BaristaBob wrote:ab...similar experience to you, with respect to deliciousness! You must grind directly into your PF!?

I grind into a vessel then use a dosing funnel + WDT. Every time I dose directly into the portafilter I make a mess.

I'm currently using a 58.5 x 1.7 screen, primarily to keep things clean up top. I thought I might try a paper filter instead. Does anyone have an opinion on screen vs paper to prevent back flowing contamination into the machine? Also, the 58.5 screen fits perfectly in the basket of my Lelit Elizabeth. Should I buy 58.5 paper filters or go with 58.? Thanks

I've been using paper for about a week now and I've found there are some plusses and minuses compared to metal.

plus:
no cleaning or drying - chuck it after each shot

doesn't affect temperature of the shot

minus:
a bit fiddly to store and handle. need to be kept dry and peeling one off the stack can be a pain

biggest minus is that the puck seems to stay a lot wetter after the shot and doesn't knock out cleanly into the trash. i find i have to manually loosen the grounds from the basket each time.

for me, it's kind of a draw.

Been using an OEM 1.7mm mesh screen for a while. Recently switched to a MHW-3Bomber screen and my amateur tongue could taste a clearer, fresher note. Also a breeze in cleaning too.

slybarman wrote:I've been using paper for about a week now and I've found there are some plusses and minuses compared to metal.

plus:
no cleaning or drying - chuck it after each shot

doesn't affect temperature of the shot

minus:
a bit fiddly to store and handle. need to be kept dry and peeling one off the stack can be a pain

biggest minus is that the puck seems to stay a lot wetter after the shot and doesn't knock out cleanly into the trash. i find i have to manually loosen the grounds from the basket each time.

for me, it's kind of a draw.

Did you increase dose by 0.5 g when switching from metal to paper? Wonder if the wetness is due to more head space.

no, I'm using the same 14g dose in a 15g basket.

I found this "innovative" puck screen for use on machines like La Marzocco's gs3 and the like with protruding center screws. Has anyone tried this? Doesn't it actually defeat a puck screen's purpose?

Looks like a perfectly terrible idea to me

BaristaBob wrote:I found this "innovative" puck screen for use on machines like La Marzocco's gs3 and the like with protruding center screws. Has anyone tried this? Doesn't it actually defeat a puck screen's purpose?

image

I just started using a normcore one with the hole with my GS3. The group screw does protrude and leaves an indentation in my puck, so there isn't enough headspace for a standard screen. I could get a bigger basket, but the screen with the hole has calmed my shots down

BaristaBob wrote:I found this "innovative" puck screen for use on machines like La Marzocco's gs3 and the like with protruding center screws. Has anyone tried this? Doesn't it actually defeat a puck screen's purpose?image

I can't comment from experience with this screen, or the with machines that have screws holding their shower screens in place. But I have plenty of experience with sintered metal puck screens; I bought a couple of generic ones mostly to prove they do nothing , only to keep using them for some years .

One of the things a sintered metal puck screen (n.p.c. thin puck screens) does is to keep the puck somewhat compacted during the preinfusion phase. It takes up the space above the puck, or much of it. When the coffee grains expand, they are then forced into any voids in the puck. I believe that this is why some folks report less channeling when using a sintered metal screen. This one would leave a space between the periphery of the shower screen screw and the edge of that big hole in the centre. I'm not at all sure if this would have any meaningful effect on the foregoing limitation of expansion, but it must have some. My guess is that it would work, but with an unknown amount of degradation in effect, compared to a standard puck screen.

Another noticeable effect of the sintered metal puck screen is to prevent coffee grains from "swimming upstream", after the pull, as the puck rebounds from the intense compression of the pull. Again, depending on the amount of coffee that might get past the space between the screw and the hole, I'd expect some slight degradation, but have no idea whatsoever if it would be a meaningful amount.

I have an idea, that I've never tried. That is, if one uses a sintered metal puck screen, or maybe even a thin puck screen. Then, maybe one wouldn't need to have a shower screen in the machine.