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Interesting Tamping Techniques

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  • Interesting Tamping Techniques

    The only time Ive got a dry puck with the cafe roma is when i have filled the basket to the brim after the tamping - this took repeated medium tampings. If i dose so the coffee is level before tamping then i always get a wet puck . But does it matter ? - Im guessing i get a wet puck because there is no way to vent the water that is immediately above the puck so it just sits there after the pour.
    Ive developed an interesting technique where i dose into the PF then place the PF on an upturned random orbital sander running off a variac to slow it down. This vibration fluidises the coffee and I get a very even distribution. The results have been excellent. This method will ensure that the packing distance between the coffee particles is uniform and close - something i have my doubts about with conventional tamping. Maybe it doesnt matter as long as the dosing and tamping method you use is consistent, its just that this method stops the channeling i was seeing.

  • #2
    Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

    Originally posted by JT link=1183681550/30#39 date=1185437100

    Ive developed an interesting technique where i dose into the PF then place the PF on an upturned random orbital sander running off a variac to slow it down. This vibration fluidises the coffee and I get a very even distribution. The results have been excellent. This method will ensure that the packing distance between the coffee particles is uniform and close - something i have my doubts about with conventional tamping. Maybe it doesnt matter as long as the dosing and tamping method you use is consistent, its just that this method stops the channeling i was seeing.
    WOW,

    Great thinking "outside the square" there JT.....

    Cant say Ive ever heard of that before..... and I could see how it would do an excellent job....

    But Im not sure how many people would use an orbital sander / variac in the kitchen to aid with tamping :-/ But maybe the inspiration to come up with something just as effective and a bit more kitchen friendly

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    • #3
      Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

      a small handheld massager??


      an adapted electric toothbrush (without the brush, doh!)??

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      • #4
        Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

        I tried a shaver - not quite enough power.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

          I typically get nice dry pucks with my modified basket on my cafe roma. See picture of my modified basket, and a typical puck that popped out of it. Note, the modified puck involves a small square hole (roughly 5x5mm). I started to cut a much bigger hole (see the scar near the edge at 2 oclock), but decided it would be too hard on my dremel to do a large circular cut, and I dont think it is necessary.

          N.B.
          Image resized to 640x480 and re-attached for easier viewing in most browsers....
          Mal.


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          • #6
            Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

            As a variation on a theme, I used to use the orbital sander as a massager. That was before the purpose-made things became readily and cheaply available.

            --Robusto

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            • #7
              Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

              Originally posted by robusto link=1183681550/30#44 date=1185449936
              As a variation on a theme, I used to use the orbital sander as a massager. That was before the purpose-made things became readily and cheaply available.

              --Robusto
              But didnt you find the 70 grade grit a bit rough on the skin ;D ;D ;D ;D

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              • #8
                Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

                Started off with the 80, JavaB, then progressed down to the 400. Left my skin feeling so soft, so shmooth. 8-) (And saved a fortune on shaving cream )

                -Rob "shmooth as a babys bum" usto

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                • #9
                  Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

                  Originally posted by robusto link=1183681550/30#44 date=1185449936
                  As a variation on a theme,   I used to use the orbital sander as  a massager.  That was before the purpose-made things became readily and cheaply available.

                  --Robusto
                  a man before his time, Robusto is!!

                  the first vibration-massage applicators (for sports massage etc) were indeed nothing more than smartly painted ( deep purple, royal blue..) "double handled" orbital sanders with sheepskin pads on them...

                  on topic: i will shiver me grinds with my electric toothbrush tomorrow morning.. you have got me curious !! 8-)

                  L

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                  • #10
                    Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

                    Sheepskin covers, like lunch, were for wimps, Lizzi. Real men spurned them.

                    Are you going to use the baking soda toothpaste on your grinds?

                    -Robusto

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                    • #11
                      Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

                      Originally posted by robusto link=1183681550/45#48 date=1185453613
                      Sheepskin covers, like lunch,  were for wimps, Lizzi. Real men spurned them.
                      proves that im not a real bloke, then....

                      Originally posted by robusto link=1183681550/45#48 date=1185453613
                      Are you going to use the baking soda toothpaste on your grinds?
                      no, Robusto, we use the Bubblegum flavour ...

                      ill dutifully report tomorrow... ive got some beans which are of the right ( or should i say : wrong, bleh..) roast-level to be sacrificed to science... grind, shiver/tamp, extract, dump! like having grown-up play-doh!
                      8-)

                      L

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                      • #12
                        Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

                        DIG I can only get a puck like this if I really pack the coffee in. I have taken off the bottom skin of the filter to about 2 mm of the rim. Can you describe how you do the dosing and tamping please.

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                        • #13
                          Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

                          I am still experimenting a bit with the details (even after a couple of months of doing this), but basically, I grind the coffee at the finer end of the espresso range on the 0480 (11-13), fill the basket till it wont hold any more, then very lightly tamp to push the coffee down, top up to full again, then tamp heavily. I havent measured the force, but it would be something like 5kg (certainly not 15kg, when I try that, the machine takes way too long to pour the shot (more than a minute), unless I make the grind alot coarser, and when I grind coarse enough for a 15kg tamp to run in 30 seconds, the coffee doesnt tasted as good). My shots typically take around 40 seconds or so (not ideal I know, but I am yet to find a good compromise where I get a better coffee from a 30 second shot, but as I said, I am still experimenting).
                          DIG

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                          • #14
                            Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff

                            Originally posted by Lizzi link=1183681550/45#47 date=1185452794

                            on topic: i will shiver me grinds with  my electric toothbrush tomorrow morning.. you have got me curious !!  8-)

                            L
                            PMSL... "SHiver me grinds..",... you sound like a pirate Lizzi! ;D

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                            • #15
                              Re: Lower end machines can still make a great coff


                              PMSL...  "SHiver me grinds..",...   you sound like a pirate Lizzi! ;D
                              i have been called worse, Zedd.... ;D ;D ;D

                              but, i did try out this shiverin thing this morning, and it does work beautifully!!
                              now,  :-[ there is no other way to recount the procedure, so here goes ( and try keeping a straight face while you read this, and keep yor minds on topic please...) :P

                              i dosed directly into the PF and overfilled to a significant mound.
                              i used my electric toothbrush without the brush, and inserted the vibrating metal shaft into the bottom of the PF ( which in my case does not have a spout...).
                              by angling the shaft so that the tip touched the basket and the side touched the bottom of the PF, i was able to make the grinds shiver, and they gradually formed a perfectly flat surface.

                              i tamped as normal and  compared the pour with one i did before, from a tapped/filled/tapped/filled/levelled/tamped  @ 15kg PF.
                              the shivered pour had darker, more syrupy crema, extracted slower (blonding started at 42sec).
                              the "normal " pour blonded at about 37sec.

                              i think vibration  does indeed help eliminate channelling because of improper dosing techniques...if  there was a simple, small device you could sit the PF on and vibrate it before tamping, i would be keen to add it to my coffee paraphenalia.
                              ill keep my eyes open for one of those small hand-held massagers....

                              L



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