MustDash Senior Member Joined: 26 May 2012 Posts: 3 Location: Sydney Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat May 26, 2012, 3:44pm Subject: Advice on controls please
Hi
Glad to be on the forum and looking forward to the wisdom of coffee geeks.
I owned a Gaggia Classic Coffee for about 9 years; purchased a VBM Piccolo a few days ago. Using an Isomac Professionale grinder.
The shots are better than ok but not at the standard I want yet - the coffee is still a little bit watery. The problem is when I use any of the obvious controls - increase the dose, grind finer or tamp harder - the extraction slows to a few drips. Any suggestions would be very gratefully received.
IMAWriter Senior Member Joined: 4 Jul 2002 Posts: 5,464 Location: Brentwood, TN Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Nothing at the moment Grinder: Vario-W,Preciso-Esatto/KyM... Vac Pot: Adcraft SS, Yama 8 cup Drip: Brazen.Chemex, Hario, Clever... Roaster: Behmor 1600, CO/UFO combo
Posted Sat May 26, 2012, 4:58pm Subject: Re: Advice on controls please
MustDash Said:
Hi
Glad to be on the forum and looking forward to the wisdom of coffee geeks.
I owned a Gaggia Classic Coffee for about 9 years; purchased a VBM Piccolo a few days ago. Using an Isomac Professionale grinder.
The shots are better than ok but not at the standard I want yet - the coffee is still a little bit watery. The problem is when I use any of the obvious controls - increase the dose, grind finer or tamp harder - the extraction slows to a few drips. Any suggestions would be very gratefully received.
Try to keep as many of the variables consistent. Do not change tamp pressure. Try grinding the same amount for now. Keep the distribution technique the same, regardless of what it is. Make sure the coffee is tamped perfectly level. Otherwise, your pours will be uneven.
Your grinder, if new needs at least 5-10 #'s through it to "season" the burrs. It is a good enough, certainly more than adequate to yield a grind consistent enough for good pours.
MustDash Senior Member Joined: 26 May 2012 Posts: 3 Location: Sydney Expertise: I love coffee
Posted Sat May 26, 2012, 5:19pm Subject: Re: Advice on controls please
Thanks for the response
Doing my best to keep all the variables consistent. The grinder is several years old, and is as clean as I can get it without taking it apart. I'm going to purchase a new tamper as the one I have is a mm too small - but I can't see that having a major impact. I have watched several coffee-porn videos in the last few days as well.
I am puzzled though by the extraction. The first few mils are now coming through ok, then it slows to a drip? I'm not sure whether this is because of the grind, the dose, the tamping, or a mix of all three. If I ease back on any of them, the extraction is too fast.
Posted Sat May 26, 2012, 5:39pm Subject: Re: Advice on controls please
The first bit of the extraction is fine and then it slows down? I'm certainly no expert, nor do I have a ton of experience, but that almost sounds like a pump issue. Can you post a video? Was the Piccolo new when you bought it?
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 