Ok, wow. So I've got my fancy new machine and grinder (QuickMill Anita and Vario) and it's time to get rocking. For now i'm weighing my beans for every shot. I did *not* get the Vario-W, but instead I got the Hario VST-2000 scale/timer (recommended by Barefoot Coffee). I've been using 14g of beans (+/- .1 to .2g), grinding right into the portafilter, running the grinder until it's out of beans. I then do the distribution dance (which I'm probably doing wrong) and them tamp with the Espro calibrated tamper. Then I pull the shot. I'm starting the timer at the same time as I flip the lever on the Anita.

Right now I'm obviously in the "dial in the grinder" phase. (Right now I'm at about 1-V, not that the numbers are globally significant.) Last shot of the night last night, when I switched to this setting, I got a lot more coffee out of the grinder. The portafilter was really full. I had to wipe some off, even. I pulled the shot and it was 2oz in 27 seconds on the nose. I was like "AWESOME! I R BARISTA NAO!" Nay. This morning I go to pull a shot, and the amount of grounds for the same weight of coffee was much lower, kinda back to what it had been. And I got 2 oz in about 17 seconds.

So clearly I'm getting a bit confused about the impact that the grind setting will have on the volume of coffee produced. Should I stick with 14g weighed doses? Am I doing anything else obviously wrong? I'm trying to figure out if my shots are "gushers" because I don't have enough coffee in the portafilter, or because my grind is wrong. (Or both.) It's just that I got that great shot last night and I can't figure out what I did different.

My hopeful goal at some point is to get the point where I can just do timed grinding so that I stick the portafilter in, hit the button, and go. But obviously I need to get the grind setting right first.

Grind retention over a number of sessions, loosened up and dumped when you switched settings?

Maybe try weighing your dose after grinding also for a while. That way, you'll know for sure if it's due to retention and if you are truly getting less or more coffee at different times or just different volumes.

I'm guessing this was all with the same coffee right?

SimonPatrice wrote:I'm guessing this was all with the same coffee right?

Yeah, some Friendo Blendo. It was a bit stale - I picked up some fresh this morning.

I'm also only using 14g of beans. I've seen that the "definition" of espresso seems to be 14g of coffee, tamp to 30lb, producing 2 oz in 25 - 35 seconds. But I also see more people using 18g doses, so I'm not sure how much coffee I should be using...

Grind setting can drift daily especially when the beans are near the end of their life. Some grinders are more prone to changes in the beans than others. The big burrs conical's being the ones that tend to take the least amount of adjusting. Some days you may need to adjust your grind from morning to evening due to changes in humidity and the age of the beans. As times goes, you will learn how the grinder/machine combo acts and be able to anticipate adjustments. Also make sure your grinder is void of old grinds. I sweep out the chute after every use and give the grinder a quick 2 second pulse to purge out the previous nights coffee before I make my morning cup.