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Problems dialling in VST basket please help

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  • #31
    I currently have a 18g VST basket, and I'm toying with the idea of getting a larger 20g or 22g. I must admit this is after talking to a number of cafes which uses 21.5g or so in their basket, and I'm trying to replicate what they do. I know that commercial machines will be different to my Rocket V3.

    Couple of conflicting points which I have come across:
    - I know that VST recommends dosage +/- 1g of the recommend dosage.
    - However, I've read quite a few number of people who have exceeded this, including cafes. For example, they would pack 21.5g into a 20g VST basket.
    - I've also read that particular doses work better in particular baskets (eg. 19g works better in the 20g basket than the 18g basket)

    Can someone point me in the right direction and stop me from buying all these different baskets?

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    • #32
      Originally posted by makfelix View Post
      I currently have a 18g VST basket, and I'm toying with the idea of getting a larger 20g or 22g. I must admit this is after talking to a number of cafes which uses 21.5g or so in their basket, and I'm trying to replicate what they do. I know that commercial machines will be different to my Rocket V3.

      Couple of conflicting points which I have come across:
      - I know that VST recommends dosage +/- 1g of the recommend dosage.
      - However, I've read quite a few number of people who have exceeded this, including cafes. For example, they would pack 21.5g into a 20g VST basket.
      - I've also read that particular doses work better in particular baskets (eg. 19g works better in the 20g basket than the 18g basket)

      Can someone point me in the right direction and stop me from buying all these different baskets?
      Yep, buy one of these Precision filter basket 58mm- Espresso parts | Talk Coffee 18 to 21 gram, you won't look back.

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      • #33
        Just do what you want to do makfelix. If you want to replicate your cafe's equipment, sure pick up a 20g. But honestly, having another basket to put a 19g underdose instead of a 19g overdose - not worth the cost of entry.
        I bought a 20g that I could fit in my portafilter (22g too big) and overdose to 21g to split the shot. Generally I use my 18g basket at 17g dose for a double shot flat white. To me, for my purposes, the 4g difference justified the purchase. If you reckon you have a good reason for it, go for it.

        Slightly related - There's a lot of people who seem to just buy whatever others buy without working it through. Drives me crazy to read about it. I bought VSTs nearly 12 months after I bought my first espresso machine, even though I knew I intended to purchase eventually. Why? Cause I wanted to get my skills up first. Why did I get the baskets in the end anyway? So I could work to set recipes and have a fitted tamper. I had also worked with VSTs in a cafe over summer and was satisfied they were an improvement for me.

        My advice for anyone wanting to buy VSTs is to pull some shots with your local site sponsor, just to take the mystical shine off before purchasing.

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        • #34
          Problems dialling in VST basket please help

          Depends on the screen distance.
          My 16gr basket take nicely 18.5gr, with older coffees up to 19, more that it's the 20gr basket.
          What's useless for me is the VST 14gr, it takes at most 16gr and requires extreme fine grinding, really a pain to dial in.

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          • #35
            Just to add a couple of things I recently discovered with my VST 15g double basket.

            I found that using a perfectly flat-bottom tamper that is >58 mm works best with VST (and perhaps others too?) double baskets.
            My old trusty 58 mm tamper has a small bump in the middle so its no flat and it has too much free-play inside the basket.
            This seems to make a noticeable difference to VST and I suspect some other baskets.

            So I bought a 58.5 mm tamper Pesado, which works a lot like engine piston inside VST basket and it makes a noticeable difference to the end result as well as makes the tamp easily repeatable due to absence of any side-to-side free-play when applying tamping pressure (typically only medium strength is required with a good grinder). Just take it out slowly and gently after the tamp down, as the suction may disturb the puck!

            With dosing what I discovered that VST when dosed correctly (15-16 gram in VST-15g), it has a lot of head-room above the puck and it gets very wet after extraction is done. It also does not come out very easily and often crumbles at the edges when you knock it out.

            This is just what it is, and I had to learn not to worry about it and only focus on the pour and final taste, not to focus on the puck's looks after the extraction.
            This is probably very different technique to other double baskets on the market, I dont know, but not for VST.

            Once these rules are followed, it produces very good results.

            Clearly many people here feel the complexity is not justified, which is OK, each to their own.

            But, if I am not mistaken, 2012-2013-2014-2015-2016 WBC were won using VST 20 gram baskets so there must be something good about them when used as recommended.

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            • #36
              A little more.

              +1 on the shower-screen head room issue,

              on some coffee machines using 15 grams in VST-15g may be optimum and 16 grams will be too much,
              on others with just 1 mm more more shower-screen headroom you may be best with 16 grams in VST-15g i.e. +1 gram up-dose.
              This is all inside the optimum range that VST recommmends i.e + or - 1.0 gram.

              Finally I also think that VST basket probably 'demands' a better grinder than many other double baskets but having a better grinder is always beneficial with any basket, it is money well spent.

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              • #37
                Hello guys !
                Had the same problem with VST 20g basket for my Breville 920 coffee machine !
                I believe one of the really big issues is the breville grinder too!
                But i have the same problem , with dose 21g i can pull an ok shot for 23 sec include preinfusion that is 5 sec .
                After 24 sec , just water coming through the pf .
                I usually try different coffees to see which one i like more .
                I have found that if you try to get a perfect shot the taste is so much different that you can drink it without sugar .
                Btw for me is very hard to have coffee without sugar :-)

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