Ristretto: Something is wrong here...

[nescafeGOLD]

Ok,
It seems that lately i have forgotten how to pull ristretto shots.

These are my stats on my rancillio s24.

21g of coffee
28-30 sec extraction
40g of espresso.

The shot is what seems to be blooding early though the shot has a sour taste :/
A finer grind results in the shot dripping out of the portafilter and not pouring and obviously an increased extraction time and (if allowed to go in in a 40g extraction) an overly powerful bitterness since it might take 40-45 secs to achieve this.

S24 set at 9bar, cooling flush performed for ~4-5 secs before locking in the portafilter and starting the extraction.

Am i simply just stopping the shot too early or is there something else to it?

Beans are beanbay decaf wow and i dont doubt the beans for one moment.

[Vinitasse]

Perhaps it's just that time of the month

[Dragunov21]

Just throwing it out there, my typical double shot would end up at (or at least I'd be aiming for) ~30g of espresso, and I find that it blonds quite soon after that if it's left to run on. Perhaps try cutting it a bit shorter?

[NakiChap]

What is your boiler pressure set at ?

[Dr_Dave]

Hi, Can you change the temp on the machine? I found with a duetto and now my Leva that increasing the temp to 123 from 120 completely removed sourness from the beans I like. I did it in 1 degree increments.
Cheers
Dr Dave

[nescafeGOLD]

boiler pressure set at 1.1 (or so the guage states). i initially thought the temp is too low as well....

[nescafeGOLD]

bumped up the pressurestat and the first shot seems somewhat better.. i will keep playing with ti and let you guys know how it goes. thanks for the tips!

Druganov, a double with 30g espresso! i assume your grinding around 16g of coffee??

[Dimal]

Rather than play around with the Boiler Pressure too much, it might be better to check the water level in the boiler. Perhaps the level is not being maintained properly and thereby affecting the performance of the Heat Exchanger which in turn, affects the temperature of the brew water. Of course there are other things to consider but if your shots were on the money before, it's not likely to be anything too serious. You do use filtered water I am assuming...

Mal.

[GregWormald]

I haven't tried the decaf Wow, but any decaf I have tried acts very differently to caffeinated beans.

My standard ristretto is 30ml in 25 sec. from 18 gms of beans.

Greg

[JKM]

I work at a commercial roastery and I have to check the decaf every week. In 2 years of running decaf vs caffeinated blends, I was never able to replicate the same type of shot with the decaf that I could with the caffeinated blends.

[nescafeGOLD]

Water going through the unit is reverse osmosis so is with TDS readings at 8ppm so the water, while not pure, is close to it (not sure if this would mes with the water level probe Dimal as electrical conductivity drops as the water is quite pure)

I have been only using decaf because the wife is allergic to caffeine so i have been buying decaf wow for almost a year now with no isues but i will keep that in mind.

i will check the water level probe for any

[brendogs]

Allergic to caffeine!?

[nescafeGOLD]

well, not quite.. she has a hiatal hernia which is severely affected by caffeine (imagine constant reflux and pain), so she avoids it. Bummer eh..!

[Dimal]

Water going through the unit is reverse osmosis so is with TDS readings at 8ppm so the water, while not pure, is close to it (not sure if this would mes with the water level probe Dimal as electrical conductivity drops as the water is quite pure)

G'day mate...

This will definitely be causing some kind of issue. 8ppm is too low for use in an espresso machine for any kind of reliability of performance. Something approaching 40ppm and up to 80ppm is much better and will also enhance the flavour profile of the resulting pours. Would suggest that you add some tap water to your RO water until you achieve a more desired level of TDS.

Lots of info in this regard can be found here...
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/brewing-eq...y-reading.html

Mal.

[nescafeGOLD]

thanks Dimal,

i will reintroduce some tap water to my RO water (i was using RO to minimise mineral buildup and eliminate tap water tastes but i can go without too!)