# Caravel and mignon woes



## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Well I rebuilt the caravel and aside from an intermittently temperamental o-ring it's working fine. I also acquired a mignon as I was having consistency issues with my vintage hand grinders.

So today I started to put the two together for the first time, but am really struggling to find even a starting point to work from. I have managed to choke the caravel a couple of times and backing off on the grind a little leaves me with what feels like not enough resistance, although I have nothing much to base that on I suppose. Pucks have been generally swimming with water and I have been getting a pretty consistent 16ish gram shot from my 7 gram single basket (modified la mazocco) trying to tweak pre infusion times has not led to much difference in the cup weight.

im dosing a consistent 7gram and have run about 1kg of beans through the mignon. Admittedly I'm trying to get ball park correct on grind etc using some month old rave signature so haven't really paid much in the way of attention to taste or crema (taste has been sour and thin for the most part and cream thin and quick to vanish which I guess is mostly the beans)

I suppose I am wondering how best to go from here... I am definitely at overload point hence asking here for a quick refresh!

How will I know if the grind is close with the caravel? Should I be able to get less volume.. I expect not as that doesn't make sense unless I cut the pull short. What resistance should I be feeling on the pull? Also should I be tweaking the dose.. I can probably up dose to 8 at a point or down dose as required.

sorry for the disjointed rant think my mind has quit for the night!


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

Well, I am always using about 12 gms in mine. I grind, tamp and pull the shot (obviously!). Then measure against that. If you puck has water on it it means your grind is too fine, so back it off. I pre-infuse for about 20 seconds and would not expect to feel that much resistance until about half way down. As there is no pressure in the system, other than the pressure required to pass the water through the puck, it is just a question of playing with tamp and grind until it feels right. Sorry if that sounds a bit vague!


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## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Nope vague is good it's how my mind is at the moment! So while you were typing that I had a final attempt while tidying up, left grind where it was (agree too fine) and dose the same at 7gram this time I stopped output at 11g (a full pull gives me 17-18g definite improvement but still no good I also checked the water temp and it appears I'm pulling shots with boiler temp at 90 degrees... What all that tells me my mind is too fuddled to know lol but I'm sure it's something I will re commence tomorrow after work. I assume your using a double for 12g there is no way I could get that in my cut down la marzocco basket!


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

yep, my basket is a double. if you buy a digital thermometer, the ones with a probe you can stick it into the boiler. I was told to let the water heat up to 97, knock it off, it wil continue to rise a little then pull the shot at 97 again on the way down


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## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Yep I am measuring temp in the boiler.. Although only with my frothing thermometer but on the cool side for sure I'll tweak my thermostat tomorrow before anything else.


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## Joe the fish (Feb 12, 2014)

Well I tweaked my thermostat to get closer to 97 but decided to investigate the annoying o-ring issue. Turns out the weld/braze has quit on the little piece that seals the small central o ring and the outer cup O-ring has become twisted. Bugger looks like a trip to the auto supply place to look for o-rings and to try my hand at brazing the piece back on. I am assuming it should be attached!


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