# Dosing 18g



## luke (Dec 7, 2016)

Hi all,

I've got a question in regards to dosing. I've got a Gaggia classic with a double basket and naked PF. I'm weighing in and out and tasting the shots etc - it's good fun with a lot of trial and error (mainly error at the moment).

One thing that I've noticed is that often I struggle to fit anywhere near 18g in the double basket. It's often between 13-15g.

I get that grind size will impact how much I can fit in, so would a finer grind allow me to fit more in the basket?

The last dose was about 13.5g and looked like this:









(This produced 33g of espresso in 25 seconds, the taste was on the sour side)

I'm using Rave - Mocha Java blend

Cheers

Luke


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Cant tell anything til its tamped in a basket. Try tamping down with the pf after levelling then tamp

If the mocha java tastes sour you are doing well ....try diluting the next shot with a little water to check .

If still sour tighten the grind up

I would be going for 16g in a stock gaggia basket. Do that , tamp it , does it leave any headroom to the rim ?


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## GCGlasgow (Jul 27, 2014)

Some coffee's do have more volume to them. You sure its a double basket though as that does look a lot for 13.5g.


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## luke (Dec 7, 2016)

Thanks both

Yeah it's a double stock Gaggia basket. I'll try a 16g dose and report back.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

You can fit IMS and VST baskets into the standard Gaggia portafilters. They come in different sizes and are rated for +/- 1g either side of their stated weight.

Some OEM baskets in Classics are 14g so 15g at a squeeze


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## luke (Dec 7, 2016)

Yeah I've got a 18g VST on order, so hopefully that'll make things a little easier dose wise.


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## shaunclarke (Nov 30, 2011)

You cant get 18g in a standard double basket without lots of problems.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

shaunclarke said:


> You cant get 18g in a standard double basket without lots of problems.


If your using pretty dark coffee and going coarser the you might struggle to keep decent headroom


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## holdtheonions (May 5, 2016)

Also thinkin Gaggias use 14g baskets.


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## filthynines (May 2, 2016)

Are the comments being made specific to Gaggias, or of general use? ie, should I not be putting 18g in my Sage DTP double basket?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

filthynines said:


> Are the comments being made specific to Gaggias, or of general use? ie, should I not be putting 18g in my Sage DTP double basket?


Different basket have different thresholds. They wont be the same basket .

When you dose and tamp can you put a 5p on the puck , and still lock in the portafilter ?


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## PHB1969 (Dec 26, 2016)

holdtheonions said:


> Also thinkin Gaggias use 14g baskets.


My understanding too. The one I have takes 16g easily, so I don't think mine is standard. From some pics I've seen it looks like the standard double has a ridge about 5mm down from the top edge...no identifying marks on mine....


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## holdtheonions (May 5, 2016)

Only ever had one gaggia, so not expert, but does sound like yours is not the standard basket.


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## JackBlackmore (Nov 1, 2015)

Mrboots2u said:


> Different basket have different thresholds. They wont be the same basket .
> 
> When you dose and tamp can you put a 5p on the puck , and still lock in the portafilter ?


Just to check, the idea is you should have a 5p worth of headroom between the puck and showerscreen after you've tamped right?

I actually checked this out for the first time over the weekend and have blindly been putting 18g into a VST ridgeless 18g and it's not until I did this test I found it was actually too much with the 5p being depressed fully into the puck after locking it in. I've dropped to 17.5g and getting much better / more consistent extractions


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## destiny (Jun 4, 2015)

JackBlackmore said:


> Just to check, the idea is you should have a 5p worth of headroom between the puck and showerscreen after you've tamped right?
> 
> I actually checked this out for the first time over the weekend and have blindly been putting 18g into a VST ridgeless 18g and it's not until I did this test I found it was actually too much with the 5p being depressed fully into the puck after locking it in. I've dropped to 17.5g and getting much better / more consistent extractions


Thats kind of strange. These were suppose to take +/-1g I always thought.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

destiny said:


> Thats kind of strange. These were suppose to take +/-1g I always thought.


And it is at 17.5 g . The headroom is effected by differing machines - shower screens - how coarser you grind you coffee ...


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## luke (Dec 7, 2016)

Thanks for the help all,

This morning I dosed 15g into the basket and extracted around 30g of espresso. The 15g was a much better fit.

I'd assumed that all double baskets were 18g, I'll take a photo of the 2 that I have later for reference


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## destiny (Jun 4, 2015)

Mrboots2u said:


> And it is at 17.5 g . The headroom is effected by differing machines - shower screens - how coarser you grind you coffee ...


So in that case if my puck always has shower screen marks in 18g VST at 18g I'd need to drop the dose too?


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## shaunclarke (Nov 30, 2011)

luke said:


> Thanks for the help all,
> 
> This morning I dosed 15g into the basket and extracted around 30g of espresso. The 15g was a much better fit.
> 
> I'd assumed that all double baskets were 18g, I'll take a photo of the 2 that I have later for reference


My Classic was a Fleabay bargain and it came with 3 baskets. 7g single, 14g double and 21g which i can only assume is a triple. Anyway i generally does 18g into this triple basket. Works very well.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

destiny said:


> So in that case if my puck always has shower screen marks in 18g VST at 18g I'd need to drop the dose too?


Shower screen marks after the extraction are normal , however if you lock in the portafilter into the grouphead and the shower screen is disrupting the the top of the coffee bed there isnt enough room for the puck to swell and you'll likely get some channelling


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## luke (Dec 7, 2016)

It turns out my 2 stock baskets are different sizes. One seems to be 14g and the other 18g... I probably should have compared them before just assuming that they're the same.









I've just had a go at using the 18g, I actually dosed just under at 17.5g. The only thing that surprised me was the the extraction time for 35g of espresso was 1 minute 23 seconds!!

How can 15g in the other basket take around 30 seconds and this basket with 2.5g extra take nearly a whole minute longer?


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## coffeechap (Apr 5, 2012)

One looks well used which could mean smaller holes due to coffee or scale or other residues,a lot of baskets are different, just coarsen the grind


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## luke (Dec 7, 2016)

My 18g VST can't get here soon enough... Fingers crossed it arrives tomorrow


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## jimbojohn55 (Jan 15, 2016)

I think you've got the standard 7g and 14G baskets that come with the classic - a 18g wont have a taper on it - well mine doesn't

the long extraction could be explained by 14g being so full that its jammed coffee against the shower plate - its all part of the fun ;-)


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## lmulli (Feb 16, 2015)

Whilst on the subject of filter baskets, anyone know where to readily get hold of spare double baskets for the Sage Dual Boiler? Currently using a VST 18g basket but my Concept Art 58.5 tamper doesn't leave a lot of room for manoeuvre and I also find that the puck "floats" a lot more than with the original. Was looking at a Made by Knock Tamper with a couple of new baskets as they appear to be decent price, but they don't have the ceramic black base in stock which is what I wanted. Ta.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

From (failing) memory my IMS had a bit more play with my 58.5 Torr compared to my VST.

I can check tomorrow for you if it helps any.


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

luke said:


> It turns out my 2 stock baskets are different sizes. One seems to be 14g and the other 18g... I probably should have compared them before just assuming that they're the same.
> 
> View attachment 24224
> 
> ...


The basket on the right appears to have a C stamped in the side, if it is this is a "pod" basket noted in Gaggia manual.


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## luke (Dec 7, 2016)

El carajillo said:


> The basket on the right appears to have a C stamped in the side, if it is this is a "pod" basket noted in Gaggia manual.


Incredible&#8230; And there's me wondering why I can't fit 18g into it!

My 18g VST came yesterday so my dosing woes should be behind me. Now just to get my extraction time down.

Yesterday I pulled 3 shots all at 18g in 36g out (all shots used Rave Mocha java)

*1st - around 1min* - tasted bitter

[Coarsened the grind]

*2nd - around 58 seconds* - again bitter

[Coarsened the grind]

*3rd - around 30 seconds *- Much more balanced

--

Though this morning I tried pulling another shot and the time went back up to around 55 seconds. The only thing I can think is that yesterday the machine will have warmed up much more after 2 shots, this morning I gave the machine 5-10 minutes and warmed the portafliter up with boiling water for just under a minute.

I know 5-10 minutes isn't ideal, could this be the cause of the increased extraction time?


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## El carajillo (Mar 16, 2013)

Possibly inconsistent tamping, can be difficult to be consistent initially. Beans in the hopper in a warm or humid room can vary pour time.

The M C 2 is a good little grinder, once adjusted to ball park large pour variations lie elsewhere, ie beans , tamping.


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## Breezy (Dec 16, 2014)

I've been dosing 17g in my gaggia double basket and getting pretty good results, what seems to be the consensus 17.5g?


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