Help!!! Side Channeling?

[JD]

Help!

Nuova Simonelli Oscar machine I bought a month ago. I have tried everything I know but I get bad side channeling and about half way though the pour it turns blonde. I was thinking of adjusting the brew pressure. I was also looking at the basket, it has a ridge. Would a ridgeless basket help this.


Thanks

Jim

[OkcEspresso]

Weiss Distribution Technique [WDT].

Do a search for it on this board. There are pictures and diagrams and probably even bar charts. I use the bottom of a plastic water bottle and a bent up paper clip.

It will make all your wildest dreams come true. Seriously.

EDIT: Just looked and it is two threads south of this one.



C.

[JD]

That is what I am doing now but to no avail. Using yogurt cup.

[HB]

Just looked and it is two threads south of this one.

And an article. The Troubleshooting Checklist of Perfecting the Naked Extraction is another stop. When I see side-channeling, I look for distribution faults or inadvertent actions that are degrading the puck/basket adhesion (wet basket, rough lock-in, excessive tapping, too much pressure on polishing tamp, etc.).

Reducing the brew pressure generally reduces the likelihood of faults being painfully exposed. Setting the max pressure to 8.5 bar is a good starting point. See Minor Adjustments & Maintanence on the Resources page for links.

[JD]

I stopped tapping on the basket at all. I clean portafilter with a towel to dry it before dosing. I am getting it as level as possible. I am using Natural yirg from paradise roasters. Anything else I might do. I don't know!

[HB]

Measuring the actual brew pressure is the first step. Making a video of a bottomless pour like in this thread is very helpful (or a few snapshots of the early seconds of the pour). Also review the checklist I mentioned earlier, including puck clearance; some espresso machines will kill the extraction quality if there's not enough clearance, other machines are the opposite.

[VS_DoubleShot]

Not sure if anyone else does this - when I dose into the PF, after I level with my finger, I put my palm over the basket and kind of bang the bottom of the PF on the counter about 3 or 4 times. This has the same effect as packing a cigarette. The level of grinds will sink about half a centimeter sometimes. I think it breaks up some of the bigger clumps and gets the coffee to settle. I use a similar method to the Weiss - I stir the grinds in a plastic container before dosing into the PF.

Also, I use a tamper with a slight convex curve.

[jrtatl]

I am using Natural yirg from paradise roasters. Anything else I might do. I don't know!

Switch to a different coffee. In my experience, and that of at least one other member here (Jon, where are you?), Paradise coffees are difficult (but not impossible) to work with for espresso. I've tried three different coffees from them, and found the espresso blends easier to work with than the single origin I tried. The SO, an Indian Mysore, was so difficult to work with I bought an Aeropress to deal with it.

IMHO, Paradise coffees taste great, but they are not very forgiving in an espresso machine.

Just my $0.02. YMMV

[another_jim]

I personally have never noticed a large amount of problems with Paradise's roasts.

The NS basket is small, an old style 14 gram basket like the stock Rancilio one, and an absolute PITA to use, especially if the brew pressure is at stock. I played with the machine and had no luck with anything except lungoish shots; this was going by taste and blonding, since it wasn't a naked PF.

Your first order of business is to adjust the brew pressure and to get some LM, Cimbali, or Faema doubles (there's lots of OEM versions). The LM is better for normal or lungo doubles and for making movies of perfect extractions, the Faema and Cimbali for ristrettos.

[JonR10]

I personally have never noticed a large amount of problems with Paradise's roasts.

I'm with Jeremy. My skill is insufficient to pull decent nekked shots with most Paradise blends and SO roasts.
The only luck I had was with Classico and I used an underdosed triple basket to get a decent (not GREAT) extraction.

My experience is that I have had much better results consistently from blends by Cuvee Coffee, Caffe Fresco, Intelligentsia, Coffee Emergency, Metropolis, and West Coast Roasters

[another_jim]

Paradise roasts are generally lighter than the ones you favor; and that could be the problem. Lighter roasts grind very differently, maybe with less fines. In any case, it's impossible to make espresso with a cinnamon roast, and the lightest limit is a light city roast. I use a very convex tamper (the original tall espressoparts one) and nutate it (rock it around) so that the puck is very convex indeed -- I think this helps, since it allows me to make mechanically good shots even with the light city roasts I use for cupping.

[jrtatl]

Paradise roasts are generally lighter than the ones you favor; and that could be the problem. Lighter roasts grind very differently, maybe with less fines.

Thread hijack continuing:

Thanks for the insight Jim. I suspect that this may have been my personal difficulty with Paradise in my espresso machine. With the espresso blends, I was able to dial in for a good, sometimes great, shot. With the SO bean I had -- no way. I couldn't find equilibrium.

But, the lighter roast is probably why I loved the Paradise flavors so much. In the Aeropress, the Indian MNEB tasted like pumpkin pie. In the espresso machine, the MNEB was ho-hum, a below average straight shot and americano.

Thanks again.

[JD]

Thanks for all the great posts you guys. At least I know it is not all my fault. I learn something new here everyday!