Improving puck preparation: slower = better? - Page 2

#11: Post by **mathof** » March 19th, 2022, 11:20 am

Jeff wrote:

"WDT", the way I do it with a LeverCraft (or JKim's printed and mailable version) results in reasonable mixing and leveling of the grinds.

Can you direct me towards an account of how you do your WDT, please? Thanks.

#12: Post by **cafeIKE** » March 19th, 2022, 11:47 am

Any single dose grinder needs a method to either apply weight or control feed rate. Some commercial grinders will not grind a one shot weight of beans and just whips them about.

PIXIllate wrote:I believe there was a device for the Niche that attempted something similar.

The Niche feed disk was a pretty good $10 upgrade. Coupled with grinding directly into and sweep distribution in the basketed PF, consistency is outstanding

#13: Post by **Jeff** » March 19th, 2022, 2:42 pm

mathof wrote:Can you direct me towards an account of how you do your WDT, please?

Nothing really fancy these days as the design of the LeverCraft tool does a lot of the work already, it seems.

This is for light roasts. I usually don't pull anything medium-dark or darker, so I can't say how well it works for those roasts.

I sort of "whisk" or "Spirograph" increasing the depth until I hit the bottom of the basket (axis of tool is roughly vertical). Then around a couple times at/near the bottom and rising up again. Maybe 8-10 seconds total? I'll look at the top and if it isn't level enough, just a light, shallow flick or two, usually in the opposite direction, and it's good to go.

Tapping is something that I'm still really mixed on. Even locking my elbows at my sides, working with the basket and funnel out of the PF head, and being as careful as I can be, I find front-to-back differences on how it settles the grinds. I've gone several different ways on this over the past year, without enough evidence to suggest that any is better than the other, or better than none. Mainly because it makes tamping easier, I do one, light, vertical tap onto a folded washcloth, as square as I can, then rotate the basket a half turn and do the same. To be super clear on this, I have no evidence that this tapping doesn't make things worse, not to mention making things better.

#14: Post by **mathof** » March 20th, 2022, 1:47 pm

Jeff wrote:Nothing really fancy these days as the design of the LeverCraft tool does a lot of the work already, it seems.

This is for light roasts. I usually don't pull anything medium-dark or darker, so I can't say how well it works for those roasts.

I sort of "whisk" or "Spirograph" increasing the depth until I hit the bottom of the basket (axis of tool is roughly vertical). Then around a couple times at/near the bottom and rising up again. Maybe 8-10 seconds total? I'll look at the top and if it isn't level enough, just a light, shallow flick or two, usually in the opposite direction, and it's good to go.

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Thanks for the reply. I do something similar, also with a LeverCraft WDT Tool. I start my spirograph at full depth and work upwards after one or two circuits; it takes about one circuit to get to the top. Then I tap vertically a few times, lightly, and use a St Anthony BT Wedge leveller, followed by a Kafatek LevTamp tamper.