# Complete novice having 'issues''



## zigsdad (Apr 9, 2013)

Hi,

I just joined the forum and posted on the introduce yourself thread...

I've just upgraded from an aged Gaggia bean-to-cup machine in search of much better tasting expresso and americanos (we rarely drink anything with milk in it). After browsing through this forum (and several others), I settled on a Silvia/Vario combination which recently arrived.

Started off using the deeper basket in the portafilter and ground some fresh beans with the Vario set at 2C, used my fab made by knock tamper, temperature surfed like the barista I hoped to be, and it choked the machine! Moved to 2Q (or thereabouts) and got a shot out, but very slowly which was a very powerful one (!). Thinking I might have overdosed (I was using a 12 second grind on the Vario and had a dent on top of the puck from the screw), I went about weighing how much coffee it actually was. Putting the Vario back to it's 10 second present it gave me about 16g of coffee. So I cut it back to a grind of 8.5 sec which gave me about 13g and tried that. The results have been so-so shots with very wet pucks when I came to knock them out.

Can anyone (bearing in mind that I don't understand half of what I've just written), please give me any advice?

Thanks, Jon.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Welcome to Coffee Forums UK Jon

Try somewhere between 14g and 16g

The screw indent should be there as the coffee will expand and push against the shower screen.

Too much water is a sign of the puck not expanding enough


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## zigsdad (Apr 9, 2013)

Thanks for the welcome Glenn!

What's the likely cause of the puck not expanding? Too much tamping? Not enough? Wrong grind?

Thanks, Jon.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

zigsdad said:


> What's the likely cause of the puck not expanding? Too much tamping? Not enough? Wrong grind?


Hi John - welcome to the forum. I had a Silvia and Vario set up. If I recall, I never went below 3 on the macro scale so I wonder if you are grinding a bit fine but depends on the beans you are using. I wouldn't focus on the Vario's timer for dose management. Best to use a set of scales for greater accuracy. 16 grms for the Silvia is OK. Aim for 25grm extraction for 16grm dose in 27secs. You can stretch output according to taste but keep to the same extraction time. As for tamping - don't overtamp and definitely don't apply pressure if twisting at the end of your tamp. It can lead to extraction problems.


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## zigsdad (Apr 9, 2013)

Just to give a quick update: I'm now getting much better, more consistent, shots that taste much better. Now trying out a range of different beans and enjoying being able to taste more subtleties in the shot's I'm making. So far so good. Thanks for the advice, Jon.


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## series530 (Jan 4, 2013)

zigsdad said:


> Thanks for the welcome Glenn!
> 
> What's the likely cause of the puck not expanding? Too much tamping? Not enough? Wrong grind?
> 
> Thanks, Jon.


welcome to the forum.

in my experience, the trick is to put enough coffee in the basket so that when it expands it fills the basket so that there is no space for water to sit on the top. If you put too little coffee in you leave a place for it to sit, put to much in and there is insufficient room for the coffee grains to expand and the flavours to properly come out.

Personally, I find that that the best way to make the judgement is visually: it's where the top of the tamper ends up in relation to the rim of the basket when the tamp has been applied. This, in itself, is also a function of how much coffee is ground into the porta filter prior to tamping. I find, generally, that if the coffee is ground such that having wiped my finger over the surface of the basket the whole basket is filled, once tamped, the coffee ends up at about the right height to stop ponding on the surface yet get the coffee expansion necessary for a decent shot.

All of this, of course, assumes that the grind is right. To some degree, the right grind is a function of the time it takes for coffee to start to pour out of the portafilter once the brew switch is pressed ... Typically four or five seconds.

As to tamp pressure: generally, don't tamp too hard . You don't need to strain your wrist. Just be firm.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

zigsdad said:


> Just to give a quick update: I'm now getting much better, more consistent, shots that taste much better. Now trying out a range of different beans and enjoying being able to taste more subtleties in the shot's I'm making. So far so good. Thanks for the advice, Jon.


Good to hear! The Silvia/Vario is a great combination IMO. Miss Silivia is capable of delivering quite awesome shots once you've got her dialled in properly. You will probably need to tweak a bit when moving from bean to bean but there's a whole world of varieties waiting to be explored. Enjoy!


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