Do I need a spout?

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BaristaMcBob
Posts: 260
Joined: 4 years ago

#1: Post by BaristaMcBob »

I removed the spout from my portafilter, so now it just has a bare threaded 'tube' in the middle. I was planning on attaching a single sided spout, but it works as is. Why are single spouts angled off to one side? It seems more logical to just have it come straight down.

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Jeff
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Joined: 19 years ago

#2: Post by Jeff »

No need, many use bottomless PFs so they can see the basket during extraction.

chipman
Posts: 1167
Joined: 16 years ago

#3: Post by chipman »

maybe because some portafilters may not have enough room to place a cup directly below? Anyway, it is not needed. The straight threaded bottom tube is OK.

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civ
Posts: 1148
Joined: 17 years ago

#4: Post by civ »

Hello:

I have removed the spouts from both my Pavoni and my Cimbali Junior D/1's portafilters.
A question of space for tall glasses under the group.

But I've always wondered just why spouts were added to portafilters in the first place.

My idea has been that, at least in the case of twin spouts, it was so you could pour two espressi at the same time: normale or ristretti with whatever basket was in use.

But then there was the single spout, obviously for pouring into a single tazza.
To what purpose? Can't really say, haven't thought much about it.

I'd like to think that there is a reason for the existence of spouts: we just have not been able to discover it*. 8^7

Cheers,

CIV

*: No. I am not in any way proposing the launching of scientifically controlled high-speed camera flow tests of spoutless vs. spouted portafilters.

Davi-L
Posts: 140
Joined: 5 years ago

#5: Post by Davi-L »

Hello,
I found with the portafilter spout removed, that coffee droplets would bounce about making a messy looking cup of espresso. The spout helps to minimize that. I now leave it loose so I can spin the spout to where the cup sits. And cleaning is more thorough too.
Dave.

chipman
Posts: 1167
Joined: 16 years ago

#6: Post by chipman »

That "bouncing" is more than likely channeling. The spout somewhat minimizes the evidence of that channeling while a bottomless portafilter reveals it in all its glory.

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cannonfodder
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#7: Post by cannonfodder »

Double spouts are for splitting a double into two singles. Spouts have no functional purpose aside from that.
Dave Stephens