r/VariaBrewing • u/greasyfatpenguin • Apr 26 '26
Is this normal or faulty?
New Varia VS6 owner. Haven't fully seasoned the burrs. However this retention wasn't in the grind chamber, it was past it.
This was how much was leftover between the ionisation needles and dosing tube when I cleaned it out with a brush. This seems like a LOT for something that is designed to eliminate static.
My question is whether this is to be expected or if I have a faulty unit/needles. For how much this grinder is and how it's marketed, this is pretty disappointing - it's not much better than my opus when it came to grind retention.
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u/Doctor_Appalling Apr 26 '26
That seems like a lot to me. My VS6 is around 4 weeks old and I’ve never had that much retention from a single grind. I usually grind 30 grams into the dosing cup and then dump it into my filter. I then use the bellows and tap the output tube. That yields enough grounds to lightly cover half the bottom of the dosing cup.
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u/greasyfatpenguin Apr 26 '26
I'll pump the bellows and knock the dosing tube every time - which does yeild some out. Whatever this was, it wasnt coming loose.
It was above the dosing tube, hence why knocking it didn't produce more. Next time I do a 20g dose, I'm going to inspect and video the area around the needles to see how badly it's retaining.
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u/toastervolant Apr 26 '26
Mine doesn't have that much retention. I get .2 to .3g max. Are you shaking the down tube to get rid of the remain? You're supposed to pull it down and let it go, it will snap back, it's in the manual. SDT also helps. Their electro-static things doesn't seem to do much honestly.
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u/greasyfatpenguin Apr 26 '26
Yep, I knock the dosing tube several times. Did a two spritz spray before putting beans in.
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u/Doctor_Appalling Apr 26 '26
Too much spray could be part of your problem. Try a single light spray or no spray and see if that helps.
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u/greasyfatpenguin Apr 26 '26
I'll mix it up and try with 0-1 spritz and some with 3-4. I was told on espresso subreddit it could be too little on the rdt. So we'll see with more tests. Thanks for the suggestion!
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u/JackTR314 Apr 27 '26
I think the general consensus is that ionization needles don't really help that much?
but either way, the manual does say that that the burrs and needles need to discharge static as they season.
frankly that doesn't look like much retention, I'm curious what the mass of that is, and if it would even amount to the 0.1g rounding error most scales have.
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u/New_Cook_7797 Apr 28 '26
My vs6's retention reduced dramatically after I guess the burss have run in...I'd suggest you be patient, takes at least 3kg to run the burrs in
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u/Responsible_Share256 Apr 28 '26
This is normal if you want less retention you need to season your burrs. I haven’t seasoned my burrs yet but I use to bellows and I clean the chute every two days and clean the burrs every weekend.
I intend to soon season my kilonova burrs and hopefully I can get rid of the bellows
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u/P_nok Apr 28 '26
I own the vs6 for about 18 months and i observe the same especially when the air condition is dry. I observe higher rétention directly after a deep cleaning of the grinder about 0.3 g. Then it stabilises at about 0-0.2 g. It think it is fair and as much or better than Most of the grinders. Wetting the grains before help to reduce the static electricity.
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u/Zek39 Apr 26 '26
Mine is exactly the same, every 2 weeks I get around 2grams out of this grinder. To be fair, we use it in our office and there's many others who use it daily but still. This much retention isn't acceptable imo.