Information Sheet # 1.

1-4
Calibrating doser grinder

Learning Objectives:
After reading this INFORMATION SHEET, YOU MUST be able to:
1. Know how to calibrate a doser grinder
2. To be able to know the importance of calibrating the doser grinder.

Introduction
Calibrating your commercial coffee grinder
is something that should be done every
morning prior to opening. And if the
weather is changing, it may be appropriate
to adjust it during the day. In many coffee
shops and espresso bars, no one bothers
to do this. The result is inconsistent
espresso.
If you have excellent coffee beans, an excellent machine, and a skilled
barista, but do not have the coffee grinder adjusted for the day's conditions,
the drinks produced can be of poor quality: either watery and weak, or bitter
and burned. In fact, most of the time that you get an espresso that is of
pour quality, the reason is that the grind was wrong for the atmospheric
conditions at the time. No amount of tasty syrup or fancy latte art can hide
the poor quality of espresso that was badly extracted because the grind was
off.
The good news is that calibrating your grind is very simple to do.
Unfortunately, many coffee shops and espresso bars don't bother to do it. All
you need is a kitchen timer. We prefer a timer with a digital readout that
has large numbers that are easy to read. You may want to get a kitchen
timer with an adhesive back, and stick it to the front panel of your
commercial espresso machine. This way, the timer will always be right there,
and handy for checking your grind throughout the day.

Optimal Extraction Times

The optimal espresso is 30 seconds for a 1 ounce Espresso, and about 20
seconds for a 2/3 ounce Ristretto, each using a single dose (1/4 ounce) of
coffee, and the single group handle. It should also take 30 seconds to extract
a 2 ounce Doppio, and about 20 seconds for a 4/3 ounce Double Ristretto,
each using a double dose (1/2 ounce) of coffee, and the double group

Prepared by: Shiela C. Delos Santos

handle. (See the tables in our article "Programming Shot Sizes on Your
Commercial Espresso Machine.")
If the extractions go faster than this, not enough flavor will have been
extracted, and the drinks will be weak. When the grind is too coarse, the
grounds will not pack tightly together, and the water will pass through them
too quickly. The extraction will be too fast, and the drinks will be weak. You
must make the grind finer.
If the extractions take longer than 30 seconds, they will be bitter. When the
grind is too fine, the grounds will pack too tightly together, and it will be
harder for the water to penetrate the coffee puck. This will result in an
extraction that is too slow, hence bitter drinks. You must make the grind
coarser.

Adjusting for Weather

Coffee grounds will absorb water from the air. This is one of the reasons that
you should empty the chamber of your commercial coffee grinder every
night, and start with fresh coffee beans in the morning. On a humid day, or
on a day that becomes humid, the coffee grounds will absorb water from the
air more quickly than on a dry day.
If you do an extraction with coffee grounds that had absorbed water from
the air, the water from the espresso machine will not penetrate it as quickly.
This will result in a slower extraction than normal. Essentially, as a day
grows humid, the effect on extraction is the same as if the grind got finer.
Humidity will slow the extraction down. You have to compensate by making
the grind a little coarser.
Similarly, on very dry days (or as any particular day becomes dry), the
espresso will tend to extract slightly faster. The effect of dry air is the same
as if your grind were coarser. You will need to compensate for dry air by
making your grind a little finer.
You should calibrate the grind first thing in the morning, every morning
before you open. And if the weather changes during the day, or if you think
that conditions have changed, you should time a few of your shots to see
whether you have to adjust the grind.

Calibrating Your Grinder

We prefer to calibrate using a Doppio (Double Espresso). Load and tamp a
double dose of coffee (1/2 ounce) into the double group handle, and lock it
into the grouphead. Push the programmed button for a Doppio (see our
article "Programming Shot Sizes on Your Commercial Espresso Machine"),
and at the same time, start the kitchen timer.

Prepared by: Shiela C. Delos Santos

If the grind is correct, the flow will start at about 4 seconds. The flow will be
smooth and constant, and the crema will be golden-brown in color. If the
grind is too coarse, the flow will start in 3 seconds and will be noticeably fast
and will not be smooth. There will be very little crema. The crema will be
pale, and will quickly dissolve into the espresso. If the grind is too fine, the
flow might not start for 5-6 seconds. The extraction will continue well past
30 seconds. The crema will be dark and might have large bubbles and dark
streaks in it. The brew will taste bitter.
The grind can be easily changed by rotating the collar on your commercial
coffee grinder. If you don't remember which way to rotate the collar, you
might need to take the hopper off of your commercial coffee grinder to read
the "legend" on the collar. Don't forget to close the gate before removing the
hopper.
The collar should have a "legend" on its top surface that indicates which way
it should be rotated to make the grind finer and coarser. The "legend" may
be arrows with "+" and "-" signs. For most commercial coffee grinders,
rotating the collar clockwise will make the grind finer, and rotating the collar
counterclockwise will make the grind coarser. The collars on commercial
coffee grinders will be locked in place. There will be a release switch
somewhere around the collar that must be pressed to allow you to rotate the
collar.
First, empty the chamber of the (previously ground) coffee by repeatedly
pulling the doser lever until no more coffee comes out. Find and press the
collar release, and rotate the collar in the appropriate direction to make the
grind coarser or finer, as needed. Put the hopper back onto the coffee
grinder, and open the gate. Grind enough beans to fill the doser, and load
up another Doppio.
Re-time the new Doppio. If it needs further adjustment, repeat the process.
You can save the ground coffee that you empty from the chamber for uses
other than espresso. You need not discard it. Use it for regular or iced
coffee.

Prepared by: Shiela C. Delos Santos