Hi folks. Great site - I have learned a lot by reading the posts here. I have been trying to diagnose a fast pour issue that I have just about exhausted my experiments on. Any advice would be appreciated.

I have a Silvia/Rocky combo I bought new about 3 months ago. It seems that no matter what I do, I am getting pours of about 15 seconds. I am using fresh beans (Black Cat and others) and an Espro tamper. The shots look good, with thick, reddish crema, and taste decent. It is just that they pour through very quickly no matter how fine I grind.

I have taken apart Rocky and found where the burrs first touch. On my machine, it is actually at zero. Even if I grind at zero, I am getting about a 15 second pour. Last week I got a hold of a naked portafilter and started playing around. It actually doesn't look too bad. A few spritzies, but no major channeling that I can see, and the striping and color look good. It is just that it rushes out and blonds very fast.

I am using the stock Rancilio double basket, and am using something like 15g of coffee. Lately I have been doing a quasi-WDT thing with a toothpick which has improved the distribution I am seeing with the naked portafilter.

Anyway, I see the potential of the shots I am getting, but I can't seem to slow it down. I have never been able to choke Silvia at all, which makes me think that perhaps there is an issue with Rocky.

Any thoughts on where to go from here? Thanks!

Hello Scotto,

Could you elaborate to your exact method/steps to making a shot? How hard do you tamp? What do you tamp with? Do you polish or knock? Could you shoot a video of an extraction and post it? How does the coffee bead (first appear) across the basket?

Sorry to answer with more questions, but details (especially without video) really help.

If possible it would be a good idea to get a HB Member near you who has a grinder they know is working well and see if you can meet up with them to try their grinder. It would soon tell you is there is a problem with Rocky (although I suspect there is).

Scotto wrote:Even if I grind at zero, I am getting about a 15 second pour. Last week I got a hold of a naked portafilter and started playing around. It actually doesn't look too bad. A few spritzies, but no major channeling that I can see, and the striping and color look good. It is just that it rushes out and blonds very fast.

Could you post a video? While you're at it, check the brew pressure just to be certain it's not sky high (i.e., over-pressure valve is stuck shut).

That is odd. Even with old tired beans (which will act as you describe) you still should be able to choke the machine if you grind fine enough. Unless you have some serious distribution issues and are getting 15 second pulls from massive channeling, but that would be obvious with a bottomless portafilter.

Thanks for the quick replies. Not sure I can get video, but I'll look into it. Here are details, if they help:

Weigh beans (I have varied between 14 and 16g, trying to keep the puck from touching the screen)
Grind into mason jar. Shake it up a bit to help de-clump
Transfer grounds to portafilter
Stir up grounds with toothpick, then level
Light tamp (~10 pounds)
Straight-down tap of portafilter to get grounds off side of basket
30 pound tamp with Espro tamper. Size is 58mm, so can't really Staub
Polish with little pressure
Lock and pull

I have repeated this with decreasing grind size until one click from my zero point.

My first attempts with the NP showed side channeling and dead spots. Stirring things up before tamping seems to have helped a bit. My pours this morning didn't show major channeling disasters, but I'll take a closer look this weekend and post back.

Thanks!

What kind of beans are you using, and how old (roasted on date) are they?

I have used a variety of the Intelligentsia beans, never more than a week or two old.

Scotto,
when i first got my rocky all was going smoothly until i first took the thing apart for cleaning purposes. when i put it back together i started getting 10 second pours even with it set to zero. turns out i had misaligned the hopper with the burr carrier and was 1/3 of a turn off, but seeing as there is a screw in the bottom of the hopper, i could not get past zero. upon taking the screw out and realigning the hopper, my life became much easier.
i wonder if you could be having similar issues.

Thanks Jeff. I actually removed that stop screw in Rocky some time ago, so he can go as low as he wants. Good thought, though.

Tonight I pulled two doubles. Parameters as above, Black Cat (decaf in this case) ground as low as I can get on Rocky. First one was a blond gusher, about 13 seconds for 2 oz, and the second one was a donut extraction and then blew a side channel about half way through. Very frustrating. Made good cappuccinos, though....

I don't have a videocam, but perhaps I can jury rig my regular camera to get some video at some point.