Those are nice, uniform grinds. Your Medium looks like my Coarse. And that coarse one is way coarser that I can get. Hmmm..... But I'll probably never to a press coffee. The forum guy who sells the 8 cup Bonavitas say his customers do a grind that looks like sand. Regarding static cling...I'm not certain if that's really static electricity or just the dust literally sticking to the sides. I brush it off and it falls right to the bottom of the canister...I don't chase it around as it continues to stick. And it tends to be thick, not just a thin layer clinging to the plastic. Applies to the Black & Decker and to the Cuisinart.
I used to have a French press pot, but I gave it to my daughter because I never used it. I tried it a few times but never really thought the coffee was worth the cleanup. I'll probably choose a medium setting on the grinder and never change it. My son asked what I wanted for Christmas and I told him coffee beans... so maybe I'll have some different beans to play with. I'm going to keep the little Krups blade grinder because it was cheap and it actually works well. I might see if one of my kids would like to try it, or call it my "spice grinder" to justify.
Youtube to the rescue. Here's a great video on cleaning the Capresso. I notice that he made the same mistake I did... I removed the ground coffee container before clearing the "chute" so coffee fell out all over the countertop.
Are you referring to a burr grinder or coffee maker, Terry? I used to have a Capresso coffeemaker, but it was a lower end model. It was OK but not my favorite; it looked like this one...
I would think that there will be a certain amount of coffee retained in the burrs. But once you grind a few batches, Maximum Retention will have been achieved, so Output=Input. Most of these don't recommend rear cleaning, which surprises me. You would think the oils would go rancid. Maybe the prior batches' residuals get pushed through with the next batch. My Cuisinart came with a scoop that has a brush on the end of the handle, but the instructions say absolutely nothing about cleaning it other than "All removable parts are dishwasher safe," and "Use cleaning brush to clean grind release area." The top hopper is a removable part, and the top burr is affixed to it. My Black & Decker says the same thing. The top burr is attached to a removable mount. It also says to clean the output path...that's what the brush is for in this model as well. Whatever causes the grounds to stick to the canister can also cause them to plug the output chute. There's no mention of cleaning the bottom burr in either machine other than brushing away loose particles. It really doesn't sound like a cleaning of the internals is needed.
My grinder is cast iron, and I don't see a whole lot of anything sticking to the sides. Once in a while, a part of a bean will hang up on the burrs and I have to knock it loose, and once a month or so, I'll clean it with a brush made for cleaning turkey basters, I think. It's like a toothbrush, only rounded, with bristles all the way around.
I'm sure my grinder didn't need cleaning after a few test runs, but I was curious about what was happening in there. My top burr is removable but the bottom one is not. I believe they are hardened steel (not stainless) so it says to not get them wet. Only the plastic "hoppers" can go in the dishwasher which I will never do anyway. Since I won't be grinding coffee but once a day (if that often), I probably won't need to clean it more often than every couple of months. I read that dark roasted beans can be more oily and cause a build up of residue on the burrs, so I ordered this stuff. It's kind of pricey but it will clean the residue off that bottom burr. Besides, there's one born every minute and I'm a "prime" example. << Lame Amazon joke
I made a pot of coffee using the medium grind and the Peet's beans this morning. It's "OK" but still not as tasty as the McCafe ground coffee. I need to order a few different types/brands of beans to try out, but since I told my son to buy me some for Christmas I need to hold off and see what he comes up with. I don't need a cabinet full of coffee beans getting stale. (Which is probably the issue with the Peet's; they are just grocery store stock and certainly not fresh from the roaster.) @John Brunner -- there is a youtube video (I think from that Seattle Coffee reviewer) that demonstrates using that burr cleaner. Apparently it's as simple as running a "capful" of the granules through on a medium grind, then running about 1/3 cup of coffee beans through to clean out the dust. More than one commenter said that they keep a bag of old stale beans to use as the followup step to keep from wasting good coffee. How's your brew tasting these days? Are you having any better success, or have you gotten any of the new beans yet?
I read some Amazon comments that people whined about the follow-up cleansing with a small amount of beans. They either waste good beans or pollute the first pot with the old stale ones. Friggin' pizzantz. I should be receiving my first delivery of coffee today (Shenandoah Joe), unless the mailman can't fit it in the box, in which case I'll get it tomorrow...there are downed trees blocking my right-of-way. I have a large rural mailbox, but there's a keyboard and some other coffee arriving from Amazon today as well. Damned timing. I can't wait to see if there is any hope for my caffeinated future.
Just got a notification email: my keyboard and Amazon coffee are in the mailbox. My neighbor's nephew is on his way with his chainsaw to help clear the road, so now it's a race.