Tilting the basket and pouring against the wall of the basket rather than directly onto the screen prevents cratering and brown water for me.

drgary wrote:Ouch!

This is worth contacting Cafelat for help. When experimenting during my review I had a tube that I cut a bit too long and it pinched. When I cut it to the right length it stayed clear of the arms. I address your issue if you scroll down in the post linked here.

Robot pressure gauge water path repair

Thank you for sharing this. I want to bring this back up as I wasn't previously aware of this problem. I got my Robot second hand from another member here. Unfortunately for me, I guess my tube was too long and got pinched, resulting in a hole, requiring a replacement.

Apparently a replacement tube isn't covered under warranty so I am ending up having to shell out $10.50 for a new tube ($5 plus $5.50 shipping).. I advise anyone who has a Robot check their tube length to ensure that it has the correct length and cannot get pinched between the arm and body.

jpender wrote:I don't know where it directs it but my guess is mostly to the outside edge. My thought was to prevent the water from mixing turbulently with the puck, which the foil mostly does.

Do you remove the foil before pulling the shot or do you leave it in place?

When I experimented with pouring water on the tamper to avoid a crater I didn't notice a substantial difference in taste.

Geert wrote:Do you remove the foil before pulling the shot or do you leave it in place?

I leave it in. I was pulling it out at first but then discovered by accident that it didn't matter if it was there or not.

Antonee wrote:Tilting the basket and pouring against the wall of the basket rather than directly onto the screen prevents cratering and brown water for me.

I tried that this morning and it works just about as well. Simpler.

Geert wrote:When I experimented with pouring water on the tamper to avoid a crater I didn't notice a substantial difference in taste.

That's the question. There are all sorts of things people do to slant the odds in favor of a good shot. It's hard to figure out whether one little thing helps, hinders, or is inconsequential without doing a large number of blind tastings. I haven't been able to tell if there's a difference.

Do you think an asymmetric pre-infusion is a flaw worth worrying about?

jpender wrote: Do you think an asymmetric pre-infusion is a flaw worth worrying about?

Are you applying the teensiest amount of pressure during preinfusion (i.e., one bar or less)? I don't think I've seen one part of the puck get saturated/drip with another part unsaturated before I begin a pull, even with a very light tamp.

1-2 bar. I wait until everything is saturated but when it's asymmetric it's already dripping from a particular spot.

My last shot this morning I tried to simply block the edges of the screen with some foil wedged in. Based on what I saw (fairly clean water, even pre-infusion, no crater) I suspect that the majority of the mixing of water/coffee during the pour is happening there instead of through the holes. Someone a while back posted about how they were convinced the edge gap was affecting their shots. Maybe... all of my shots have been tasty though so Im-a-writer is probably correct that it's a kind of geek masturbation exercise.

Antonee wrote:Tilting the basket and pouring against the wall of the basket rather than directly onto the screen prevents cratering and brown water for me.

Allow me to give a "+1" to the tilting the basket idea. I never tried this previously because I assumed water would run down the side and disturb the puck, but that doesn't seem to be happening at all. The water on top remains crystal clear, which presumably means essentially nothing is being dislodged from the puck. I think this is a particularly good solution for people who want to use a preheat method like pour-dump-pour, or my preferred method of pour to over flowing and keep going for a few seconds. I fully admit this may be a solution to a non-problem, but I always felt bad about losing a bit of tan water with that preheat method, and now I can feel safe in the knowledge that all that coffee magic is not being wasted.

Nate42 wrote:The water on top remains crystal clear...

Although it seems like it should be obvious there must be a technique issue I have not mastered as I always get cloudier water tilting the basket for the pour than when I use my little metal disk. And since I can pour directly I can do it faster with the disk too. So for now I've gone back to that. Even if it doesn't matter it makes me feel better.

jpender wrote:Maybe... all of my shots have been tasty though so Im-a-writer is probably correct that it's a kind of geek masturbation exercise.

Was I really that graphic? Not like me to be that "descriptive!"
Thing is, the machine is time tested..it's progenitor was as well, and I don't believe overall results could consistently prove altering the suggested user technique would be of any profound benefit. Just seems to make complicated what should be blood simple. Paul Pratt is as finicky (in a good way) as any human on this planet. I just have to believe he was looking for a consistent machine, consistent results the simplest most direct way...and spent near 2 dang years determining that.

Robert it wasn't you who used that graphic expression, but I would say someone wrote it some days ago in this thread, however I do not find it anymore.

Any way I got an smile when I read it.