Pre-shot routine - Page 2

#11: Post by **exidrion** » April 12th, 2022, 6:44 pm

baldheadracing wrote:It does that. You may even be able to remove your shower screen permanently.

Note that an ultrasonic jewelry cleaner is probably the way to go to clean thick metal mesh screens (and baskets, and shower screens, and portafilters ...).

That being said, I now only use a (thin) screen on lever machines that can have issues with water distribution like La Pavoni's. With no puck screen, coffee can sometimes go everywhere during pre-infusion, and having to clean grounds off of the portafilter gasket(s) after a shot can be tedious.

As for prep generally, for me it depends on the roast level. I try to do as little prep as possible, but the lighter the roast and the higher grown the coffee, the more additional prep seems to be desirable to get consistent extraction yields and tasty results. Just my experience.

Thanks for confirmation, I've ordered one and will see how it goes

#12: Post by **j8chou** » April 12th, 2022, 7:23 pm

My Routine:

1-2 Second flush
Weigh beans
Grind directly into PF with dosing ring
WDT (try and level the grounds during WDT)
Tamp
Pull shot

#13: Post by **cafeIKE** » April 13th, 2022, 9:24 pm

exidrion wrote:If a puck screen makes this a non issue, or at least makes it far less frequent I'd gladly pay for it. Far easier to toss that in cafiza.

It wont. There's never any grit behind the screen. It's coffee residue that gets baked on the group. Hence, cleaning will not be impacted by a screen.

The finest screen I have is 50µm. Coffee dust is finer that that. A paper screen might offer some relief. Perhaps we can have a new metric of backwash TDS.

#14: Post by **scrane** » April 15th, 2022, 8:40 am

I flush out the head of my Lelit Elizabeth after every shot. Before I used a screen I would get get quite a lot of grounds coming out with the flush. Now I get none and the flush water comes out much clearer. The screen helps a lot to keep contamination from backing up into the system. This is what I see every day.

#15: Post by **cafeIKE** » April 15th, 2022, 12:24 pm

By 'flush' do you mean run water out of the group? If so, that's just off the coffee / screen interface.

Here's a test anyone with an e61 can make.

dry out drip tray
fold white paper towel and place under e61 drain at back of drip tray
pull shot w/o screen
remove towel
flush and brush group
air dry towel by setting aside
repeat but with screen in 3.

If the screen is trapping much, there should be quite a difference in the towels

#16: Post by **scrane** » April 16th, 2022, 6:38 am

cafeIKE wrote:By 'flush' do you mean run water out of the group? If so, that's just off the coffee / screen interface.

Well, there you go. Cleaner already.
But what about all that coffee dust?

#17: Post by **cafeIKE** » April 16th, 2022, 1:21 pm

You don't flush & brush the group after every shot? Blechh!

#18: Post by **JB90068** » April 16th, 2022, 5:43 pm

With my EG-1 I do the following:

18g beans go into a spare blind shaker.
RDT in the shaker and give a good shake with the cover on.
Hot start the EG-1 (700 rpm for medium roasts) and release the beans into it from the tumbler.
Grind into my second blind shaker.
Tap the grind knocker a few times and turn the EG-1 off.
Blind tumbler to portafilter.Pull the center tumbler out and give the it and the PF a good swirl and tap.
Level with a Duomo the eight. Generally I don't need to WDT but the Duomo serves as a leveler and or WDT if needed.
Tamp and pull my shot.

The new EG-1's come with a wood magnetic base, similar to the Key where the blind shaker auto centers itself. For those of us who have earlier versions, Weber sells the oak platen as a retrofit.