Balthazar_B wrote:Johnathan, just a couple of quick suggestions to try:

• Up your dose by 2-3g using the same grind. Does that make any difference?
• Use several seconds of preinfusion, very lightly pressing the arms to enable puck saturation without drips.
• Use different beans, and make sure they're freshly roasted. If your current beans are roasted light, try something medium to dark?
• While the Robot's forgiving reputation is richly deserved, distribution is still important. Try some WDT, and focus on tamping level. You might find a lighter touch actually works better for avoiding channeling than a heavy tamp.

Those are great suggestions! I'm wondering too what grinder Johnathan is using and if that is a factor?

Balthazar_B wrote:Johnathan, just a couple of quick suggestions to try:

• Up your dose by 2-3g using the same grind. Does that make any difference?
• Use several seconds of preinfusion, very lightly pressing the arms to enable puck saturation without drips.
• Use different beans, and make sure they're freshly roasted. If your current beans are roasted light, try something medium to dark?
• While the Robot's forgiving reputation is richly deserved, distribution is still important. Try some WDT, and focus on tamping level. You might find a lighter touch actually works better for avoiding channeling than a heavy tamp.

Thank you for the advice!
I did use WDT and always preinfuse for about 5-10 seconds. The beans I am currently using are of the medium-dark variety, and were roasted mid-december. Those are the same beans I've been using with the flair.

I will try increasing the dosage, although I really don't see why I should have to, considering the advised amount to use with the Robot. Would you say it's possible I maybe have a faulty gasket or a fault in the preassure gauge system?

ChiRho wrote:Those are great suggestions! I'm wondering too what grinder Johnathan is using and if that is a factor?

I am using Knock's Aergrind, which is not the ideal grinder for espresso, but certainly get's the job done with the other Lever press I own(the Flair).

I have Feldgrind and needed about 2 years to realize it's not really good enough for espresso, even with Flair, so I'm back to Lido3

Anyway, Feldgrind is capable of grinding turkish (which Lido isn't), I'm quite sure it would be able to choke any machine, so assuming Aergrind is similar (this is just an assumption), it may be a distribution problem in your case as well (in addition that Aergrind won't produce stellar espresso anyway). Smaller baskets are more tolerable about it and puck is typically higher with Flair. So try making sure that coffee is really distributed as even as possible before tamping

And yeah ... preinfusion didn't work well for me with combination Feldgrind + Flair, taste was almost always worse than without it and using slightly coarser grind (as with preinfusion you need to grind finer for the similar flow).

To be honest, I never tried skipping the preinfusion phase with Flair, could be an interesting experiment. I'll try that the next time I brew with it.
I suppose distribution must indeed be the problem unless it's to do with the basket or screen themselves.

Thank you for your advice

J.Merf wrote:Thank you for the advice!
I did use WDT and always preinfuse for about 5-10 seconds. The beans I am currently using are of the medium-dark variety, and were roasted mid-december. Those are the same beans I've been using with the flair.

At this point in mid-January, unless you freeze your beans, they may very well be getting stale.

I will try increasing the dosage, although I really don't see why I should have to, considering the advised amount to use with the Robot. Would you say it's possible I maybe have a faulty gasket or a fault in the preassure gauge system?

That's possible. If your piston seal (that engages the basket) is sound, what happens if you block any escape from your basket, turning it into a blind portafilter (using something like silicone)? If anything involving your pressure gauge has a leak, that should reveal it.

One more suggestion: have a nearby shop grind you a few shot's worth of coffee using their normal espresso grind -- which should work fine with the Robot -- and then try those out at different shot sizes on your machine (as soon as possible after it's been ground), up to around 20g. If you've eliminated other root causes and this turns out nice shots at 4-6 bar of pressure, then logically the next thing to look at would be your Aergrind.

J.Merf wrote:Well, the first thing that comes to mind, probably, is grind size. This is where I'll mention I also own the excellent Flair. I am able to pull decent shots(new to the Flair as well), and can easily get to 9-10 bars of preasure when pulling a shot with it. I tried going significantly finer for the Robot although I shouldn't have to, with no success(so fine im sure the Flair would choke if I tried this grind size). Still, can't get to desirable 6-7 bars.

Did you ever succeeded in chocking the Robot by grinding finer? You should be able to do so. Aim for that and than take it back.

Nope, can't say that I have. Going finer just feels weird, tho. I'll try anything, ofc. Will do that after increasing the dosage.

Balthazar_B wrote:At this point in mid-January, unless you freeze your beans, they may very well be getting stale.



That's possible. If your piston seal (that engages the basket) is sound, what happens if you block any escape from your basket, turning it into a blind portafilter (using something like silicone)? If anything involving your pressure gauge has a leak, that should reveal it.

One more suggestion: have a nearby shop grind you a few shot's worth of coffee using their normal espresso grind -- which should work fine with the Robot -- and then try those out at different shot sizes on your machine (as soon as possible after it's been ground), up to around 20g. If you've eliminated other root causes and this turns out nice shots at 4-6 bar of pressure, then logically the next thing to look at would be your Aergrind.

That's actually a great suggestion, and I will go for it if I can't get to where I want to be with the Aergrind. Thank you!

leonelbego wrote:Hi all,

I got a question, I might get one Cafelat Robot to experiment aside from my GS3 and would like to ask if the version with the Pressure Gauge is needed? or should I get the one without it?

i mean, I have the money to get the one with the gauge, but if it is useless then I prefer the one without it because I think looks nicer

thank you for your feedback and comments,
Leo

Depending on the user it is not useless. Do I use it everyday? nope. Do I use it often? Yes. Sometimes I stare at the gauge the whole shot sometimes I just gaze at it. I find it useful when dialing in new beans. There is a difference in a shot pulled around 8 and one pulled around 6. FTR DW always seems to be looking at it and desperately trying to get above 6.