New Coffee Burrs for the EK43?!
So I’ve owned my EK43 for just under a year now and have had a love hate relationship with it so far. Luckily the love has drastically outweighed the hate!
The EK43 coffee excels at brewed and is capable of producing great espresso to, however with some beans I would run into problems grinding fine enough to get a decent flow rate from my set-up. Like any good workman, I blamed my tools! I starting nutating and trying various techniques to slow the shot time to within acceptable limits but with certain beans this was just impossible.
So about 6 months ago a good friend received their EK43 and noticed some strange goings on. At any given dial setting the new version of the EK seemed to grind finer than mine, it seemed quieter and there was slightly less static. We were confused so we emailed Mahlkonig UK who told us that the new grinder must have Turkish burrs. Having owned a pair of Turkish burrs I didn’t think that this was the case as they didn’t grind as fine as the Turks.
There was only one thing for it and I decided to take the new grinder to bits. When I opened it up I was greeted with a bit of a surprise. The burrs didn’t look like the old coffee burrs and didn’t look quite like the Turkish burrs ether, they were a hybrid that seemed to sit somewhere in between.
Left picture is the old burr, right picture is the new one!
I excitedly emailed Mahlkonig UK again and was told that there were no new coffee burrs!
Roll forward a couple of months and I caught a fantastic presentation from a guy who worked at Mahlkonig, the presentation talked about the future of grinders for coffee making and was really interesting stuff. Surely if anyone would know then this was the man to ask! I managed to find the presenter’s details and emailed him right away. A few days later I got the response I was looking for. He confirmed that whilst updating the manufacturing process for the burrs that they also took the opportunity to make them grind slightly finer as many customers had requested this feature. Great news for new owners, not so good for me.
I decided that I would like this feature so I decided to sell my Turks and pick up a set of the coffee burrs. I spoke again to Mahlkonig UK and they had simply not been made aware of the change and order a set.
I fitted them as soon as they arrived and they delivered everything that I had hoped. Out of the box the quality just looked better than my original burrs, presumably due to the new processes in place. In the cup (where it counts!) they delivered in spades. They ground finer and the resulting espresso shot was noticeably more controlled (anyone who has played with the old coffee burrs will know what I mean) and could easily be tweaked to produce superb espresso no matter what the bean.
I’m now totally happy with my EK43 and the hate part of our relationship is now a thing of the past!
32 Comments. Leave new
I am about to purchase a new EK43 – how would I go about finding out whether it has the new coffee burrs or not? Any ideas? I wonder if I could go by the serial number of the EK? Thanks!!
Hi Steve,
the new burrs seemed to start appearing in the 5xxxx serial range, this was well over 1 year ago so I’d imagine that any new EK would have the newer style burrs.
Cheers
Spence
Sweepers look to have been re-engineered to clear the grinding chamber more efficiently, too.
Thanks for the info Benny
I own a ek43 for only 10 days and having the same problem. May be the lack os burrs seasoning? And could you tell what dial are you using on the picture?
I seasoned my burrs with around 15kg of beans which made a difference for sure. The dial is from 3FE and I highly recommend the update 🙂
https://shop.3fe.com/product/ek43-dial
How easy is it to replace the dial?
Currently stuck with the original 1-11 dial.
Hey Matt,
Mine is just a stick on one from 3FE. You just loosen the allen keys, the knob comes off and you stick on the dial and replace the knob. JD
Hi Spencer
Just wanting to know if you switched the pre-breaker when changing to coffee burrs?
Cheers
Tim
Hi Tim,
My EK43 was originally a coffee EK43. I purchased the Turkish burrs as I got offered them at a good price but I didn’t change the pre-breaker when I did this. I have since sold the Turkish burrs and now run with new coffee burrs and original coffee pre-breaker. I’m not sure if the pre-breaker was updated along with the new burrs (I think it might have been) but I’ve not upgraded as yet.
Cheers
Spence
Do want to sell old burrs please?
Sorry, they are not for sale, in fact they are currently back in my grinder 🙂
This was literally all it took to adjust the grind finer so you could pull better espresso shots?
Hi Tyler,
I’m not sure what you are asking. I can happily pull espresso shots with old and new coffee burrs, it’s just that the newer burrs can go finer.
Cheers
Spence
Hi. I was about to purchase the Turkish burrs so I can grind for Turkish Coffee. Do you recommend the new burrs over the Turkish burrs? Which one grinds finer?
Thanks,
Yazan
Turkish burrs grind finer
From your most recent comments it appears that you are now happy with the original burrs and perhaps even prefer them as these are the ones currently in use!
The main thing with the EK is alignment, once you have that bang on the majority of burrs will do a good job.
Hi, I am looking to get an EK43. I currently have an E10 conical but the retention is annoying and the grind settings need adjusting whilst grinding. I do single doses but this doesn’t seem to like it unless at least 2-3 doses are in ready to go. How does the EK43 fair with retaining and adjusting grind settings? Does it work well with single dosing?
Sorry for the late reply. I owned a k10 previously and it sounds like a very similar experience to the e10.
The EK43 is a different beast. Single dosing is pretty much the only way to use the thing unless you are grinding a bag for someone. If I’m changing from espresso to filter or back I do generally purge a few beans to get rid of anything that might be inside. It’s very little but not zero and I do only purge a few beans.
Thank you for the reply. I now have an ek43. The learning curve is real and I am still finding out if I can tame the beast. All I get is sour or bitter hopefully it will improve
I am willing to buy EK43 Coffee Grinder for using it as all purpose Grinder I dont do much Turkish but still I want a grinder which if I ever need the Turkish Grind I can do it in my grinder therefore I am confused in between Standard EK43 and EK43T with Turkish Burrs, so far is my knowledge is concerned Probably because the Turkish Burrs are designed in a way that Turkish burrs have more of fine edged blade (to the best of my knowledge…) Compared to the regular burrs dose that means that even in the Coarser side of grind settings it Will produce more of fines on the coarser ground coffee.
Dose that means that if I am using Turkish burrs then it will give me more super fine particles While grinding for Pour Overs, Chemex and for other manual brews instead of more uniform distributed grounds?
Will Turkish burrs won’t give me good uniform results on the coarser side of settings if I want to grind for manual brewing methods to grind my coffee?
Will Turkish Burrs in coarser grinding settings produce more super fines due to which its possible that it may clog my filter papers and will create more mudding?
Actually I was looking for an all rounder grinder that has capabilities of grinding from French Press to Pourover, Chemex, V60, Aeropress, Moka Pot, Espresso and further all the way till Turkish grind size! Is EK43T is the right choice for all the above mentioned purpose.
Would like to have some more light on the above query.
I use an EK43 with SSP aftermarket burrs for everything apart from Turkish, but as I’m not grinding close to zero for Espresso that should not be a problem with this setup.
Regular ek coffee burrs don’t go to Turkish imho. Turkish ek burrs didn’t work as well for brewed imho.
I did not got your point! I am actually buying a New EK43T with company fitted Turkish Burrs but I also have an option to get the Regular model which is EK43 which one should I prefer to buy incase If I am focusing more on Espresso Grinding as well as Filter, Pourover Coffee sometimes?
I think my point is that if you don’t need Turkish grind then get the regular coffee EK43.
If you need Turkish, espresso and filter grind then my recommendation is an EK43 with SSP after market burrs.
I have limited experience with the stock Turkish burrs but I don’t believe that they are as desirable for filter coffee as the coffee burrs. That said if you’ve spoken to people you trust and they recommend this setup then I’ve no reason to believe that it wouldn’t work.
Thanks Yes now I got your point, But the people who are using the Stock Turkish Burr in EK43T version of coffee grinder they clearly say the following statement marked in quotes below: –
“There is a slight increase in fines, however it is never to an extent that you have major effect on filter brewing.
On the contrary with coffee burrs you might struggle to grind fine enough for espressos specially with specialty coffee as it is not roasted too dark.
I have used both coffee and Turkish burrs and never found any major difference in filter brewing.”
And therefore my conclusion is if I am more focused on Espresso side should choose EK43T installed with Stock Turkish Burrs but if I am more focused on Manual Brewing and dont do espresso then I should prefer choosing the regular coffee Burr version of Mahlkonig EK43.
Hello all,
I would appriciate if anyone could help me. I ha e receantly purchased new ek43 with turkish burrs. Dial is from 0-16. At 0 it grinds great for turkish coffee, for esspreso it is from 3-3,5. Can you help and tell me aprox on how much would it be for mokapot and filter?
Thank you in advance
Luka
Will it be a waste to buy EK43T with company Fitted Turkish Burrs if I am doing Pourover or Filter Coffee and less of Espresso or Turkish.
I have been suggested by Some users using the EK43 with Turkish Burrs that EK43T installed with Mahlkonig Company Fitted Turkish Burrs can grind for Pourover, Filter Coffee, Espresso and can grind further all the way till Turkish (ibrik) grind size. I would like to know more on this as its a bit confusing before buying the new EK43 as it is a one time investment on an expensive coffee grinder.
Will it be a waste to invest in EK43T with company Fitted Turkish Burrs if I am doing Pourover or Filter Coffee and less of Espresso or Turkish.
I have been recently suggested by Some users using the EK43 with Turkish Burrs that EK43T installed with Mahlkonig Company Fitted Turkish Burrs can grind for Pourover, Filter Coffee, Espresso and can grind further all the way till Turkish (ibrik) grind size. I would like to know more on this as its a bit confusing before buying the new EK43 as it is a one time investment on an expensive coffee grinder.
Hi Spencer. Took your advice and got the Turkish Burrs a week ago. I grind batches for both filter and Turkish, which makes the turks a wonderful upgrade to the EKK43. Having both side by side I can comfortably say the turks grind waaay finer. As I wasn’t sure how fine I should go on the new burrs I went with 0 setting as a start. Everything seemed ok in the beginning and the only difference was that it ground much slower and the grounds were much hotter.
But then earlier today I wanted to grind a kilo and soon as I started the machine it started stalling as if really struggling to grind until it shutoff with the safety switch at the bottom popping out. I took it apart and found the grounds a bit moist and muddied on tight corners. Cleaned it up, retried, same problem. I started going coarser only to the point where it stopped stalling and was more relaxed with the beans which was at setting 3. I’m yet to cup and see if that’s fine enough but the question is why it happened after grinding a few batches. Can’t tell if it’s an electric issue or something else like the burr carrier for instance? I found these custom carriers for the turks on an Australian website but not sure what their purpose is over the stock ones.
Anyhow, I tried darker beans later and could go finer without it happening so it’s definitely one factor as lighter beans are more dense.
Appreciate your thoughts. Do you know anything about the upgrades turkish burr carriers?
*what I mean by burr carrier is prebreaker
Hi, I have only seen this with third party burrs that are more aggressive than stock EK burrs i.e. gorilla gear and SSP. I think it’s just too much for the motor to handle. I’m unsure if the ek43t has a more powerful motor or not.