Hi all,

So this is my first post here, I've done quite a bit of research on the forum but had not posted yet. Something recently seems. To be drifting in my equipment and I can't seem to find what it is so I figured I might ask here.

The machine is a Rancilio Silvia V3, the Grinder a Baratza Vario, using a conceptart flat tamper, currently on fresh Counter Culture Hologram coffee. Everything was. Purchased new in 2012 and have had no heavy maintenance done to it other than brewhead gaskets, screens and regular cleaning. No modifications either.

So I've been getting very fast extraction lately and the quality of my shots are very low. I weigh my doses at 16.5g on stock double basket, grind setting is 1-J. I will fill a 50ml cup in under 10 seconds everytime lately, average 7 seconds.

I tried to put more coffee, even at 18g I was still getting fast extraction, and the porta filter was actually quite full and hard to install in the head.

I thought my tamping technique was off so I measure the force on a scale and I was surprised at the amount of force I had to put in to get to 30lbs, so I figure I might be tapping a little under 30lbs

I thought my Grinder calibration was off so I did the calibration procedure on it and it was actually not that far off. Nonetheless with the Grinder calibrated and set at 1-J (the point where I understand the burrs start touching and where you would not want to go any lower), I can't get a Good shot like I used to.

Could my Grinder need a burr replacement? Or is there something wrong with the Silvia? On the Silvia side, I really don't know what could be wrong but I'm far from an expert.

I'm really tempted to change the burrs but, I would be a little mad if it didn't help me.

It can definitely be your burrs if you can't grind fine enough. If it's fresh coffee, you can't grind fine enough to choke the machine, the next thing to check is the burrs.

It will likely be the calibration, unless you've run a LOT of coffee through that grinder. Most people mistakenly set too coarse during calibration because they are afraid of hurting the burrs. You have to tighten until you hear the motor begin to labor. This will not hurt the burrs. When you have coffee in the grinder, the burrs are prised apart by the beans. Also, you are not likely going to run at the very finest setting with an empty grinder. If this does not work, then, alas, you will need new burrs, as already suggested.

I also got a new Vario recently, and I had to calibrate finer than the guide tells you to calibrate. IIRC I set macro to 2, micro to the middle, and then turned the calibration screw until I heard motor labouring (I believe the guide tells you to do it with macro at 1). I'm now generally operating around 1E to 1G.

I'm using coffee from Tim Wendelboe (who I believe roasts quite light), and using fairly small baskets (VST 15g) - I believe that combination requires a finer grind than usual. Before I recalibrated, I had very short extractions even with 1A.

I have noticed that chanelling can also reduce the shot time quite a bit, and I generally have to do WDT to avoid that (It's quite warm and humid in my house right now, my grinds were a lot fluffier a few weeks ago when it was drier).

When you say that it's the correct grind do you mean by feel or because a manual / forum said it was best? As others have mentioned, the Vario might need to be calibrated to grind even finer. I found this on the HB forums Recalibrating the Baratza Vario [photos].

Just be careful: that guide is the old guide. Modern Varios have a calibration screw in front of that flap, that screw is usually sufficient for most calibration needs (and is what OP used). You can still use the old calibration guide, but it should only be needed in extreme cases.

(Just to be more clear than my last post: I calibrated using 2J instead of the recommended 1J calibration in the guide.)

Did you experience this problem following a grinder cleaning and re-calibration? Or... did the problem suddenly occur with nothing changed to your equipment? That is to say, did you get a good extraction one day and the next day it was too fast with nothing changed in between?

For all the world, this sounds like the grind is too coarse in spite of your calibration efforts and previous grind settings.

What I would do is adjust the grind to achieve a 25 to 30 second exaction starting when the espresso starts to drip from the portafilter, regardless of what the past grinder settings yielded. Then... go from there to track down the problem.

Plangevin wrote:Hi all,

So this is my first post here, I've done quite a bit of research on the forum but had not posted yet. Something recently seems. To be drifting in my equipment and I can't seem to find what it is so I figured I might ask here.

So I've been getting very fast extraction lately and the quality of my shots are very low. I weigh my doses at 16.5g on stock double basket, grind setting is 1-J. I will fill a 50ml cup in under 10 seconds everytime lately, average 7 seconds.

I tried to put more coffee, even at 18g I was still getting fast extraction, and the porta filter was actually quite full and hard to install in the head.

I thought my Grinder calibration was off so I did the calibration procedure on it and it was actually not that far off. Nonetheless with the Grinder calibrated and set at 1-J (the point where I understand the burrs start touching and where you would not want to go any lower), I can't get a Good shot like I used to.

Could my Grinder need a burr replacement? Or is there something wrong with the Silvia? On the Silvia side, I really don't know what could be wrong but I'm far from an expert.

I'm really tempted to change the burrs but, I would be a little mad if it didn't help me.

Run it through the grinder again.

Hi, I had the same problem when I first with the vario - forget the factory calibration setting... I can't remember what I did exactly but as I recall I adjusted it so the burrs started to contact around 4 and then tightened the machine to mid 2's.. for proper fineness and that was close for me.... point is.. keep tightening it until you get the time and TASTE you are looking for... if I were you as I've suggested in other posts, id get something with a full metal grind chamber housing (rocky, mini or super jolly)... even if you get the vario adjusted, it's not easy to make consistent small adjustments because there is too much flex everywhere, my experience anyways...

Wow thanks for all the replies, the amount of support in a short period of time really is out of the ordinary!

Regarding questions on what I believe is correct grind, I must admit I don't have much experience with various piece of equipments so I don't really have a baseline.

I did the calibration based on written Baratza guide and various YouTube diy guides. I can definitely hear the pitch change around 1-M.

I was afraid of damaging the burrs if I went any tighter but I may just try this in the end. I'll try to post some video and pics when I get back home