Cafelat Robot User Experience - Page 192

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Fisher
Posts: 84
Joined: 6 years ago

#1911: Post by Fisher »

drgary wrote:....keep some in the cupboard and try it 10 days later, then 20 days later. See what happens.
This is the very best advice! :D :D

Charlemagne
Posts: 110
Joined: 5 years ago

#1912: Post by Charlemagne »

J.Merf wrote:This is something im struggling with myself. What I did notice is, that in the preinfusion phase, the droplets of coffee seem to form almost exclusively on the "outer ring" of the portafilter, and not *at all* in the middle. This makes me think the water's able to pass much more easily around the "sides" of the puck, and I suspect that a large proportion of water might even circumvent around the dispersion screen completely. This might mean that the screen or the basket are to blame here(if the fitting is not as exact as it should be). Did anyone else notice this issue?
YES! I regularly have this issue. I have not determined if the culprit is the coffee, grind, or distribution. Since the distribution is most under my control, could others give descriptions of their successful techniques? I've tried a needle as well as a home made londinium style tool with 3 loops, but I haven't noticed much of a difference. I like the idea of avoiding the sides while whisking; I'll give that a shot and report back.

Nate42
Posts: 1211
Joined: 11 years ago

#1913: Post by Nate42 replying to Charlemagne »

This is a common distribution issue with lots of machines, but I think the design of the Robot might accentuate it a bit because of the way the shower screen works, since it can never fully seal against the sides. Personally, I solve this problem by preinfusing until the middle fills in, and then not worrying about it. :)

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zix
Posts: 484
Joined: 18 years ago

#1914: Post by zix »

Agreed, it happens with the ES3 at home as well. Currently, for me, it happens much more often with the ES3 than with the Robot.
Depends on how well you do with grind size, dosing, distribution of the grinds in the pf... not to worry though.
It works fine, the coffee will be drinkable. Try relaxing the pull for a bit in the beginning.
I get small squirts of spray with some pulls as well. Irritating when it happens, but the coffee still tastes just great.. I tell myself to be more careful next time when distributing and tamping, and usually that's enough to get me a much better shot..
LMWDP #047

Javier
Posts: 649
Joined: 18 years ago

#1915: Post by Javier »

Nate42 wrote:Personally, I solve this problem by preinfusing until the middle fills in, and then not worrying about it. :)
This could be a very good tip for anyone having "donut extraction" issues.
LMWDP #115

jpender
Posts: 3863
Joined: 11 years ago

#1916: Post by jpender »

I stopped getting these when I started tapping the portafilter after stirring the grounds. I made one shot this morning sans tapping and the donut thing returned. Hmmm. So maybe a little tapping "tamps" the edges that the not-quite-tight Robot tamper doesn't touch? Or maybe it's all voodoo.

vit
Posts: 980
Joined: 9 years ago

#1917: Post by vit »

Not all donut extractions are bad. With Flair bottomless PF, they result with better taste than even extractions. Took me more than a year to realize that ... another voodoo ...

Charlemagne
Posts: 110
Joined: 5 years ago

#1918: Post by Charlemagne »

I tried adding an aeropress filter trimmed to 58mm between the tamped grounds and the metal screen, but it didn't help the donut extraction. However the shot was tasty so maybe I'll take Vit's and Nate's advice to stop worrying about it since it fills in 2 seconds later anyway.

After that shot I tried a shot with no RDT during grind and no WDT after (clump city). I used the paper filter and metal screen the shot channeled horribly as you'd expect -- a real squirter at one point on the rim of the donut. Granted both of these shots were with 18g of dark-roasted Kona that isn't the freshest, the A-B test was enough to show how important puck prep is and how my technique needs work.
jpender wrote:I stopped getting these when I started tapping the portafilter after stirring the grounds. I made one shot this morning sans tapping and the donut thing returned. Hmmm. So maybe a little tapping "tamps" the edges that the not-quite-tight Robot tamper doesn't touch? Or maybe it's all voodoo.
lateral tap or vertical tap?

jpender
Posts: 3863
Joined: 11 years ago

#1919: Post by jpender »

Charlemagne wrote:However the shot was tasty so maybe I'll take Vit's and Nate's advice to stop worrying about it since it fills in 2 seconds later anyway.

The key thing is that it tastes good. I haven't noticed a difference, it just seems to me that an even flow would be desirable. The fact that it "fills in" just means that the puck eventually saturates. That doesn't mean that there still isn't some sort of bias toward flow around the edges. And for what it's worth I just tap the PF against the counter a few times, vertically. It's magic, you have to do it a certain way -- my way (which is patented) -- or else your coffee will suck.

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Paul_Pratt
Posts: 1467
Joined: 19 years ago

#1920: Post by Paul_Pratt »

vit wrote:Not all donut extractions are bad. With Flair bottomless PF, they result with better taste than even extractions. Took me more than a year to realize that ... another voodoo ...
I m a big believer in getting stuck in and finding things out for yourself.

Not directed at you, just a general comment - I would not say it is a mistake for people to read as much as they can when they are getting into coffee, but it is important to experiment and learn and be prepared to waste a bit of time and coffee and have an open mind. Hopefully the reading will shorten the learning curve.
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