# Holy Puck



## clickhappy (Feb 1, 2012)

This is what my average puck looks like.









This was a 16g grind and produced 27g of espresso after 26 seconds.

I often get cratering and wormholes, thought it could be due to clumps and distribution but have been focusing on this for a while to no avail.


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## kikapu (Nov 18, 2012)

I would have thought it was distribution. But just a thought do you put pressure in the tamper while polishing? If so don't


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## series530 (Jan 4, 2013)

What grinder, tamper and espresso machine do you have and how are you grinding and tamping the coffee so as to get that result (describe your steps)?


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

If you watch the vid simonelli made with the see through portafilter when you turn the pump off the puck gets distorted quite a bit. If your shot tastes ok I wouldn't worry about it


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

[video=youtube;-Xmq8NqdUiM]






This is it. Can see the a shower screen doing some damage after even if the extraction was OK


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## clickhappy (Feb 1, 2012)

Thanks for the replies.

kikapu - I push straight then twist to polish with just the weight of the tamper.

Series - I have a MC2 grinder, happydonkey tamper (now replaced with Torr thanks coffeechap) and Gaggia Baby Class espresso machine.

I grind into the basket, twisting in an attempt to get the grounds distributed around the basket, with the side of my index finger in a circular motion, level leaving a slight mound in the centre. I then tamp, release pressure and polish before putting portafilter in machine and pulling the shot. I have removed the temperature surfing from this description as I doubt this will affect the channeling/holey puck.


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## danman2k (Aug 31, 2012)

try tapping the handle on a hard surface to distribute the grounds evenly before tamping. usually a messy look yours is not enough coffee in the handle, but as long as the extraction is nice and smooth, i would not worry to much tbh.


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## danman2k (Aug 31, 2012)

i also over fill the handle and level the coffee with something straight, and scraping the excess off back into the grinder basket, this is how i get a consistent amount of coffee in the handle.

then adjust the grind for your 18-25 sec extraction time


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## cruisecoffee (Nov 28, 2013)

thanks for that


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

danman2k said:


> i also over fill the handle and level the coffee with something straight, and scraping the excess off back into the grinder basket, this is how i get a consistent amount of coffee in the handle.
> 
> then adjust the grind for your 18-25 sec extraction time


Its not consistent tho is it? Some beans are more dense than others, and your grind setting affects how much you can fit into the basket.

18 seconds is not enough extraction time, especially for light-medium/medium beans


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