Ola everyone
I just had a whole post written, clicked preview and instead of hitting POST I turned off my browser thinking the topic was already posted:| How dumb am I?
So here we go again:
First of all I wanted to thank everyone for their advice in my last topic. It really helps and Im very grateful for you replies
Recently a friend of mine from a polish forum ordered a TORR tamper and a naked PF for me (thanks zamoy!). I payed for it, but he ordered as I dont have a paypal account yet. He wrote to me yesterday saying that the package is on its way and to my surprise it arrived today
So I decided to make a shot with my new equipment quickly. One thing I noticed is that the tamper is a bit smaller than the upper part of the basket. I mean it fits well inside the basket, but leaves a 1-1,5mm gap at the very top as the Gaggia double basket gets narrower near the bottom and are wider at the top. This is a bit annoying as it leaves a small ammount of coffee on the sides of the basket when tamping. Do you also have smth like this?
I know theres a technique which uses two tamps, one light and one harder and a knock on the basket between those tamps to throw the coffee off of the sides of the basket. I heard that the knocking isnt the best idea as it disturbes the coffee puck and can make more damage than good. Maybe I should simply blow the coffee off from the basket sides after the first lighter tamp and not knock?
After the tamping and making coffee I decided to use my new naked PF. I was a bit unsure if I should use it with my low level of experience, cause I heard it can be quite messy when the coffee is not distrubuted well. So I payed extra attention to that, tamped, crossed my fingers and hit the brew button...
Fortunatelly it wasnt so bad
was amazing to see it for the first time. I did it again with a different grind and took some shots:
1. Ooops a slight malfunction:

2. So now its a single stream, better

3. Getting bigger:

4. Blond! still too soon around 15-17s

I really overdosed the PF this time. When I locked the NPF and unlocked it there was a slight impession of the shower screen (before the shot). I tried grinding finer but it was too fine, it dripped and gave only 20ml in 30s (went blond around the 22th second). I guess that middle setting on the MDF would work, I just have to find a way to keep that setting fixed without it changing during the grind.
Im still working with one month old beans so premature blonding can be caused by it. I will try to order some fresh beans after Christmas and check how it works. Should I get pure arabica or a mix of arabica/robusta? I heard robusta gives more crema, but Im not 100% sure.
Cheers and
Merry Christmas
dsc.
I just had a whole post written, clicked preview and instead of hitting POST I turned off my browser thinking the topic was already posted:| How dumb am I?
So here we go again:
First of all I wanted to thank everyone for their advice in my last topic. It really helps and Im very grateful for you replies

Recently a friend of mine from a polish forum ordered a TORR tamper and a naked PF for me (thanks zamoy!). I payed for it, but he ordered as I dont have a paypal account yet. He wrote to me yesterday saying that the package is on its way and to my surprise it arrived today

So I decided to make a shot with my new equipment quickly. One thing I noticed is that the tamper is a bit smaller than the upper part of the basket. I mean it fits well inside the basket, but leaves a 1-1,5mm gap at the very top as the Gaggia double basket gets narrower near the bottom and are wider at the top. This is a bit annoying as it leaves a small ammount of coffee on the sides of the basket when tamping. Do you also have smth like this?
I know theres a technique which uses two tamps, one light and one harder and a knock on the basket between those tamps to throw the coffee off of the sides of the basket. I heard that the knocking isnt the best idea as it disturbes the coffee puck and can make more damage than good. Maybe I should simply blow the coffee off from the basket sides after the first lighter tamp and not knock?
After the tamping and making coffee I decided to use my new naked PF. I was a bit unsure if I should use it with my low level of experience, cause I heard it can be quite messy when the coffee is not distrubuted well. So I payed extra attention to that, tamped, crossed my fingers and hit the brew button...
Fortunatelly it wasnt so bad
was amazing to see it for the first time. I did it again with a different grind and took some shots:1. Ooops a slight malfunction:

2. So now its a single stream, better

3. Getting bigger:

4. Blond! still too soon around 15-17s

I really overdosed the PF this time. When I locked the NPF and unlocked it there was a slight impession of the shower screen (before the shot). I tried grinding finer but it was too fine, it dripped and gave only 20ml in 30s (went blond around the 22th second). I guess that middle setting on the MDF would work, I just have to find a way to keep that setting fixed without it changing during the grind.
Im still working with one month old beans so premature blonding can be caused by it. I will try to order some fresh beans after Christmas and check how it works. Should I get pure arabica or a mix of arabica/robusta? I heard robusta gives more crema, but Im not 100% sure.
Cheers and
Merry Christmas

dsc.

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