# If the grind, tamp and pressure is okay then why early blonde?



## Beemer (Jun 19, 2012)

I am still plagued with what I think is early blonding. I say think because I'm the only one who has seen the colour and what looks like thinning of the pour. Should a good pour always have some striping at the end of the pour, e.g. at 25 seconds? If a pour is slow to start then the timing can be lost so I observe the colour. Its at this point that I can never be sure when to stop the pour.


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## truecksuk (Sep 22, 2011)

Check out the following link.. It has helped me SO much in diagnosing my coffee chanelling problems.. THAT may be your issue here?

http://www.home-barista.com/weiss-distribution-technique.html

Incorrect chanelling can cause early blonding, as some parts of the puck are over extracted.


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## ronsil (Mar 8, 2012)

In my 18 gram basket, after dosing I spread the grind with my index finger & then chop the top working first as a cross & then diagonally several times followed by a medium tamp straight down & finish with a flourish.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

So many variables can affect this. Roast and Bean density can play their part.

I always found earlier blonding with the mini-e (than with the Royal) I figured it was down to poor grinder distribution/clumping.

This is worth a read and food for thought http://colonnaandsmalls.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/blonding-an-archaic-approach-to-understanding-espresso/


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

It would be great if you were able to do a short video of your grinding, distribution, tamp and extraction... often that throws up opportunities for improvement.

Stop the pour at a target beverage weight regardless of colour.


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## Beemer (Jun 19, 2012)

MikeHag said:


> It would be great if you were able to do a short video of your grinding, distribution, tamp and extraction... often that throws up opportunities for improvement.
> 
> Stop the pour at a target beverage weight regardless of colour.


Good point I'll do that tomorrow







Today I cut a naked Portafilter so this will help.


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## Beemer (Jun 19, 2012)

garydyke1 said:


> So many variables can affect this. Roast and Bean density can play their part.
> 
> I always found earlier blonding with the mini-e (than with the Royal) I figured it was down to poor grinder distribution/clumping.
> 
> This is worth a read and food for thought http://colonnaandsmalls.wordpress.com/2012/05/07/blonding-an-archaic-approach-to-understanding-espresso/


I had read this before but thought that manual distribution by moving the Portafilter around would be adequate, Today I cut myself a naked Portafilter. For my first 18gm espresso after this I used WDT with a .052" guitar string, tamped normally and the pour was text book except for the blonding start at around 17 seconds.

However on the next 18gm without using WDT but the same tamp the pour was horrible with coffee spattered everywhere! Is this spattering caused by air pockets in the grind letting steam jet through the puck? If so just how could there be air pockets after a 35lb tamp?


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

It sounds like you are describing spritzing as a result of channeling. This channeling is caused by poor distribution in the basket. Areas of uneven distribution or clumps, following the tamp, become denser than the adjacent areas. The brew water will seek the path of lowest resistence through the puck and so will avoid the higher density areas.


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## JohnnieWalker (Aug 24, 2011)

Anyone who's used a bottomless portafilter will have experienced spritzing!

I used to use a cake tester, basically a thin metal rod with a handle, to both stir and level off my ground coffee before tamping, however now I just grond directly into the PF basket, stop about halfway to tap the PF on the worktop to settle the ground coffee, then continue until I have a small "peak" of ground coffee above the top of the basket.

Then I just level off and tamp lightly before inserting the PF into my machine.

I try and simplify the whole process as much as possible, although I generally use the same beans and grind setting, I don't bother weighing the beans or the shot ( shock, horror! ) but I find I get pretty consistent results, at least good enough for me!

The one time I did try weighing the ground coffee just out of curiosity I found I had actually ground 18g, just by judgement, I know this doesn't mean I'll do this every time, but at least shows that I'm not far off.

What beans are you using and how fresh are they?


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## truecksuk (Sep 22, 2011)

shock horror indeed.

Do you actually get consistent results? You incorporating such techniques probably means you have some pretty serious equipment. unlike us classic oweners


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## oldroaster (Jun 19, 2012)

A most interesting article Gary, thanks for that. It confirms my view that blonding is not always a bad thing.

OR


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