# Ultimate Distribution?



## Jon (Dec 3, 2010)

I wonder if OD grinders like the 75e are actually making me/us/some a bit lazy with distribution and exacerbating the situation.

My current work flow is stick portafilter on the holder and let it dump into the centre, then have a wee shake to even it all up - but is the act of letting it dump into the centre causing a more compressed centre?

Is this redeemable with the shake - I'm getting some good flavours at the moment but seeing some spritzing and ugly LOOKING extractions.

Any thoughts?


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

My thoughts are that it's fine the way you say. Ok I've only got the 65E but having run the gamut of poking and stirring with sticks, masonic handshakes with the wrong end of the portafilter and all manner of prep routines with cool-sounding TLAs, I now just grind straight into the basket (through a ring to keep the stray grinds in). A quick tap on the tamping mat and/or sideways shake is all I do before tamping. It seems that less is more.

Like you I also get the occasional spritz, 3 rat tails or a doughnut extraction (usually when I'm grinding fine or when the hopper is nearly empty and the grind consistency starts to drift through lack of weight of beans or bean ageing, whatever devilry is at work). But most of the time it looks and tastes great using a bottomless PF.

I ran this past at least 2 very experienced members who all concurred that the grind should receive minimal interference (especially with bare hands). More faff = more time, and more that could change between shots. All IMO. There may be other professionals who take a different view but that's been my experience. Maybe it depends to some extent on what kit you're using. YMMV as they say on the other side of the pond.


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## h1udd (Sep 1, 2015)

Yup I am with hotmetal on this. This months tamper tantrum is by Matt from full court press ... I just spent the last 2 weekends doing a couple of training courses from him. Before; I used to grind, jiggle, grind, tap, distribute with needle, chant, do a little dance, make a little love and tamp tonight, with extra polishing etc. Having seen a pro do it and watched the extractions ... I now; grind, tap on hand to level, quick bang on the mat to settle it and tamp with a 1/4 turn polish ... Takes seconds, has perfect results.

as long as your grinder is giving you a consistant grind, your grind is levelish before you tamp and your tamp is level, the naked PF tells you the story you want to hear


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

It's worth bearing in mind you can still get very tasty drinks with little spritzers here and there .


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## Jon (Dec 3, 2010)

Mine rarely look good!


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## 4515 (Jan 30, 2013)

I'm a lot less fussy about my technique with the mythos. Previously I used to mess about as described above but now its dose, tap, tamp

even extraction every time


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Mrboots2u said:


> It's worth bearing in mind you can still get very tasty drinks with little spritzers here and there .


That's what I keep telling myself


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

A good on demand grinder should do this for you. No need to fanny about.


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## fluffles (Sep 4, 2012)

I grind into PF followed by sideways tap(s) to level. I then ensure it is perfectly level all the way out to the edges using a small pointy device (i'm not disturbing the bed much at all, just sweeping some of the top 2-3mm of grinds from the higher points near the centre to the edges). Couple of vertical taps to level and I'm done.

Without a doubt this extra step makes a difference (for me) in terms of even pours from a naked.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Grind, small nutate, tamp, good flavour no spitzers.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

jeebsy said:


> That's what I keep telling myself


Me too







.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder apparently....or with the amount of spritzers I get it just in my eye


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Ha ha yeah coffee is in the eye of the beholder with a naked PF sooner or later!


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## dancing james (Nov 29, 2015)

It was only a couple of weeks ago that I bought a naked pf and at that time I was using an old Rocky grinder. My first few shots had multiple showery spritzes so I did some research into distribution, just tapping the basket pre tamp with the grinds from Rocky was not good enough so I started using a stockfleth type distribution which helped eliminate the problems very quickly. Have now upgraded grinder to the compak k10, and am getting more consistent particle size and less clumping.

Having read this thread I thought I ought to try reverting to just tapping, and got a goodish shot of coffee. I dont think things were quite level enough so may need to work on the tapping technique a little, there were no spritzes but there were a couple of deadspots on the basket where coffee did not emerge.


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## NateChat (Aug 24, 2015)

Using a super jolly, I must admit my routine is quite cumbersome. Grind, quick stir half way, then grind again, stir again, tap then tamp. Have no spritzers and good looking pulls on the naked pf. I will try just grinding and tapping based on your guys' feedback.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

So chuffed with the E10 in relation to this, got my routine down to a fine art, grind into basket, small tap when dropping onto tamping matt, light tamp with a little twist.

No spritzers and nice center pour.

OD's rock!


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## bz99s (May 30, 2012)

I concur with what froggy says with regards to E10. Previously I used to get lots of spritzers with naked pf, frankly I was sick of cleaning up after it. With the E10 I grind, give it a light tap to even and a tamp without a twist. So far near perfect extraction every time.


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