Hi,
About eight weeks ago I got an Olympia Cremina (new), I also bought a portafilter cradle from Lyn Weber and earlier this week I got a bottomless portafilter, and a Acaia scale. Here is what I learned:

I'm really inconsistent

When I say this, I'm assuming this is largely due to my inconsistent tamping. Because of the Acaia scale I have very accurate weight, and so I'm pulling shots at 15.5 grams, using a La Cimbali Max Hybrid, I have the stock tamper, but coming from a convex RB. The bottomless portafilter is certainly showing my lack of level tamps. Finally my output is all over the place, so I'm looking for suggestions...

Do you have any tricks to more consistent tamping? Should I really put a bathroom scale under my portafilter cradle?

Thanks,
James

Is it channeling that you're getting? I found the same thing when I made the switch to bottomless, and will be more apparent with a lever like the Cremina. Congrats on that by the way!

I would recommend doing reading on distribution in addition to tamping. Weiss distribution technique is the go to remedy, but I mix in some tapping myself from Matt Perger's method. The tramp takes time, but I feel it is secondary to distribution.

Jason

@Lateralus

Thanks very much. I have already started reading, and I do believe I'm talking about channeling. Thanks.

I use the elektra basket in a Richard Penney bottomless. Dose 17 grams.

I had a new espresso guy over from this board to check out my Cremina and I noticed when he tamped the crema was very thin. When I prepped and tamped it was a lot thicker. So same grind and two different shots.

I honed my tamping with the bathroom scale years ago to get consistent. It doesn't hurt, analog scales are cheap and you'll find out if your 20-30lb tamp is 10-15 or 20-30 . Not saying this will fix your shooters but it will check off one consistency parameter. Grind and distribution may be more important.

Good luck, Cremina's take a little time to figure out as all levers do.

There are 49mm espro tampers calibrated to 30lbs of pressure. You develop muscle memory of what 30lbs feels like just in time to switch to light tamping.
Lighter tamping is far easier to get consistent at.

Couple things I've noticed:
- I use 16.8g. 15.5g seems like too little for the double basket forcing you to tamp more/grind finer.
- When you say stock tamper, do you mean the plastic one? Throw it away, and order the 49.5mm one from OE. It really covers the entire basket nicely.
- I don't do much pressure with the Cremina, just a light tamp, tap off the sides, light tamp, polish

That being said, my Coffex is much more finicky with the bottomless, I am still trying to find the magic parameters or grind/dose/tamp technique. I get channeling and sprays all too often. The Cremina is much more forgiving in my experience.

Hi,
So I'm using the stock tamper that came with my new Olympia Cremina. As for distribution of coffee I do use the Lyn Weber Blind Tumbler http://lynweber.com/accessories/blind-tumbler/

I am using the Elektra double basket with the Penney Espresso Machine Portafilter for the Cremina.

Sometimes I wonder if I need to do a much finer grind with a light tamp.... But I'm not sure if I should get a consistent output volume from 15.5g and then start to tweak the grind for taste?

Thanks
James

People generally agree that you shouldn't make your tamp pressure a variable. So choose how you tamp and stick with it (light, heavy, etc).

Get a nice, beefy tamper with some heft. This doesn't mean expensive. I use a Rattleware tamper. The key is just having it appropriately sized to your PF/basket. I've found I'm more consistent pushing down with my thumb and side of my index finger (think of giving a thumbs down with index finger on an imaginary trigger). I avoid the handle of the tamper for any pressure delivery and put all the force through the thumb and index finger that are resting on the tamper head. I think of the handle itself as simply a way to hold the tamper but not to apply tamp pressure. During tamping, I feel the rim of the basket through my thumb and index finger to get an even tamp depth and avoid a canted tamp.

This has been my most consistent tamp method.

Mabuse wrote:There are 49mm espro tampers calibrated to 30lbs of pressure. You develop muscle memory of what 30lbs feels like just in time to switch to light tamping.
Lighter tamping is far easier to get consistent at.

I have an Espro and like it. It has good feel and when my wife makes coffee she doesn't need to worry about how much force to use. It's a bit pricey, but it works for my household.

This is what 16 grams looks like, how do you deal with this?



Do you groom it as mentioned here? http://www.baristahustle.com/distribution-for-espresso/