You're also aiming to have your coffee shot pull in a time you're happy with. When you make adjustments to the size of your grind, this will make your grinder work more or less hard. For example, if you want to make your shot slower, you would need to make your grind finer. But, by making the grinder work harder to get that fine grind, it's not able to grind as much in that set amount of time. So you're left with less coffee in the basket than what you need.
You then need to tell the grinder to grind for longer, and this process of trial and error can make dialling in very difficult. You've also got to be able to reverse this logic to deal with coarser grinds and less grinding time - it's easy to see how baristas can struggle!
A grind by weight (GbW) grinder aims to stop this problem by controlling the variable of time. Rather than having to grind for a set amount of time, and trying to hit your recipe (18g ground coffee, for example), you just programme in the dose you need, and the grinder does those tricky calculations for you!
The best bit is that when you need to adjust the size of your grind, you know you're going to get the right amount of ground coffee, without making any adjustments. The clever technology in a grind by weight grinder is an absolute game-changer. Not only does it save time in service, it reduces waste, and can cut training time to a fraction of what it normally is.
How Does a Grind by Weight Grinder Work?
Grind by weight grinders contain a high precision 'load cell', which recognises your portafilter's exact weight. When you place the portafilter in the cradle of the grinder, it calculates the weight, and detects the coffee which is dosed into it. This is highly precise work, but fast too.In the few seconds that it takes to grind, the grind by weight technology weighs the amount of coffee going in, and figures out how long it will take to get to the requested weight. It then stops in just enough time to give you your exact dose of coffee, so the brews you make are as consistent as can be. Not only that, but you can watch the screen tell you how close you're getting to your desired weight, to be extra sure!
How Do I Adjust a Grind By Weight Grinder?
Grinders like the Mahlkönig E65S GBW and Mahlkonig E80 Supreme GBW have a patented Disc Distance Detection that lets you set the degree of fineness based on the actual distance between the burrs. This takes out much of the guess-work of dialling in, and the arbitrary numbers that you sometimes have to use when adjusting a coffee grinder. With Mahlkönig Grind by Weight grinders, you can set recipes for each coffee based on actual distance in millimetres between the burrs. This leaves nothing to chance, and is ideal for getting the most out of high-end specialty coffees.
So, with reduced waste, speed of service and a huge reduction in training times, we think the grind by weight range is genuinely the future of coffee grinding. We predict that this technology will become the standard of all commerical specialty coffee grinders in future, and we're excited to be using them so soon in their development. Check out the Mahlkönig E65s GbW here, or its larger sibling, the Mahlkönig E80 Supreme GBW. Want some advice on training or wholesale supply? Get in touch with our team today – we'd love to help you on your coffee journey.