Commercial Espresso Dosing Grinder; Adjusting The Grinder - ELEKTRA Espresso Equipment Training Program

2.ESPRESSO EQUIPMENT
Commercial In the Elektra range, the grinder is
a separate unit to the espresso
espresso
machine. A typical Elektra com-
dosing grinder
mercial dosing grinder is shown
below.
dispenser and
dosing unit
press or tamper
This holds the coffee beans and
The hopper •
should be kept filled to the top.
Otherwise you run the risk of
emptying it, which will cause the
dispenser to empty. When this
happens, level control switches in
the dispenser operate, turning on
the grinder motor. Because there
are no beans, the motor will run
continually, and at maximum revs,
eventually burning out. So, when-
ever you see the plastic grille, fill
the hopper immediately, and train
all users to do the same.
The dosing unit sits on the bottom
Dosing unit •
of the dispenser. It rotates by one
chamber with each pull of the
dosing lever, causing a fixed quan-
tity of grounds to be dispensed
into the coffee handle held under
the dispensing hole. The dosing
quantity is adjustable, but once
set, does not normally need to be
changed. (Note that the bottom
cover and a switch have been
removed for clarity of photo).
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Commercial dosing grinder
hopper
grind adjustment wheel
motor housing
and machine
body
Also, never put ground coffee into the hopper,
as this will overload the motor and cause it to
quickly burn out.
plastic
grille
dosing chamber
dispensing
hole
2.ESPRESSO EQUIPMENT
Grinder blades • The blades are made of two discs
which are precisely machined to
produce a uniform grind. One disc
is attached to an adjusting wheel
and remains stationary. The other
disc is turned by the motor.
bottom grinding disk attached to motor
Adjusting There are two main adjustments
for the grinder: the grind consis-
the grinder
tency and the dose. The dose is
factory set and should not need
adjustment. The grind consistency
however could need to be
adjusted several times a day, so
Side view
To adjust the consistency of the
grind, release locking lever and
turn the wheel anticlockwise one
"click" at a time to make the grind
finer. You can tell when the grind is
incorrect by the flow of brewed
coffee into the cup. However,
don't change the grind until you
have made three or so cups of
coffee, in case other factors are
causing the problem: did you fit
the handle correctly, did you tamp
the grinds to the right density, is
the dose correct?
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Grinding discs in a commercial grinder.
One disc is rotated by the motor, the other is
fixed and is attached to an adjusting wheel.
it's important to understand the
adjustment and when to make it.
The grind adjustment is achieved
by rotating an adjusting wheel,
which moves the grinding discs
closer or further apart.
Do this one notch at a time.
ADJUSTING WHEEL:
Top view Underside view
grinding blade
fixed to wheel
fine thread locating
notches
finer grind
If the flow is too slow, the grind is
too fine. In general, it should take
25 to 35 secs to extract a good
cup of espresso.