ganglia Senior Member Joined: 30 May 2012 Posts: 14 Location: Seattle, WA Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Current: Nuova Simonelli... Grinder: Current: Baratza Preciso....
Posted Sat Jun 9, 2012, 3:59am Subject: Poor man's "pre-infusion"!
Hi all,
I use a trick from the days of using a Krups to increase crema, that seems *really* effective on my Francis X5. Before posting this, I searched around on the forums and couldn't find a similar trick. Its so simple... not finding threads is probably due to my use of search terms :)
Here's my "trick": simply add a few drops from the tap to the tamped grinds, enough to cover the surface. And boom - much more crema than without. Every time (as long as the tamping/leveling/wdt was done).
Has anyone else tried this? I'll try taking some before/after shots tomorrow morning, if my 6month old isn't demanding constant attention :)
Posted Sat Jun 9, 2012, 9:59am Subject: Re: Poor man's "pre-infusion"!
I am assuming that you are using hot water from the tap. The water / steam wand on the machine will give water close the temperature of the water out of the brew group.
What I sometimes do is turn on the brew switch, then turn it off at the first sign of coffee out of the filter. After a few seconds I turn on the brew switch again.
Phil
ganglia Said:
Hi all,
I use a trick from the days of using a Krups to increase crema, that seems *really* effective on my Francis X5. Before posting this, I searched around on the forums and couldn't find a similar trick. Its so simple... not finding threads is probably due to my use of search terms :)
Here's my "trick": simply add a few drops from the tap to the tamped grinds, enough to cover the surface. And boom - much more crema than without. Every time (as long as the tamping/leveling/wdt was done).
Has anyone else tried this? I'll try taking some before/after shots tomorrow morning, if my 6month old isn't demanding constant attention :)
Posted Sat Jun 9, 2012, 4:44pm Subject: Re: Poor man's "pre-infusion"!
PJK Said:
I am assuming that you are using hot water from the tap. The water / steam wand on the machine will give water close the temperature of the water out of the brew group.
What I sometimes do is turn on the brew switch, then turn it off at the first sign of coffee out of the filter. After a few seconds I turn on the brew switch again.
I think the OP meant the water faucet, as I don't believe the FF has a hot tap from the boiler. That said, I always did the same as Phil mentions with my single boiler machine. I don't know that it had any effect on crema per se, but it smoothed out the spritzing problem I got, and rounded out flavors nicely.
Posted Sat Jun 9, 2012, 11:35pm Subject: Re: Poor man's "pre-infusion"!
I'm not familiar with the FF .... but on machines without a 3-way solenoid it is usually really easy to just quickly blip the brew switch 2-3-4 times for a split second after locking the PF in. That way you are getting brew temp water and the PF is already in place so as the coffee expands it isn't disturbed. If you wet it before you lock it in place, it could expand and rub against the shower screen as you're locking in the PF. It also holds the temp better to be locked in before the preinfusion water hits the coffee.
But on machines with a 3-way valve - blipping the brew switch on-off doesn't work well for preinfuse as the 3-way backflushes and bleeds off the preinfuse water.
I've been having really good luck using a lamp dimmer inline with the pump to reduce the power to the vibe pump to give a little slower flow at first for preinfuse.
Posted Sun Jun 10, 2012, 4:33pm Subject: Re: Poor man's "pre-infusion"!
Hi Andy,
Good point. It looks like I need a pressure gauge then I'll try the lamp dimmer thing.
Phil
AndyPanda Said:
I'm not familiar with the FF .... but on machines without a 3-way solenoid it is usually really easy to just quickly blip the brew switch 2-3-4 times for a split second after locking the PF in. That way you are getting brew temp water and the PF is already in place so as the coffee expands it isn't disturbed. If you wet it before you lock it in place, it could expand and rub against the shower screen as you're locking in the PF. It also holds the temp better to be locked in before the preinfusion water hits the coffee.
But on machines with a 3-way valve - blipping the brew switch on-off doesn't work well for preinfuse as the 3-way backflushes and bleeds off the preinfuse water.
I've been having really good luck using a lamp dimmer inline with the pump to reduce the power to the vibe pump to give a little slower flow at first for preinfuse.
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