Got a silvia, sunbeam EM0480 and a naked portafilter. I usually get about one ounce out of a double in 30 seconds. That's fine they taste ok. However i can't seem to get a shot closer to a double espresso without it tending to blond early. I can get the shot into the 2 ounce in 30 second range, however it still seems to blonde at around 1.25ish ounces. almost always too sour for my taste. There's no channeling and the beans are fresh. In fact im getting a kg of beans tomorrow, which were roasted today. Quality isn't an issue either, they are superb!

What should i do? Im dosing between 14 and 15g and grinding to get my ristrettos. Ive tried coarsening up the grind and dosing the same but it still blondes at the one ounce mark, just gets there quicker. I've tried up dosing to 18ish (never measured, no scale when i did it) and getting the grind to match timing. yet it's still blonding at around the one ounce mark.

Any help?

David,

First thing - what kind of coffee is it? You mention fresh, but is that a guarantee?

More importantly - it's your grinder most likely. Upgrading to a good grinder should be the #1 priority (even moreso than upgrading the machine)

I did find some other info regarding your current grinder: http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1160441
May be of interest to you.

If you post up a video of your grinding/tamping/etc routine we may be able to help if there are any technique flaws

I have a video.. somewhere. might have to make a new one. It's guaranteed fresh, roasted on may 4th. Just finished that bag, getting a bag today that was roasted yesterday, direct from the roasters . Grinder is easily a possibility I've done a rocky-esq mod by putting some masking tape around the burr carriers to firm them up and also make it stepless which has seen a huge improvement.

I order "Espresso Organic" from CoffeeSnobs here in Aus. They have a good reputation and for good reason. I've tried roasted beans from local roasters and they just don't compare.

Could pump pressure be another issue? I have a feeling it might be slightly over pressure but i don't have a way of measuring it.

The only thing I would advise changing is after your first tamp you gave the portafilter a massive shake.

Try making a shot without that and compare the results. I understand the idea is to get the coffee off the sides - but the general consensus is that little bit of extra coffee on the sides makes no difference in the shot.
But shaking it or tapping the portafilter with the tamper (as many others do) you are just disturbing your well prepared puck.

I would try without the shake - see if that improves it.

Another thing I couldn't tell from the video is how well your tamper matched the basket. Is it a pretty good fit?
And lastly, if you can get your hands on a bottomless portafilter - this would be the best way to improve your technique!

If you had some minor channeling it would be tough to see that coming out of the spouts.

Also what's your PID set to?
I still would suggest upgrading to a better grinder

I have my pid set to 105c, down from 107c. just playing with it for now. I didn't wait for it to stabilize because it was running slightly hot so i did a quick flush to get it down to temp before pulling the shot.

I've been pulling shots without the shake for a while now and there's been no noticeable difference. For good or bad, however i've eliminated the shake all together because it seems like an unnecessary step.

Tamper isn't the best fit out, hence why i used to shake. I've been doing the nutating tamp method to try and help but i really haven't noticed an improvement in taste, only consistency.

I've had a naked portafilter for almost a month now and can say that there's no channeling, seems like a uniform blonding over the entire puck (when i do get the shot right, heh).

Even so i still love my shots and they're quite drinkable as a straight espresso. With the naked PF i pull 60ml doubles in 30 seconds, however its almost all crema. Once the crema settles it becomes a 1.25 ounce ristretto. There's no taste problem here, just me trying to figure out how to pull 'proper' espresso's. I'd love to know how

Zaneus wrote:I have my pid set to 105c, down from 107c. just playing with it for now. I didn't wait for it to stabilize because it was running slightly hot so i did a quick flush to get it down to temp before pulling the shot...
Even so i still love my shots and they're quite drinkable as a straight espresso. With the naked PF i pull 60ml doubles in 30 seconds, however its almost all crema. Once the crema settles it becomes a 1.25 ounce ristretto. There's no taste problem here, just me trying to figure out how to pull 'proper' espresso's. I'd love to know how

I have a PID'd Silvia, Fuji, attached at external, lower part of boiler. 109.2 runs best for me. No sours.

I am unfamiliar with your grinder model. I would suggest that might be where your problem is. Reason I say that is I just changed my burrs on the Macap MC4. At 5 years wear, I was catching early blonding, regardless of how tight I went with the grind, with a "fuller" flow-through rather than a tight tiger-tail in the naked filter. I changed my burrs out and immediately the early blonding ceased and a tight tail returned.

I've heard all sorts of things with silvia temperature. Some swear by 104, some swear by 108. Never heard of it as high as 109.2 though. I'd imagine grinder is my problem as i feel like i've exhausted all other variables (aside from boiler pressure). It's regarded as the cheapest you can go as far as far as home espresso is concerned while still getting good results. Problem is i've just moved out and i don't start my new job for another week and a half. Money is far too tight for me right now to accommodate a new grinder.

Zaneus wrote:I've heard all sorts of things with silvia temperature. Some swear by 104, some swear by 108. Never heard of it as high as 109.2 though. . . Money is far too tight for me right now to accommodate a new grinder.

I struggled with the PID setting at 1st because of all the lower settings you read on threads. Finally, I got by that bias and went with taste. 109.2 it is, on my machine; others may differ.

Have you thought about a hand grinder as an interim move?

B|Java