Hi,
I have been making espresso at home for more than a year, I just "upgraded" to an IMS basket and bottomless portafilter.
I cannot get my espresso to come out like it used to. I have a 20/22gr basket, I am putting in 18 grams, and WDT, then use a distributor no tamp.

It comes out pretty good at first then I get the dreaded spurts out the sides, and fills my shot glass in about 15 seconds. What is going on? Do I need more coffee in that basket since it is a 28mm and it for 20/22 grams? Or is it something in my distribution?

Also it is quite sour, so underextracted for sure.

Thanks for your help,
Steve

You're going to make things more difficult on yourself by underdosing. Try and dose to the baskets suggested amounts and if you want to check headspace with the nickel test and see if that helps.

Precision/competition baskets tend to be a lot more finnicky than stock baskets and normally require a much finer grind than people are used to. I'd start with a few basic adjustments to dose and then report back and we can go from there.

That's what I wondered about the dosing amount. I will bring it up to 20 and try that, I'll let you know how that works out.

I was wondering how fine it should be, didn't know if it needed to be more coarse or finer, so now that makes sense. I'll start with the dose and see how close I can get.

Thanks,
Steve

How about adding tamping to your technique. I use a distributor, then tamp. Seems to work nicely.

piperman wrote:Hi,
I have been making espresso at home for more than a year, I just "upgraded" to an IMS basket and bottomless portafilter.
I cannot get my espresso to come out like it used to. I have a 20/22gr basket, I am putting in 18 grams, and WDT, then use a distributor no tamp.

It comes out pretty good at first then I get the dreaded spurts out the sides, and fills my shot glass in about 15 seconds. What is going on? Do I need more coffee in that basket since it is a 28mm and it for 20/22 grams? Or is it something in my distribution?

Also it is quite sour, so underextracted for sure.

Thanks for your help,
Steve

The 18/22 is a tripple basket. 16/20 is the double. do you have the part number for your basket?

This is the part no. B702TFH28NT

Yeah, so you're right its the triple and some places describe it as 20/22 vs 18/22 so I'd definitely start by upping the dose and go from there. Once you get the dose right then playing with distribution/tamping would be step two in my opinion.

piperman wrote:This is the part no. B702TFH28NT

Yes it's the triple basket, i would start by 21g and then reduce or increase to your flavour preference.

So far, I tried 21g, it is much better, but a little uneven in extraction, I think it was a bit close to the shower head, might adjust down a half gram and try again. At least this shot was enjoyable.
Cheers,
Steve

Good progress! One thing to keep in mind is the bed of your coffee is going to be deeper than it has in the past, so basket prep can at times be a little more finnicky. Precision baskets definitely take a little getting used to but before you know it you'll have the routine down.