Im trying to dial in Nicaragua Highgrown Bold but for some reason, Im having a tough time of it and Im all confused as to which way to dial now. This roast is only 24hrs post,(naughty moi) and rightly it should be a goopy pour at this stage I would think,..plenty of crema,.... but all Im getting is a very dark start,.. thinner than usual and thinning more, quite quickly to a lighter colour (not yet blonde I dont think), then of course blonde. The length of the last pour was approx 25secs. I dont know why this is happening all of a sudden,.. I havent had this much trouble dialing a new bean before. Any ideas?
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Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
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Re: Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
Its reasonably packed,.. Ive been measuring the same amount of beans into a spare double basket......aaaaarrrrr maybe there lies the problem..these beans are huge,..certainly a lot bigger than I have been using. Sohhh,..I suppose it stands to reason that less volume would be in that basket with a large bean compared to a smaller bean that would compact more into the basket. Ok... I might need to go make myself another coffee,..test out this theory ya know,..and will measure out a rounded basket into the hopper.Originally posted by Mal link=1208680906/0#1 date=1208686044Hmmm,
Almost sounds like under-dosing coupled with too fine a grind Remy..... How packed is the coffee into the basket?
Mal.
Stay tuned
.....will let you know how it goes shortly....
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Re: Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
Remy,
Yep..... you got it in one!
Any of the large beans varieties need a larger volume (if measuring each dose that way- as I do)...
You end up with far less volume of grinds (and lower weight) due to all the space between these large "nuggets" if you use your standard volume.
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Re: Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
Mal...Yep!! you got it! Underdosing with too fine a grind!!! I just measure up a rounded double basket of these mighty beans into the hopper, and dialed in one step coaser and while its not quite there,..there is a significant improvement in the pour. It started quite dark(and initially thought uh oh same same)..though not as bad as the previous pours, and then I got some really nice goop for a bit in the middle of the pour. Taste was waaaaay better,.much sweeter. Oh thank goodness.. I thought I was losing it >Originally posted by Mal link=1208680906/0#1 date=1208686044Hmmm,
Almost sounds like under-dosing coupled with too fine a grind Remy..... How packed is the coffee into the basket?
Mal.
,..at least now I know where to go with it,.. the next pour Ill go another step coarser and I think that might get closer to the pours Ive been getting before.
Thanks heaps Mal!!
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Re: Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
I dont know why I never thought of it until now,. I mean I noticed the size of them green,.. I noticed the expanded size of them in the popperOriginally posted by JavaB link=1208680906/0#3 date=1208688739Remy, Yep..... you got it in one! Any of the large beans varieties need a larger volume (if measuring each dose that way- as I do)... You end up with far less volume of grinds (and lower weight) due to all the space between these large "nuggets" if you use your standard volume.
and noticed it was harder to pack 250g of them in a vac bag,..well daaaaar~~..of course it has to make a difference when measuring out in the dbl basket. *slaps forehead* :
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Re: Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
Ok,. thats good to know. I was expecting a gassy crema I suppose, being that it was so soon post roast. Im attacking these beans so early post roast because I lack the ability to judge how soon I will be out of beans :-[ :Originally posted by askthecoffeeguy link=1208680906/0#7 date=1208723192i usually end up dumping my shots for anything thats less than 4 or 5 days post roast - because of the same reasons: I dont like the look of the pour. Then I give it another day or so and viola! Im in crema heaven!
I usually say to myself when it looks like I have a few days of beans left... I must do a roast tomorrow and two things routinely happen,..1.my life continues to be hijacked by the kids and what they want/need to be doing and I dont get the roasts done for a day or two later, and 2. I misjudged again and I ran out of beans a day or so earlier >
. Im hopeless when I comes to having roasts ready at the right time. 
Back to the dilaing in of this bean...This morning,.. I dialed the grinder another step coarser as I said Id try, but the resulting pour was runny all the way through.. so for next pour,.. Ill go back to the step finer with a measure of beans rounder in the dbl basket. That should do it,.. and by the time day 4 or 5 post roast... I hope Ill have this right,lol.
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Re: Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
I dont understand. You are measuring the dose by putting whole beans into a double basket? Whats the purpose of this?Originally posted by Remy link=1208680906/0#2 date=1208688038Its reasonably packed,.. Ive been measuring the same amount of beans into a spare double basket......aaaaarrrrr maybe there lies the problem..these beans are huge,..certainly a lot bigger than I have been using. Sohhh,..I suppose it stands to reason that less volume would be in that basket with a large bean compared to a smaller bean that would compact more into the basket. Ok... I might need to go make myself another coffee,..test out this theory ya know,..and will measure out a rounded basket into the hopper.Originally posted by Mal link=1208680906/0#1 date=1208686044Hmmm,
Almost sounds like under-dosing coupled with too fine a grind Remy..... How packed is the coffee into the basket?
Mal.
Stay tuned
.....will let you know how it goes shortly....
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Re: Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
It was my idea and works quite well if you dont want to weigh the beans or trust the judgement of your eye as you measure by the level in the hopper.Originally posted by recurve boy link=1208680906/0#9 date=1208761800
I dont understand. You are measuring the dose by putting whole beans into a double basket? Whats the purpose of this?
I used to measure by eye the level in the hopper and always had a few left over grouinds which I collected and used after my weekly clean of the machine for the first shot or two.
Being a process person, and at the time without a scale, it came to me that if I wanted a basket full of ground coffee I should start with a basket full of beans.
I measure the beans into a spare double basket and level to the rim of the basket with the palm of my hand.
You get used to feeling the same level.
After grinding you need to tap the PF a few times to settle the coffee, I also use an old (unused) gift card to level a bit more evenly before finally tamping.
After tamping the coffee is now below the rim of the basket and ready to lock and load.
IIRC Remy actually weighed her grounds after trying my method and came within a gram of what she was expecting (aiming for) for her basket.
Since measuring this way I never have any left over grounds to collect for my weekly re-seasoning shots.
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Re: Troubleshoot my Dialing in please.
Well...tis a long story that started a while back with me trying to get some of the variables such as dosing and tamping consistant every time so that I can concentrate next on my tamping technique to get that consistant and then on the grind setting so that I can ultimately find the sweet spot for my machine. As it was,..my shots were all over the place because all of these variables were very inconsistant until Thundergod (and others) help me sort it out by pointing out the need to get those variables which I can control, become consistant,.. so that I can eventually just make minor changes in the grind to sort out the variables such as bean type, age of bean, humidity etc which I cant control.Originally posted by recurve boy link=1208680906/0#9 date=1208761800I dont understand. You are measuring the dose by putting whole beans into a double basket? Whats the purpose of this?
Rather than weighing the same amount of beans each time,.. Thundergod put me onto measuring the beans by using the double basket (I only pour doubles)and dumping these into the hopper,..grinding this amount each time. It has been a terrific way for me to get consistancy(and no waste as a bonus), and has worked for me for quite a while now. However,. while I have changed beans many times,. and there was no doubt some slight difference in the size of the beans,.. the difference was not big enough for it to be noticeable and it was probably absorded for want of a better word,..by moving one or two steps in the grinder. This bean though threw me for a loop because it is huge and I realise now,.. that when there is a signicant difference in size of the bean,. I need to tweak the amount I measure into the dble basket to say a level measure for smaller beans and a rounded measure for larger beans. Its a good thing really... it just shows me that my other variables have pretty much stayed consistant if I can feel the difference result-wise,..that larger beans has made in the basket.
I just use the spare dble basket (pressurised basket that came with the machine and I never use),.. you could use anything that holds about the same amount. Hope that clarifies it a bit ;D
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