Hi guys,
i'm fairly new to the whole 'make your own coffee at home' thing. i bought my 6910 around april i think so been going at it not quite 6 months. i have a couple of very good teachers in the family and have also been browsing around on here for a while picking up lots of useful tips.
i currently have my machine paired with a breville smart grinder. i upgraded to that from the sunbeam 0480 about a month ago and the cleanliness alone made it well worth the expense.
at the moment i'm using the espresso wow beans. i tried some local ones (i'm in adelaide) from a few different shops but i'm back with espresso wow now. great tasting coffee. also the consistency is very good which is testament to the quality of the beans (thanks andy).
ok, so now to some things i need some confirmation on. not sure if they're problems as such.
firstly, i dose according to the level in the basket. i don't get the whole 'weigh the beans' thing, as that will vary. i've done the 5c test and dose accordingly every time. the silver part on the sunbeam tamp sits about 1-2mm proud of the basket.
as for the grind, i did the 'sweet spot' test which on my machine had the guage reading around the 10 o'clock mark. i'm aware these guages are all different in their calibration but its a reference point.
firstly,
if i grind so the pressure is at or above the 'sweet spot' the flow is too fast. i've found to get that 30ml in 30sec (give or take) type pour, i need to grind much finer and as a result, the guage is reading around 12 o'clock. this in itself isn't an issue but its quite a way above the 'sweet spot' but i can't see how i can adjust the grind coarser to decrease the pressure and have a good shot without updosing, and i don't really want to do that as i've read it just puts unneccessary pressure on the collar etc. the other thing i notice if i go coarser on the grind, is the shot will start pouring before the guage has even stopped moving.
the other thing i have noticed, is the guage tends to decrease ever so slightly during the shot. is this normal? or is there a problem somewhere. i'm only talking 1, maybe 2mm back.
just to complete the info, the 3rd element is tamping, and i've read numerous articles (including mr pullman who makes the darn things) that the pressure isn't ultra critical. the difference between 5 and 15kg is apparently very little. i would say i tamp somewhere between there. i basically just lean into it, probably around the 10kg mark. not sure. maybe i'll do it on some scales one day. anyway, i realise its another one of those topics that can be slightly controversial as there are lots of opinions out there. whats that saying about opinions......
the puck is coming out nicely in one piece, and has a nice fine print of the showerscreen on top.
the coffee tastes great.
so in summary, am i right to disregard the 'sweet spot' and run it closer to 12 o'clock, and is it normal for the guage to ever so slightly fall away during the pour. also, should the guage have stopped moving before the shot starts, or is that not critical?
thanks in advance for any help.
i'm fairly new to the whole 'make your own coffee at home' thing. i bought my 6910 around april i think so been going at it not quite 6 months. i have a couple of very good teachers in the family and have also been browsing around on here for a while picking up lots of useful tips.
i currently have my machine paired with a breville smart grinder. i upgraded to that from the sunbeam 0480 about a month ago and the cleanliness alone made it well worth the expense.
at the moment i'm using the espresso wow beans. i tried some local ones (i'm in adelaide) from a few different shops but i'm back with espresso wow now. great tasting coffee. also the consistency is very good which is testament to the quality of the beans (thanks andy).
ok, so now to some things i need some confirmation on. not sure if they're problems as such.
firstly, i dose according to the level in the basket. i don't get the whole 'weigh the beans' thing, as that will vary. i've done the 5c test and dose accordingly every time. the silver part on the sunbeam tamp sits about 1-2mm proud of the basket.
as for the grind, i did the 'sweet spot' test which on my machine had the guage reading around the 10 o'clock mark. i'm aware these guages are all different in their calibration but its a reference point.
firstly,
if i grind so the pressure is at or above the 'sweet spot' the flow is too fast. i've found to get that 30ml in 30sec (give or take) type pour, i need to grind much finer and as a result, the guage is reading around 12 o'clock. this in itself isn't an issue but its quite a way above the 'sweet spot' but i can't see how i can adjust the grind coarser to decrease the pressure and have a good shot without updosing, and i don't really want to do that as i've read it just puts unneccessary pressure on the collar etc. the other thing i notice if i go coarser on the grind, is the shot will start pouring before the guage has even stopped moving.
the other thing i have noticed, is the guage tends to decrease ever so slightly during the shot. is this normal? or is there a problem somewhere. i'm only talking 1, maybe 2mm back.
just to complete the info, the 3rd element is tamping, and i've read numerous articles (including mr pullman who makes the darn things) that the pressure isn't ultra critical. the difference between 5 and 15kg is apparently very little. i would say i tamp somewhere between there. i basically just lean into it, probably around the 10kg mark. not sure. maybe i'll do it on some scales one day. anyway, i realise its another one of those topics that can be slightly controversial as there are lots of opinions out there. whats that saying about opinions......
the puck is coming out nicely in one piece, and has a nice fine print of the showerscreen on top.
the coffee tastes great.
so in summary, am i right to disregard the 'sweet spot' and run it closer to 12 o'clock, and is it normal for the guage to ever so slightly fall away during the pour. also, should the guage have stopped moving before the shot starts, or is that not critical?
thanks in advance for any help.


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