Do filter baskets degrade with use?

[cai42]

Greetings,

How do you know if you have to replace your filter basket?

Cliff Isackson

[Spironski]

When there are grinds in your coffeecup, either the holes in you filter are too big or your grind too fine. So when the grind is right and there are still grinds in your cup, it must be the filter!
I think a little grind in your cup is okay, though.

[shadowfax]

I believe that most baskets are made from stamped stainless steel. They may need to be scrubbed pretty regularly, as the oils do seem to discolor the bottom side of the filter ever so slightly even if you are an anal cleaner like me, but they will probably last longer than your boiler. They won't corrode and should not deform.

[cannonfodder]

They will wear out, but in a home environment it will take many, many years. In a café where the same basket pulls a couple hundred shots a day they will wear quicker and need replaced every year or so (educated guess). The holes will slowly grow from erosion.

[HB]

If baskets wear out, I've never noticed.

[cannonfodder]

Barry has (or had) a stack of them in his basement lab from his shop. They were worn out baskets. You could hold them to the light alongside a new basket and see a very noticeable difference in the hole size. Personally, I have never worn a basket out; I have worn the chrome out of a few portafilters, but never a basket.

[zin1953]

Ditto. (And some of my baskets are 15+ years old!)

[another_jim]

I don't know about the holes wearing. However, over time, the bottom of the basket starts sagging or bowing down, probably from being tamped inside the PF (I tamp the baskets outside the pf, with the bottoms resting on a mat, and they have stayed flat). The bowed bottom will distort the hole profile. Whether this affect the shot or not I don't know; it would make a good experiment.

[TimEggers]

Watching the basket closely I've seen the basket bow from the pressure of the shot making. Could this lead to basket wear via flexing?

[Spironski]

Water being the fluid that it is, wouldn't mind that the holes are at a slightly different angle, I guess. But let's remember the OP asked how one would know when the basket is worn. Or do we tell him that basket never wear out?
I have poked the holes of my filter with a toothpick once, in the early days . Purpose was to clean them, but afterwards I got grinds in my cup, they became just too wide.

[r-gordon-7]

Though it seems to me we're talking about relatively improbable and/or long term issues, FWIW, to me the basket rim is probably somewhat more likely to possibly become an issue (from knockbox misses, abuses, etc.) than any of the rest of the basket... That being said, I've not experienced even the hint of a basket problem - rim, holes, side or bottom...

[cafeIKE]

Basket Wear Trivia

[DavidMLewis]

However, over time, the bottom of the basket starts sagging or bowing down, probably from being tamped inside the PF (I tamp the baskets outside the pf, with the bottoms resting on a mat, and they have stayed flat).

Hi Jim,

I used to worry about this, until I realized that pulling the shot involves the equivalent of a 500 pound plus tamp with the bottom of the basket unsupported. Any distortion is going to occur then, whether the basket starts out flat or not.

Best,
David

[Elbasso]

I've managed to wear a basket out by vigorously scrubbing it with a green scrubby after each session. Took about one and a half year I believe. Nowadays I just take the basket out of the PF after each session and wash it with a bit of soap.

[Psyd]

Soap?!? Ewe! All kidding aside, I empty the basket into the knockbox, and then pop the basket out into the sink. As soon as I'm done making what ever it is I'm making, I wipe everything down under clean running water. The baskets and the PF's look as shiny as the day they came out of the box, and I just clean 'em up with Cafiza or Joe-Glo, or whatever other coffee cleanser I have lying around, every time I clean the group heads.
Is it possible that my LM-styled (not LM issue) 14g baskets were supposed to come with the bottom not flat? IIRC, they never, ever were.

[zin1953]

Soap? Never. Just hot water soak-and-rinse after each use, and then a Joe-Glo soak every week when I do the portafilters, etc.,etc.

[darrensandford]

Yeah, just a quick wash in running water on both sides using a washing-up brush after a shot for me.

[cai42]

Greetings,

So from the previous posts I guess everyone only has two baskets, one you are using and one as backup in case the first one gets lost. If you own more than two, why do you?

Cliff

[Spironski]

How about a single, a double and a triple basket?

[another_jim]

I used to worry about this, until I realized that pulling the shot involves the equivalent of a 500 pound plus tamp with the bottom of the basket unsupported. Any distortion is going to occur then, whether the basket starts out flat or not.

So I guess the bowed out baskets I see in cafes are not from tamping, just from lots of shots.