Hi guys,

I'm afraid there's something wrong with at least one piece of the espresso equation at my house and I simply can't believe it's so damn hard to get a proper shot with this kind of setup. The usual suspect is the grinder, so I got my Macap MC4 out and tried it to see how the extractions look/taste compared to the Major:

- here's a shot from my Macap

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tompjagiello/3847723847/

- and here's a shot from my Major

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tompjagiello/3847737881/

Taste wise the Macap was a bit more spicy and the Major was a bit sweeter. Both shots not too bad, but nothing to write home about. Bitterness on a reasonable level, medium body, good sweet/acidic/sour balance. Of course the extraction from Major was off due to uneven distribution.

Because the shot from the Major was a bit too fast I switched to a slightly finer grinder setting and screwed up my distribution again as I got this:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tompjagiello/3847751033/

Too bitter, but still not awful considering the look. Then again I had like 6-7 double espressos now, so I might be talking rubbish.

I'm using a fresh blend, 5 days old Perfetio blend from my local roaster and I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the bean. The pressure on the pump is 8.5bar, I'm using the smaller Kehin gicleur, no needle valve, no preinfusion. Dose is 14.5g in the original ridged basket, temperature around 91*C, tried lower but it was too acidic.

As I wrote before, my first suspect was the grinder, but I get similar channeling with the Macap as well, so I think it's not it. It's true that the shots from the Macap look a bit more even, but taste wise it is similar. I will try to test the grinder with a different machine and see what this test shows. One thing that's a bit odd with the Major is that the shot can start fast but slows down a few seconds earlier. For example it beads evenly, rather fast but then stops and the whole thing drips for quite a long while before forming a single stream. With the Macap the transition between beading and stream is faster and there's no slow down.

Another suspect would be my pump inline pressure which I agree is probably too low, only 1bar. Other things I can think of would be water distribution at the group (I'm planning to switch to an LM type of distribution simply to check how that works) and/or water line going from the pump to the machine which is only 10mm OD. I know Dave uses 1/2" and I think he mentioned he had problems with lower diameter and/or low pressure on the supply line in his review thread.

Of course I might be missing the obvious cause of my problems - me, although I try to do as little as possible when preparing the shot. I dose straight from the funnel into the basket, do a light tamp, a slight twist with no pressure to clean the base of the tamper from coffee grounds and lock. Perhaps my distribution is off?

Regards,
dsc.

I run a half inch to the primary regulator, then to a splitter that feeds two more regulators under the espresso bar. One goes to a 3/8 line another regulator to fine tune the pressure then 3/8 to the machine. The other leg goes to another regulator, then to two 1/4 inch lines one of which goes to the plumbed in drip pot and the other is spare. I run 2 bar mains on the machine.

Wish you weren't on the other side of the ocean. If you were within a hundred miles I would drive over and lend a hand. The equipment is more than adequate, not sure where the problem is coming from.

dsc wrote:Another suspect would be my pump inline pressure which I agree is probably too low, only 1bar. Other things I can think of would be water distribution at the group (I'm planning to switch to an LM type of distribution simply to check how that works) and/or water line going from the pump to the machine which is only 10mm OD. I know Dave uses 1/2" and I think he mentioned he had problems with lower diameter and/or low pressure on the supply line in his review thread.

Regards,
dsc.

In any of your videos I do not hear any sign of your pump pulling a negitive pressure. Remember for a rotary pump a solid steady input pressure is better than a low pressure setup. If you feel that your inlet line is stable then your head pressure will be stable.

Any steady pressure from suction to a large positive pressure will work for a rotary pump, as long as it is stable. But a large swing on the inlet will make a large swing on the outlet. There is no buffer there.

Hi guys,

Dave thanks for the offer, unfortunately I haven't got enough money to sponsor over-the-ocean flights:)

The water pressure on the suction side is positive and as far as I'm aware there are no large swings (at least not when I'm brewing espresso). I agree it's on the low side, but it's there all the time.

I switched to a Synesso triple basket and things got a bit better, quite steady flows, no major channeling. Perhaps I was trying make the coffee work instead of working with it? Anyways I've ran out of this blend and now I'm brewing a Cuba Supreme SO. I've also switched to a ridgeless double basket and I'm curious how that is going to work. The only problem with it is that it doesn't want to lock easily and I'm a bit worried I will crack the wooden handle when forcing it. On top of that Elektra's gaskets aren't standard and so there's no easy solution to this problem.

Regards,
dsc.

Hi guys,

I'm back and having changed the coffee and the basket brought some interesting conclusions. Here's the original ridged double:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tompjagiello/3856564521/

and the ridgeless:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tompjagiello/3856588335/

Looks better, but I'm not really concerned with it as I was trying to focus on the taste which was better from the ridgeless. Currently the dose is very low (13g) and to be honest I preferred the shots from a slightly higher dose which means I will have to switch to the triple basket as the coffee puck is quite high even with lower doses. The bad news is that I'm already half way through the bag:|

Regards,
dsc.

You're topping out your ridgeless double at 13g?

Wow.

Agree...you sure you are weighing correctly.

At 13g, my ridgeless doubles after tamping are about 1/2" from the top. My Espro tamper base is completely in the basket...and it is a thick base.

Hi guys,

sorry for the confusion, 13g is actually quite normal in the ridgeless, the whole tamper base fits inside and leaves around 2-3mm of space between the top of the base and the rim of the basket. Previously I was brewing with 15g and I was getting a screen imprint on the puck, so I thought that moving to a triple might be a good idea.

Regards,
dsc.

Bet the triple will make things worse. If it's anything like the Semi, the more coffee in the basket, the worse the shot. The Semi shines with a single basket, (even an overfilled one) and isn't quite as good with the double. I think this is an across board issue with Elektras.