Hi Everybody,

I've just received my Expobar Brewtus IV-R and Baratza Vario. Trying to make a perfect shot. No much success so far. The extraction is too quick/light. I've started dosing 14-18 grams for the double shot. It was still not good. Raised up to 21. Tried different grind settings, from 2Q to 2A. Still dont see my desired density and nice extraction strips. The temperature is 201.

I'd appreciate if you guys can give some suggestions.

Thanks,
Ruben

What kind of beans? When were they roasted?

You may just need to calibrate the Vario. It's very sound dependent to know where the motor is straining. Barbara has a video online and they say to set the straining point in the middle fineness on the 1 macro setting.

Then start from 1W and continue to grind finer until do a least 25 seconds shot time. Also you can try to fill the hopper instead of single dosing if that's what are you doing now...

SonVolt wrote:What kind of beans? When were they roasted?

Those were Zoka beans from a white pack. Not sure when they were roasted.

spearfish25 wrote:You may just need to calibrate the Vario. It's very sound dependent to know where the motor is straining. Barbara has a video online and they say to set the straining point in the middle fineness on the 1 macro setting.

Could you please elaborate more on this? By saying calibrate do yo mean to choose the right setting or there is a different knob available on the grinder to calibrate? Where can I find that video?

Viernes wrote:Then start from 1W and continue to grind finer until do a least 25 seconds shot time. Also you can try to fill the hopper instead of single dosing if that's what are you doing now...

Will try that. I was thinking that by doing single dosing it would be easier to identify parameters since at least the weight would be constant.

I still cant find the answer regarding the weight of the double shot. Different sources give different numbers. Will this be different based on the grind level?

Rubenhak wrote:Could you please elaborate more on this? By saying calibrate do yo mean to choose the right setting or there is a different knob available on the grinder to calibrate? Where can I find that video?

There are several videos on youtube about vario calibration.

However I'll only do it if you can't grind fine enough. Try first if you can pull for example 35 seconds shots, if not, you'll need calibration. Also try with diffent coffees to run out of equation bad beans. And usually full hoppers instead of single dosing requires minor settings to achieve long shots.

Folks, thanks for the reply, I managed to do the calibration.
I have few followup questions. The shot length can be controlled by the grind setting as well as the amount of the coffee. From what I've learned is that the extraction duration (counting from the first drop to fill 2oz for double shot) should be between 20-30 seconds. The amount of coffee should be 16-18 grams. So by choosing different grind settings one can get to the 20-30 seconds by altering the coffee weight. My question is what is the "right" way to go?

Thanks,
Ruben