# Help me with Hasbean beans



## Southpaw (Feb 26, 2012)

Every order I've had from Hasbean I struggle to get good results - read decent extraction. I seem to always be the wrong side of too fast a poor or too fine a grind resulting in terrible channeling. Every so often it comes together but doesn't ever seem to be repeatable.

I've just resorted to assisting distribution with a chopstick, which improved things somewhat. Any pointers to try for better results with lighter roasted (medium on Hasbean's scale) beans?


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

What machine, grinder are you using?


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## Southpaw (Feb 26, 2012)

La Spaziale s1 / Anfim lusso


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

Southpaw said:


> Anfim lusso


Does it have a doser? It's almost certainly a distribution issue. Faster thwacking can help even out the grinds. Maybe do a quick video of your prep?

I find that I prefer larger doses (19-20g) in a 20g VST. Tighter grind and a longer pour, sometimes 40 seconds from engaging the pump.


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## Southpaw (Feb 26, 2012)

Yes it is a doser model. I can most times just let it land in the basket and get good results. Are lighter roasts more fussy with distribution?

I'd feel like a gimp videoing myself making a coffee, but I might try it.


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## Xpenno (Nov 12, 2012)

Southpaw said:


> Yes it is a doser model. I can most times just let it land in the basket and get good results. Are lighter roasts more fussy with distribution?
> 
> I'd feel like a gimp videoing myself making a coffee, but I might try it.


Lol! I know what you mean, nobody here judges though, it might just give a clue to the issues. I had issues with has bean when I first tried it but got there in the end. I think that lighter beans can be harder to work with, maybe more prone to channelling etc.. I presume it's as they can be less oily thus they don't 'glue' together in the basket as well (I just thought about this, totally unsubstantiated).

A couple more questions.

What bean is it?

What sort of tamper are you using? Flat bottom?

Are you just dosing into the basket and tamping as is?

Are you tapping, knocking the filter after dosing to settle it up?

Are you grinding finer than darker roasted beans?

Is the grinder step-less? the last one I saw wasn't and one step on the grinder made a very big difference, too big in some cases.


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## Mike mc (Apr 10, 2012)

Are you using a vst or ims basket? I struggled with consistency using a vst and a standard 58mm tamper,wasnt until I got the torr 58.4 I noticed a huge improvement


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## Southpaw (Feb 26, 2012)

I'll do a video tomorrow - should be easier to comment on everything that way.


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Mike mc said:


> Are you using a vst or ims basket? I struggled with consistency using a vst and a standard 58mm tamper,wasnt until I got the torr 58.4 I noticed a huge improvement


it's a La Spaze S1, so 54mm...usually the deeper pucks of the S1 are not so prone to channelling. ...if it's a recent thing, perhaps have a look at the grinder burrs and check you haven't chipped a tooth or something, perhaps the grinder is old and the burrs are at end of life?

You have not given too much infor about the type of bean, level of roast, age of grinder, pressure machine is set at, whether you only get this with Hasbean beans or any lightly roasted bean, or even if it's a recent phenomenon. So having to make a huge amount of assumptions...however the lack of an ability. In fact there is 10x more written covering questions than you have given in information

So usually the reasons for inability to get a good pour, either too fast or channelling are:

1. Stale or old coffee

2. incorrectly roasted cofffee

3. Grinder burrs worn out

4. Problem with grinder

5. Sloppy technique (e.g. big dose inconsistency from shot to shot)

6. machine pressure way out (i think you'd have mentioned if your machine wasn't at 9 bar or so)

The rest of the stuff, stirring, IMS bastket, VST basket, tamper type, blessing the puck etc...is all pretty much stuff people do (like Homeopathy), if you've got a problem, it's going to be one of the 6 causes above. Easiest way to cross some of them off the list, is to get the same coffee from someone else who roasts that light and/or borrow a grinder from someone (mignon or better).


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

My suggestion would be to buy somebody's lighter roast other than HB & try them to see if they behave any differently.

Otherwise as Davec says.


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## aaronb (Nov 16, 2012)

What beans? I find a lot of the blends a bit odd for my tastes.

With the single origins dont be scared if the shot runs long (say 40 secs), I find this works better. Dose higher too.


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