splashalot wrote:My Profitec 700 has two stages for the brew lever: half way is "pre-infusion"; fully raised is full brew pressure. I was referring to 30 seconds with the lever at half way between fully closed and fully open. I don't know what pressure water saturates the puck at. I assume just a dribble, as there is no reading on the brew pump gauge. Not sure how this relates to your Lelit or if this helps you or not.... But it seems to work for me.

That does relate, thanks. The Bianca has a paddle that can regulate the pressure in the group head so I could try the same thing more or less.

splashalot wrote:I thought of this post this morning. I too have been getting donut extractions of late. Then remembered I'd been neglecting the 30sec pre-infussion from the Profitec 700. Voila - a return to lovely, full-screen extractions from the bottomless PF. Could be worth a try in your case?

Interesting. I think I've pinned mine on a combination of using too fresh coffee, and overfilling the basket. The coffee was about 4-5 days off roast, I'll try it again in a couple days. Since changing from 18g dose to 16g dose I still get a little donut, but it's gone within ~1 second and the taste is much better.

I've also noticed that with the NFC installed, the grind for my pump machine and my Robot can be almost identical. Without the NFC, I would have to go at least 1 dot coarser for the Robot.

mkane wrote:We just do pourovers. May I ask what grind setting do you use. Were at 43 using V60 & Kalita filters.

For a 12g dose in my V60-01, I am at 50 with the NFC disc, and playing around with going a couple finer to find the right balance for this coffee. This is about 8-10 settings finer than before the NFC and gives an improved result for me.


As an aside/general followup to my previous comment, I was at 23.5 for my 20g dose in the Flair Pro, and today the setting was 20.5 for the same timing, could have maybe gone down to 20. I couldn't make much judgement on taste because the water temp was too low and then I didn't have enough for another shot, but the NFC disc definitely didn't hurt the taste any. No visual channeling and no taste defects aside from the issue with brew temp (forgot what setting I was at before I switched to pour overs and just guessed too low, unfortunately).

Finally got my disc today. After it seems to have crossed the US 3 or 4 times.

I had to adjust the grind about 5 notched tighter and had to come up with a new bellows. As luck would have it the little pinch bowls work great with the disk installed. The grinds as others have noted seemed fluffier.

The disc seems to have caused the adjustment to tighten up a bit.

In other words, you move the grind ring less to make a difference.

Really just a slight .5 of an indication on the ring (or less) is now a noticeble change.

Also, since a high percentage of the orifice above the burrs is blocked by the plastic, the grinder is now quieter.

I don't know if they have an " espresso product of the year" (I kind of assume they do) but the Niche is defintely

The Product Of The Year(s).

maximatica wrote:The disc seems to have caused the adjustment to tighten up a bit.

In other words, you move the grind ring less to make a difference.

That's a great insight!

Alright guys and gals: I'm putting my trust and faith in you ...I just placed an "order" via Indiegogo for a new Niche Zero supposedly to be delivered yet this month. Its going to be used primarily when camping/traveling in the LandCruiser and/or Escape trailer in place of the venerable Mahlgut Grist MG-1 hand grinder that has served me so, so well bouncing over hill & dale in the back of the LandCruiser, etc.

The MG-1 has been a great grinder and produces very tasty espresso. But Niche's thrifty 150w motor will make it easy to power and it will be much faster to set-up (just plug it in) and take-down when we're camping in a different spot every night.

I just got my niche zero and love the way it looks but am having a hard time getting it dialed in.

I'm using a home roasted espresso mix that previously worked well with the vario on about 2D setting. I tried putting the niche on 20 then 16 then 12 this morning but the flow is still crazy fast (double shot finishing at 15 seconds or so).

I wanted to ask if this is normal to have to go so fine? Just predicting but seems like it might be sitting around 6 to get a fine enough grind. I took out the burrs and cleaned things extensively and recalibrated also.

Any help or assurance is appreciated!

This is just a rule of thumb for any grinder, but have you pinched the grind between your thumb and forefinger? Does it feel as "fine" as your previous Vario?

rwang wrote:
I wanted to ask if this is normal to have to go so fine? Just predicting but seems like it might be sitting around 6 to get a fine enough grind.

I'm usually around 4-6 now that I put the NFC in. The calibration should get most grinders in the same range, but in practice it doesn't seem to do that perfectly. No matter though, just make relative adjustments and you'll find which settings work well for you.