# My bottomless portafilter arrived today



## JonnyA (Mar 2, 2020)

I've just bought this new portafilter and I'm looking forward to trying to improve my shots.

Anyone care to offer any advice on this? It was the best of three attempts today. One of the others was super slow, the other super fast.

This one was 32g out from 17g in, in a double basket, in about 33 seconds from the button to the end. I'm using a Gaggia Classic and a Eureka Mignon Silenzio.

Advice welcome - I'll be working on my technique again in the morning!


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## Marcros (Feb 9, 2020)

well, I can only compare it to my classic, and my limited experience. the shot starts quicker than mine, which are usually 5-10 seconds from turning on the machine. I dont know which is correct, so I am only saying that it is different. The shot looks good to me. taste is everything, I have some beans at the moment that are super slow, yet really delicious despite taking well over a minute. it is worth tasting all shots.

are you using the basket that came with the naked portafilter?


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## JonnyA (Mar 2, 2020)

Thank you for this.

No - the basket was a double gaggia basket (or knock off, not sure), whereas the one that came with the bottomless was a triple basket.


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## Marcros (Feb 9, 2020)

I did the same as you and swapped back to the standard or knockoff (whichever was in my machine when I got it)


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@JonnyA - One in the vid was looking good I reckon, as long as it tasted nice.

Are you single dosing or weighing out the ground coffee?

I had the best results with a hopper of beans, either a timed dose or ground onto a scale for the set weight I wanted.

Two other bits made a massive difference in terms of puck prep, WDT using a chopstick or tool like the fancy Londinium one to break up any clumps and a levelling distributor to give a much more even coffee bed. Both made my shots more consistent, which made it taste better overall.

https://londiniumespresso.com/store/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=211 (Wire loops or bicycle spokes in wine corks are a lot cheaper... ?)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07ZZ8F3SW/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_awdo_flJKEb6FE75PM


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## JonnyA (Mar 2, 2020)

Nice to hear from you @Northern_Monkeyhope you're well. Your old grinder is doing well. I never asked you what you moved on to?

I'm single dosing, weighing before and after grinding, then grinding into a little jar which I sort of shake around to disperse any clumps and then dump into the basket. I then disperse a bit by finger, tap a few times and use a knock off ocd to level off before tamping.

What is the little cup used in WDT as it looks as if it would make it a bit easier for me? Is it usually home made?

that Londinium tool looks amazing.. But I'll think about a diy version for now as I've been spending too much money on this!


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@JonnyA - Pretty good thanks all things considered really. Glad you are still enjoying the coffee stuff, especially if you are working at home a bit more in the next few months.

Some people use a small cup or yog pot to weigh out into before mixing it, definitely needed if you are single dosing with a Mignon.

I got a Niche Zero in the end, great for home single dosing for espresso and a simpler workflow overall.

A few months before I refurbed an old SJ, worked nicely but needed a few tweaks to make it more consistent. Use a mini hopper for the beans I would use that day, a small 58mm cocoa shaker to weigh into so apart from the last one the extra beans helped giver better shots.


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## JonnyA (Mar 2, 2020)

Pleased to hear you're bearing up ok in the strange circs.

What is it about the single dosing aspect that makes it harder on the mignon?

Presumably a 58mm shaker similar to the one you use would work for me too, to grind into, disperse and put into the 58mm gaggia portafilter (as an alternative to the yog pot approach)? The little jar I use at present is too small in diameter to dumps the coffee nicely across the whole basket.


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

They are designed to have a stack of beans in the grinder throat, this ensures there is a weight pushing the beans down. This helps stop popcorning and reduces the grind size variation you get towards the end of a single dose, i.e. more weight pushing down initially which decreases as the beans are ground up.

Different grinders sometimes have specific mechanisms to help with the been feed for single dosing, EK auger, monolith bean turbine or Niche flow control disc for example.

A few options on the Mignon, sure there are more and some people get on better single dosing with it than others:

1. Use the WDT method with single dosing, so the coffee particles are distributed evenly in the puck afterwards

2. Use a weight on top of the beans to mimic a full hopper - i.e. Perspex tube with a cyclinder weight with a puffer or bellows

3. Put only the beans you would use that day in the hopper - either with the on demand dosing or use the manual mode and weigh the grounds into a cup


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

If you can one of these would be perfect - https://coffeehit.co.uk/products/rhino-short-dosing-cup

Different style, copy of another version but I can't remember the name of the proper one - https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/123574149784

Yog pot with the bottom cut off is a good interim step in terms of dosing funnel though to allow you to mix it in the basket evenly before tamping.


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## Skizz (Feb 10, 2020)

What's your OPV set to?

Try not to get too hung up on time, unless its radically long or short that it. As others have said, taste is key. Grind settings and consistency aside, a cocktail stick for in-basket WDT is helpful as is a levelling tool to flatten (but not compress) the bed before tamping. You can get one of the chisel style tools for 20 quid on Amazon or eBay.

And while not essential, a funnel for your basket gives more room to work and makes WDT easier without ejecting grounds all over the worktop. I had a mate print one out for me from a thingiverse file but there's lots of ready made options available.

Final point is to only change one thing at a time. If you're tweaking grind setting, prep method and tamping pressure every shot then you'll never know what's causing/solving the issue.


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## Rebel (Jan 14, 2020)

You can ignore all the silliness about popcorning. The Mignons single dose just fine without any hacks (perhaps remove the shutoff door and cover the gap with tape).

A funnel does eliminate grounds on the counter. Amazon sells an inexpensive one with magnets to hold the filter rim a bit more securely.


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@Rebel Glad you found a way to get the single dosing working for you.

Do you use WDT in the portafilter basket or anything to clear the chute/clump crusher etc.?


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## Rebel (Jan 14, 2020)

Just grind into the portafilter w/funnel, give a few solid raps on the tamping stand to settle, then tamp. I do use a leveling tamper. Tried a distributor but sold it. I made a WDT tool and find it's mostly a waste of time. Popcorning and retention worries in a newer Mignon is much ado about nothing.


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## JonnyA (Mar 2, 2020)

Thanks for the replies on this - just seen them. @Northern_Monkey I'll look into the dosing cups you suggested.

@Skizz I recently set my pressure to 10 bars static. Thanks for the tips too - as you say it's likely I'm varying more than one thing each time.

My current approach to prep..

-weigh beans for double shot and put into hopper

- grind into a little glass jar

- shake hard to disperse clumps

- put into basket

- waggle a paper clip about (as of today this is new step)

- level with a knock off OCD tool

- tamp

Here is how it turned out this morning, this was third shot of a new bean, 9 days old. I liked the taste this shot produced and it seemed largely ok to look at as it pulled, although the waterfall (what's the proper term?) was a bit off-centre at some stages which I guess indicates an uneven tamp or something?


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

Looking decent there as long as thee is no pebble dashing or misting inside your cup.

I think it's normally referred to as a "mouse tail". It moving round could be due to the coffee dissolving at different rates because of particle size variation or the water flow not being 100% even across the puck from the shower screen. Don't think it's anything to worry about though at this stage.

If its at that point now then it makes sense to play around with the taste, does it match your tasting notes is there anything you want more or less of?

https://www.baristahustle.com/blog/the-espresso-compass/


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## Skizz (Feb 10, 2020)

JonnyA said:


> Thanks for the replies on this - just seen them. @Northern_Monkey I'll look into the dosing cups you suggested.
> 
> @Skizz I recently set my pressure to 10 bars static. Thanks for the tips too - as you say it's likely I'm varying more than one thing each time.
> 
> ...


 That actually looked pretty decent to me. From my own (limited) experience I do wonder if chasing the perfect shot might be an exercise in futility with a machine like the Classic.

Dont get me wrong, I think its a brilliant little machine and I love mine but the flow rate can fluctuate slightly and the dispersion blocks available are less than ideal - as is the inlet position to the group - so getting perfectly even dispersion across the puck will always be a bit hit and miss. Unless you've obvious signs of channeling or severe jetting/cratering in the puck you're probably doing okay. And if tastes good then it is good. Still fun to tinker though so let us know if you attain the perfect shot ?

Having just upgraded my steam wand to the Silvia V3 I'm finally about to have a go at the pump-dimmer mod and I'm keen to see what lower and variable pressure does to flavour and the appearance of shots at the screen. Could be an absolute horror show but will be fun to find out


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## Michael87 (Sep 20, 2019)

That looks good to me. Nice to see it looks similar to mine.

I got a similar thing with the waterfall moving to the side and it was the same side each time. I figured out I wasn't cleaning the shower screen enough and it was getting gunked up on one side for some reason, so am now thoroughly cleaning that in the proper cleaner once a week.

Otherwise could be tamp or distribution but I've found it's really hard to fix that, it quite often veers off centre and I feel like I've done a perfect tamp!


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## JonnyA (Mar 2, 2020)

Ok - this is the first time I've noticed it, but as you can see from the photo below there was some spattering onto the sides of the cup... what's that about exactly? It was pretty carefully prepared, and was a touch fast (switched over to a decaf bean this afternoon), and was single dosed.


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## Northern_Monkey (Sep 11, 2018)

@JonnyA - Did you drop the grinder a few notches finer?

I must have tried around 6 decaf coffee varieties, some were nice but all super finicky on the grind size and much faster on the extraction. Assumed it was due to the water processing and ended up using a spouted portafilter instead.


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