# MC2, lack of dose consistancy.



## FL630 (Jan 7, 2014)

Hello,

I'm using an Iberital MC2 grinder, like many others. However I cannot seem to get my head around it's inability to dose the same every time. Let me explain...

I can't be bothered to weigh each dose individually, so when I got the grinder I used some cheap beans and filled the hopper up until I got my required dose and the grind near enough correct. However, I find that the lower the hopper level gets, the less reliable I can get my dose to be. Now I know about "popcorning", and it's not doing that, but when it gets down to the last 2 or 3 cups in the hopper, the dose drops dramatically and makes an aweful cup.

So, I'm split what to do, fill it to the top and potentially have stale coffee by the end of a batch (roughly 250g in 4 to 5 days), or do I find some way of making it more consistent? If so, how?

The other thing I found is when cleaning it, blowing out all the old grounds, it took two or three doses to get back to normal, therefore all I can suggest is that there are plenty of stale grounds in the dosing "pipe" which are lessening my cup quality.

I also believe that, because of dosing problems, I'm forever chasing the grind, which is annoying.

Any modifications suggested to get more out of this grinder? I'm happy with the quality of the grind, just not how it goes about doing it









Ian


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Hi even the best on demand commercial grinders will have a drift of anywhere between 0.3-1g each time . The lower the hopper gets the less weight behind the bean , the grind will be different to the one where it had more weight behind it. Some of us will grind and weigh what in the basket to make it consistent .


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Ladies tights, cut out the thigh part, fill it with rice and dump this on top of your beans.

It will help, but not cure your problems.

I pretty much always have my grinder set to overdose, then measure it by eye and turn the grinder off when I think it is done.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Youre best off weighing the dose for consistancy . You cant expect any budget grinder to be truely accurate each time when its grinding based on time.


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

That and as the weight in the hopper decreases, the grind setting becomes looser as the grinder has to work harder to pull beans though it.

Rather than loser, the grind setting doesn't change percé, it just grinds the beans differently.

It's best to keep a constant level in the hopper, say, about 100g and every time you grind, top it up with another scoop if you don't want to single dose.

Single dosing is the only way to fix any dose related grind problems though assuming your hardware is running well.


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## FL630 (Jan 7, 2014)

Well curiosity got the better of me and I pulled the grinder to bits. Not a lot to report back on and absolutely bugger all I can do to modify it. That said it's easy to take to bits so I might do it again and re-paint or strip and polish the grinder body so it doesn't look so awful on the work top.

I think the tights and rice is a good idea! It can at least simulate the weight of more beans. I think a shopping trip is in order to buy some, if anyone in the Cambridge area sees a guy in his mid 20's looking confused at a wall of tights in the supermarket, fear not, I'm not a cross dresser, I'm an espresso drinker!

My normal method of dosing is to put a paper cup with the bottom cut out over the portafilter, fill, stir with a toothpick (unused I might add...) then remove the cup and distribute evenly, normally I have to wipe a bit off the top to level with the top of the basket. By the end of the hopper I'm a good 2mm under the lip for the same time dose, hence the above problems.

Thanks all for the advice.

Ian


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

Why not replace the hopper with a micro-hopper made from a lens hood or something?

That way you can limit the amount of beans in the hopper without eliminating the hopper.



FL630 said:


> Well curiosity got the better of me and I pulled the grinder to bits. Not a lot to report back on and absolutely bugger all I can do to modify it. That said it's easy to take to bits so I might do it again and re-paint or strip and polish the grinder body so it doesn't look so awful on the work top.
> 
> I think the tights and rice is a good idea! It can at least simulate the weight of more beans. I think a shopping trip is in order to buy some, if anyone in the Cambridge area sees a guy in his mid 20's looking confused at a wall of tights in the supermarket, fear not, I'm not a cross dresser, I'm an espresso drinker!
> 
> ...


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## Charliej (Feb 25, 2012)

Kyle548 said:


> Why not replace the hopper with a micro-hopper made from a lens hood or something?
> 
> That way you can limit the amount of beans in the hopper without eliminating the hopper.


I'm pretty sure you can't get a lens hood that would be narrow enough to work with an MC2. The only way I found round the inaccurate dose with an MC2 was to single dose, when I had mine, yes it was a faff, but to be honest it's the only reliable way forward with one.


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

Charliej said:


> I'm pretty sure you can't get a lens hood that would be narrow enough to work with an MC2. The only way I found round the inaccurate dose with an MC2 was to single dose, when I had mine, yes it was a faff, but to be honest it's the only reliable way forward with one.


Was the same with the I-2 which is just a pretty MC2,


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## FL630 (Jan 7, 2014)

Good idea with the smaller hopper, I might see if I can find a spare hopper, cut the bottom off to the correct diameter and fashion a new smaller one on top, might work!

That said, I loaded the hopper up high and made a shot of some HasBean Bolivian Finca Coroico Montano, it was wonderrfullllll!


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

For the mignon we used a 53mm hood attached the to throat with some silicone tubing


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

I single dose. I weigh the beans, put them into the hopper then grind till there's nothing coming out


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

urbanbumpkin said:


> I single dose. I weigh the beans, put them into the hopper then grind till there's nothing coming out


What he said ! ^^^^^


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

What of the couple of g that get stuck in the shoot?

I know they can be encouraged out with a tilt and a few smacks, but I was just wondering if this was part of your routine or you have a different way?


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## Gangstarrrrr (Mar 4, 2013)

D_Evans said:


> What of the couple of g that get stuck in the shoot?
> 
> I know they can be encouraged out with a tilt and a few smacks, but I was just wondering if this was part of your routine or you have a different way?


With my mignon I give the throat a couple of whacks and out comes a couple of grams.


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## Milesy (Mar 8, 2012)

"Inconsistency" and "can't be bothered" used in the same post - that's the problem.









I use my MC2 infrequently at weekends so it makes absolutely no sense to keep the hopper full. My routine is exactly as follows.

I cut the top off a 500ml sprite drink bottle and hold that over the burrs when I grind.

1. Measure out 25g beans.

2. Put bottle top over burrs.

3. Grind away - takes a couple of runs and when it gets to the end I use my little cleaning brush to help the last few beans get into the burrs.

4. Turn grinder up on its side and give it a few whacks to get the grinds out. This generally yields me about 22/23 back out again even with the whacking.

5. Measure out my 22g exactly for my 22g VST basket and discard any left overs - usually just a wee bit.

6. Quickly hoover out the shoot and the hopper entry which sucks the last few grams out.

I am looking into modding my MC2/motor just now to make the burrs grind slower which should give me a more consistent grind at low bean amounts.


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

Gangstarrrrr said:


> With my mignon I give the throat a couple of whacks and out comes a couple of grams.


Zero retention in my Magnum.

Well, about 0.1g of retention in the doser, but that's nothing really.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Kyle548 said:


> Zero retention in my Magnum.
> 
> Well, about 0.1g of retention in the doser, but that's nothing really.


Zero? Think thats possibly over optimistic ? It has some retention in the burrs like any grinder ,In my experience, unless you've found some magic bullet . Glad to see you have it working again though .


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

Mrboots2u said:


> Zero? Think thats possibly over optimistic ? It has some burr retention In my experience, unless you've found some magic bullet . Glad to see you have it working again though .


A little I guess, but retention in the burrs is unavoidable with any grinder, even the coveted EK would have retention in the burrs.

The actual grind path is pretty much zero though.

I'm not certain how much the burrs retain, but a few puffs of air while they are running seems to clear them pretty well.

I guess I was a little absolutist, but from what I can tell, grind retention is pretty much as low as it will go.

Light roasts, especially, tend to grind out cleanly...


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