# Knockers...



## DavidS (Apr 8, 2010)

I saw a great pair of knockers working in a cafe today, shame the espresso wasn't too good..









More seriously, knocking has become a sub conscious part of my "routine", I'm hoping a new tamper may aid me a little (the current one we use is out by a few mm, so you always have coffee splurting out the side







)

How bad is your knocking?


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## DonRJ (Apr 3, 2010)

I knock very confidently with my current tamper, custom made for my PF so a great fit so few loose grounds to scatter about. Did have a brief, yet very pleasant mental image when I read your post header too !!!!!

Don


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## DavidS (Apr 8, 2010)

You see, I used to give the PF a good couple of firm whacks before I was shown the error of my ways. Now its a really light (so light I miss sometimes) tsh tsh either way. Still too much really though...


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

DavidS said:


> I saw a great pair of knockers working in a cafe today, shame the espresso wasn't too good..


Filth. Pure filth.


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## DavidS (Apr 8, 2010)

LeeWardle said:


> Filth. Pure filth.


I'm sure they'd both just been trained to knock hard, and never learnt otherwise. There's no need to call them filth!


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Thought I had the wrong forum for a minute...

Tapping the portafilter serves no real purpose and can have an adverse effect, creating layers and promoting channelling.


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

It's that David, he's a bit "potty mouthed" you know !!!! XD XD XD


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

No tapping from me either


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## DavidS (Apr 8, 2010)

It's amazing looking at youtube vids and such and seeing how many people give their puck a punt. It's definitely something I'm going to run something I'm going to investigate next time I'm at work...


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## DonRJ (Apr 3, 2010)

Just read Lees blog whch had an article saying that doing the portafilter knock was actually detrimental to the quality of the tamp as it loosened the puck even though you tamp after knocking. I started doing it after seeing You Tube vids and it became part of my ritual, might just rethink that and try without.

Don


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## flyingpig (Nov 2, 2009)

My Tamper is just about 1mm shy all the way round so often leaves a stack of ground around it. This often falls on top of the puck, most times not, so i tap. Sometimes I tap and get away with it, others I get a proper gusher and when I remove the PF I can see a wide hole at the side of the puck.

Im gonna try that 'north east south west' tamp, just seems a bit long winded when you have a queue.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

My advice would be to buy a new tamper

The extra mm will have a noticeable difference on your extractions and probably (hopefully) reduce the need to tap


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## ChiarasDad (Mar 21, 2010)

I second (or third or whatever the count is) the suggestion to get a really well-fitting tamper.

...but I'm completely ignorant about this knocking thing. What's it meant to do?

FWIW I get my loose grounds out by giving the tamped PF a quick flying spin over the sink. Not to say that I actually notice a difference between shots where I do this and shots where I don't, but it's hard to resist the flashy move.


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## BanishInstant (Oct 12, 2009)

I doubt that settling a few lose grounds around the side that a knock is supposed to loosen will dramatically improve the coffee anyway.


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## Monkey_Boy (Feb 26, 2010)

Been using the flat 51mm tamper which fitted my last machine and did an ok job but its all about the fit.....picking up my RB 53mm convex tamper tomorrow (delivered to gfriends work) got a buyer for the old one oh and I managed to sell my dualit! apart from the outlay on my grinder of £100 this amazing hobby has cost me nothing







lol......


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## DonRJ (Apr 3, 2010)

Not tried a convex tamper, is there a preference for this profile as I noticed that the freebie Rancilio one is convex? If so I will get one made and give it a whirl.


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## DavidS (Apr 8, 2010)

Well I'm happy to say I've overcome this issue. I no longer look at the portafilter and think, "I'd tap that"









There was a bit of a mental block with it. In order to get consistency at a commercial level, I think you create a routine. Cutting out part of that routine can be very challenging!


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## LeeWardle (Nov 16, 2008)

Good man! Your even using sexual innuendo to describe making coffee! I'm proud of you David!

Lmao


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## chrisweaver_barista (Jun 14, 2008)

We need a campaign against tapping (though not against knockers).

When you hit that pour button, the water is hitting the portafilter with high pressure. No grinds are going to be left stuck to the portafilter. Also those grinds left are going to be probably less than 0.1% of the grinds, its negligible to the shot.

What you are doing is breaking the seal between the puck and the PF giving side channeling, it sounds horrible (metal on metal, euwww) and I've had wayy too many good tampers ruined by over-zealous tappers.

It feels horrible to not tap once you're in the habit of it, but for the sake of Reg Barber, John Gordon and the other tamper makers out there JUST DONT DO IT!


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## chrisweaver_barista (Jun 14, 2008)

Also (sorry for double post) don't be tempted to spin the PF when using a San Remo. I find it does NOT hold onto the pucks that well.

"Is it a bird, is it a plane.... no it WAS a perfectly distributed and tamped coffee pucking, now disintegrating all over my converse"


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