# Under Extraction



## Richaerd Wilkins (May 13, 2020)

Hi there, I am having problems with under extracted coffee! I bought fresh beans, Guatemala and have wasted some in that i have ground the beans from 8 (Range of grinder 1 - 15) to the finest the Barista Express will go down to (1), unfortunately the dial on the machine showing pressure does not get into the express range. The beans were roasted on 1st May 2020, so I guess they are fresh enough, can anyone shed some light on this please?


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## Adam.f (Apr 9, 2020)

Have you altered the top burr on the machine, they are normally set to 5/6 out the box and you adjust this to get a finer grind. In the manual it does have instructions to adjust it


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## Richaerd Wilkins (May 13, 2020)

Thank you Adam, I will try this, thanks for your reply.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Richaerd Wilkins said:


> Hi there, I am having problems with under extracted coffee! I bought fresh beans, Guatemala and have wasted some in that i have ground the beans from 8 (Range of grinder 1 - 15) to the finest the Barista Express will go down to (1), unfortunately the dial on the machine showing pressure does not get into the express range. The beans were roasted on 1st May 2020, so I guess they are fresh enough, can anyone shed some light on this please?


 We have no idea if you are under extracting as we do not know the amount of coffee used and the amount of coffee being made by weight

Sourness does not always mean under extraction .

Focus in describing the taste imbalance rather than using terms that can not be quantified ( under and over extraction )

Grinding finer if you are not putting enough water through the puck will not help either .


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## Richaerd Wilkins (May 13, 2020)

Hi there, I'm weighing the beans, 18g, then putting in the machines hopper, then grinding them to the finest (No: - 1), extracting in the porta filter to give me 60ml of coffee, takes about 24 seconds. The pressure gauge on the Sage Barista say its under extracting in that the dial doesn't enter the "Expresso Range". Hope that makes things clear?

Cheers.


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## MWJB (Feb 28, 2012)

Richaerd Wilkins said:


> Hi there, I'm weighing the beans, 18g, then putting in the machines hopper, then grinding them to the finest (No: - 1), extracting in the porta filter to give me 60ml of coffee, takes about 24 seconds. The pressure gauge on the Sage Barista say its under extracting in that the dial doesn't enter the "Expresso Range". Hope that makes things clear?
> 
> Cheers.


 The pressure gauge can't tell you what the extraction is.

It's best to check the weight of the dose as it exits the grinder/in the PF, rather than the dose you feed into the grinder.

Weigh the espresso as it lands in the cup, on scales on the drip tray.

Just to check, how does the coffee taste?


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## Richaerd Wilkins (May 13, 2020)

At present I'm waiting for the delivery of some more fresh beans, should be here tomorrow, guess it would be best to wait till the beans are perhaps 5 days old or so before I start to make coffee from them? Will weight the grounded beans as they fall into the porta filter to ensure accurate weight of grounds (18g). I have a set of scales which can be used for coffee, so will go for 60 ml (Amount of liquid coffee?)

Thanks again for your help!


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## Richaerd Wilkins (May 13, 2020)

Just thought another thing, what is the pressure gauge there to measure, if not the extraction? Hope I'm not being a pain, just keen to learn.


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## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Measure the espresso by weight not volume.

The pressure gauge is there to measure pressure.

Out of curiosity, does your machine actually have a gauge with "Expresso Range" written on it? If it does that's just priceless.


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## Richaerd Wilkins (May 13, 2020)

Thanks Rob, I'm probably making myself look silly here to you guys, yes it does have a "Expresso Range" dial on the front of the machine, Its a Sage Espresso Barista model. I understand what you mean about weighing the expresso by weight not volume, I have been using a shoot glass, indicating a 60 ml line on the side. 60 ml is the same as 60 g? Will weigh in grams in future.

Thanks again


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## 24774 (Mar 8, 2020)

Richaerd Wilkins said:


> Thanks Rob, I'm probably making myself look silly here to you guys, yes it does have a "Expresso Range" dial on the front of the machine, Its a Sage Espresso Barista model. I understand what you mean about weighing the expresso by weight not volume, I have been using a shoot glass, indicating a 60 ml line on the side. 60 ml is the same as 60 g? Will weigh in grams in future.
> 
> Thanks again


 No, you're not, sometimes experienced people just make you feel like that.

I'd suggest reading the stickied thread in the Sage forum, the answers to some of your questions are there. The main post is very good, my post, number 14, gives some pointers after about 3 months use with your machine. By all means come back here and ask questions, there aren't any silly ones when you're starting out.


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## Richaerd Wilkins (May 13, 2020)

Coco Loco, thank you so much for your information and guidance. I have taken aboard all the comments which people have given me today and implemented them, as a result of this I have altered the bure grinder setting to 4 and it's sorted me out. The pressure gauge is at 12 o'clock when water is going through the coffee in the basket, which is where it should be and I'm using the single skin basket, not the insulated double skin one. Thank you all!


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## 24774 (Mar 8, 2020)

Richaerd Wilkins said:


> Coco Loco, thank you so much for your information and guidance. I have taken aboard all the comments which people have given me today and implemented them, as a result of this I have altered the bure grinder setting to 4 and it's sorted me out. The pressure gauge is at 12 o'clock when water is going through the coffee in the basket, which is where it should be and I'm using the single skin basket, not the insulated double skin one. Thank you all!


 That's great, some good advances. Hope it tastes good.


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

Try going for an espresso blend, something a tad darker

Ive had a nightmare trying to dial in with a fruity single origin bean,

Ive since moved to a rave fudge blend, 18.6g in tamped giving 36-40g out in around 33s

That would be a 1:2 ratio

Weigh in and out. No volume as the crema is very deceptive in terms of volume in a cup


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## Richaerd Wilkins (May 13, 2020)

Thank you Cuprajake, I will try it out, we have a coffee roaster here in Norwich, I'll pick one from them. Maybe I'm naive but I find fresh roasted coffee expensive?


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## Adam.f (Apr 9, 2020)

That's good! It is a case of trail and error, making small adjustments and work on from that.

The sage machines express and pro grinders Do struggle abit with lighter roasts and they do a better/prefer a dark roast Bean when grinding. Been enjoying some of Raves coffee at the moment myself. I freeze my beans about 10-11 days after roasting Date and when you get them out they taste like fresh beans!


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## cuprajake (Mar 30, 2020)

It is and it isnt expensive.

The mrs came back with some costa beans £3.50 and some levazza £4.50 from the local supermarket

Through the machine there crap, ive been using them in a French press.

When you think rave beans are 5.50 for what you know will be good

Its the postage that bumps stuff up.

Atm im going through beans for fun being off

Every brew time its 36g of beans so a 250g bag doesn't last long.


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