I've read the HX Love post even though I have an SBDU w/ PID. I always run a few ounces of water to heat up my portafilter and preheat my cup, but I found this morning that my second shot (which I don't do that often) was much better. The machine had been preheated for 30 or 45 minutes (typical) before I pulled the first shot this morning. I left the puck in while I drank my first shot and then dumped, rinsed and repeated.

Did leaving the puck in there do a better job of heating the portafilter? Or was it the extra few ounces of water? Are there tips out there for heating up the group of a machine without an E61?

My money is on the extra few oz of water. I do this every time I pull a shot and they always look and taste amazing.


My process:
1. Heat the machine for approx 15min.
2. Flush 2-3oz of water to heat the cup as well as allow the boiler to get back up to brew temp.
3. Pull the shot.

Flushing with the portafilter in heats it up faster.

Gig103 wrote:[...] but I found this morning that my second shot (which I don't do that often) was much better.

This has already been discussed somewhere. It may not be related simply to a temperature issue. It may also be linked to residual coffee oil, making the second shot better than the first one.

Louis wrote:It may not be related simply to a temperature issue. It may also be linked to residual coffee oil,
making the second shot better than the first one.

That was Ian's assertion in Sink that First Shot.

Very interesting (about the Sink shot). I was only able to read about 6 pages on a break. I'll do a little experimentation myself.

And so I don't bump that 3 year old thread, if I'm drawing a sink shot do I need to use a single basket in order for it to 'work' with 7g of coffee? And instead of grinder purges (the Vario is less than 1g of stale according to reviews) what about old pucks? Too gross?

Similar routine to Burner0000:

1) Machine comes on ~30-40 mins before I wake up
2) Flush 2-3 oz water through portafilter and into cup for preheating
3) Once PID comes back up to temp, and coffee is ready to go a 3 sec. flush to get temp in group stable
4) Pull shot

10000 shots did some interesting temp measurements on the CC1 here:http://10000shots.com/post/16207350173/ ... e-profiles.

Nice link, thank you. I'm at about a 6 second flush now, I think I'll boost it to 8 or 9 seconds in the morning and see how it comes out.