Zass 175 turkish grinder - adjustable or not?

[zix]

It is time to start planning the fun stuff for the vacations. Coffee will travel! In my Local Coffee Development Plan it says that I am to buy a manual grinder and a Brikka for this years travel kit.
When planning this, I was thinking of getting a Zass turkish grinder. It looked like the perfect grinder for travel - easy to pack and can grind very fine if/when needed. But as I start to read about it, I get confused:

All Zassenhaus grinders except model 175M have adjustable grinding burrs so that you can adjust the grind size to your preference (http://www.coffeestorehouse.com/Sub_grinderselection.htm)

Zassenhaus 175M Turkish Coffee Grinder
This Zassenhaus Turkish coffee grinder is perfect for grinding coffee and often used as a gourmet pepper mill by fine restaurants. Featuring an adjustable grinding mechanism, this Turkish coffee mill can produce an ultra-fine powder like grind used in Turkish and Greek coffee brewing.
(http://www.espressozone.com/zassenhaus-175m.html)

*Model: 175M Zassenhaus
*Fully adjustable, meshable burr, for a fine Turkish grind
(http://baldmountaincoffee.com/page/BMCC/PROD/ZASS_175M

Now, I am confused. Is the 175M turkish grinder adjustable or not? Or, is it adjustable, but only in a small range from fine to very fine?
Anyone here with a 175M turkish grinder?

[Gouezeri]

Zix,
Not the answer that you want, but anybody like me where weight and space is at a premium when travelling (either on foot, mountain bike or motorbike often already laden with diving and photo gear, in my case) it's hard to find smaller/lighter than a MSR MugMate. Anything else tends to get broken pretty quickly in my experience. Now just need to find a carbon fibre and titanium zassenhaus!
D

[zix]

Ah, well, a moka pot is also rather hard to break Had that and a Krups blade grinder with me for the past three vacations, hasn't broken yet. I travel by car with wife and three small kids, coffee gear in my full-packed soft bag, but the camera is usually hanging on my shoulder. The Zass 175 would save some space and (hopefully) grind a lot better.

Anyone? Zass 175, can it grind for moka? ( In case you have the grinder but don't grind for moka pots, a moka pot grind needs to be a bit like a vac pot or a presso (Bodum) grind. Perhaps a little finer.)

[phil]

Well a Zass 169 certainly can. I don't know if they have similar mechanicals though.

[zix]

Hmmm. I managed to find a 175M grinder earlier today in one of the tea/coffee shops in town. The woman behind the counter was kind enough to take it down and help me examine the grinding range of it. She said that as far as she knew, it was meant for turkish and that the grind range was aimed at the finer range - as would be expected. However, when we tried grinding at the "coarsest possible" setting, it was quite coarse enough for both moka, presso and vac pot. More than enough, actually.

Statements like the one on 1st-line do still make me careful with drawing any definite conclusions. 1st-line should know their stuff, and why would they claim
Extremely uniformed particle size sistribution - turkish coffee grind ONLY - this grinder does NOT grind for other coffee methods
if this simply isn't true?
Perhaps the grinding is very inconsistent at the coarsest level, and there is a sharp "knee" between consistent, very fine grinding and inconsistent, very coarse grinding. It looked even enough to me, but perhaps I just didn't look closely enough.
However, it is settable. I have seen the setting screw!

Two things that make this stand out as a very good travel grinder:
1. It has a good shape for packing and travelling
2. The design is very good for travelling, with its integrated grind container giving less spill and doubling as a container for the crank (at least I think it does).

I think I'll buy it anyway and go find a cezve if it proves unusable for espresso...

[Gouezeri]

Zix,
We're getting into dangerous territory here now, this thread could easily spiral out of control into a new TMC Travel Grinder thread. It's probably going to need some kind of a compass on it somewhere, along with a torch and most definitely a bottle opener! RobC, get out your mallet!
D

[zix]

Oooohhh! TMC Travel Grinder, what a lovely idea! How about a rebuilt salt/pepper mill with a 12V clip-on low RPM geared grinder motor, and anti-static wire in the 12V supply cable coupled to the cigarette lighter 0V/screen, and...

[phil]

Calm down Mats!

In actual fact my Zass 169 is exactly that - my travel grinder. It probably doesn't pack as well as the 175, but hey! you can't have everything.

[Gouezeri]

Ah, now you see I'd want some kind of a rechargeable built-in nimh battery that could be plugged into one of those mini solar panels as I often go diving in places where I don't have access to any electricity. Or how about using the winding mechanism itself as a dynamo see ecologically sound too!
D

[michel]

Ah, well, a moka pot is also rather hard to break Had that and a Krups blade grinder with me for the past three vacations, hasn't broken yet. I travel by car with wife and three small kids, coffee gear in my full-packed soft bag, but the camera is usually hanging on my shoulder. The Zass 175 would save some space and (hopefully) grind a lot better.

Anyone? Zass 175, can it grind for moka? ( In case you have the grinder but don't grind for moka pots, a moka pot grind needs to be a bit like a vac pot or a presso (Bodum) grind. Perhaps a little finer.)

I have a Zass (only not a Turkish model) but I am sure you can set the coursness that fine that you can grind for a moka... Only problem is you need the muscles to do that sort of grinding... (I tried to grind for espresso on my zass... and damn... that was heavy/sweaty!)

[zix]

It seems that the Brikka can take a finer grind than the other moka pots. At least, that is what a friend of mine says. He uses the same grind for the Brikka as he does for his Gaggia, and claims that it works fine. That sure would have choked my moka pot. I´ll be back with the results, as usual, when I have tried the 175M/Brikka combo.

Edit: P.S. Gouezeri, I like your thinking here. Like those wind-up radios? Well - why not for a Zass. I mean, it could double as a combined torch/defense weapon if we put LEDs in the bottom and lead inside the grind holder...D.S.
I'll go to bed now.

[wang]

Are you sure you'd want a brikka on the move? I had a loan of alans' one for a while and couldn't get it to work well - it was just fussy about percolating and would end up burning the coffee. I would go with a Zass Knee Mill and a small press pot or a single cup drip rather than moka pot. I find moka a bit awkward.

There was a couple of threads on CG about the turkish grinder too - that it will not stand up to long term use at coarser grinds or something, because its carrier is different to the wooden mills and one of its parts will eat itself. I suggest you search them for yourself as I'm not too clear on the details.

[zix]

Thanks for the CG tip, wang. I never seem to find what I am looking for when searching on their forum so I tend to forget looking there. I'll have a look.

I would go with a Zass Knee Mill and a small press pot or a single cup drip rather than moka pot. I find moka a bit awkward.

I have come to like the moka pot after many years of living with it. It has its limitations, but is able to produce a very good cup if the coffee, the grind and the extraction are as they should be. Dark roasts or low acidity coffee and very fresh beans (less than 4 days) are good starting points.

The Brikka percolates? Do you mean that the coffee didn't come out of the "outlet"? Too much heat with a conventional moka pot will burn the coffee, plus it will not help with building up pressure - on a conventional moka pot it can't exceed 2.5bar. Instead you need to grind coarser, and the grinds must not be tamped as with espresso. How much of this that goes for the Brikka also, I do not know.

[wang]

It doesn't percolate in the american sense, but it's got a weight at the top to increase the pressure of the extraction and that tends to make things a lot more awkward in terms of getting it just right.

[MKSwing]

I have a Zass (only not a Turkish model) but I am sure you can set the coursness that fine that you can grind for a moka... Only problem is you need the muscles to do that sort of grinding... (I tried to grind for espresso on my zass... and damn... that was heavy/sweaty!)

That's strange. I think it depends on the model, I always use my Zass for testing my roast just after I finish it and as I only drink espresso, this is my standard grinding setting. And I have absolutely no problem to grind for 2 cups of coffee. But the older the coffee is the harder it is to grind. I can't imagine you're drinking old coffee so it must be the type of the grinder. Mine is a 158 white and blue.

Oh and to stay on topic, maybe the 158 is a little big to transport but the grinding range and quality is excellent. I'd take a moka pot bialetti with me.