Any advice on buying 58mm baskets for dosing by volume

by **rattaps** on Wed May 04, 2011 10:15 am

Hi, i'm still setting up a 3 head NS machine and i'm wondering if u guys have any preference on the basket size to dose by volume, i know it's better to dose by weight, but it's tough in our situation since there will be a few guys that make their own espressos i would prefer to have a perfect sized basket for around 16 gram shot, i know that the commercial machines fit the E61 baskets, but i'm still wondering if there's any preference or way of buying the right or wrong ones, let me know, thanks,

by **Randy G.** on Wed May 04, 2011 11:09 am

The best solution would be to adjust the doser on the grinders to dispense 8 grams per pull, or at least to dose the correct amount for a double using two pulls on the doser lever.. Even a basket that would work well with a leveled dose of 16 grams may not be the best solution for any given coffee or the age of that coffee as you adjust the grind during the day and from day to day as the coffee ages or environmental factors change.

by **rattaps** on Wed May 04, 2011 11:33 am

so if i go to this chris coffee link http://www.chriscoffee.com/products/hom...sertbasket
, look at baskets, there are 5 different brands and generic as well, how should i know what i want aside from some are 53mm, im confused, i was wondering that same thing last time, ended up just blindly buying one..

by **jknotzke** on Wed May 04, 2011 11:50 am

Randy G. wrote:The best solution would be to adjust the doser on the grinders to dispense 8 grams per pull, or at least to dose the correct amount for a double using two pulls on the doser lever.. Even a basket that would work well with a leveled dose of 16 grams may not be the best solution for any given coffee or the age of that coffee as you adjust the grind during the day and from day to day as the coffee ages or environmental factors change.

But that assumes the doser is full no ?

How does the adjustment work.. Does it change the size of the cell or the height of the blades ?

J

by HB on Wed May 04, 2011 12:26 pm

From Espresso Grinder Features:

HB wrote:Doser — a doser is the large cylinder in the front of the grinder that receives the grinds. At the bottom of the cylinder is a circle of wedge-shaped vanes that fill with grinds. Each flick of the handle advances the next wedge toward the bottom exit hole at the front of the doser. The dose amount is adjusted by increasing or decreasing the height of the rotating vane, thereby changing the wedges' volume. To work properly, the doser must be at least ½ full so the weight of the grinds pushes hard enough to fill the wedge from top to bottom. Metering shots using a doser is thus practical in a busy café, but for home use the doser instead acts as a "holding area" for a shot or two worth of grinds that are then dispensed by pulling the handle a few times.

by **Randy G.** on Wed May 04, 2011 12:41 pm

I assumed that you are dealing with a commercial establishment and that the doser would be at least partially full. Commercial dosers do have an adjustment on the doser vanes that can be set to dose a specific volume of coffee. It is not terribly accurate, but probably close enough for most uses..

The problem with your question is that you are trying to use a volume measurement (the volume of a basket) to measure a mass (the weight of the coffee) when there are variables that affect the weight: volume such as grind, humidity, roast level, and such.

Do you already have the equipment? What volume of business are we talking about? Giving more specifics about your situation would help give you more specific answers.

by **portamento** on Wed May 04, 2011 1:08 pm

The original poster's question wasn't about how to dispense consistent 16g doses from the grinder, it was how to select the right basket for a ~16g dose.

I've found that the standard ridged faema-style double basket works pretty well with 16g. After tamping, the basket ridge will help you gauge the consistency of your dose volume.

The stock Nuova Simonelli double basket that comes on the Mac 2000 was awkwardly shallow so I replaced it. Not sure if their newer models come with different/better baskets.

I would not recommend filling the doser in order to expel 8 grams at a time. The benefits of grind-to-order (i.e. freshness!) are far greater. There are various barista techniques for manually producing a consistent dose in the portafilter, or you can use a timed grinder.

by **Randy G.** on Wed May 04, 2011 2:01 pm

portamento wrote:The original poster's question wasn't about how to dispense consistent 16g doses from the grinder, it was how to select the right basket for a ~16g dose..

Same question another way:
"What's the best jar that will fill to the top with exactly one pound of coffee?"

back to the original question, it depends on the grinder. Some grinders create a very fluffy output like my Kony so a basketful will hold a bit less than 16 grams sometimes. Other grinders create an even fluffier grind, so with those even more so. Some grinders like Rocky create a much more dense grind.

The simple (very simple [extremely simplified]) answer is that most standard double baskets hold about 16 grams of coffee, more or less, most of the time.

My initial gut reaction was that if you are using volume to control mass, then any standard double basket will do and just adjust grind to match the dose and don't worry about what it weighs.

by **jknotzke** on Wed May 04, 2011 2:35 pm

HB wrote:From Espresso Grinder Features:

Ah ha, thanks for that.. So since I am emptying out my doser each and every time, I should lower those vanes as much as possible to keep it clean..

Cool stuff. I had no idea they worked that way !

J

by **rattaps** on Wed May 04, 2011 4:03 pm

grinder is a La Cimbali Junior,
it's not my first pick, but the price was ok so i went for it,
i see what Randy means, and it would work is the volume would be much higher,
but it's only a 20 employee busineess and about half of them will make espresso's
so doing the 2 click dose will welcome stale grinds sitting in the doser for extended hours,
so thats not ideal,


Contact Us	Legal disclaimer and copyright: This content and all its parts are copyrighted, all rights reserved. Content including all text and images in part or in whole may not be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission. Home-Barista, Home-Barista.com and related logos are trademarks of Home-Barista.com, LLC. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. By accessing this site, you agree to the terms of service. Overall speed: , current page: s, avg: s, max: s