equip- profitec pro700 9.2bar, mazzer mini (new burrs), calibrated tamper, 94-96c shot temp. The shots are really good and consistent but I would like a few more seconds of pour if possible. At the moment I dose 18-18.3gm, after lifting the lever the espresso hits the bottom of the cup in 5 seconds, a fairly decent thick dark mouse tail for 2-3 seconds then flow increases to a dark brown and transitions fairly soon to light color and done. I'm stopping the shots at around 20-22 seconds. I feel like with an 18gm dose I should be able go a while longer before max blonding, like 26-28sec but I would have water by then. Could be my beans and I'll be dipping into some new beans tomorrow once they've rested 3 days. I'll try to post a video later today..

How old are your beans? That seems really early for blonding with a dose like that. For what its worth I'm dosing 18.5g right now and stopping shots at 33 seconds or so (including preinufsion, I time from first drips, so about 27 seconds or so of pouring). I mean you can try updosing, and grinding finer but thats already a decent sized dose, sounds like a bean issue. Could be your new burrs need more breaking in as well. Mini has a decent amount of retention as well, purge beans before dosing or it'll push a couple grams of stale grinds into your basket.

Yeah, hoping it's the beans, they are about 7days old now. I use a small paint brush for retention and weigh beans + try to make sure I get almost all of the grind. I should probably also get a bottomless portafilter soon as well. I'll report back tomorrow with the new beans. I'm too cheap to ditch the last of my other bag and start the fresh ones

Are they a light roasted bean? They can be more challenging to get a full extraction. And if everything isn't right, early blonding can occur. A bottomless portafilter is a good diagnostic tool and might reveal some clues.

Oh, and could also be the new burrs. Perhaps they need to be broken in more?

Roast is med-dark. I am making some progress. I bumped my pump pressure and upped my dose to 19.5gm (likely ending up with 19.2ish in the basket). I just pulled a 28sec shot after that and puck knocked out nice and solid (previous was a bit mushy). I suspect my pump pressure was too low for one. Beans are also end of life so am looking forward to starting the new batch.

My best espressi always end up with sloppy pucks, since I grind very fine. 10g doses into nice agreeable espressi, perfect when stretched with hot water.

I would've guessed that your beans may be too young, but you already said 3 days, so...

Updosing espresso grinds is being turned on its head by Matt Perger, of late.

Does your bed hit the dispersion screw when you load it?

beanhacker wrote:Roast is med-dark. I am making some progress. I bumped my pump pressure and upped my dose to 19.5gm (likely ending up with 19.2ish in the basket). I just pulled a 28sec shot after that and puck knocked out nice and solid (previous was a bit mushy). I suspect my pump pressure was too low for one. Beans are also end of life so am looking forward to starting the new batch.

7 day old beans shouldn't be near the end of their life. That should be prime time, give or take. Most beans need at least 3-4 days rest to de-gassing for espresso. Then they peak in the 7-10 day range, then start to slowly drop after that. Depends how they're stored, though.

Also 9 bars is plenty. You shouldn't need more than that. These days a lot of people are pulling at less than that, or with a varying pressure profile.

How about your burrs? You said they were new. I don't know the Mini burrs personally, but many on HB would know them. I know my K10PB burrs benefitted from a break in period. They got much more consistent and predictable after seasoning. Before that I had inconsistent extractions, varying times etc.

Distribution and puck preparation is another possible factor. Lots of things can go right or wrong at this stage.

Cool. Well things seem to be on track at the moment

Elaborate a little more, Mr. Bean.

I agree with what was said before. Updosing to 19+ grams should not really be the solution. You should be able to get the ~30 seconds shot from 18g.

Also, agreed with the posters that say your pressure should be lower, not higher. Try 7-8 bars instead of 9. I set up my machine to 7.5 bars. (18 grams doze). But that's really for taste, not to solve fast shots.

One thing that confuses me a little and you left blank is the grind size? You never said that you tried to grind finer. That should be your first go-to adjustment. Was something not working with adjusting the grind size? Did you try to grind finer and you still got the fast shot?

If you like your grind size and just want longer time shots, then one thing I do when I want that is to tap down the PF to compress the grinds. Grind, distribute and level, tap down lightly 5 times, tamp. If after you tap down your puck is not pretty level, then it means that your leveling & distribution was not perfect and needs to be worked on, BTW.

5 seconds for the first drop to hit the cup is quick. You are right. With a bottomless basket it would be 3-4 seconds! That is really fast.

I agree with the post about the purging of the retention. Putting 18g in, and measuring 18g out does not mean you have all 18g or fresh grinds. You might theoretically have 2 grams of stale grinds from the day before that you keep circulating from day to day. I mean, 2g of old + 16g of fresh comes out, and the remaining fresh 2g wait in your grinder for tomorrow. If you want to really test for freshness, see how the immediate second shot comes out. Or, put 3 grams in the grinder and grind it out, and then put in your 18g doze.

Good luck, man. It looks like you know what to look for and know what you're doing. You'll be doing great very soon.

Cheers!

beanhacker wrote:Cool. Well things seem to be on track at the moment

Could you please elaborate