Ok, normally when you dose into your PF, do you just level off the grounds? Or do you grind by weight?
Ya I saw zero bar and I was shocked. I remembered tamping quite hard, although I'm not sure if it was 30 lbs. I'll try going much finer first, if not then adding more grounds
Firstly congrats on your new purchase! Take some photos and show us your new baby.
Grind by weight is easier for consistency especially if you are starting out. Its very hard to eyeball and get the dose right. Adjusting the grind size won't make any difference if the weight is inconsistent. Use a 0.1gram scale.
Just tamp with just enough force until the grounds do not compress anymore for consistency if you don't want to use a calibrated tamper. Keep this force consistent for all your brews. I find hard tamping is more consistent than soft tamping. Later when you master the basics then you can play around with nutation or WDT which I find is very useful in getting even extraction when all else fails.
Depending on how your machine measures pressure, it could be a broken pressure gauge or not enough resistance given by the coffee puck. Use your blind disk to test. Lock it in and turn the machine on. The pressure should climb and peak at 9-11bar after approximately 10secs max. Since yours is a vibe pump and likely a small gicleur (big guess here) and no mechanical preinfusion, pressure ramp up should take slightly longer than older vibe pump machines.
You might want to check with the vendor and ask him what should the correct pressure reading you should see when using a blind filter (usually slightly more than 9 bar) so that you are sure when you are brewing using coffee you are getting the proper pressure (usually 8.5-9.5 bar measured using a Scace II).
by the way, BZ13 is on a 3 way valve? so backflush is simply put blind filter and run water for how long? How many cycles, say for a daily clear water backflush?
The manual should state how long for vibe pumps. When you are back flushing you will hear a point where the sound from the vibe pump is consistent and the pressure at the group is at its maximum set pressure. That is when you can turn off the pump and hear the whoosh as water is rushes out of the other end of the 3 way solenoid valve. Try not to run the pump for too long as they can overheat and go kaput. The pumps have a recommended max continuous running time. Usually for vibe pumps on machines with no mechanical preinfusion you just need to run it for a several seconds and repeat as per the instructions for your backflushing detergent. You will need to finish backflushing without detergent quite a few times after using the detergent to wash out any residue.
wah that looks cool man!
On a side note, i need some urgent help from you guys. I played around with the bz13 this evening. To my horror, the espresso that came out had almost no crema. I noticed that the gauge (brew pressure?) was zero. Temperature was set at 90 C and the pack of beans were CBTL opened 3 days ago. I was using a double basket, where i leveled off and tamped. I was wondering what i did wrong. Could there be channeling? Didn't know making espresso also so stressful haha.
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you can use the CBTL beans for practice but to get the best from your machine use fresher beans. Roasted within the week would be good. If pressure, dose, brew time, grind size and resistance is correct then likely the lack of crema is because the beans are not fresh.
If you are keen to experiment, get robusta beans that are 1 day off the roaster, use a high temperature and you will have massive crema! but taste wise may not be the best.
I really like the current version of Nylon 4 Chairs. Good stuff.
What kind of roasts do you like? dark or light?
) of Illy Espresso dark roast. I know for sure I cannot finish this so open to anyone who wanna try it.
