I used to get wet pucks but since I started roasting my own, they've been very dry. Sounds strange, I know. I'm not even sure there is a connection. Maybe it's the freshness? Maybe the blend?

Puckology is a mixed bag. There is very little a spent puck can tell you. The one thing it will let you know is how consistent you are. If they are always soupy, good. If they are always dry, good. Same blend, soupy one shot, dry the next, bad. Something has changed, probably the dose. Beyond that it is of little consequence.

Keep in mind that the water in that puck goes from being pushed out at 130psi to being sucked up the opposite direction to 0 psi in less than a second. That will scramble the puck and make reading it just a little less accurate than reading tea leaves. Just knock it out, wash off the basket and drink your good espresso. I would recommend a quick 2 or 3 second flush to clear the shower screen after you remove the portafilter and wipe it off to get the excess debris off.

Could it be maybe the 3-way solenoid valve not doing it's thing correctly?

I just went through the same thought pattern on my PID Silvia and wondered whether the 3 way solenoid was giving grief. However it seems to be working fine and I'd suggest what the others said regarding dosing. I went from over-dosing the basket to 14 gram doubles and found the latter give me soupy pucks. Don't worry about it but agree the cleanup is more painful.

Pete

cannonfodder wrote:Keep in mind that the water in that puck goes from being pushed out at 130psi to being sucked up the opposite direction to 0 psi in less than a second. That will scramble the puck and make reading it just a little less accurate than reading tea leaves. Just knock it out, wash off the basket and drink your good espresso. I would recommend a quick 2 or 3 second flush to clear the shower screen after you remove the portafilter and wipe it off to get the excess debris off.

When trying to make several espressos in a row, being able to dump a puck cleanly is a plus. Having said that I agree that making crappy espresso for the sake of a good puck is not a good idea. However, the statement above strikes a chord.

I note that when using an e61 with a three way solenoid, if I take the portafilter out of the machine and dump it using a knock box immediately, the puck might be soft and breaks up on the way out. However, if I wait 3-5 seconds after taking the PF out, it typically dumps cleanly. While waiting, I can see a small amount of remaining water draining out of the puck (i.e., not enough to drip out the bottom of the PF). It seems that this draining does not occur until the PF is taken out of the group, and I suspect that the 3-way solenoid maintains some negative pressure on the water already in the puck, keeping it from draining entirely.

When my machine came and I started my first shots all had a dry puck that was easily removed cleanly from the basket. However, I noticed that it was set to almost 11 bar and the drinks were not up to the standards I was expecting.

When I lowered the brew pressure to just over 9 bar then the pucks staarted to get wet and sort of soupy (depending somewhat on dose). But, the espresso is much better so I put up with a somewhat harder cleanup between shots.

So, if something has changed maybe its your brew pressure.