Hi
I'm using a miss silvia/compak grinder and having trouble getting a good ristretto. My most recent method is to weigh out 15g or so of beans before grinding, and I was able to get the time/vol pretty much right on. between 20-25g in the demitasse with a 25-30 sec shot .

But the flavor was kind of killed...in the beans I used this morning (my own blend roasted at home) the flavor was a bit bitter and kind of generic. Prior to dialing in that short shot, I had pulled a longer one and gotten a very nice cream soda kind of thing, but a lot of that flavor disappeared with the shorter shot. I began (as per the instructions on this forum) loosening up the grind a bit until I got more of the flavor I liked, and my next step will be to increase dose to see if I can get the flavor with ristretto shot.

Am I on the right track?
thanks.
bp

What do you do for a temperature surfing routine? When I had my Silvia, I initially worked to be able to achieve a consistent, optimal temperature, only then did I worry about dialing in the grind and dose.

basically I run the grouphead until the light goes on, wait til it flips off again, then wait between 0 and 20 secs. I have honestly not done a lot of comparison with temp differences, will definitely try to do that.

Not all coffee/blends will work well as a ristretto. If you preferred the flavors of the normal, then keep with it.

IMO if you want a ristretto with more flavor you may want to try dosing 18g or look at getting a triple basket if you don't have one already. I get the most flavor out of my triple basket regardless of bean. Also if you are using a dark bean/blend you have already diminished most of the flavor in the roast already so all you will get is bitterness in the cup.

badperson wrote:basically I run the grouphead until the light goes on, wait til it flips off again, then wait between 0 and 20 secs. I have honestly not done a lot of comparison with temp differences, will definitely try to do that.

In this scenario, you brew your coffee at the highest temperature, that's possible to get with Silvia. Try to start the brew button at cca. 2 minutes after light turns off.
Or you can try to run some water through the grouphead after light goes off to cool down the boiler and carry on with a shot - not very precise method.

I found this method worked well, and you can test the differences between 60s, 75s, 90s, 120s, etc., until you settle on the temperature you think tastes the best. Of course, different coffees will perform better at certain temps, but this will at least give you a rough estimate of what your "baseline" is and then you can work up/down from there.