Coffee Appreciation

Is this something done day to day as beans go stale? Surely that would waste a lot of shots in fine tuning

yup, welcome to home espresso.

I buy 340gm bags and go through them in about a week and a half, and rarely adjust the grind (same beans all the time).
Clearly no conosewer, I'm happy in my ignorance and with my over roasted Italian style beans.

I tend to need a shot or two to dial in a new bag. I make slight adjustments as I work my way through the 1kg bag, but generally it doesn’t need changing. The shots tend to get a bit quicker as the beans stale, so I just nudge the grind finer.

I don’t really vary my beans much. I just buy kg bags of yellow bourbon espresso beans, and then single origin stuff from YB for filter.

Is this something done day to day as beans go stale? Surely that would waste a lot of shots in fine tuning

I try to get different beans from SQM, a kilo every month (I have a Patreon discount code so it comes 10% cheaper) and don't mix different types of beans in the hopper. As a result, last week of a particular bag the pressure on the hopper declines (as I can't/won't top-up with the other type of bean - also maybe the beans have gotten slightly stale over the past 3 weeks etc) I find the shots start running a little bit quicker, maybe because the grinder adjustment changes without the consistent hopper-pressure. So I have to adjust for finer and finer. Next bag, it's back to my original setting (of 0.5) to start dialling in.

The grinder is an Eureka Mignon Specialita (comes with a "large" 55mm burr set). Maybe I should consider putting the next bag inside the hopper but preventing any mix-up with an oven liner or something. Wouldn't be the end of the world, but mixing would lead to an inconsistent grind and a bad couple of shots before it's settled.

Where are you based?

Forest Hill.

I've got this beast of a machine, that I erm, underestimated the size of, thinking it would fit in our kitchen, needless to say it doesn't.
I'm sure it works, as I bought it from a cafe who were upgrading to a 4 group machine.
Does anybody have any suggestions of how to move it on as it's starting to annoy the wife....I don't really want to list it on ebay as "sure it works, but can't prove it" Ideally I'd love to find someone to give it a once over and certify it as a good'un but most Machine firms only seem to work on a contract basis...

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What's stopping you being able to prove it works? Can't you just put the water inlet tube in a tank of water to run it?

never seen one that prints and scans as well before.

Grinder has gone to a new home - hopefully it will acquit itself well.

I think I'd quite like to try a bottomless portafilter, but I am buggered if I can find one for my machine - anyone been down this road before me and can comment?

What’s the machine - Gaggia mini ?

Isn't it basically a Gaggia-badged La Pavoni? Shouldn't be too tricky to pick up a bottomless portafilter for one of those. Though probably best to check if it is the same as a Europiccola, which version it's the same as (pre or post-millennium). The one I picked up is out of stock (and post-millennium so probably wouldn't have fitted anyway): https://www.theespressoshop.co.uk/en/La-Pavoni-Lever-Bottomless-Portafilter-Black-Handle-New-Group---2953010/m-2157.aspx

I've bought from these guys before and they were pretty decent, couple of pre-millennium offerings here:

https://coffee-sensor.com/product/la-pavoni-lever-chrome-bottomless-portafilter-with-wood-handle-for-pre-mill-old-group-gen/
https://coffee-sensor.com/product/la-pavoni-bottomless-portafilter-black-handle-old-gen-pre-mill-2953015-1165263/

I got mine from here as I found the angled spouts infuriating. Would recommend.

I have a bottomless portafilter for my Pavoni but I switched back to the regular version because I no longer want to be confronted with my inability to get rid of channeling. It looks nice when you get it right but if you don't ~10% of the coffee lands on your wall and counter instead of in your cup. I don't believe it makes a taste difference per se, but it gives more info to further dial in your grind / declumping / tamping.

Agree with this, it's a diagnostic tool more than anything else IMO. Obviously diagnosing & resolving issues with the puck should yield a better extraction and a better shot though.

On the channelling note, were you able to find any potential causes for it? In my experience it's commonly caused by just tamping too hard. Or people doing the 'knock the portafilter with the tamper to get that 0.01g of coffee off the side of the basket' thing.

Regular backflush and cleaning the shower screen with an old toothbrush has been a key thing for me and my Classic in the fight against the channels. Now rocking a pretty clean experience with a bottomless PF.

But when you nail a shot with a naked portafilter there is no feeling quite like it. God tier home coffee nerd status

in the fight against the channels

Alright Farage...

Now you mention it - it is always that foreign coffee that spurts the worst.

coffee distribution tool like the Ona OCD will fix 70% of most channeling issues ime. if your grind is remotely in the right place you shouldn't have many issues after that.

Isn't it basically a Gaggia-badged La Pavoni? Shouldn't be too tricky to pick up a bottomless portafilter for one of those. Though probably best to check if it is the same as a Europiccola, which version it's the same as (pre or post-millennium). The one I picked up is out of stock (and post-millennium so probably wouldn't have fitted anyway): https://www.theespressoshop.co.uk/en/La-­Pavoni-Lever-Bottomless-Portafilter-Blac­k-Handle-New-Group---2953010/m-2157.aspx­

I've bought from these guys before and they were pretty decent, couple of pre-millennium offerings here:

https://coffee-sensor.com/product/la-pav­oni-lever-chrome-bottomless-portafilter-­with-wood-handle-for-pre-mill-old-group-­gen/
https://coffee-sensor.com/product/la-pav­oni-bottomless-portafilter-black-handle-­old-gen-pre-mill-2953015-1165263/

Yes - Gaggia Factory 105 I think it is (the larger capacity one with the pressure-stat).

I'm a bit cautious because when I look for these things it seems essential to know if your machine is pre or post millennium - and I don't, and don't know how to tell.

If you're not sure which version you have, you can measure the exterior of your grouphead piston cylinder. The PRE-Millennium is 50mm; Millennium is 60mm.

https://www.espressocare.com/la-pavoni-millennium-or-pre-millennium-comparison

I’ve got the Gaggia Factory too - it’s post-mil. I’m really happy with my Coffee-sensor naked portafilter. It’s not perfect but it’s very, very nice.

Edit: just don’t go for the ‘official’ one with the rounded lip at the bottom. Stock basket is too deep and drips catch on it, flying everywhere. IMS basket won’t even fit.

I recall now that I made my portafilter bottomless by attacking it with a hole saw, in case you can't find one. The threaded hole for the spout makes a perfect pilot hole.

This is also a perfectly valid option!