# Issues dialling in La Cabra beans?



## ohms (Jan 22, 2018)

Okay, i'm starting to notice a theme here. I struggle to dial in La Cabra beans.

Two different machines, two different grinders, same result. (Professional Gaggia 2 group & grinder, as well as the Nuova Simonelli Oscar II & Eureka Mignon) I'm coming across this strange phenomenon where I'm able to see a flow starting at say, the 8-9sec mark (following pre-infusion), followed by a fairly syrupy start (all good, I think) only to be followed by quite a watery body. I'm still getting a reasonable volume out (18g in, 34 - 40g out), but it just doesn't look or taste right.

I totally can't put my finger on it and I don't know why. I've tried increasing the dose slightly (18.2-18.5g or so) but that doesn't help. One strange thing I have noticed is that a La Cabra grind always requires a finer grind than any other bean, as well as the ground coffee held in the portafilter always looking way less than a normal 18g dose would look.

Again, no idea why. Anyone with more wisdom than I care to advise?!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Was there any difference in taste between the 34 -40 out shots. What was the taste imbalance. Also @jeebsy, i know what a shorter ratio in the cafe for at least one fo the beans 18 > 34 ish . it's hard to tell what to do next as I cant see how the shots rate across a wide range of brew ratios , or if you achieved these by grinding finer or just letting the shots run longer.


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

Forget how the pour looks, some beans pour like a car crash but taste really good. If it's sour/bitter then adjust for that.

La Cabra told me they go for high strength and relatively low extraction (18%) so bear this in mind when dialling in. I was pulling 18 into 33ish in 25 which is a really low output for us, @sk8bizarre was pulling shots quicker than normal too so you might need to try different recipes out.


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## steveholt (Jan 6, 2016)

La Cabra are, in my experience a 'funny' leading edge specialty (and nordic) roaster because, as Jeebzy says, their roasts definitely shine for shorter ratio shots.

18-32 ish is where I tend to start with them, and even for long extraction times, these shorter ratio shots are delicious.


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## ohms (Jan 22, 2018)

Mrboots2u said:


> Was there any difference in taste between the 34 -40 out shots. What was the taste imbalance. Also @jeebsy, i know what a shorter ratio in the cafe for at least one fo the beans 18 > 34 ish . it's hard to tell what to do next as I cant see how the shots rate across a wide range of brew ratios , or if you achieved these by grinding finer or just letting the shots run longer.





jeebsy said:


> Forget how the pour looks, some beans pour like a car crash but taste really good. If it's sour/bitter then adjust for that.
> 
> La Cabra told me they go for high strength and relatively low extraction (18%) so bear this in mind when dialling in. I was pulling 18 into 33ish in 25 which is a really low output for us, @sk8bizarre was pulling shots quicker than normal too so you might need to try different recipes out.


Thanks guys. Certainly some of the shots looked an absolute car crash, indeed. No crema, watery looking body, just a hot mess. The reason why I haven't done a huge range of ratios is simply down to waste! I don't have loads of beans to work with, so i figured i'd be better re-assessing and trying again when I have a better idea. As far as taste and ratios go, I was aiming for the 1:2 ballpark to set me off, which I achieved.. but taste was a touch sour and left a lingering tart note in the mouth. I had brewed at roughly 1:3 and 1:4 whilst dialling in (these beans commanded a much finer grind than others I use) but naturally, they were just too thin and unpleasant.

I'd rather not go finer on my grind as i'm reaching a point where my burrs are touching to get the grind right, so I guess the logical step would be to increase dose slightly and see if that helps? Thanks for the tips regarding the extraction level, i'll see if I can get it to pour slightly slower..


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## ohms (Jan 22, 2018)

@jeebsy @Mrboots2u @steveholt

So! An update. Took the Mignon burrs out and gave them a clean to make sure there was nothing in there causing any issues and put it back together. I then dialled in from the point where the burrs were only just not touching, giving me a fine grind. Then proceeded to dial in from there. One thing I didn't realise until watching back/pulling a shot without my phone was the water dripping from the portafilter. That's simply down to me only using 1 free hand to tighten it to the grouphead - my mistake, it was just too loose.

So, here are my results and corresponding videos.

Shot 1: Grind setting around 1.5, taking a 19g dose in and coming out with a 54g shot over 25 seconds. 3 second flush before pulling. One thing to note with the first 2 shots, starts off well, then descends into a watery mess rather quickly - not really seen a bean do that to me before! This shot actually tasted quite sweet, but was much too watery. No unpleasant notes to speak of.






So, that's where i'm at. I'm now nearly out of that 250g bag of beans and i've had barely 1 drinkable shot from it. *sigh*


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

I don't understand why your shots are vastly different weights, but very similar times? How can you achieve the target weight if you have no scales under the cup?


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## ohms (Jan 22, 2018)

MWJB said:


> I don't understand why your shots are vastly different weights, but very similar times? How can you achieve the target weight if you have no scales under the cup?


Simply a change of grind setting - going finer as each video goes on. If I allowed the machine to do as it pleased, it'd be extracting for millennia. I wasn't extracting to a target weight (it'd be pointless, as reaching 1:2 target weight on the first few shots would be a 15sec extraction, as I was still dialling in). So, to save the pointless task, I simply aimed for a 25sec extraction then weighed the output that I had reached in that time. Secondly I have a cheap non-waterproof scale which if doused with water or coffee accidentally will probably implode. I'll buy a better one soon!

Now that i'm near enough dialled in, I'll do micro adjustments to the grind with a set of scales under the cup. Make sense?


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

If you can make it into Glasgow city centre today PM me.


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