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Coffee machine - Rancilio Silvia - has been working nicely, producing a decent shot of espresso in about 40 seconds.
For the last couple of days, despite using the same grinder settings and tamp strength, way too much water has been coming through - half a mugful in under 20 seconds, and obviously, it's bitter as anything. Tried pre-ground coffee to exclude the grinder, that was even worse!
Anyone got an idea what kind of problem with the internals I should be looking at?
Are your grinds clumping, that would cause the water to come through much quicker even if the other factors are constant?
Same machine here. How old are the grounds ? If they're anything less than freshly ground this moves the goal posts. Even as the beans age over a week or so the grind and tamp need altering.
As you start the pump the portafilter has to fill and the water will begin to permeate the grounds. The water will take the path of least resistance and any inconsistencies in your tamp will allow water to pass through. So two things, make sure the coffee grounds are spread evenly before applying pressure with your tamper, secondly; allow the pump to run until the very first drop of liquor appears then stop it for 3-4 seconds before starting it again and pulling the shot. The allows the grounds to saturate evenly and eliminate any channels from forming in the grounds. If you've not been doing this already you may end up with a choked shot as the grounds are now too fine.
D.
Have you tried running water through with no coffee basket fitted? Just had a look at mine and if you look up where the coffee basket fits there's a filter held in place by a screw...is that loose? I wonder if there's a seal up under there?
The only time mine comes through quickly is if there's not enough coffee in the basket....the age of the grind makes no difference.
Beans are normal Lavazza Red, new bag. Not the freshest, obviously, but freshly ground every morning. There's nothing different about the appearance of the grind, the amount, or the tamp. The puck knocks out just the same as well. Just totally different results, which suggests something mechanical to me.
Funny you post this as I've been having this problem with my Gaggia Classic (older design one). It's only started doing it in the last 6 months, but I have to make the grind extremely fine and tamp with immense amount of pressure else it just gushes. When it doesn't it drips through very slowly, too slow. Most the time it gushes.
No supermarket coffee. Always Hasbean, freshly roasted and fresh grind every time. Not doing anything different to when it used to be working fine.
Have descaled, run water through, pulled apart the head and cleaned it all etc.
I haven't backflush it. I don't have a blind basket thing for that.
Other thought is the seal needs doing.
Worked in a good coffee shop as a student, we'd calibrate the grind every day - grinds could vary in coarseness quite considerably with weather variations.
There's no hard and fast scientific rule for making good coffee, what works one day might not work the next.
This is a big variation though - from the same grind settings I'm getting 60ml+ in a single shot in about 15 seconds vs about 30ml in 30 seconds.
The coffee has a decent crema, but it's just much liquid too quickly, and has a bitter taste.
The Silvia due to its simplicity suffers from a lot of latency in the temp control. Are you doing any form of "temperature surfing" to ensure your shots are always at the same temp ? If the water's too hot or cool it will affect the taste. Are you experiencing any flash boiling at the group ?
D.
I generally use the steam wand, then draw some water at the head to drop the pressure below brewing level and let it come back up. Not noticed any extra steam at the brewhead.
I wonder if there is a sensor/valve issue which is letting it get over-pressured.
Have you tried the coffee geek forum? If they can't answer it, no-one will
Whenever I go there I discover everything I'm doing is totally wrong. Which is probably true 😀
I'd almost feel like a troll posting up on there, it would cause so much anger, pain and confusion.
Tried fiddling with the overpressure relief valve this morning to reduce pressure at the brewhead. Some improvement, but not enough. Next step is to try some new beans as the consistency of the grind seems more grainy and dry than usual, although this may be my imagination.
Last time I went to coffee geeks I ended up buying and fitting a PID temperature controller kit to mine...it is a vast improvement...
Given the relative simplicity of the Silvia I'd be surprised if it was the machine.
You need only consider the beans, the grind, the dose, and the tamping.
Beans first. Since you're using a regular, stale bean with good quality control it's unlikely that is going to have affected your coffee much.
grind. Even though the beans will be pretty uniform in quality other factors might be influencing the grind fineness or clumpiness: room temperature, humidity etc. The only thing you can really control here is the grind though. Is the grinder OK? Burrs undamaged?
Dose. Weigh the grounds. This will help you have a controlled approach to fiddling with the grind. If you're doing doubles the dose is probably 28-32g.
tamping. You're probably well-practiced so maybe tamping isn't the problem. If you're happy with your tamping skills then just stay consistent and play with the grind.
Different machine here, but a while ago my Gaggia went overly watery. Turned out after stripping it down the solenoid valve was semi blocked with gunge created by hard water. Cleaned it out and put it back together again. Seemed to fix the issue for me.
If you're doing doubles the dose is probably 28-32g.
Are you talking in or out? Dose in a double basket is 17.5-20g
Some of the shower screen holes blocked? That used to cause a similar problem with my old Gaggia, I imagine the water hits the coffee in jets, forcing a hole through it.
If that's not it, try going back to basics, i.e. weigh out 18g of grounds, tamp and adjust grind to get the right shot (I want 30ml in 25s). As a starting point, run the grinder empty and adjust until you hear the burrs rubbing, then back out a little.
Lavazza wouldn't be my choice, but you should at least get consistant shots.
Lavazza is my cheap and cheerful option. Wouldn't be my first choice either! It could be that I've got a bad pack, although that seems unlikely. I'm going to get some better stuff from my local roaster to exclude that possibility.
We're in a soft water area, and I've backflushed it, but will give it the full descale this week.
Have tried tinkering with the dose, but can't seem to get it to choke no matter how fine the grind and big the dose.
Grinder parts look and feel OK to me.