Hello Everyone,

After lurking here for a few years on and off I've decided to take the plunge and open myself up to (hopefully) constructive criticism. I've been roasting for about 6 years and switched from a Rocky/Krups to Rocky/Vetrano and am currently K30 Vario/Vetrano during that same time period. The video below is very typical of what my setup produces and I'd like for you guys to pick it apart in hopes of figuring out how to tweak it further. I havent found anything that makes this better, only things that make it worse in terms of distribution and tamp. I can get radical differences in flavor depending on flush length (I track peak temperature during the pull), but nothing seems to improve the initial beading uniformity, which is the major problem I see. I rarely see tiger striping with this coffee, maybe that is an issue as well. Also, since I've started using the K30 I rarely stop a shot for blonding, I typically stop it for volume, as I do in this instance. Although, some blonding was beginning to occur. Here are the nitty gritty details:

Coffee: Hottop Roasted SM New Classic Blend at full city, degassed in refrigerator for 7 days
Dosed directly into 18g ridgeless VST basket removed from PF, rotated 360 to form an ~18-19g pile in the center. Tapped twice, unweighted nutation, then tamped straight down with an Espro tamper. Peak temperature indicated at the group was 206.5. At the end of the pull it is 202-203. In the interest of full disclosure, my water source is RO+DI nearing a filter change at 280 TDS. Pressure gauge is visible in the shot, I apologize for the lighting. *deep breath* out through the mouth, and here you go :

Honestly, your shot looked great. The lighting made it a little difficult, but everything looked about right on. Maybe a SLIGHTLY uneven tamp could've contributed to the slight drift in stream, but that's incredibly nitpicky. I probably would've pulled it slower, and maybe a touch tighter, but that's totally based on personal tastes and something that certainly changes with every single coffee. Your temp seems high to me, but if that's where it tastes best to you, then that is where you should keep it.

So honestly, absolutely no reason to be nervous about critique. I would venture to say that your set-up and performance are on par with the top of the pile. Good for you!

-Dave-

Other than a bit faster than I prefer them, it looked good to me.

Honestly if you want us to realllllly nitpick the fine details, we're gonna need better lighting.

With that said, it looks solid to me. I dont think there is going to a massive improvement from tweaking your distribution. If you wanna be sure you're getting the most even distribution possible, use the WDT stir technique, and tamp straight down, once, thats it. You'll need to grind a hair finer, compared to the grind setting you use when you nutate, fyi. But really, like I said, it looks solid.


I would think any improvement or consistency you will see, is by nailing your flush technique. Thats where I saw the most variance when using an HX machine, and the better I got at it, the more consistent my shots tasted.

Firstly, thank you for your responses.

I tried to hack together some lighting and it messed with my chi enough at my small bar to give me my first side channel since the addition of the vario. Not a sinker but not something I want to show everyone. Ill try again in the morning.

So the back to front progression of the beading isnt seen as a big deal? Those that say its a little fast can you let me know how much youre dosing doubles and with what grinder? When I had the Rocky id always shoot for 36-46 seconds, but with the vario pulls that long are like taking a sledgehammer to your taste buds. Ive been backing down for 2 weeks with this same coffee. Its like I'm starting from scratch again. I like really strong flavors, but the longer pours with this grinder are outside the dynamic range of my palate.

To nitpick, the beading does start from back to front, but it's still a pretty even shot. The only way I can get a completely even start and extraction is WDT & nutation. But a pretty good shot as said above.

therabidweasel wrote:Those that say its a little fast can you let me know how much youre dosing doubles and with what grinder? When I had the Rocky id always shoot for 36-46 seconds, but with the vario pulls that long are like taking a sledghammer to your taste buds. Ive been backing down for 2 weeks with this same coffee. Its like I'm starting from scratch again. I like really strong flavors, but the longer pours with this grinder are outside the dynamic range of my palate.

First of all, I just want to point out again that the length of time you're pulling your shot at is highly dependent on your taste, and therefore mostly subjective. At home, I'm using an HC-600, which is a Mazzer SJ clone, and my dosing is different with each coffee, but I'm starting with around 18.5, most often. At work, I'm using a Robur and dosing usually around 19-20, depending on the coffee and age. At work we pull our shots a little more quickly than I typically would, but it works really well for Black Cat. It's all about the coffee and your taste. There are no rules that are worth following when it comes the duration of your shot if it tastes good.

-Dave-

Maybe the dose is too high or the temp too hot, or just this blend is not quite your taste.
When I can't figure it out I just take a new look at Espresso 101, and usually find an answer.
Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste

The front to back beading CAN be fixed, but in this case it didn't present major problems, the shot evened out right away.

Are you grinding directly into the portafilter? If so, pay careful attention to the first amounts of coffee to hit the basket. The entire distribution is very important, but I have found that getting an even as possible foundation of coffee in the basket is KEY, to pulling shots with the WDT. You could try grinding a couple grams into the PF, then stopping the vario to level out that "foundation". Then continue grinding being sure the coffee evenly falls into the basket. If you're not going to WDT, you must pay careful attention to how the coffee lands in the basket, especially that lower foundation of grounds. Doing a stockfleth type move can level out the top of the mound, but if the bottom is noticeably uneven, you're going to have slightly uneven extractions. The Vario is certainly capable of producing a grind that can go right into the portafilter, no WDT, tamp and go, as long as you are diligent in making sure its a 100% even density, top to bottom, left to right.


It could also be you are tamping slightly canted, and when you lock in, the front of the puck hits the shower screen slightly. From time to time, I see this problem, except in reverse. I have a tendency to tamp slightly uneven, and when I get lax in ensuring a level tamp, I always tamp slightly tilted towards the front, causing the handle side to, IF the dose is high, hit the shower screen on lock in. The E61 isn't adverse to updosing, but the puck can't touch the screen at all when you lock in the PF.

I also agree. Beautiful pull. I would tamp a bit harder or using pressure profiling slow the pull a bit. IMO I would not degas the beans in the fridge. No need.