Having a grinder is awesome! You have control over the dial-in, meaning you’re able to explore beans in a range of brewing methods; you can buy whole beans from nearly any roaster, and coffee stores the best whole and tastes the best when it’s freshly ground.
There are so many reasons I encourage folks to get grinders for their homes, but there are also considerations to be made about what you need in a coffee grinder, and tips of best practice to have your grinder relationship be as pleasant as possible. Consider these tips for how to solve grinder issues;
1) Grinder mess
This is when you’re grinding, and despite your catch cup or portafilter being super duper well lined up, you have bits of bean flying everywhere! What a pain!
The reason this is happening is because of static friction, generally just due to very dry air where you live. This is easiest to fix in a single dose grinder scenario by using a small misting spray bottle to introduce a little water into the beans before grinding, aka RDT or Ross Droplet Technique. I do want to point out- you only need a *little bit* of water, just a spray or two, too much will have your burrs get damp and that could cause rust. As well, please do not pre-spray beans you will be leaving in a hopper grinder for more than a couple hours, as the damp environment can encourage mold growth.
2) Clogging
This can look like your grinder running, the motor is audible, but nothing is coming out! You may be able to see the clog from the exterior chute exit, or it may be backed up right into the burrs. Clogging has various causes, but there are main culprits. If you’re someone who tends to drink very dark or oily beans, or has a slower motor grinder and are trying to grind very finely like for espresso, you may tend to have more clogging. This is because the oils on coffee get sticky over time as they oxidize, and also get sticky as they heat up. Friction from grinding over a longer period of time (for a slower grinder or one not meant to grind very finely) will cause the grounds to become hot and want to stick together. Clogging can also be caused by overfilling the catch cup or portafilter with grounds, and having the grounds back up into themselves and compress.
To prevent clogging be sure to be using a suitable grinder for the type of grind you’re trying to use. Espresso grinders and filter grinders are in fact different, generally due to motor strength or burr geometry. Next, grind an appropriate volume for your grinder. Commercial grinders like at the grocery store can go through a whole pound bag of coffee without issue, but home grinders have smaller motors and are not meant to be running for that long. Try batch grinding if you’re grinding a larger amount (ie - if you’re grinding half a pound for filter, grind only ~1c beans at a time. If you’re grinding espresso, we generally do not recommend grinding more than 30g at a time)
To clean up after a clog there are 2 steps; physical grounds removal, and oil removal. Open up your grinder right down to the burrs and use a soft bristled brush like a toothbrush or paint brush and vacuum to remove all visible grounds. I also like to use pick tools (available at home hardware style stores) to get at the chute from both the burr side and the exterior to be sure it’s well cleaned, and if you happen to have one around, a small portable air compressor is my favorite grinder cleaning tool, though they will make the rest of your house messy! Now you have all the visible mess, you need to deal with the often invisible layer of coffee oils that hangs out on the inside of grinders. To clean the oils, run grinder cleaner tablets through the grinder. These are generally starch based, and will pull the oils off the inside of the grinder without introducing any moisture to the system. Remember - grinders Do NOT like water inside them! Removable parts like hoppers can be washed with coffee soap and water, but keep the rest of the grinder dry. I have also seen plain uncooked rice suggested for grinder internals cleaning, this will do the same thing as the grinder cleaner tablets, and you may already have it around.
3) Cleaning
Cleaning really only consists of what we’ve already gone over in the clogging section, as a dirty grinder is a home for clogging. That being said, even if your grinder isn’t clogging (yet!) general maintenance cleaning is a great habit to be in, aiming to clean every couple months if you’re a dark roast drinker, and twice a year for lighter roasts. I get it, dark roast drinkers, this can feel like a personal attack! It’s not that there is anything “wrong” with darker roasts, it’s more a conversation about how the actual act of roasting affects the make up of the coffee beans themselves. The discrepancy is that darker roasts have their oils forced out of the bean over the longer roast time, meaning the oils are more available to oxygen, and therefore tend to oxidize and become sticky faster. This means oil residue builds up faster on burrs and internal chutes, and more cleaning of grinder internals will be needed to keep your grinder happy. I promise, once it’s a part of a schedule for you, it’s a 10 minutes every few months task to keep your grinder in tip top shape, extending longevity and ensuring you’re happily drinking your fresh beans for years to come.
