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Rancilio Silvia - Bitter coffee

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  • #16
    Sounds like the temp might be too hot when you pull the shot. Are you temperature surfing?

    If not, jump on youtube and check it out.

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    • #17
      I get the boiler to cycle twice and once the light goes off i wait ~30 seconds before pulling the shot

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      • #18
        Do you cut off the shot when it starts to blond? Stop brewing as soon as blond starts appearing. This way you are avoiding the bitter compounds being extracted, same way as tea if you leave the tea bag or tea leaves in for too long.

        Miss Silvia demands that the technique is done correctly, or she will slap you in the face with her bitterness.
        Done right, she will reward you with a sweet kiss of dark gold.

        Indicator of right dose: the concave ring markers on the inside of each Rancilio filter basket is the indicator. Dose below that, you have under-dosed. Above the marker, you have over-dosed.
        Try this. Grind into the portafilter to a mound. Tap once on the bench or prongs of the grinder to collapse the grounds. Tamp, evenly as this is important for an even extraction. Wipe off the lip of the portafilter and lugs. Do not worry about tapping the sides or banging it on the bench to distribute any loose grounds or the risk of fracturing the carefully tamped puck is increased and it may cause channeling.
        Aim to use the markers of the tamper as your guide. Once that's done, you should look to see if the top of the grounds is level with the inside ring indicator of the basket. A bit of practice, and you'll get it right.
        Brew. Look at the pour and see if it runs in a thin straight stream with a consistency of thin honey. Cut it off as soon as blond appears.
        Golden brown is good. Blond sucks.

        You've only had your Silvia for not long, so given more time and getting to know her better, you'll be enjoying great coffee.

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        • #19
          Alright that sounds good, i'll post a photo of when i cut the stream off to show maybe i'm cutting it off too late? This morning the shot was a lot less bitter which was nice, i'm using the double dose basket i'll try that tamping/dosing technique it seems similar to what i'm doing, i might be over dosing just a little bit.

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          • #20
            Hi,

            I have a silvia as well, i'm not an expert but here are some of the things I do.

            Use recently roasted beans... I usually use the beans I roast myself (after a few days* of degassing), I find that the supermarket beans tend to blonde early for me and generally don't taste as nice.

            The following will help you if you've got your temperature surfing sorted out, and you're still getting bitter shots.

            You got to make sure you're tamping at the right pressure. If you've tamped too hard the shots coming out will be burnt and bitter.

            I usually use a small shot measuring glass that helps me tell if I've got this right. Generally after 25 seconds ideally I'd like about 25 ml of espresso.

            So to give you a rough guideline that I noticed:

            After 25 seconds,
            if shot < 20 ml then //this will be Bitter
            adjust tamp with less force
            After 25 seconds,
            if shot > 30 ml then //this will be Sour
            adjust tamp with more force

            Hope this helps!
            Last edited by azeworai; 30 July 2012, 07:13 PM. Reason: realised he has a grinder so took out the line about grinding just before use.

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            • #21
              Originally posted by azeworai View Post
              After 25 seconds,
              if shot < 20 ml then //this will be Bitter
              adjust tamp with less force
              After 25 seconds,
              if shot > 30 ml then //this will be Sour
              adjust tamp with more force
              !
              Dont change you tamp, do that the same always.

              You should change only one variable at a time. Easiest way to get used to finding the right extraction is to weigh your dose and keep it consistaint (cheep jewellers scales from a extreme hong kong based website are a deal) and change your grind to get the extraction right

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              • #22
                I don't have a Silvia anymore, but I would offer a couple of suggestions.

                The first - as nabsie suggested is temperature. You can measure shot temperature with a multimeter and a bead type thermocouple. You will kill the thermocouple doing this after a couple of goes (up and over the edge of the portafilter). Nothing quite like actually measuring it to see if that is the problem. I drilled a hole in the bottom of a portafilter and used a naked group handle to make this easier. That was a winner..

                Second suggestion - if you're using the Rancillio baskets - get some replacements from one of the sponsors. I used LM baskets at the start and then bought a VST which resulted in a better shot - although the VST is a bigger basket so that's a bit like comparing apples to pears.

                But as dr.a.j.pickering pointed out - only change one thing at a time....

                /Kevin

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                • #23
                  had the exact same problem after 2 years of woenership and trying every possible thing with beans, cleaning, bakfflushing, temp surfing etc etc BUT my espresso shots finally got rid of the bitter/ burnt taste when I took aprt and manually cleaned the 3 way valve. I took pictures for those that are afraid to take apart their Silvia's just to show how straight forward it is AND to prove that backflushing is not enough to solve this problem.

                  Man Cave Ramblings: bitter/burnt tasting espresso after trying everything on Rancilio Silvia ?

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