So I put the steel burrs in my Vario, hoping for more clarity in my espresso and a much improved V60. The pourovers are indeed a lot better than with the ceramic burrs, but for espresso… it’s complicated.

It’s calibrated for chirp at 2Q, and I’m down at 1A, the absolute finest it goes, and the shortest ratio shot I can do is 1:2.5 (17g -> 42g, 25sec)

This is fine for light roast single origins, altho it’s a little scary being at the extreme end of the grind setting range. But I feel like I should still be able to pull a 1:2 shot from more traditional darker blends when I want to, without dismantling the grinder to swap the burrs back to ceramic.

Can I safely calibrate it finer?

Is it more likely the alignment?

I did attempt the “alicorn” hyper-alignment procedure after swapping the burrs, but since then it’s been sent off to repair the electronics, so the alignment may be suspect again.

Are there any better resources or guides for the hyper-alignment these days? The two YouTube videos I followed were very confusing and seemed more of a proof of concept than a how-to guide. I don’t really have the patience for multiple go-rounds of assemble/disassemble to wipe-check the alignment then adjust again. And I suspect doing this the first time was how the grinder electronics got killed.

Any help or advice gratefully received.