Hi Everyone,

I am a newbie to high end espresso machines and excuse my english - it's not my mother tongue. I have a Rocket R58 since a couple of weeks now and I am spending a lot of time pulling shots to get it right. My equipments currently is:

Rocket R58
Rocket Fausto Grinder
VST 7g basket (I only drink singles so that is why I bought this)
Original Rocket single portafilter
Coffee: 80/20 locally roasted in Berlin

I am having difficulty towards the end of a shot. I am getting the basic parameters right (25g in 25seconds) and the shots taste fairly good. However towards the end of a shot (after 15s max) the flow becomes very noisy (is this the right word?) and I think it is "too blonde".

Can anyone suggest what I can try to prevent this? I would like to get it right.

Best regards
Mark

You need to grind finer. 25g is a very high ratio for 7g of coffee. I'm guessing it's watery, weak, and possibly bitter. Adjust your grind and Aim for 14g in 25 seconds.

Thanks so much for your fast answer. Wow - I thought the "rule of thumb" was 1g per second?

That would be about right if you were using a 14 gram (double) dose. But for a single you are significantly overextracting.

Follow these rules

for every 1 gram of coffee in the portafilter and 1gram of liquid out is a called a ristretto. So if you put 7 grams in and got 7 out in 25-30 seconds that is a ristretto.

for every 1 gram of coffee in the portafilter and 2 gram of liquid out is a called a espresso. So if you put 7 grams in and got 14 out in 25-30 seconds that is a espresso.

for every 1 gram of coffee in the portafilter and 3 gram of liquid out is a called a lungo. So if you put 7 grams in and got 21 out in 25-30 seconds that is a lungo.

Currently you are making shots in the lungo ratio. Grind finer and to slow down the shots.

Hi all! Thanks so much for all your help. I am trying to improve. I now calibrated everything so that I get 14-15g out of my 7g of coffee. However the problem persists, maybe now just a bit later. After 15s max the good, consistent chocolaty flow turns into a very blond, noisy, dancing flow of water.

I am tamping with a 41mm tamper for my VST 7g basket and I also use a compatible funnel (filler).

Any suggestions how I can improve? That would be great!

Mark

Blinding is also controlled by temp - you may be a few degrees to hot.

Check out the resource page and look at some of the newbie content. It's really not just for newbies - there are some real gem articles. And most of all, take a look at the two articles that have been sticky'd - they are classics and will directly address what you need to work through.

( I think you're getting close to nirvana)