grinder is profitec T61

I'm using the standard "double" basket. I am dosing between 14-15.5g

I'm getting extractions that are too slow, and also not uniform. Loosening the grind tends to make the extraction extremely fast, blond nearly instantly and "squirt"

Tightening the grind tends to make the machine take 35-40 seconds and sometimes longer to make a shot. I've tried adjusting the dosage as I've mentioned earlier, I change one variable at a time. I find the grinder makes significant clumps if it's tightened past a certain point (I've heard varying opinions on whether "clumping" is an issue or not, and my personal opinion is that it is)

There's still something wrong with my tamping and distribution. I am trying to go back to basics and what I learned from the Silvia.

How do the shots taste, I wouldn't worry about shot duration if the taste is fine even if it spunds as if you are having some distribution/dose issues at this point

whitedime wrote:grinder is profitec T61

I'm using the standard "double" basket. I am dosing between 14-15.5g

I'm getting extractions that are too slow, and also not uniform. Loosening the grind tends to make the extraction extremely fast, blond nearly instantly and "squirt"

Tightening the grind tends to make the machine take 35-40 seconds and sometimes longer to make a shot. I've tried adjusting the dosage as I've mentioned earlier, I change one variable at a time. I find the grinder makes significant clumps if it's tightened past a certain point (I've heard varying opinions on whether "clumping" is an issue or not, and my personal opinion is that it is)

There's still something wrong with my tamping and distribution. I am trying to go back to basics and what I learned from the Silvia.

Nothing wrong with 35-40 sec shots if they taste good

They aren't terrible, but I've made really, really good shots with this machine before. I don't seem to know exactly when to cut the shot off.

Are you weighing the grounds or just using the timer? Depending on the espresso machine it doesn't take much of a change in dose to change the time. I'm still getting used to my T64 with changing beans/roasts and having to change the grind then figuring out what does to the time needed to grind X amount.

Roast, age, dose and grind alll affect the pour time....you mention your shots aren't terrible makes it sound as if they could be better...I'd say start with a fixed standard dose known to work well of a specific bean and age and experiment with the grind to get in the ballpark most of the time and THEan tinker around with distribution and tanp ( well imo tamping is the least of your worries if your grinder is up to the task)