# Finer Grinds vs Firmer Tamp



## wishbonethighs (Oct 2, 2017)

Hi All,

Owing to my main grinder suddenly going down without warning I'm using my backup (an old Krupps burr grinder).

The particle size on this grinder is slightly larger so I compensated by tamping firmer and my machine still choked slightly.

I was wondering what people's experiences had been regarding finer grinding vs firmer tamping vs volume in portafilter.


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

If you can slow the shot by tamping harder, you are likely making the bed less permeable & detrimentally affecting extraction. The grind, with a reasonable tamp (big window here, it's hard to tamp less than 10lb) should be resistance enough for the water.

If your grind is coarser, either accept you need to pull shots longer & faster, or sieve out the larger chunks.


----------



## wishbonethighs (Oct 2, 2017)

HI MWJB, thanks for the response. I'll try to soften the tamp and see how I get on.


----------



## holgr (Aug 17, 2017)

Hi,

I'd suggest you to experiment with the three parameters grinding, tamping, and filling level of the filter basket.

With the LM 1 cup filter basket, e.g., the "normal" advise is not to level the coffee but to weigh the correct amount of coffee and to use a 41mm tamper.

I found out, that I personall got the best results when using the normal tamper and level the coffee in the LM1 filter basket. For the LM2 filter basket, I building a "small pile" of coffee.

holgr


----------



## wiggy97 (Aug 4, 2013)

Don't you find that grinding and filling level are connected. I changed the grinding setting on my mini Mazzer after cleaning it to slightly finer than before and the filling level required for a good shot has changed quite a bit. At the previous level little or no coffee would emerge!


----------



## floydo (Dec 22, 2017)

Finer grind = more extraction. You cannot get the degree of flavor out of larger particles. By increasing dose and harder tamp, the water slows, and that changes the taste of the shot. The beautiful balancing act of extraction, leaving out water temperature variable


----------



## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

floydo said:


> Finer grind = more extraction. You cannot get the degree of flavor out of larger particles. By increasing dose and harder tamp, the water slows, and that changes the taste of the shot. The beautiful balancing act of extraction, leaving out water temperature variable


Too fine = lower extraction, it doesn't just keep rising the finer you go.

Coarser particles (than the absolute finest that will work) can still produce flavour, but the shot will be longer.


----------



## paul whu (Sep 25, 2014)

MWJB said:


> If you can slow the shot by tamping harder, you are likely making the bed less permeable & detrimentally affecting extraction. The grind, with a reasonable tamp (big window here, it's hard to tamp less than 10lb) should be resistance enough for the water.
> 
> If your grind is coarser, either accept you need to pull shots longer & faster, or sieve out the larger chunks.


I am certainly no expert but I would have thought the puck would be less permeable with either a former tamper or a finer grind.

It's a very interesting topic. If I grind super fine and have a really light tamp I get channelling. I'm a medium tamper as a result.


----------

