(GPGT)Espresso machine hoot

Landreth

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I find Tiong Hoe price quite ok if you sign up for their subscription. I signed up for their filter coffee subscription and it brings down the cost to 13.75 per bag. Their subscription packages provides 2 bags of coffee per month over 4 months.
 
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purpleberry

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remove the cup once you have achieved your desired espresso weight. e.g. 18g dose, 36 brew espresso weight or what ever you decide. Don't bother about blonding. different coffees blonde at different brew weight. use brew weight correlated with taste as a better marker when to stop the pump. My blonde is your tan. very subjective to stop the brew based on colour.

dont' bother with illy or boncafe unless there is no better alternative.

Smell a bag of nylon, strangers, tiny roaster or even jewel and do an A/B comparison with illy/boncafe. Get from joe curious or something from cafebond (Small batch, etc) and you'll know where to spend your money.

Expensive beans are expensive because they are cupped and graded by trained coffee experts on a pretty standardised method and priced/auctioned accordingly.

Good roasters make it even more expensive by doing a lot of tesing to get a good roast profile and remove the lousy beans (quakers) post roast so the customers get absolutely top quality with no compromises. Some home roasters do this on their own and enjoy it is a hobby.

nothing wrong with drinking beans that are less aromatic. but it sure has to be price accordingly i.e. cheap.

cheap beans often gets sold to large companies to mass produce stuff like lavazza, illy, boncafe.

where did you get such hard beans? i'm curious to try. usually the darker the roast the easier and faster to grind. unless maybe the beans has turned into absolute charcoal which i am guessing is really hard.

Yes for me in making for latte or standard espresso, just aim that ml/sec flow rate.
Then simply count the timing 20 to 25 secs.
After a while, you will master very quickly if things are wrong just from eyeballing.
20ml and 25 ml taste a big difference especially in a latte.

Dark roast I usually stop at 20ml - 22ml.
Medium roast, normally around 22ml - 25 ml.
Light roast, 25ml to 28 ml.

The lighter the roast, the more coffee I tend to use.


I never observe where the angle is at, but it's always roughly the same spot. The earlier you release, the higher the position it starts with and the lower the range of pressure exerted.


There are also other ways to use the machine like how that professional copper/grader Jim Schulman you referred to.
If you are drinking it straight black, Jim Schulman actually ignore the duration and everything and run until the extraction is transparent.


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https://www.home-barista.com/levers/bezzera-strega-when-to-stop-pour-into-cup-t36821.html
https://www.home-barista.com/tips/bezzera-strega-target-pour-time-t30754.html

You don't have to be too confused, the beauty is the machine can somehow bring any sh/tty blend to life. :o

Just tried 25ml for my double espresso shots with equal dosage of milk. The result was night and day! I think this will be my default ratio for some time.
 

pulp_79sg

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Hey guys,

I recently noticed that based on my pressure gauge, my machine is not getting up to pressure during extraction. However the flow rate and volume is correct and as per normal based on my 18g dosage.

I initially though that my pressure gauge may be faulty but when I did a back flush, the pressure reading is accurate.

Any ideas whats going on?

This is happening over multiple shots and not just one-off. Same 18g dose, same tamping technique... :s11:
 

DriftKing

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Hey guys,

I recently noticed that based on my pressure gauge, my machine is not getting up to pressure during extraction. However the flow rate and volume is correct and as per normal based on my 18g dosage.

I initially though that my pressure gauge may be faulty but when I did a back flush, the pressure reading is accurate.

Any ideas whats going on?

This is happening over multiple shots and not just one-off. Same 18g dose, same tamping technique... :s11:

Which machine is this and whats the age of machine? I'm guessing it could be valve issue.
 

Lazy_Tiger

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Hey guys,

I recently noticed that based on my pressure gauge, my machine is not getting up to pressure during extraction. However the flow rate and volume is correct and as per normal based on my 18g dosage.

I initially though that my pressure gauge may be faulty but when I did a back flush, the pressure reading is accurate.

Any ideas whats going on?

This is happening over multiple shots and not just one-off. Same 18g dose, same tamping technique... :s11:


If you tested with a blind filter and the reading is 9-10 bars then i think the problem is that your puck is not providing sufficient resistance (too coarse, insufficient grounds, leaky grouphead gasket) to get the pressure high enough.

i don't think your pump is faulty since you can get sufficient pressure on your pressure gauge with a blind filter. Depending on the machine the reading should actually be 10 bars (not 9 bars) as measured on your machines pressure gauge.

Also the pressure gauges on machines are notoriously inaccurate. The standardise way to measure and calibrate is to use a scace device. This is the only device that I know of that reads the pressure accurately at the coffee puck. If you can borrow one to check your machine would be the best way to determine if the machine is the problem.

For your 18g dose what is your brew weight and brew time? 18g dose with a 36g brew weight between 26-30secs would mean that your pressure should be in an ok range for brewing. May not be exactly 9 bars.

Don't use volume as the output variable its very inaccurate. a 45ml shot volume may end up being 30ml volume 1 minute later as the crema settles.
some coffees produce more crema than others.

Get a water resistant weighing scale like a brewista or if you want to splurge an acaia lunar and place the cup on the scale as you are brewing.
 

calbay

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Hey guys,

I recently noticed that based on my pressure gauge, my machine is not getting up to pressure during extraction. However the flow rate and volume is correct and as per normal based on my 18g dosage.

I initially though that my pressure gauge may be faulty but when I did a back flush, the pressure reading is accurate.

Any ideas whats going on?

This is happening over multiple shots and not just one-off. Same 18g dose, same tamping technique... :s11:
If you managed to achieve regular pressure with a blind filter, it simply means that the resistance from the coffee is not enough.

Tune your grind setting finer, or add more coffee.
If you mentioned that the pressure reading is zero, it's way off.

It can be due to your coffee's condition if it's a lighter roast which has oil that is less soluble, or it had oxidised for too long.

Small problem, nothing wrong with the machine, no need to overthink the issue.

Even if there's an issue, it's probably your burrs are worn which should not be the case as your set up is only one year. Unless the roaster you are getting from did not perform destoning to remove foreign objects and something hard busted it.
 
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pulp_79sg

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Thanks guys for the replies!

The pressure reading this morning went back to normal. No idea why.. :s11: The reason why I found it weird was because:

Beans are fresh (2 weeks from roast date) from the same roaster and same type that I've been using for the past few months.

Grind setting is the same and so is the dosing. Flow rate during extraction was as per normal and the weight I'm getting in 30s is regular too. Even the taste is the same... the only irregularity is the pressure reading...
 

Lazy_Tiger

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Thanks guys for the replies!

The pressure reading this morning went back to normal. No idea why.. :s11: The reason why I found it weird was because:

Beans are fresh (2 weeks from roast date) from the same roaster and same type that I've been using for the past few months.

Grind setting is the same and so is the dosing. Flow rate during extraction was as per normal and the weight I'm getting in 30s is regular too. Even the taste is the same... the only irregularity is the pressure reading...

Limescale can jam the pressure sensor. Can just monitor first And see if it occurs again.
 

purpleberry

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Thanks guys for the replies!

The pressure reading this morning went back to normal. No idea why.. :s11: The reason why I found it weird was because:

Beans are fresh (2 weeks from roast date) from the same roaster and same type that I've been using for the past few months.

Grind setting is the same and so is the dosing. Flow rate during extraction was as per normal and the weight I'm getting in 30s is regular too. Even the taste is the same... the only irregularity is the pressure reading...

What kind of water do you use? Tap, filter, etc.?
 
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