Hey everyone! Hope I posted this in the right section...

Excited to be adventure into the world of espresso. I recently bought a Sage/Breville Barista Pro and have been getting used to dialing it in.

I have noticed after pouring my shot water still runs out of my portafilter/basket.

This means I could dial in a 1:2 ratio of 19g in and 38g out but when I stop the machine it can run into 40-42g.

Should my brew time count for when I press stop on the machine at 38g or should I be stopping my shot slightly shy of 38g?

I know numbers/recipes aren't everything but in my early stages of espresso I'm trying to nail down getting the right time first range then going by taste afterwards

Many thanks!

After pressing stop, the water being pushed out of the shower screen will stop but the espresso still in the portafilter will continue to drain so there is a slight lag to be expected, so yes you will want to stop it ahead of your expected yield. With practice, you will learn the right timing with your machine to stop it at the correct point.

The important thing for timing is to be consistent if your scale has a timer. If you use the machine's shot timer, it will time from pre-infusion start until you stop the extraction; this is the timing that I use. If you are using a smart scale, it may start the timer on first espresso drop so you will want to stop your timer at last espresso drop.

Ah great thank you so much!

Will be stopping my shot short of my yield now.

Since I use the machine timer, the timer stops when I press stop even though I haven't hit my yield. Should I add a couple seconds onto the stopped time?

E.g. 1:2 19g in and pressing stop at 34g at 26 seconds, would I count my brew time as 28 seconds when the puck is fully drained to 38g?

Up to you on the machine timer. I don't ever use a timed shot so I prefer it to run longer than needed and I can stop when I need to. You'll get the hang of when to stop it after some practice, both your machine and scale may have some lag but it's easy to account for.

Totally up to you, just be consistent. I track both since I change my pre-infusion times a lot so having both points of reference gives me a better idea of the shot setup just just one data point alone. If you keep pre infusion the same or it's not adjustable either are totally valid, though my personal preference is from first drip.

I use time as the constant variable, a metric so to speak.

So if I use 20g in, 35g out in 25 secs then I need to grind finer.

I stop the extraction at 30g as the inevitable dripping continues to 35g.