Quick answers to the questions home baristas ask most. Want the full walkthrough? See features or download DialedIn free on iOS.
Dialing in espresso means adjusting your grind size, dose, and yield until the shot pulls in the target time window (typically 25 to 32 seconds for a 1:2 ratio) and tastes balanced — not sour from under-extraction or bitter from over-extraction. Every new bag of beans usually needs to be dialed in again because freshness, roast level, and origin all shift the ideal settings.
A 1:16 coffee-to-water ratio (for example, 20g of coffee to 320g of water) is a strong starting point for most pour over methods including V60, Kalita Wave, and Chemex. Lighter roasts often benefit from slightly higher ratios (1:17) while darker roasts can go a bit stronger (1:15). DialedIn lets you save your favorite ratios per recipe so you can repeat what works.
Sour espresso almost always means under-extraction. The fix: grind finer, increase the dose slightly, raise water temperature by 1 to 2 degrees Celsius, or extend the shot time. Track each adjustment in DialedIn so you can see exactly which change moved the rating up.
Bitter espresso is typically over-extraction. The fix: grind coarser, reduce the dose, lower water temperature, or stop the shot earlier. Bitterness can also come from old or stale beans, so check the roast date — beans 7 to 21 days off roast tend to perform best.
Pour over typically calls for a medium grind, similar in feel to coarse sea salt. Finer grinds slow the draw down and extract more body and sweetness; coarser grinds speed it up and brighten acidity. DialedIn stores grinder-specific step sizes for 400+ grinders so you can dial precisely on your equipment.
Yes. DialedIn is free forever — no ads, no subscriptions, no premium tier, and no data selling. The full feature set including brew tracking, the bean notepad, the timer, and analytics is available to everyone. Optional cloud sync via a free account is also free.
No account is required. DialedIn works fully offline and stores your brews locally on your device. If you want to back up your profile and coffee notepad across devices, you can create a free optional account at any time from the Profile tab.
DialedIn ships with 400+ presets covering popular espresso machines, grinders, and pour over devices — including Breville, Profitec, La Marzocco, Niche, DF64, Fellow, Hario V60, Kalita Wave, Chemex, AeroPress, and many more. Grinder-aware precision automatically adjusts step sizes to match your specific grinder.
Yes. DialedIn supports any brew method that fits the espresso or pour over flow, including AeroPress (inverted and standard), Moka Pot, French Press, and immersion brewers. Pick the method when logging a session and the relevant fields adapt automatically.
Never. DialedIn stores your brew data locally on your device by default. There are no ads, no analytics SDKs that track you across apps, and no data is sold to third parties. If you opt into cloud sync, only your profile and coffee notepad are synced — your brew sessions stay on-device.
DialedIn is currently available on iOS (iPhone and iPad). Android support is on the roadmap but not yet released. Follow along at dialedin-coffee.com for updates.
Most coffee apps target competition baristas with TDS readings, extraction yield calculators, and cupping matrices. DialedIn is built for home baristas who just want to remember what worked and improve their next cup. It is free, fast, offline-first, and free of pro-only jargon.