Bottomless versus double spout portafilter - Page 2

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Idfixe
Posts: 248
Joined: 8 years ago

#11: Post by Idfixe »

Bottomless portafilter are great tools to learn as well. They show you how your basket prep was made (On par or not).. the spouts hide these things...

CSME9
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#12: Post by CSME9 »

Same basket i normally get a better shot in my bottomless vs double spout.

Pressino
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#13: Post by Pressino »

jgood wrote:Congrats ! I am mystified why spouted PFs still exist - the bottomless will improve you technique.
I can think of several reasons why they still exist, despite the fact that they waste more metal in production:
--historical inertia---they were first made that way
--they better direct the coffee flow into the cup (or cups in the case of a double spouted one)
--they are more massive than bottomless PFs, and when heated up and locked into the group increase its thermal stability
--they avoid the mess that can happen when a bottomless extraction is plagued with errant spritzers

The main advantages of the bottomless PF are:
--aesthetic (if watching the coffee outflow appeals to you and your extractions are decent...see next item)
--educational...allows you to diagnose extraction problems like channeling and grinding/dosing errors
--very messy if your espresso making technique is not optimal

The only downside I can imagine is that the lighter weight and open design of the bottomless PF might provide less thermal stability in the PF itself during the extraction, especially when used in back-to-back shots. I haven't found this to be a problem, but it seems theoretically possible.

jgood
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#14: Post by jgood »

One more advantage -- other than the basket there's really nothing to clean as the coffee never touches the PF.
Once you learn proper prep there's no mess.

larscoffee
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Joined: 2 years ago

#15: Post by larscoffee »

The double portafilter is a beautiful visual. The two spouts allude to coffee being shared and they are whimsically curvy. But cleaning them is a challenge! There is nothing like cleaning a double spouted portafilter at the end of a busy day and seeing the caked in coffee residue from old shots.

I'll pull out my double spot when I've got friends over but most often stick to the bottomless.

zfeldman
Posts: 180
Joined: 9 years ago

#16: Post by zfeldman »

Strangely...I can gauge when to pull the shot a little easier on a spouted portafilter.
Especially on a roast that does more tiger striping from the beginning and less big dark extraction.

With spouted I can see an 'average' color change instead of bottomless where some areas are lighter but others are still dark. I tend to be able to gauge viscosity change more easily with a spouted also the tail starts to get watery and tuck itself under.

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Jeff
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#17: Post by Jeff »

zfeldman wrote:instead of bottomless where some areas are lighter but others are still dark
In my opinion, seeing and resolving that kind of unevenness is an important reason to use a bottomless. Whether you believe that uneven extraction degrades the flavor in the cup or not, that kind of unevenness likely increases shot-to-shot variability.

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