Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

Here espresso underground, for example - personally single is at the back of the cupboard can never reliably dose them and i always need doubles

Pity about Sages tamper , in the Seattle coffe review looked metal and hefty.

About cups
ecups_zpspx8rrz3m.jpg~original


I learned I am not a Illy or Gaggia fan (middle), and want a slightly larger capacity (and handle) (left) of ~70ml .Churchill ceramics top left was a recent bay discovery and is current preference. Fracino 8oz cappuccino (bay £10/set) are interesting offset design, space for biscuit.
 
Oooh that black looks nice,got mine in silver.
On a double basket try grind size 13/14,grind amount the line at 4 oclock.The suggested grind size 8(think it was 8) was way off.I tamper quite a lot of pressure though,you'll find your spot.
 
Saint1972 said:
Oooh that black looks nice,got mine in silver.
On a double basket try grind size 13/14,grind amount the line at 4 oclock.The suggested grind size 8(think it was 8) was way off.I tamper quite a lot of pressure though,you'll find your spot.
Click to expand...

cheers - sent the wife out for coffee beans from local place. Also got a few bags on order from various places! Looking forward to playing with it later today!
 
Ok - first few extractions tonight.

Single cup, single basket.

tried about 11 grind size and amount at 4 o'clock. it extracted pretty quick and didnt get up to pressure.

2nd one - upped the grind size to 13/14 and 4 o'clock amount. Seemed much better, hit pressure, nice crema on the top from a very "untrained" eye.

Was that right ? or should I have reduced the grind size to increase the pressure??? (confused)

Need to have a play tomorrow again. However in theory once I get the grind size/pressure right - does it matter with single basket or double?

Also in the "handle" before I insert the basket there is a black plastic coverthing - I presume that stays in??
 
i'd generally advise against using the single basket - your much better off using the double as it gives you more wiggle room to get the shot right, also who drinks a single shot coffee? really?

You're basically looking for volume and time - get the right volume in the right time and your laughing, not sure what controls the sage gives you but your looking for around 30ml in 25-30 seconds (60ml in a double basket)

You can fine tune this in three main ways:
- the grind
- the pressure, pressure should be about 9bar, but again you can play with this.
- the amount of coffee - your looking for about 18-20g for a double.

essentially your best fixing pressure and weight of coffee at 9bar & 18g then playing with the grind. If you're finding the coffee too strong you can increase the amount and decrease the grind slightly, or just play around generally (there are loads of threads, experiments, blog posts etc about it)

In theory swapping between single and double baskets shouldn't do anything, but in reality i'd be surprised if you got consistent results, MTFU and drink doubles ;)

Black plastic thing in the portafiler (handle) is probably an aerator to agitate the coffee and give a better looking crema, if you can take it out (non-destructively) I would do... its lying to you ;)
 
Last edited:
As above, keep some things static (e.g. the amount of coffee you use), and then adjust other things (grind size) and then taste back to back.

Posted this before, but I'll add it again as I think it's a good way of understanding methodology etc:
 
I've only used the double basket,single is not enough for me.I reprogrammed the 2 shot program,tells you how to on page 15 of the manual.Like Silicon said 25-30 secs is what you're aiming for.What i did is press the programme button once,press the 2 cup button.Extraction starts,started the timer on my phone.Made sure i had the right pressure on the gauge,then pressed the 2 cup button again at 25-30 secs and the machine is set.There can be a difference between different coffees,when i get a new batch and the times different i just alter the grind size to suit.
 
At the moment, grind size is about 8/9, amount is between3 and 4 o'clock. Good pressure on the tamp and then taking approx 30 seconds from starting the button to finishing. Pressure on the system is at 12 o'clock which is where it's supposed to be.

Double shot basket only from now on after the abuse i took above!:D:D

Hot water added for a nice americano.
 
may want to check the weight of coffee you are using on separate scales too, so that you can check (timer based I believe) grinder is set right.
(some beans are smaller and may get faster throughput)
 
Yup, one of the best and cheapest things I did was to buy a small digital scale that sits underneath the cup when puling a shot.


In other news, IMS Basket turned up yesterday. Pleased with the results so far, seems to give me a better shot.
 
'counted them all out and counted them all back' EH

if you can just tip the required weight into the grinder and then get all the grind out without loosing some in chutes, this always seems easier than weigh after ? but with Sage if you have pre-calculated grind time sounds even better.
(will probably give +/- 1g ... always have some beans that dance around)

otherwise if you weigh ground, and have put too much/little in the pf I am not sure you can adjust it without impacting the tamp quality (I see utube's where people level off across the top of the pf and discard (heresy) the spare)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom