pumpkinscastle Senior Member Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 146 Location: Cincinnati, OH Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Quickmilll Vetrano Grinder: Mazzer Super Jolly
Posted Wed May 14, 2008, 8:44am Subject: Throwing out the spent puck. Problem with triple basket and puck crumbling
You all know this feeling after a successful shot when you knock out the spent puck in one fell swoop into your knock box or your garbage bin. Ideally, it'll come out easily in one. When I knock out my puck from my double basket, I have no problems at all. It easily releases usually. Now, when I do the same thing with my triple basket (laden with approx. 20-22 gr. of coffee), the puck always breaks and comes out in several crumbly chunks, with some considerable residue sticking to the bottom of the basket that I have to forcefully dislodge with a spoon. I should perhaps mention that I use a QM Vetrano. The triple basket sits in a Rancilio naked portafilter (and came with said portafilter). The inside surface of the triple basket feels a bit different than my two Quickmill baskets. What could be the problem here? I should also say that I use the Weiss Distribution Technique successfully, so I get even extractions from both, the double and triple baskets. Can tamping be an issue? I noticed that when I tamp too hard, pucks tend to not come out nicely. Therefore, I checked my tamping and applied equal tamping pressure to my double and triple baskets. And yet, the problem persists with the triple basket...
What does the espresso taste like? If it's good, who cares. If you get the puck to come out clean, but at the expense of decent 'spro, you're kinda defeating the purpose. OTOH, it sounds like too fine a grind. Coarser grind for a triple, shooting for 2.5 - 3.0 oz. in ca. thirty seconds. If the puck comes out cleaner and the espresso tastes better, great. If the espresso tastes not as good, go back to cleaning your triple basket and enjoying th triples.
pumpkinscastle Senior Member Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 146 Location: Cincinnati, OH Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Quickmilll Vetrano Grinder: Mazzer Super Jolly
Posted Wed May 14, 2008, 1:03pm Subject: Re: Throwing out the spent puck. Problem with triple basket and puck crumbling
Psyd Said:
What does the espresso taste like? If it's good, who cares. If you get the puck to come out clean, but at the expense of decent 'spro, you're kinda defeating the purpose. OTOH, it sounds like too fine a grind. Coarser grind for a triple, shooting for 2.5 - 3.0 oz. in ca. thirty seconds. If the puck comes out cleaner and the espresso tastes better, great. If the espresso tastes not as good, go back to cleaning your triple basket and enjoying th triples.
The shots taste heavenly to me. Subtle and sweet with lots of over and undertones. However, I mostly pull ristrettos resulting in much less than the usual 2.5 - 3.0 oz. I love using the triple basket for giving my ristrettos that extra irresistible aromatic pungency. I am not interested in pulling a higher volume with the triple basket.
You're right that I could probably care less if the puck comes out clean or not. However, it's sometimes a hassle when I have guests and I have to scrape clean the triple basket every time over the bin. I don't think that too fine a grind is to blame for this stickiness. With the same grind, the pucks from the double basket come out clean.
Posted Thu May 15, 2008, 8:43am Subject: Re: Throwing out the spent puck. Problem with triple basket and puck crumbling
pumpkinscastle Said:
When I knock out my puck from my double basket, I have no problems at all. It easily releases usually. Now, when I do the same thing with my triple basket (laden with approx. 20-22 gr. of coffee), the puck always breaks and comes out in several crumbly chunks, with some considerable residue sticking to the bottom of the basket that I have to forcefully dislodge with a spoon.
Not to worry. I had the same thing happen once I went to a triple. In my case, my double basket had a taper/slope to the sides as it neared the bottom, so a single rap on the knock bar realeased the puck in one beautiful mass. The La Marzocco triple basket I picked up was straight-sided. Without that beveled taper at the bottom (as in the double basket), the walls hold on to the puck so strongly that it takes several raps, & the puck ALWAYS breaks apart.
After a few months using the triple exclusivley, I have now gome back to the double - regardless of the puck's extraction, the double basket makes a more pleasing cup to me.
webhead Senior Member Joined: 23 May 2003 Posts: 17 Location: Belgium Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Promac Green Pu Grinder: Santos
Posted Fri May 16, 2008, 11:29pm Subject: Re: Throwing out the spent puck. Problem with triple basket and puck crumbling
Hm, this is odd.
I was under the impression a double basket is used for doubles ? Doesn't that mean using 14-16gr of coffee for a single shot then ?
Anyhow regardless of what I've done so far (just exploring a new machine) I haven't been able to get a "puck" at all. Each and every time, the coffee remains moist and thus I never can bang out a disc.
Could this be a too fine grind ? I get the impression that using a coarser grind will ruin my extraction time...
pumpkinscastle Senior Member Joined: 10 Jan 2008 Posts: 146 Location: Cincinnati, OH Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Quickmilll Vetrano Grinder: Mazzer Super Jolly
Posted Sat May 17, 2008, 11:42am Subject: Re: Throwing out the spent puck. Problem with triple basket and puck crumbling
dmankin Said:
The La Marzocco triple basket I picked up was straight-sided. Without that beveled taper at the bottom (as in the double basket), the walls hold on to the puck so strongly that it takes several raps, & the puck ALWAYS breaks apart.
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