# Question about brew ratio



## paullamey (Aug 29, 2017)

Quick question - I asked a roastery about their espresso recipe for their beans and that I usually use 18g for 36g out in about 30 seconds. They said that sounded good to them but for one of their coffees 'to try to push it a little further, more like 40g tout to balance the acidity'

Am i being slow but how does that work? I thought the acidity would be balanced by over extraction rather than under extraction?


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

🤨???

You don't balance flavours by over or under extracting....but I don't get your logic anyway, by increasing ratio at the same grind you are increasing extraction not decreasing it.

1:2 is fairly short, concentrated but not necessarily unbalanced.

Keeping grind the same and increasing shot time for a slightly higher ratio will slightly increase extraction and might just help balance out acidity a little, though it would only be a small tweak at 4g.

Increasing ratio and keeping time the same means you grind coarser. Your extraction will be lower at the same ratio at a coarser grind so you increase ratio to increase EY. This decreases strength which in itself can help a shot taste more balanced.

It's not clear if you're intending to change grind setting but for an extra 4g out you probably shouldn't bother. If somebody has recommended "pushing it a little further" it's probably intended to also increase time/keep grind the same rather than 'increase ratio' as an extra 4g isn't really significant....well it is significant in the sense it can make a small difference and that might be exactly what you want.


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## paullamey (Aug 29, 2017)

Rob1 said:


> 🤨???
> 
> You don't balance flavours by over or under extracting....but I don't get your logic anyway, by increasing ratio at the same grind you are increasing extraction not decreasing it.
> 
> ...


 Hi Rob - thanks for this as I wasn't being very clear and had confused myself! This is really helpful and has helped me make sense of it!

In my head, by keeping grind the same but increasing the time for the shot to give more yield for some reason, I thought of as under extracting. I just hand't thought it through! I instinctively associate a weaker drink with under extraction which is incorrect.

What I was curious about was how keeping the same grind but increasing the yield would balance the favours but you have answered the question! I hadn't considered that decreasing the strength can balance the acidity but yes - it is increasing extraction which may help balance out acidity levels.

I got there in the end!


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