emradguy wrote:I suspect what has helped most was getting more aggressive with your technique, not so much changing from a fine needle to a skewer. I've found that in order for WDT to work well, you need a couple of things...1) you need to really get down with your basket, stirring rather aggressively, which requires 2) you need a thing to control/prevent spillage (dosing funnel, cut yogurt container, Aeropress in your case, lol), and 3) you have to make sure your application of WDT spans the entire depth of the puck. I used to be afraid of scraping up my baskets, and my shots suffered from that. Once I realized I wasn't affecting the bottom of the puck enough, I was able to solve my uneven extractions.

+1

Sweet, perhaps you guys are right. I think with the aeropress chamber over the basket I felt like I could really whip up the grounds...the skewer is the only thing that would reach that far down, haha

I have the OE stainless steel dosing funnel and I can recommend it, easy to both dose into and stir in it with no spill.

Just bought this as well, as all my pours with it the last few days are textbook on the bottomless and they taste pretty good too

I already mentioned this but confirmation on the super light roasted coffee being the culprit for me. Roasted up some beans I had to full city and back to normal. I think conical grinders, and the hgone in particular, are not good for city roasts and lighter.

Eiern wrote:I have the OE stainless steel dosing funnel and I can recommend it, easy to both dose into and stir in it with no spill.

+1. I use the OE Ipanema.

When I first started using VST 18g my extractions were awful--donuts, spritzers, etc. Reading Mark Prince's old report on VSTs (https://www.coffeegeek.com/opinions/mar ... 04-29-2011) showed me a slightly concave bed of grounds might be more effective, for the reasons others have noted about the presence of more holes around the perimeter. I was getting a mound of grounds in the center of the basket out of my Vario, then painstakingly trying to even it out with my finger and losing some grounds in the process. So I started dosing through an OE Ipanema cylinder, giving a couple light taps on the counter to settle the grounds, then a few seconds of WDT with a cocktail whisk (borrowed from my HG-One research) leaving a slight dip of grounds in the center. Remove the OE cylinder, tamp with a standard 58mm flat tamper, polish and pull.

Results have been fantastic, at least for my humble setup.

Excellent posting, and your setup is not to be ashamed of. As all say around =here, more bad things happen due to the human in FRONT of the PF handle!
The Vario is every bit as good a grinder as a Mazzer Super Jolly. Yes, there are significantly easier/better machines, but with your improved skill level and care, you are probably making shots as good as many cafes, though maybe not with the quite the same consistency of success. Join the club!!

I got home from work today, fired up the Duetto and just pulled the most beautiful bottomless shot (wish I video taped it) that was very tasty.

I applied some of the advice from this thread:

1) Let the light roast (in the City range) I was using at the start of this post sit longer... 10 days post roast
2) WDT more aggressive and got all the way down in the basket
3) Light tap on the side to even out the grinds
4) Light nutation followed by my typical tamp routine

FWIW: I am using a 20g VST basket. I dosed 18.5g. 35g in the cup.... Now that the technique is down, I would like to get an increased brew ratio.

Thank you all!

IntrepidQ3 wrote:I got home from work today, fired up the Duetto and just pulled the most beautiful bottomless shot (wish I video taped it) that was very tasty.

IMAWriter wrote:Excellent posting, and your setup is not to be ashamed of. As all say around =here, more bad things happen due to the human in FRONT of the PF handle!
The Vario is every bit as good a grinder as a Mazzer Super Jolly. Yes, there are significantly easier/better machines, but with your improved skill level and care, you are probably making shots as good as many cafes, though maybe not with the quite the same consistency of success. Join the club!!

Thanks, Rob. And as a frequent lurker, if infrequent poster, I have to say I've alway appreciated your posts for their erudition AND collegiality. Keep it up!

Plato said (something like) the beginning of knowledge is the knowledge that you know not. That has certainly been my experience in learning the espresso craft, and nothing lays bare one's lack of knowledge like a bottomless PF and VST basket combination. Five years ago I never would have believed just how much I'd eventually be willing to do for a great cup of coffee. Now I'm seriously considering a $1,000 manual grinder!

IntrepidQ3 wrote:I got home from work today, fired up the Duetto and just pulled the most beautiful bottomless shot (wish I video taped it) that was very tasty.

I applied some of the advice from this thread:

1) Let the light roast (in the City range) I was using at the start of this post sit longer... 10 days post roast
2) WDT more aggressive and got all the way down in the basket
3) Light tap on the side to even out the grinds
4) Light nutation followed by my typical tamp routine

FWIW: I am using a 20g VST basket. I dosed 18.5g. 35g in the cup.... Now that the technique is down, I would like to get an increased brew ratio.

Thank you all!

Cheers!