14 G on a double basket is ok?

Should I change my grind too.

14G on a double basket is "normale".

If you were getting the correct time on your pours at 18 grams, then you should probably grind a little finer for a lighter dose.

Kuban111 wrote:Hi all,
Can someone please help me get rid of the 6 hole imprints on my puck.

The size of the holes are not like pin holes they are more like nail holes.
They are also in a circle patter.

So what am I doing wrong or what should I be doing better.
Please help, any light in how I can get rid of this problem will sure help.

Thank you,
Michael

When I reviewed that machine, I was not totally happy with the shower screen and noticed a similar problem. The brew pressure on the machine was too high, but I see you lowered it to around 9 bar (as I did). However the situation below is commonplace and difficult to remedy.

The shower-screen had a tendency to clog easily, and unless kept clean could send high pressure jets off at strange angles. Also flow from shower-screen
tended to be unneven This caused correctly tamped pucks to show evidence of channeling and cratering. Not all, but more than is reasonable (often leaving a real mess on the shower-screen). Additionally the higher pressures mentioned earlier and showerscreen design (not as free flowing as other designs), cause a high pressure shock" to the puck at beginning of pour and not such a gentle infusion (small powerful needle jets).

One of the other problems is of course if the machine is a bit too hot, which only makes matters worse, so it might be worth flushing slightly more and definitely keep that shower screen clean. I just reviewd my photo archive and I hve closups of the screen, I remember what a pig it was for clogging and how removing it for cleaning on a regular basis is advised.

Dave

Dave thanks for the info,

Do you remember what size basket you used and grams?

I did find that the machine does tend to get some what piggish like you said.
I do have to clean it up more than I thought.

I've been playing with the steam wand, leaving it open for the first seconds when I pull my shoots then closing it. I've been getting great results from this. (Pre infusion) type of technique.
http://www.home-barista.com/forum...tomatic-t3656.html

It also looks like the Venus responds well to an overdose double basket

This is my first machine so I'm open to anything & trying it all right now so I can get to know her.

Dave again thanks for the help and if you have any other suggestions, bring it on.

PS: checked you website looks really great. Also I lived in Coventry for a while, miss the brown sauce.

Kuban111 wrote:Dave thanks for the info, Do you remember what size basket you used and grams?

PS: checked you website looks really great. Also I lived in Coventry for a while, miss the brown sauce.

Just checked my photo archive and the horribly cratered puck is in a single, I think the problem is very slightly lessened with a double. Opening the steam wand then closing it to get a slower pressure ramp up is a good idea, I never tried that. Just know that you will be intimately familiar with the other side of the shower screen

I hope by "really great" website you mean the Coffeetime forum and the Coffeetime Wiki, the website holding the review isn't mine. Just to confuse matters there is an OLD coffeetime website that isn't updated anymore, I thought that the UK/Europe coffee community was better served by a Wiki and Forum working together. The website approach to holding articles was just to difficult to maintain as the software wasn't geared up for doing it.

So
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/coffeetime/index.htm (is old and not updated any more, plus it's got a load of "April Fool" Products on it, that don't really exist, like the Lattegraphe and the infamous Digitamp ). I simply keep it to help the search engines find the other sites



of course if the Digitamp really existed, I think people would want to buy it!

More fun but fake/non existent products at http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/coffeetime/_sgg/m4m1_1.htm

bahaha, that's a great site. I love the "latte art cup mover device" that makes latte art without moving the pitcher.

It's a little comic relief on a long day

-Matt

DaveC wrote: Just know that you will be intimately familiar with the other side of the shower screen

I can just hear my wife, more time spend with the espresso machine than me.

Davec Thanks for reminding me
You've been very helpful.