Settling grinds before tamping?

#1: Post by **mbishop** » October 3rd, 2014, 9:57 am

Hi all,

I was having trouble with channeling and my grinder isn't great (lots of clumping) so I tried something to change the distribution of my grinds. It is similar to how when you buy a box of cereal, it says "package may not appear full as settling may have occurred". I decided to try "settling" my grinds in my portafilter before tamping.

What I did was to get one of those cork pads that you set plants on from the hardware store to use it as a pad off which I lightly "bounce" my grind-filled portafilter. I'll bounce it on the pad for about 15 seconds before I tamp but interestingly, by doing this, the grinds have settled almost to the level where I would want to tamp them anyway so it's a very light tamp, almost a simple polish.

Channeling seems rarer with this in place and I'm much happier! However, I'm new to this, so is this a known and obvious trick? Or am I unknowingly making my shot worse by doing so?

Best,

_ michael

#2: Post by **Mark08859** » October 3rd, 2014, 10:10 am

The Orphan Espresso "Slap Shot" technique. It dates back to ~2009. I think they used to sell a tamp pad expressly for that purpose, but I don't know if it still exists.

#3: Post by **cmin** » October 3rd, 2014, 10:17 am

I have a tamping mat, forgot the kind, just a small rubber one with a placeholder for a tamper in it. I just do 1 or 2 quick taps and that's it though, not 15 seconds but whatever works for you. I WDT, tap or two, then tamp.

October 3rd, 2014, 10:27 am

Mark08859 wrote:The Orphan Espresso "Slap Shot" technique. It dates back to ~2009. I think they used to sell a tamp pad expressly for that purpose, but I don't know if it still exists.

And there it is. Nice! Thanks for sending that.

October 3rd, 2014, 10:33 am

Hockey pucks are great for this; hence the "slap shot." I do a few light taps to settle the grinds in MCAL baskets, and a much more vigorous and prolonged series of taps to prep Caravel shots, which taste best when the basket is loaded to full capacity.

#6: Post by **cmin** » October 3rd, 2014, 11:06 am

Here's what my mat looks like and can see the cut out for the tamper. Not sure who makes it, when I bought my machine the guy sent this with it.

edit - n/m, this site apparently doesn't allow offsite images (huh?!?!?), even tried href tags. Tried uploading the image and says it's larger then 2mb, give up

#7: Post by **yakster** » October 3rd, 2014, 12:42 pm

I do this on a hockey puck.

#8: Post by **olddogTim** » October 6th, 2014, 10:35 pm

You should try a cheap aquarium air pump that is adjustable (the ones that vibrate)

#9: Post by **cannonfodder** » October 6th, 2014, 10:46 pm

Been doing that for years. I give the portafilter 3 light thumps on my tamping stand then tamp.

#10: Post by **Randy G.** » October 7th, 2014, 12:46 am

I tap around the bottom edge of my bottomless PF with the top of an aluminum tamper, but the aquarium idea is very interesting.