetres less in diameter than the inner diameter of the acrylic tube.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

The beans aren't really going to deteriorate because of one or two days in the hopper.


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## JamesMac (Apr 7, 2020)

Thanks for all the replies guys, really good to know what everyone else is doing. Being from a remote island there aren't any people around who are seriously into coffee so I have to gather what I can from here and YouTube etc.

Be nice to have a look at someone else's set up some day and try other machines but I suppose upgradious will creep up on me haha


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## DarkShadow (Jan 14, 2021)

Rob1 said:


> The beans aren't really going to deteriorate because of one or two days in the hopper.


 Seconded


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