fredk01 Senior Member Joined: 20 Feb 2012 Posts: 116 Location: Canada Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Saeco Aroma Grinder: OE Pharos
Posted Sun Apr 1, 2012, 9:58am Subject: First Shot
After spending a week or so with my new grinder doing French press grinds, it was time to move on to espresso.
Set my Pharos in the middle of its suggested espresso range, weighed out 12.1 oz of Spotted Frog blend from a local supplier, and we're off...
Empty grinder, tamp load and pull...
Gusher (I think). I got what I take to be blonding before 25 seconds and no real crema.
I steamed a little milk and had myself a rather weak cappuccino. While probably not great as caps go, it was still miles better than the bitter crap I had at a Second Cup a month ago.
Now I need to process the caffeine before I go to round 2.
fredk01 Senior Member Joined: 20 Feb 2012 Posts: 116 Location: Canada Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Saeco Aroma Grinder: OE Pharos
Posted Sun Apr 1, 2012, 6:38pm Subject: Re: First Shot
Beans are 4- 6 days. The varieties in the blend were roasted between Monday and Wednesday.
I suspect I should have used a minimum of 14g for a double. I am guessing that is why the second shot was about right time wise, but bitter: not enought beans, too fine a grind, so over extracted. I won't have an opportunity to experiment again until next weekend.
The other issue here is the espresso machine. I know from some googling that the temp drops a lot through a pull. There are a couple of mods I can do to mittigate that. Maybe next weekend if I get ambitious.
naimnut Senior Member Joined: 13 Jul 2011 Posts: 66 Location: Seattle area Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Expobar Brewtus II Grinder: Baratza Vario Drip: Braun Aeromaster
Posted Fri Apr 6, 2012, 11:37am Subject: Re: First Shot
You might also need to pull a cooling shot. To me "bitter" sounds like the water temp might be too high.
This is where the art, science and experimentation come in to this journey.
I now am grinding my fresh coffee to the point that the only weight in the tamp is the actual weight of the stainless steel tamper, basically levelling the grounds in the portafilter. My shots are way, way too long - over 55 seconds. Oddly, I am getting wonderful flavors in the cup and no bitterness.
There are multiple methods for distributing the grinds in the PF basket, most of which have to do with repeatable multidirectional finger sweeps while leveling out the grounds before tamping, there's even one with a rotation of the PF while you sweep the finger. The extreme is the WDT (Weiss Distribution Technique), which involves using a needle or toothpick to break up clumps, swirl the grinds in a specified pattern, etc. It's a little on the far side of "anal retentive" in my opinion, but might be helpful if you have significant clumping.
However, the most reliable way to know if your distribution is even, is to get a naked, aka bottomless, portafilter handle and watch the extraction at its underside.
Posted Fri Apr 6, 2012, 12:22pm Subject: Re: First Shot
When my Pharos arrived, I found it was better to use more coffee in my PF than before. Try 16-18g to start out with. As for distribution, I always use Stockfleth's move (AKA rotational distribution), but only because it streamlines pulling shots. As long as your method distributes equally, it's probably fine. You really should get a bottomless PF though, it makes a world of difference when you're first starting to get distribution down and grind down.
fredk01 Senior Member Joined: 20 Feb 2012 Posts: 116 Location: Canada Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Saeco Aroma Grinder: OE Pharos
Posted Fri Apr 6, 2012, 8:20pm Subject: Re: First Shot
Thanks for the replys.
naimnut. Temperature is going to be a problem on this machine. I know from someone with an electronics background who owned and tested an Aroma, that between the wide deadband small boiler and no proper OPV, this machine will go from too hot to too cold within the time of a single shot.
I need to get some sort of temp probe or a pid to know what is going on temp wise.
emradguy. I think I understand leveling now. With really small doses, the grinds are below the top of the pf, so I can't finger level. A larger dose will certainly help.
There does not seem to be any clumping with the Pharos so far.
I tried another shot this afternoon upping the dose to 14g. I adjusted a little courser, but probably not enough. The results were almost nothing at first. I thought it might be choking, but then things started to flow. The pull was ~30 seconds with not much crema. The result was again bitter, but not so bad as last weeks second pull.
I did end up with a couple of pinholes on this pull. I think that means there was a distribution issue. Will work on that tomorrow.
I really do need some way to understand what my starting temp is.
I think I started this thread in the wrong place. It should probably be in the Q&A forum. I will continue there tomorrow and use the thread as a way to track my progress.
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