# Espresso Diagnosis from Lever



## m0rt (May 22, 2013)

This may be in the wrong thread, if so I apologise, but as being lever specific I thought it would be best here.

I have an issue with shots coming out consistently a little, (or a lot!), sour. I use the following:

Gaggia Factory

Mignon

Rave beans - one specific bean and roast at the moment.

So consider for the moment that this is with the same Roast type and bean from rave (Not the same batch, obviously), but this is the third batch in a row that I am struggling with.

When I first used the Gaggia with this bean it was spot on, smooth, chocolatey and would also taste fantastic with a hint of milk.

Second batch was fine.

Third batch, sour. Considerably different but then I did open the bag a little early being I had run out.

Since then I have struggled to reproduce what I first had.

Technique hasn't changed from the first batches. Well, not that I can notice.

Dose, 15g. break up clumps if any and even out. Tamp. (Pressure is 30 or over, trust me..) Insert PF, raise lever fully for 5-10 seconds, pull. Coffee comes out originally very thick and hot choclately looking. Start to get tails until I pull the cup out at the end. Shot is usually in the 24-26g weight for a pour. The crema colour used to be a lovely swirl of dark brown stripes in an nice dark tan. It tends to not have the same distinct swirls in any more.

Tried varying one factor at a time and I get variations of the same theme, slightly sour. I tried going coarser to the extent it started going bitter, finer and tamping less hard, but still sour. SOmetimes i get a slight hint of what I used to get regularly but that is one out of every 12 say.

The only thing that I am seeing that can be telling, is the puck is coming out often, and flakes. So it breaks up horizontally, which I believe is a sign of under-extraction, which is the taste, slightly sour.

Any advice would be gratefully appreciated.


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Based on the ratio it seems your are under extracting try going slightly finer on the grind with a little less pressure on the tamp, remember levers are grind finer tamp lighter. Also make sure the machine is fully up to temp as under temp shots are sour too.


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

I was also going to suggest temperature might be an issue. Have you tried using a thermometer sticker on the group to monitor temperature? These sort of things.


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## CoffeeDiva (May 9, 2013)

RoloD said:


> I was also going to suggest temperature might be an issue. Have you tried using a thermometer sticker on the group to monitor temperature? These sort of things.


Spotted these myself when they were mentioned on another thread. Are they responsive enough to gauge changes during and after a cooling flush?


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

I've only had experience of using them with an Olympia Cremina so I can't comment on using them on an HX machine. On a small lever machine like the Cremina or Pavoni the group will get increasingly hotter after a few shots and I think they are very useful on these machines. It's my guess they wouldn't be so useful on an HX machine.


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## CoffeeDiva (May 9, 2013)

RoloD said:


> I've only had experience of using them with an Olympia Cremina so I can't comment on using them on an HX machine. On a small lever machine like the Cremina or Pavoni the group will get increasingly hotter after a few shots and I think they are very useful on these machines. It's my guess they wouldn't be so useful on an HX machine.


Ah okay. I'm having consistency problems so was thinking that this could be one more thing I could sort of measure and be sure I was in the right ballpark.


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## m0rt (May 22, 2013)

Hi all.

Thanks for your comments so far. As to temperature, I am well aware of the temp profile of these particular levers. My second pull is always the benchmark as the first has always been too blonde and sour. Don't forget, this isn't something that I struggled with from day one, this is after a few weeks.

I took CC's advice and just pulled another batch of two. Went finer and tamped lighter. Still a little sour, but less so and more of the beans slight fruity fragrance in the aftertaste was present, something that was pronounced before. I think I need to go finer. The Mignon was new so possible that:

With bedding in the burrs, the new edge is taken off, meaning I should have gone finer over time. Probably approaching 6kgs of beans through it now.

Tamping, it is entirely possible that I over tamp because I am not the smallest of chaps and it may be that I have gradually gone overboard with time.

So far, so good.


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

Just keep persevering with the grind and tamp remember the 105 is very grind critical and once you zero back on again you will get back that full mouth feel


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