OK, ... Let me repeat the facts (this feels like "Major Plum in the Library with an axe.")
You like the coffee made by your Gaggia. You like the coffee made by your Pavoni. You don't like the taste of your coffee when it is produced by your B 4. You know that the B4 coffee is brewed neither too hot (it would have a bitter note) nor too low (it would be sour). You define it as too "harsh" which sounds unpleasant, (but perhaps not perfectly clear to others.) You roast your own beans. You have been using your B4 for a year. (cleaning status undefined) You have changed the factory settings many times over the past year. Your settings are now 8.5C offset and 9 bar presure and you do not change these. You only and always use precisely 14 grams* of ground beans (as weighed on a gram scale.) You have seen frequent signs of channeling. You use a non-standard "smaller" filter basket. You have a way of measuring the presure on your Gaggia, so you know it is higher than the pressure reported by your gauge on your Brewtus. Your B4 always takes 11seconds to reach 9 bar on pucks and blanks. I did not notice what your standard pull time was on all machines nor your standard volume ( a volume for foam and for fluid @ 5 seconds after pull completed and total fluid after it stands would help eliminate assumptions.) Nor did I pick up a comment on your "consistency of result" on pours from all 3 machines, whether all taste assessments were made on straight espresso, stream color, or the impact of adding milk for caps. I can assume things about the above, but I have already made an error in assuming you were using a well known bean supply, so I am hesitant to make too many other assumptions.) Your working hypothesis is that your unsatisfactory B4 results are attributable to a machine fault associated with the presure profile. You are looking for data from other B4 vibe owners that will verify that your presure profile is abnormal. You also seek reassurance from the group that you are not overlooking a simple "correction" of method that would eliminate the problem you define. If you can verify this, your next steps are not stated. (You imply that the seller will not help you "make it right".) While you are awaiting the report of other B4-v owners, I would appreciate it if you would pull 3 shots to the following parameters: naked PF, Gaggia double basket, 17 grams, 25 second pull, grind adjusted to produce 2.0 oz net fluid after it stands. Is the machine producing identical results (+\- 5%) with all 3 pulls or do you consistently have outliers and or channeling? Please pull the same setups on the Gaggia and let us know the resulting fluid amount and taste. thx. Kitt Note: * 14.2 grams for dark roasts. Sent from my iPad On Mar 24, 2012, at 2:04 AM, guido <[email protected]> wrote: > hello ben, > > the thing is, regardless of what the puck looked like, with a higher dose the > coffee just does not taste very good, just slightly below level (with the > edge of the basket) before tamping has given me a better results every time. > >> I know what you are talking about with what look like holes on the >> edges, I see this on every shot. But, I've examined many hundreds of >> pucks in the knockbox, and none of them have channeling even though >> the top of the puck looks like what you said. With channeling, you >> can see the wormholes through the puck. > >> When I volume dose, I am able to tamp to the dosing line with no >> problem (the dented line in the side of the basket). My grind will be >> just below the screen then too. Could you be tamping too lightly, >> making it easy for the water to channel? > > i have tried different tamp strengths. i've been playing around with these > parameter (one at a time) for months now. nothing seems exactly right, i can > reduce the harshness and sharp mouth-feel somewhat, but never eliminate it, > never get an undistorted cup like the gaggia can give me. > >> Even if your tamp is working on the other machine, it may be at a >> lower pressure? > > actually, the gaggia is running on higher pressure. but if i turn up the > pressure on the brewtus, channeling gets *really* bad, that certainly does > not seem the way to go. > > lowering the pressure also did not give me great results. it's now at 9 bar > after 11 seconds, then usually drops back to 8.5 bar when the coffee starts > flowing. > > have a great weekend, > guido. > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en.
