Marshall wrote:This is probably futile advice, but I would like you to reconsider and focus on espresso as a delicious beverage to be savored and not as a lab experiment for generating data points. With the equipment you are buying and assuming you buy good, fresh beans, making great espresso will be easy.

Totally concur! While my initial approach sounds very left brain, the object is to consistently make good stuff ASAP and enjoy that Savory Beverage Experience. I will stop crunching numbers as soon as possible. My wife, being an engineer, will prob dig the spreadsheet, though.

I appreciate your voice of reason, Marshall; you keep it in perspective.

Compass Coffee wrote:, IMO it can take some time and practice to get consistently good results, I believe the sentiment is let your palate not data points be your guide.

The challenge to me is making it consistently palatable. I hope the data points just get me ballparked sooner. They are in and of themselves no guarantee of maximum "good" flavor. It's kind of fun to track the variables in a geeky way.

Not to make it sounds like it's so dependent on the machines, but I think you'll find things more consistent and predictable once you get the K30 Vario.

Newbie here too. It's funny but one of the things I enjoy about my new hobby is it is a good outlet for my obsessiveness. I actually enjoy the lab/spreadsheet aspect of this -- the quest for the "God shot" on limited home equipment. Reading through these forums this geeky obsesiveness seems to be a character trait here

Cincyjack wrote:The challenge to me is making it consistently palatable. I hope the data points just get me ballparked sooner. They are in and of themselves no guarantee of maximum "good" flavor. It's kind of fun to track the variables in a geeky way.

I completely agree with this, but think you also need to add relative humidity to the spread sheet.

I do something similar, and have found that my consistency has improved considerably as a result, and the number of sink shots has gone way down, especially after adding humidity to the data set.

Alan.

Hi Alan,

What did you change to account for humidity? Thanks.

Winston

Higher humidity usually needs grind loosened a hair, or dose lowered.

wkmok1 wrote:Hi Alan,

What did you change to account for humidity? Thanks.

Winston

My problem was that I didn't start with a spreadsheet, I started by developing some software that would tell me what grinder setting, dose weight, and extraction time to use to produce the desired coffee. I enter the humidity, bean description, and the days since the coffee since roasted, and it tells me the grind setting, grind time, dose weight and extract time to produce the perfect shot. At least that is what is supposed to happen. The software then generates a spreadsheet showing what the program recommends, along with some data indicating how it came to the conclusions.

I started developing in the fall without taking humidity into consideration, and found that the predictions got more and more inaccurate as the humidity dropped, so I added humidity to the program and the results are now a lot more consistent.

As Compass Coffee stated higher humidity requires a coarser grind, but with my grinder (a vario) I find I need to adjust the grinder by several steps to account for humidity changes.

Alan

1. New burrs won't, based upon my experience, give you the best flavor before serious seasoning-in time.
2. Find a real roaster and barista in your area; describe the flavor profile you like to the barista; buy some of the same beans so you then have a benchmark for your own pulling sessions.
3. Just because the PID displays "200 degrees" doesn't necessarily mean the brew temp is matched; strap a thermocouple to the group to start gathering a sense of being able to index the group to the flavor in the cup.
4. You mention Redbird but not a varietal/blend. I've pulled hundred elbees plus of Jeff's beans and some of his beans/roasts peak at 8-days while others at 5 days and then a 50/50 blend of his Sumatra and Wote Konga peaks near 19-21 days!
5. Generally I pull Jeff's (Redbird) beans, especially his Brazilian beans/bean blends at a lower relative temp.
6. This really should be #1 or #2: To short cut your teething process take a hands-on beginner to intermediate barista class from an experienced barista. Or if you show just a modicum of interest to a real roaster/espresso shop's chief barista you'll be amazed at the information you can derive for a benjamin discretely given while shaking his/her hand; worth every penny to the right barista...and you !

Wow, the K30 is schweet. Easy to adjust. A step forward.