Lower coffee/water ratio on the Caravel. Possible? - Page 3

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peacecup
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#21: Post by peacecup »

Very kind of you - I was just cruising ebay.it, and the prices have not gone down significantly :? I'll get my portafilter act together someday. Although I'm content with the spring levers, the Caravel allows one to feel the pressure on the extraction. This gets one in touch with the grind and dose. As I said, the Caravel helped me realize that a fully preinfused puck is better prepared for extraction - this prevents early blonding, for example.

I always was careful to brew when the kettle was around 90 C - this worked best for the blends I like. Also, I like brew ratios lower than 100%, closer to 50% (15g coffee to 30g espresso).

I went through a process of brewing, then air drying the spent pucks - can't find the correct thread where I reported the results. The mean was around 16g of coffee in, and the spent pucks weighed a mean of 13g, very consistent. So 3g solids (20%) were extracted into the cup, which was always around 30g espresso.

PC
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Hand-ground, hand-pulled: "hands down.."

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bostonbuzz
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#22: Post by bostonbuzz »

You could always pick up my ES2 in the buy/sell, and pull shots of whatever size you want... :wink:
LMWDP #353

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SimonPatrice (original poster)
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#23: Post by SimonPatrice (original poster) replying to bostonbuzz »

As I said, I'm not looking for more volume per se but trying to figure out how or if I can get lower ratios with the Caravel, and if it really matters after all.

Tonight, for example, by grinding finer and dosing a lot less (12g), I achieved a 66% ratio easily. It was my first try with such a low dose so the grind wasn't really dialed in but it's promising.

This Epic blend kind of opened a Pandora's box as I was perfectly happy with the ratios I was going with but the brewing parameters got me thinking... maybe too much. And most of all, I don't think I'm a big fan of this blend. Or maybe it's just a matter of having tried too many different things with it instead of just sticking to what I usually do and just enjoy the cup.

Good luck on the sale of your ES2 by the way!
Patrice
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sorrentinacoffee
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#24: Post by sorrentinacoffee »

I have been using my Yellow Caravel for the last few months for my daily coffee.... I always do two full pulls- and half a fellini for good measure. I do not get any significant blonding at all- and the shots are not over-extracted. The volume is quite large- with plenty of crema.

However I am using a modified naked Ponte Vecchio PF- along with a large Ponte Vecchio double basket.

I can strongly recommend the naked PF for Caravelista's

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SimonPatrice (original poster)
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#25: Post by SimonPatrice (original poster) »

sorrentinacoffee wrote:However I am using a modified naked Ponte Vecchio PF- along with a large Ponte Vecchio double basket.
Did you modify the Ponte Vecchio PF yourself? Pics would be nice.
Patrice
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sorrentinacoffee
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#26: Post by sorrentinacoffee »


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SimonPatrice (original poster)
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#27: Post by SimonPatrice (original poster) replying to sorrentinacoffee »

Thanks!

I just saw your answer tonight. Thanks for the link.
It sure must be nice to use a naked PF on Caravel.
Patrice
LMWDP #428

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