The Breville Smart Grinder

[roastingnerd]

I just wanted to tell of my experience with the Breville Smart Grinder.  I know it is not generally used by expresso makers here, but after I learned how to set it, it has proven to be very accurate and fully capable of grinding for espresso brewing.  I can dial in the degree of fineness with about 3 clicks available in the acceptable range for my Gaggia Espresso machine.  When I approach the fineness  for making espresso, the amount control indicator changes from cups to shots.  I normally grind at the fine drip part of the grind range for my Aeropress.  Three cups (two mugs) Aeropress measures are the same as 6 cups on the breville, because the Aeropress uses twice as much coffee per cup as a normal drip brewer.  To make a double shot espresso I merely set the grind and dial in 2 shots.  Fills the portafilter perfectly with maybe 2% spillover of grounds.  This company has worked with me ever since I bought the machine, sending me a set of shims to get to a finer grind than my machine could achieve when I purchased it.  I had a problem, that I can't recall but probably was my fault.  Nonetheless, they had my package up my machine and sent me a new one, with me paying no shipping charges.
What can I say, I'm no professional and only a very casual espresso grinder.  I like the idea of not needing to measure my coffee each time and I think Breville is making a very sturdy machine at a very reasonable price.  So I recommend it heartily.

[Kahvemicro]

I agree.   I just got one and I really like it.   It may need a shim kit as I can turn it to the finest setting and still at times the espresso is too fast/thin.    But once it choked my Gaggia with a combo of extra dosing and hard tamping.     I'm still learning what it can do

[trshyd]

This is as good a thread for my first as any. Been lurking for a while. 

Been enjoying specialty coffee with various brewed preparations for about 2 years. Went from a blade grinder, to a Hario Skerton, to the Breville. I'm expecting delivery of a Rocky tomorrow.

The Smart Grinder is a great grinder for drip or any method requiring "medium" to "fine" particle sizes. It DOES NOT do a fine enough espresso grind (for a non-pressurized ports filter that is). I have a Gaggia, only a month old so I'm no expert, but the Breville cannot grind fine enough. The Hario is capable of grinding much finer, but obviously lacks in degrees of adjustability without modification, and you'd be crazy to grind that fine by hand everyday.

I should have just coughed up the extra $150 for the Rocky compared to Breville, but I had 20% of BBB coupon. They kindly agreed to refund me this product since it didn't meet my needs.

Now one could argue I should have used the same logic and paid $100-200 extra from the Rocky price point and just got a Mazzer or Macap. I'll wait to upgrade though. I bounce around from brew methods and I think the Rocky looks like it will do better going back and forth from pourover to espresso. Time will tell.

The SmartGrinder is only suited for non-espresso. Also the coarsest setting is not consistent for French Press. However it's not a huge problem, tighten the grind slightly and it becomes much more consistent and you can just shorten the brew time a little.

Just my $0.02, hopefully it will help somebody else's decision making.

[Smksignals]

My $.02 -

I bought the Breville Smart Grinder solely for drip coffee. It was working well for about 2 weeks then seized up on a batch of lighter roast beans and stripped out the gears. After reading some reviews on the web I saw this was not an uncommon experience. I decided to return the Smart Grinder and buy a Baratza.

It really was a shame because I liked the Smart Grinder a lot. I used a glass under the chute and I had zero chaff sticking to anything, unlike my Baratza. With the Baratza chaff sticks to everything.

So, if your roasting your coffee into darker roasts you should be ok. Lighter roasts I would beware.

[roastingnerd]

My smart grinder would also not grind fine enough when I received it.  When I added shims it can grind so fine that the powder will not permit any flow through the portafilter even after a minute.  Also if the beans are at all oily, it can cake inside the grinder and require a very major effort to unclog it.  But as I have it now the best grinds (taking about 22 seconds for a complete shot to pass before it looks too thin) corresponds to the indicator being 4 lines from finest grind.  I prefer 5 lines that does it in 18 seconds, but you might not.

[twiga]

Smksignals which Baratza did you end up getting?

[Smksignals]

Smksignals which Baratza did you end up getting?

Baratza Virtuoso w/ Preciso burrs, model 586.

[rasqual]

Just picked up one of these. Impressed with the consistent grind. Pourovers are percolating well -- fliters are staying clear and free of fines. Nice.