# Pulling decent shots from a Rancilio



## JoniBlaze (May 13, 2019)

Newbie post.

I got a Rancilio Silvia in January and I'm starting to fall out of love with it. Its a V3 without a PID.

I can't pull a good shot that anything like what I'm happy with. I have worked in several half decent coffee shops on various machines with joy!

So on to the process..

I've got a Eureka Mignon grinder which is dialled just about as fine as it will go without getting those little pebbles.

I weigh, time and double check everything to the point of obsession (its not fun). It always seems to run fast (sub 20's for 60ml) or really really slow (1 min for 60ml) I cannot find a happy medium.

The coffee is Taylor Street Barista's Bechmark Espresso (not to be confused with Taylors of Harrogate) its really good coffee. Their own shots - amazing, mine- sour.

I aim for 18g's in the basket, but I find when I put this much in and tamp it properly the coffee makes contact with the brew head and its ruined.. (I often find the portafilter difficult to get into the group head when its got coffee in, when its empty its fine) - anyone else find this. If you put less in it just runs very fast indeed.

Crema's often really thin as well.

Any help much appreciated! Also - if anyone can recommend some accurate scales that would be great.

thx


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Hi there and welcome along @JoniBlaze!

Not entirely sure what you mean by 'those little pebbles' I think you might mean clumps. If so from the mignon they aren't really anything to worry about and certainly shouldn't be used to judge how tight to grind.

When you say you can't get the flow right are you at least consistent? I.e grinder set, 18g in 60 out in 20 seconds. Repeat with the same grind setting will you get 60 out in 20 again?


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## Nikko (Aug 20, 2014)

Looks like you have too much coffee in the basket and the nut impacts the puck and compromises it. Dose a bit less and grind accordingly. Reduce the pressure ramp up by opening the wand before engaging the pump, then closing slowly.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Temp on the silva has a massive impact.

When are you pulling the shot in the temo surf cycle and how long has the machine been on.

Also weigh dose and weight output not volume.

18g is alot on a stnadard double basket, is this what you are using? If so reduce to 16 g and tighten the grind.

Lastly how old is the coffee from roast date and how are you storing it.

Further reading here

https://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?22879-Beginners-Reading-Weighing-Espresso-Brew-Ratios


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## JoniBlaze (May 13, 2019)

I do not temperature surf.

Machine has usually been on for 20 minutes

Weigh everything in and out for consistency. Think I neednew scales. Anyone got any recommendations.

I tightened the grind this morning and used 16grams.Basically nothing came through. So its now too fine I think.

Should be aiming for around 16-17g and 28 seconds?

Coffee is was roasted in last month or less, think 25/04/19.I always get it about 5-7 days after roasting.

Can someone recommend good scales


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

JoniBlaze said:


> I do not temperature surf.
> 
> Machine has usually been on for 20 minutes
> 
> ...


Google temperature surfing for a silvia, your extraction temp could be 5 c either way each time.

While it may not be wholly responsible for your coffee experience, temp instability is a big factor in taste..

This is unfortunately one of the reasons I don't recommend a silvia at new prices as the temp management on them is not reflective of the price you pay new for them.


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## JoniBlaze (May 13, 2019)

I'm not sure Temperature Surfing will helps the issue of taste as the shots are pulled first not straight after steaming my milk.

As I pull shots first I don't see why the temperature would be such a big issue?

i think I should start by getting my grinder dialled in first, aiming for that 16g in 32g out with an extraction time of 27-29s (Roughly 60ml by volume)


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

JoniBlaze said:


> I'm not sure Temperature Surfing will helps the issue of taste as the shots are pulled first not straight after steaming my milk.
> 
> As I pull shots first I don't see why the temperature would be such a big issue?
> 
> i think I should start by getting my grinder dialled in first, aiming for that 16g in 32g out with an extraction time of 27-29s (Roughly 60ml by volume)


Because the silvia has a dead and of plus or minus 5c depending where you pull the shot.

A cool temp would result in less extraction and sourness.

32g is not 60ml by volume either. 60ml will be alot more than 32g

Set a ratio by weight in and weight out not by volume.


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## MrOrk (Apr 17, 2018)

https://www.swisswuff.ch/wordpress/?p=385

This is a good surfing guide. You definitely need to surf the silvia for temp consistency. Like others have said the temp swing is quite large from the boiler light turning off to coming back on.

But before that, you need to sort out the pour . I ended up with 16g in, 32g out, i think it only touched the hex nut after expansion. You can break the clumping up with a wooden cocktail stick or such like, clumping doesn't mean you're to fine.


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## ImthatGuy (Dec 4, 2015)

JoniBlaze said:


> Newbie post.
> 
> I aim for 18g's in the basket, but I find when I put this much in and tamp it properly the coffee makes contact with the brew head and its ruined.. (I often find the portafilter difficult to get into the group head when its got coffee in, when its empty its fine) - anyone else find this. If you put less in it just runs very fast indeed.


I've had all of this in the past - less coffee in the portafiliter, finer grind, tamp a bit harder.


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## JoniBlaze (May 13, 2019)

How much coffee on average (in grams)?

thx


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

JoniBlaze said:


> How much coffee on average (in grams)?
> 
> thx


As per post 4 , 16g , grind alot finer.


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## Bastos80 (May 6, 2019)

Hi Everyone,

A newbie in the espresso world, I thought I would join this post rather than creating my own as it's following the same purpose - a better espresso quality.

My setup:
-Rancilio Silvia 2008 (v2) (i got it for free with a dead boiler, which I fixed and thoroughly cleaned the rest of the machine), installed a meCofee PID, running at 98c without any other options so far.
-Rancilio Rocky grinder 2008, just changed the burrs - although not convinced it was necessary, but well. Still have clumps.
-Locally (Singapore) roasted coffee beans, quite nice when tried at other's, but too sour here.
- I use a 16g and a 21g baskets, both from Rancilio. Always carefully weighed, although I accept ~0.3g variation (not so fussy). I try to be careful about filling basket, equalizing and tamping consistency. I believe I have little or no channeling issues. 
- I think I have found the right grinding setting etc ie brewing time 25s for 2:1 ratio, usually 30s+ for 3:1 ratio.

I've tried to adjust the ratio only so far, with very low success. Mouthfeel is good, oily and thick espresso.

What would you recommend me to adjust, which first setting should I attempt to tune, to go for nicer espressos?
- For temperature, I have followed recommandation from this forum as well, so far I have not reached the "burnt coffee" taste of too hot espresso.
- I have no ways of monitoring temperature for now... so I'd like to check all the rest before I go for pressure gauge etc

Please let me know your opinion, ideas and eventual corrections on the way I do things...
And have a great day with a great cup of coffee! Thank you very much for your help


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