budget coffee grinder review #3
(
#1 and #2 are in the other coffee thread)
Enzoo EZ-20A countertop coffee grinder, conical burr, 110v AC
Currently $50~ $60 on amazon and ebay. Amazon reviews indicate multiple design & QC problems but the detachable grinder-head arrangement intrigued me, so I bought one to play with.
this one is the reddish-brown version, the color is close to terracotta. (in the photo: the hopper lid next to a small flower pot)
Conclusion:
Not recommended, do not bother, not worth the time. All else aside, this grinder produces way too much fines.
the good:
** relatively quiet when running
the bad:
** got a bad unit, the front control panel is non-functional. The LED's will blink and +/- button will turn on different LED's and the portafilter holder will detect the presence of portafilter, but...... I could not get the motor to run. So I didn't get to use it before taking it apart.
** the red color is from some kind of powder coating. They didn't clean the parts well after the coating process, loose red powder is present in un-coated area, including the underside of hopper lid and ground collector lid. It will get into the coffee if not cleaned off thoroughly.
(If you have to get one of these, I'd suggest getting a black verion. Assuming black plastic material doesn't need additional surface coating.)
** those two little screws holding the hopper gate piece are too short/small, no holding power whatsoever. Plastic material in the hole is stripped, screws just sit in the hole and can fall out at any time (when that happens: hopper falls off the grinder, screw jams the burr and motor overheats).
** coffee ground outlet funnel gets clogged by fines (amazon reviews). The funnel needs mod, or just not using the funnel piece (to do that the grind head needs to be set a certain way)
** powdery fines build up around the auger piece, requires frequent cleaning. This happens even when set to the coarsest setting. (no solutions)
** lots of static build up in the ground collector.
** way too much fines (see below)
Fine/Coarse setting is done by rotating a metal ring, very convenient. It will do from medium-fine (table sugar size) to medium-coarse (coarser than commercial pre-grounded coffee). I don't think it can go fine enough for espresso purpose, I tried some and the juice came out a little fast.
I took the grinder head apart and adjust the "fine" to "burr barely-chirping", but the result was not much different from the factory setting.
---- update: after some use and running at low voltage (~50v), the grind from the finest setting works ok in my steam espresso maker, but the juice is a bit bitter.
I sifted some grounds (at the finest setting) and got 14g of ultra fines and 71g of usable espresso/moka-pot size.
The ultra fines are floury ( I used it for turkish style coffee and worked well. )
There is still a lot of powdery fines build up around the auger piece even at the coarsest setting, so the
ground uniformity is not very good.
Maybe ok to grind for the office coffee maker but that is about it.
--- update after about 2 week of use:
works ok in the office, grind at #7 for a basic Mr-coffee drip coffee maker. maybe slightly bitter but we are not picky, the beans used are cheap (mostly eight-o'clock, seattle's-best etc). The result is good enough for the intended purpose.
But this machine is really only ok for that one setting (#7~#8, drip coffee size). It produces way too much powdery fines at lower settings, espresso/moka results are bitter; even at the coarsest setting #10, which produces large (and inconsistent) chunks, there is still 20% fines (fine enough to use in a moka-pot).
Overall about 1/3 of the grounds are "way too fine" for a given setting.
The burr set in this machine is just no good.
The Mueller Ultra-grind looks to be of a similar design ( the base is a little different), maybe it has a better burr set.
power consumption:
60w at normal 115v AC, free spinning;
This grinder will run on either AC or DC power. (motor is a DC motor, there is a bridge rectifier on the circuit board)
Lower supply voltage => slower grind, much less electrostatic build up, much lower sound level.
power consumption when grinding dark roasted beans: 20w at 45v AC; 16w at 24w AC.
grind speed ( 18 grams, at the finest grind setting, Peets French roast)
--normal 115v AC: 35 seconds
--48v DC: 1m40s
--24v DC: 4m30s ; very quiet operation, just a low rumbling sound.
grounds from lower RPM grinding seems to be a bit more consistent.
Must-Do mods:
** replace the hopper gate screws to longer screws.
** remove the center section of outlet funnel (pictured above)
further mods:
** By-pass the front panel control, add an in-line switch in the power cord to manually turn it on/off (or just plug/unplug the power cord).
This requires removing the bottom plate, take out the PCB and add one jumper wire to by-pass the relay. Logic-related wires can be left unplugged from the board.
** electrically grounding the burr, and use a metal coffee ground collector, to reduce/prevent electrostatic build up. It is a little tricky to ground the burr, the metal fine/coarse adjustment ring is not connected to the burr.
The locking of the outlet funnel moves a plastic ramp in the grinder head. The ram must be up to trip the "grinder head presence" interlock. To run the grinder without the funnel: rotate the outter ring (underside of grind head) counter-clock-wise to raise the ramp.
after rotation:
But "not using the funnel" won't bring much benefit, fine powder still cakes around the auger head.
grind-head-detection interlock switch
motor and gear assembly
motor, marked "DC120v 150w".
Notice the 2020.10.22 which looks to be a date code. But the date code on the base-plate label shows 2010. Maybe this is a refurbished/rebuilt unit (and the front panel still doesn't work)
steel conical burr, the inner burr is about 31mm OD
