# Holes in my puck



## Gangstarrrrr (Mar 4, 2013)

I am using a gaggia baby (near enough the same as a classic), a Eureka mignon, VST baskets and at the moment, raves Italian job.

I often, but not always notice 1-4 holes in the puck after I remove the pf. Hand in hand with this is the early blonding that comes with it. Obviously the water is blowing through and channeling. I stir meticulously in the basket and am using a torr flat/convex tamper.

Any ideas on what is causing the holes or why? What do I need to change?


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Does the channelling occur irrespective of bean variety or is it more prone to one type? You could try grinding a little finer and reduce the dose slightly. When tamping, try nutating - if you've not seen this - here's a video






If you don't have one, might be an idea to get a naked portafilter so you can see where the channelling is occurring.


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## glevum (Apr 4, 2013)

Like TSK says, try nutating. Made a massive difference with my shots, also leaves a clean machine when using a naked PF.

What is your pump pressure set to? when i had mine set at 12bar, pucks were cratered. 9.5bar perfect nearly.

this page might help http://www.home-barista.com/naked-extraction-common-problems.html


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

What dose of coffee is being used in the VST basket & what size VST?


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## Gangstarrrrr (Mar 4, 2013)

The machine is still set to the original pressure. Have the pressure gauge but haven't got round to doing the mod yet.

Dosing 22g into a 22g VST.

Incidentally, I tired grinding coarser and tamping harder and this has helped, a dry puck with no holes. My theory here is that previously the grind must have been too fine so for the water to get through, it punched holes in the puck.

I've tried nutation in the past with mixed results. I found I was opening up the puck on the edge, so clearly my technique needs further work.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

The correct output (in grams) within the desirable time (flow rate) should dictate grind. Fix the tamp so one variable removed.

Obviously the finer you grind the more clumpy


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## Jimjam11 (Apr 12, 2013)

Are the holes always in the same place? When I switched to the vst baskets I found I was getting holes around the edges. Fixing the distribution cured the problem for me.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Gangstarrrrr said:


> I am using a gaggia baby (near enough the same as a classic), a Eureka mignon, VST baskets and at the moment, raves Italian job.
> 
> I often, but not always notice 1-4 holes in the puck after I remove the pf. Hand in hand with this is the early blonding that comes with it. Obviously the water is blowing through and channeling. I stir meticulously in the basket and am using a torr flat/convex tamper.
> 
> Any ideas on what is causing the holes or why? What do I need to change?


I've found a similar thing happening to me on the odd occasion with a wet(ish) puck and 2-3 holes. I've found increasing the dose helped. However from what's been said, it might have just been down to me having to grind coarser as I've upped the dose.

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