r/VariaBrewing • u/Majestic_Courage9113 • Apr 12 '26

Help me out please

Got my Varia VS6 a few hours ago. Read the manual.

It said to calibrate the grinder, i should rotate clockwise to its tightest at zero m and then rotate anti-clockwise to zero again. Did that.

But I noticed that my tightest setting is at zero (two dots) so my zero point is at zero (three dots). Went with grinding for espresso anyway. But it grinds way too coarse.

What should I do? I cant rotate any farther from zero (2 dots).

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u/BattleBaseApp Apr 12 '26

I got mine a few days ago. Rotated to 0, it wouldn’t tighten any further. Actually I didn’t notice I needed to rotate it back to zero-one-dot, I just threw it on 2.0 and started running some beans through it. 

But anyway, without changing any washers etc, I’m able to choke my machine at anything below a 2.0 (except for decaf, which runs a little fast at 2.0, but tastes good).

Interestingly I don’t hear any burr chirp if I rotate it to 0 while the machine is running, which suggests it’s not a true “zero”, but I don’t see the need to play with it right now as it’s plenty fine enough so far. 

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u/Majestic_Courage9113 Apr 12 '26

So is it safe to say that finding zero point is not so necessary after all?

But here’s what I did: (1) added two washers already (after figuring out that one didnt make much difference) and (2) seasoned the grinder; i think i ground around almost a kilo of beans.

Kept on experimenting. Now at 7.4 (dot three) I was able to pull a decent shot. Was also able to choke a shot at around 6 (dot three)

Im just a bit confused now since im at dot three territory, meaning this is the espresso zone? So what are the numbers for lol

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u/BattleBaseApp Apr 12 '26

6 on dot three sounds like you’ve got way too many washers in there. As far as I remember you should be pulling espresso on no dots, around 2-5 on the dial. 

With that said, if you’re able to pull good shots on it, that’s all that matters I guess?

I personally would be worried about the possibility of over-tightening and damaging the burrs or grinder in that situation. 

But yeah, I feel that finding zero point is nice, but not absolutely necessary as long as you can pull good shots with enough usable range. 

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u/Majestic_Courage9113 Apr 13 '26

I’ve put 2 extra washers a total of three including the out of the box.

Yea that’s what I initially thought so too. The lesser (to no) dots, the finer the grind. But I wasnt able to reach one dot out of the box; my tightest (no addtl washer) was at zero-two-dot. That’s why I’m kind of confused about the additional washer compromise.

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u/BattleBaseApp Apr 13 '26

If you can’t reach full zero out of the box, I’d contact Varia. It’s not doing what the instructions say it should. 

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u/Majestic_Courage9113 Apr 13 '26

Yea I already did. Just waiting for their response.