If you're having issues with your coffee dropping down into your Ode's burrs, or you notice your Ode is shutting off before all the beans are ground, this article aims to help you get back to brewing as quickly as possible! 

Table of Contents

1. What is a Clog?
2. Why Do Clogs Happen?
3. What to Do About Clogs
4. Need More Help?

What is a Clog?

Before we discuss how to get your Ode grinding again, it's important to define what a clog is. We define a clog as when coffee beans get stuck and are unable to drop down into the burrs, thus preventing them from being ground. 

This includes situations where no beans drop down at all, or ones where the full dose doesn't drop down, causing the Ode to stop grinding prematurely. 

If you're experiencing a situation where the burrs are unable to spin and your Ode gives you an SOS beep, you're experiencing a jam. To read more about jams and what to do about them, refer to our help center article here.

Why Do Clogs Happen?

Clogs primarily happen because of the roast level of the coffee, the size of the beans, or the dose size, but of course, it can be a combination of any of these factors. You can think of the opening into the burrs kind of like a small door on a busy Black Friday morning. You know, before everything moved online, and you had to line up at 3 am to get that TV on sale. 

Just like the entrance to your local Best Buy back in the day, an Ode's load bin can get clogged if the beans enter it in just the right way. Here's a breakdown of how the factors we listed above affect clogs:

• Roast Level: The darker the roast of the coffee, the more oily the outside of the coffee bean will be. Unlike other instances where oil can help lubricate things, coffee oils actually make the beans more sticky, especially against the plastic walls of the load bin. More oily coffees are much more likely to get stuck as a result.
• Bean Size: It's a simple concept, but it has a large impact (no pun intended): The larger the bean is, the easier it is for a clog to happen. Coffees will vary in size depending on variety, so it's helpful to be mindful of this when grinding, whether that be a single-origin coffee or a blend.
• Dose Size: Similar to the size of the beans, the size of the dose of coffee you're grinding can have an equally large impact. The more coffee you're loading, the greater chance you have of a clog forming, simply because there's more there to get stuck.

Troubleshooting Clogs

Regardless of what factors are at play when your Ode clogs, the steps below can be extremely effective in clearing a clog in the moment and helping to prevent them in the future. 

• Get the beans moving: Sometimes, the easiest thing to do is just move the beans around to get them moving again. When beans get stuck, it's normally not a strong hold. Normally, all you need to do is gently tap the side of your Ode a few times or move the beans around a bit with a utensil.
• Start your Ode first: It's a small thing, but starting your Ode before you pour in your coffee can have a big impact on reducing clogs. The natural vibrations and the fact that the burrs are already moving can help move the beans through more easily than if they have a chance to settle before the burrs start grinding.
• Break up large doses: If you're grinding more than 30-40g of coffee, try breaking that amount into 2-3 smaller pours, allowing one to finish before pouring the next. Just by reducing the amount of coffee present at any given time, you can significantly lower the chances of a clog.
• Keep things clean: Make sure to periodically wipe down the walls of the load bin with a damp cloth to remove any oil buildup. The less oil is present, the less resistance the beans will have when they're being loaded. 

Need More Help? 

Ask our specially-trained CX assistant by clicking on the chat icon in the bottom right corner of this page. It will help you solve the issue or get you connected with someone from our Customer Experience team.