I am (obviously) pretty new to espresso. I have a breville bambino plus with a bottomless portafilter from knodos. I have been trying to dial in the dose, grind size and everything else listed in the starter wiki, but every single time I get something like this. My grinder is a baratza encore and I have experimented with grind sizes 2-9, and with 16-19g. I feel like I must be doing something very fundamentally wrong, any advice?
by ChilledGrease
36 Comments
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It’s too coarse, you need to grind finer.
You need to purge between sizes. I also recommend starting without a bottomless portafilter till you get the hang of it.
You need to keep the same dosage every time. Do not go between 16 to 19. Pick one and stay with it.
F
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Lmao kept the camera on point like a champ
The Encore is not sufficient for doing espresso.
I am sorry to say, the Baratza Encore (and as distinct from the subsequent Encore ESP and the new Encore ESP Pro) can be a challenge for espresso use, as the grinder was not developed for that use. There are some modifications and methodologies to help, but I’ll leave that to the Encore crowd (or you can do a search here).
By any chance, do you have any events coming up to use as an excuse to get a more capable espresso-grade grinder? Recommendations: the aforementioned Encore ESP and Encore ESP Pro; the DF54; and on the hand-grinder front, the KinGrinder K4/K6 and the 1Zpresso J-Ultra.
I have bambino plus with an encore esp. I never need to go past 1/2 way into the espresso zone.
Let’s clarify, is your grinder the Encore ESP? Or just encore? Cause that, is just to coarse of a grind. The bottomless pf is not very forgiving 🙂
More beans bruh
Baratza encore can’t go fine enough for espresso unless it’s the new S version. Get a new grinder.
Oh my god what just happened
It takes some doing, but you can bandaid your process with the Encore while you save a few hundred dollars for a capable grinder (manual or electric). You’ll need to set the grinder at the finest it will run and scale your dose to dial in rather than your grind size.
You’ll first need to adjust the set screw on the burr chamber collar and align it as fine as it will go. Then run it on as fine a click as you can without chirping the burrs (ie. without burr contact). You mentioned you were dosing 16-19g, so dose 19g on the new finest setting and see how that shot reacts. If it’s still gushing, dose up .5-1g and pull again. Your basket can likely hold ~21g at most. If it chokes, go one click coarser with the same dose and pull again. If that still chokes, stay on that click and lower your dose and pull again. It’s finicky to get into a window where you can pull decent shots, but it’s such a great way to learn how to troubleshoot extraction. (Basically, if you can get to the point where the shot chokes with a large dose in the basket, you’ll be able to scale back from there and hit a decent extraction window with some tinkering.)
Source: started my journey with a Duo Temp Pro with bottomless and an Encore. Was a pain, but I think i actually learned more about extraction and espresso process by having to work harder for it.
Ps: pull shots with a scale to weight output, and use the double shot button to be able to stop the shot at your target weight… the preset shot volumes don’t seem to be consistent for me on my BB+ shot to shot
Need to grind finer
Why there is the recommendation to grind finer ?
Initially I thought the opposite
Looks like it ate Mexican last night
Its the grinder. I had the encore with my Gaggia classic Pro and used Costco whole beans, fresh single source whole beans and beans meant for espresso. I tried everything. 1 grind size, larger dose and seemingly perfect prep. Then finally I opened it up and set the screw on the fine placement. Everything was too quick at extracting (Very bitter). Had to use a pressurized basket with my not fine enough beans. Got a DF64 gen 2 on sale and it solved all my problems. I can get decent espresso with Costco whole beans and really good espresso with actual fresh beans.
Edit: Oh and I tried setting it to stepless mod and that sucks, vibrations move the grind size. So you gotta keep you hand on it, even for normal pour over. Also the M2 burr is always out of stock so I didnt wanna wait on that upgrade.
I have the Bambino, and if you try to make two shots in a row before the temperature has a chance to cool down, this happens. But even then, this is fast! You could try a smaller, taller basket, and a higher dose to increase resistance and slow down things a bit.
Do we have a flowchart that just always ends in grind finer?
Damn shes a squirter
https://preview.redd.it/zuf2nv0syapf1.png?width=437&format=png&auto=webp&s=4784b22f7369efef471340131deefa07bcd9691b
(and puck prep would help)
Lmfao @ grind finer chain
Find a grinder
I see what’s happening in your picture. You’re locking in a bottomless portafilter on your Breville Bambino Plus, but no coffee puck is in there. You’re just running water straight through the naked basket into your cup. That’s why it looks off and doesn’t resemble a proper espresso shot. Try again with the pressurized basket plus Encore, and you’ll get something drinkable. If you want to use the bottomless basket, you’ll need to upgrade to a grinder that can grind fine enough.
Need to grind finer but also tamp a little harder. the sputtering is because water is finding a easy channel through the grind. i had that when i used my dual spring level tamper, changed to a manual tamper and now pulling amazing shots.
Looks like you’re using the Bambino Plus with the stock basket and a Baratza Encore.
What basket are you using? Did it come with the portafilter? Have you checked to see how much coffee it holds? Use the Razor tool after tamping as a guide. The top of the puck should just clear the Razor.
The angle of the video, the question, I knew the answer before it even started.
Grind finer, a lot finer.
I should call her. 😆
Tamping too hard and grind not on point?
In addition to grinding finer, weigh the grounds in your portafilter. Start with 18 grams.
I could smell the comments
To add to the grind finer comments – there’s some documentation online, but I would recommend opening the encore up and adjusting it all the way down so that it will grind as fine as possible. This gives you extra working room to adjust. I also removed the detent pin while I was in there to make the adjustment stepless.
This lets you set the grind to settings in between each step.
Really, there are only 3 things that will cause this- grind is too coarse, not enough coffee in the portafilter, or poor puch prep. So to add to the comments about grind size, make sure you’re spending enough time on puch prep.
I won’t pile on here but specifically the babbino plus has a pre infusion. So the water is already seeping through during that time then the pump comes on again trying to get to 9 bar and there’s not enough resistance hence the spraying.