I have been trying to dial in my shots (newbie here) and nothing has worked. I got a better grinder and that helped a bit but there was still channeling and spraying. I got a new set of tools that I thought were good (the black set) but it still wasn’t coming out right. Decided to spend more money and got a Lilq bottomless portafilter (it’s so elegant. I didn’t get the Knodos one because some reviews said the handle came loose), Knodos distributor, and their new Echo tamper (along with their station to make it all purty). I noticed an immediate difference with their distributor, and the tamper was so satisfying when I hit that click.
Well, leaving my grinder settings the same as yesterday, which channeled, everything came out perfectly with the new tools. I couldn’t believe it. The shot formed a single stream and came out nice and smooth right at 30 secs (I reset the timer before thinking to take a pic) and just under 36g (was only 17g beans) The shot had a beautiful crema and was smooth and rich.
I’m glad I went through the cheap tools to learn what wasn’t working, just wish it wasn’t such an expensive learning curve 😅
by filmreddit13
20 Comments
Im experiencing extremely sour shots with the bambino plus. Could you describe how you handle your shots in the bambino? Do you use manual mode?
An organized station is marvelous!
Which basket are you using?
What scales are you using please? My scales do not like resting on the drip tray and tend to wander before I even start pulling the shot.
I have the same portafilter! Curious how many grams you’re putting in?
Where is your wood box from that is holding all the accessories?
Look, spend money on whatever makes you happy but the idea that you *need* all these tools, let alone the “expensive” ones to make decent espresso is silly.
Love the Knodos stuff. Very underrated brand.
tamp harder if nothing else works.
I usually warm up the group head once beforehand to keep everything warm. Run the steamer just for good measure too. Just run single shit without portafilter and pull a shot afterwards. See if that makes the extraction better.
Tools bridge the gap for those still learning. Mastery removes the need for the bridge entirely.
99% sure this is guerrilla marketing
What brand is the grinder? It looks really compact!
Better coffee beans matter most
Great coffee is about consistency. You don’t need the best of tools for consistency, no need to spend 100s on bits of kit unless you’re also after a certain aesthetic
Aesthetically pleasing small setup you have here. Bravo!
Your happiness is the most important 👍👍
You can tamp level by eye. You can use a shaker, literally any small container you have lying around to break up clumps. I stuck toothpicks in a cork to make a WDT to break up some that remained. My cheap scale isn’t waterproof but during extraction I put it in a little open zip lock bag. Those are my “fancy” tools
What mat is that? I’m looking for a big black one to house my tools since my tamp mat is too small
The only thing that matters for good, consistent shots are a good basket and a level temp at over 6kg.
Everything else is just fluff. You don’t need wdt, except to level your bed or to rescue a horribly filled basket, you certainly don’t need a distribution tool.
I get it, buying nice tools for your hobby is fun, I do that also, but you can save the distribution step, and once you get filling your basket properly, you can safe the WDT, except when you want to redistribute due to an error or inconsistency.
Also a little tip for anyone without a leveling tamper: If you use your finger tips as a guide on the rim of your basket and turn the tamper during tamping slightly, you can very easily sense if the tamp is level or not.