I'll have to get back to being exhausted with mediocrity before I go into getting a scale and such.

I'm pretty sure I'll be ok with the variances in taste due to dosing if I can get the extraction issues fixed. Having the center dead, or having issues with one side of the puck, or some other issue 70% of the time does not lend itself to "usefulness".

Well, Shake... even out, tamp...

A crazy difference in the pull... Though I only pulled one shot this evening... Center extracted for the first time in... Forever. But otherwise it was a rather crappy pull, and a nasty tasting shot. But that's ok... I still say that was an improvement.

I need to go buy more coffee now.

cafeIKE wrote:
Try side2side shake, WDT then gentle vertical tap of the PF ring / handle junction on the edge of the counter.

The side2side shake is more like a vibration.

Another thanks out to cafeIKE for this. I added this shake move after dosing, before tapping, leveling, or tamping, and its made a massive difference.

Last night I pulled a completely acceptable espresso, where even the pull looked pretty good. Probably a tad on the slow/tight side - But uniform extraction, good tiger striping, and good longevity in the tiger striping... And that's a first.

buzzmc wrote:The video's 49 sec, seems as though you can see the start of espresso hitting the bottom of the PF around 40. Long, short, indifferent... The pull was a little worse than normal, and I imagine I need to get closer to show some of the other possible problems.

The quick blonding on the left side for example isn't really normally lately. But the way the pour started, and the 2 streams, is fairly often.

I would be more concerned with distribution than time. Even if that shot was 28 seconds you were not going to like what was in the cup. Ian's advice should help in terms of distribution. I second the advice on weighing your doses. It is impossible to do so by eye and right now you should be trying to eliminate certain variables in terms of change. Once you are getting the same dose with a proper distribution, you can adjust the grind to vary the shot times. Then you can adjust the dose and start all over again

Edit: Sorry I did not see the post above. Looks like you are on the right track.

buzzmc wrote:I'll have to get back to being exhausted with mediocrity before I go into getting a scale and such.

One gram can make a significant difference in a pull. And dosing by eye often results in more than a 1 gram difference. My shots improved immeasurably when I started weighing, and, of course, different coffees require different weights. Suggest you get a good scale that measures in 1/10 of a gram.

+1 for ±0.2g

hperry wrote:And dosing by eye often results in more than a 1 gram difference. My shots improved immeasurably when I started weighing, and, of course, different coffees require different weights. Suggest you get a good scale that measures in 1/10 of a gram.

A scale is really nice, of course (I use one every shot, soo... with as many grains of salt as you need) but fairly accurate doses can be had by using the ground coffee. Using the same technique every time, distribution that results in a slight mound over the top edge of the basket, and then leveled with a swipe of a flat edge (knife back, chopstick, credit card, whatever) will result in a much smaller variance than measuring the beans before grinding. My results have been easily +/- .2g

I have a scale somewhere... So with the other improved technique's now maybe I'll go ahead and see what my doses are even at, since I don't know. All I know is its a double basket, heaped, now shaken, tapped, leveled, and tamped.

I assume.. Yeah, assume, that shot to shot I'm pretty consistent. But I have no idea if this is 13g, 16, or 20 grams of coffee. I suppose now that I'm getting much better distribution it would be more interesting to know how much coffee I'm actually using.

Psyd wrote:A scale is really nice, of course (I use one every shot, soo... with as many grains of salt as you need) but fairly accurate doses can be had by using the ground coffee. Using the same technique every time, distribution that results in a slight mound over the top edge of the basket, and then leveled with a swipe of a flat edge (knife back, chopstick, credit card, whatever) will result in a much smaller variance than measuring the beans before grinding. My results have been easily +/- .2g

I would put you in a very small minority if you can do so. Also, the fill and dose method means you are just accepting whatever dose that amounts to. This will also vary from day-to-day as the beans age and you adjust your grind. You may get (fairly) consistent results simply filling the basket and swiping, but that dose may not be ideal. Now if you can fill and swipe with varying depths, pressure, taps, etc to get a desired weight on a consistent basis.....oh come on, let's not kid ourselves.