Hello: What could cause my bottomless filter to "spit" coffee sideways at the beginning of the shot? Everything seems in order: shot time, coffee tastes fine, good crema. The gasket is fairly new and pliable and maybe I should look closer before posting this and watch the shot from the very start. I will look but post this anyway just in case someone knows what this could be.
Thanks, Duke

You need to read the memo; that's the whole point of bottomless PFs. What you got is a called a "spritzie," it indicates that you need to improve your distribution the coffee evenly prior to tamping. When you get a pour that doesn't squirt in your face at some point, you know that you are dosing, distributing, levelling and tamping correctly.

duke-one wrote:What could cause my bottomless filter to "spit" coffee sideways at the beginning of the shot?

It isn't clear to me whether you're referring to channeling or leaking around the grouphead gasket. Would you post a video?


Example "spritzie" on the right

I am not getting the Spritzing what is happening with mine is that the coffee is running down toward the handle of the PF. I tried a tighter tamp thinking that it was possibly too fast. Same result even when expressing slowly. I tried running it without any coffee and the same thing happens. When I use the single receptacle it doesn't happen. The coffee or water is coming from the bottom of the receptacle, not around the gasket. Any thoughts on that one? I did put a level on the machine to determine if it were leaning. It isn't. I am wondering if the Naked PF was improperly cut. I got it from WLL.

gitano1 wrote:I am wondering if the Naked PF was improperly cut.

I have seen one incorrectly cut bottomless portafilter that caused precisely what you describe. It was a La Cimbali portafilter, and coffee (or water, even, with an empty basket) would invariably run down the handle. It was simply an error by the person doing the milling on the portafilters.

Thank you, I suspected as much. I have to call WLL's tech support tomorrow. This one just didn't seem right to me.

Richard,
I talked to Tech support at WLL. They are going to send me an RMA form to return the portafilter. I suspect and so do they that it was simply a bad cut.

I'm a bit confused. Do you think you have a bad filter basket (which I think is properly called the portafilter, but rarely is), or do you think there is a problem with the bottomless portafilter holder/handle (which is what is usually called the portafilter on these forums, perhaps incorrectly)? I can't think how a bottomless portafilter holder/handle could cause the issue that you are seeing. I can see a bad portafilter basket doing this.

I think the cut on the bottomless portafilter is the problem. The basket should have some clearance which is not there. The basket has to be making contact in some way with the holder that is causing the coffee to bleed off into the holder. It is a surface tension issue.

gitano1 wrote:I think the cut on the bottomless portafilter is the problem. The basket should have some clearance which is not there. The basket has to be making contact in some way with the holder that is causing the coffee to bleed off into the holder. It is a surface tension issue.

That makes more sense.

Hopefully WLL sends a proper replacement.