Hi
Ive had my La Scala Butterfly for a week or so and am really enjoying getting to know how to "drive" it properly. Anyway, for the benefit of any learners in a similar situation, heres a tip that is making life easier for me: remove the wire retaining spring from one of your portafilters so that the basket can just drop out, and leave the portafilter in the group head while you grind, dose and tamp into the basket alone.
The advantages I have found are:
1. I can take my time over the grind, dose, tamp routine without worrying about the portafilter cooling too much or the brew water in the HX over heating.
2. I can rotate the the basket under the spout of my Rocky doserless grinder as it fills to get better distribution.
3. I can weigh the basket easily on our digital kitchen scales to check Im dosing consistently.
4. Tamping is much easier - especially checking that your tamp is level.
5. Without the basket in place it is easier to hear/see when youve flushed enough water to cool the HX.
6. Once the cooling flush has finished I can allow the machine to recover for an exact amount of time, which should achieve a consistent brew temperature. Then I just unlatch the portafilter, pop in the filled and tamped basket, lock and go!
7. Tamping outside the portafilter has also allowed me to use the single spout portafilter that came with my machine, which makes it easier to observe the extraction (I was having difficulty getting a level tamp with the basket in situ).
To overcome any fears about the basket "cooling" the shot, I keep it on the cup warmer between shots so it stays nice and toasty. My palate isnt anywhere near sensitive enough to tell if the slightly extended "air time" that the ground coffee gets is having any adverse effect.
The only downside I can think of is that I dont look like a pro-barista but, hey, Im not!
BTW I cant claim any originality for this tip, Im sure I read it on one or other for the coffee forums - maybe even this one! Anyway its helping me so I thought it was worth repeating.
Cheers,
Andy
PS Naked portafilter arriving soon for an even richer learning experience!
Ive had my La Scala Butterfly for a week or so and am really enjoying getting to know how to "drive" it properly. Anyway, for the benefit of any learners in a similar situation, heres a tip that is making life easier for me: remove the wire retaining spring from one of your portafilters so that the basket can just drop out, and leave the portafilter in the group head while you grind, dose and tamp into the basket alone.
The advantages I have found are:
1. I can take my time over the grind, dose, tamp routine without worrying about the portafilter cooling too much or the brew water in the HX over heating.
2. I can rotate the the basket under the spout of my Rocky doserless grinder as it fills to get better distribution.
3. I can weigh the basket easily on our digital kitchen scales to check Im dosing consistently.
4. Tamping is much easier - especially checking that your tamp is level.
5. Without the basket in place it is easier to hear/see when youve flushed enough water to cool the HX.
6. Once the cooling flush has finished I can allow the machine to recover for an exact amount of time, which should achieve a consistent brew temperature. Then I just unlatch the portafilter, pop in the filled and tamped basket, lock and go!
7. Tamping outside the portafilter has also allowed me to use the single spout portafilter that came with my machine, which makes it easier to observe the extraction (I was having difficulty getting a level tamp with the basket in situ).
To overcome any fears about the basket "cooling" the shot, I keep it on the cup warmer between shots so it stays nice and toasty. My palate isnt anywhere near sensitive enough to tell if the slightly extended "air time" that the ground coffee gets is having any adverse effect.
The only downside I can think of is that I dont look like a pro-barista but, hey, Im not!
BTW I cant claim any originality for this tip, Im sure I read it on one or other for the coffee forums - maybe even this one! Anyway its helping me so I thought it was worth repeating.
Cheers,
Andy
PS Naked portafilter arriving soon for an even richer learning experience!
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