# Delonghi ECAM23.210 - Grinder not fine enough



## Skowt (Jan 14, 2019)

Hey All!

I've been looking for a coffee community that knows a thing or two about superautomatic machines and this seemed like the closest to what I'm looking for.

Does anyone have experience with the ECAM23.210 and particularly the grinder settings? I've set it to the finest grind and have run a few shots through but every time the shot still pours in about 20 seconds (double shot) which seems way too fast considering it's on the finest grind.

Anyone experience the same thing and know any tricks on how to fix it and get the grinder working correctly?

Inb4 people upset about using a superautomatic.


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

What coffee are you using ? Where from and how fresh ?


----------



## Skowt (Jan 14, 2019)

Mrboots2u said:


> What coffee are you using ? Where from and how fresh ?


Local shop called Seattle Coffee Co that's fresh beans.


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Skowt said:


> Local shop called Seattle Coffee Co that's fresh beans.


Do they have a roast date on them?


----------



## Skowt (Jan 14, 2019)

Mrboots2u said:


> Do they have a roast date on them?


Looks like the 20th Dec 2018. Is that too far back?


----------



## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Skowt said:


> Looks like the 20th Dec 2018. Is that too far back?


No if stored properly after opening should be fine


----------



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Skowt said:


> Looks like the 20th Dec 2018. Is that too far back?


Depends if that's date roasted, date packed, how they were stored before packing. Ordinarily, it should be good if they were stored well and heat sealed after roasting. If the store is tins or open trays and they scoop it out into a kraft paper bag, write the roast date on and sellotape the top shut....then definitely not.

From your post I am none the wise how "fresh" they are, because roast date is only part of the story, if indeed it is a "roast" date.


----------



## Skowt (Jan 14, 2019)

Very interesting. So these are brown bags that are pre-packaged with two dates, I'm guessing roast and then best-by date. Wonder how much that is playing into everything.

Back to my original question though, how closely would this relate to getting the grind fine enough on my superautomatic? Surely even if the beans are old I'd be able to get to a point where the extraction drips through (obviously not the result I'm looking for but I want to go to that extreme and then slowly dial back to a state where it comes out at a nice rate).


----------



## MildredM (Feb 13, 2017)

It sounds like it's worth getting some more beans to see how you get on. Use a reputable roaster, try them a week or so after the roast date.


----------



## Skowt (Jan 14, 2019)

MildredM said:


> It sounds like it's worth getting some more beans to see how you get on. Use a reputable roaster, try them a week or so after the roast date.


Awesome, I shall do so!

Related to that, I read online that if you've got a medium-dark roast you'd want to make your grind more coarse while a light roast should be more fine? I tried to do that (make it more coarse because I'm using a medium-dark roast) but then there's no chance that I'll be able to hit the 25-30 second brew time frame for a double shot. So with that in mind, if I'm grinding courser because dark roast, does it matter that I'm not hitting the 25-30 second mark?

It's very confusing trying to get the right taste but also try make the grind more coarse and still hit the golden time frame.


----------



## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Ignore what you read. Grind size varies depending on variety of bean as well as roast level. Take the same bean and roast it light vs dark and sure you'd expect to have to use a coarser grind for the dark roast, but with different origins you can find yourself using the same grind for very different roasts. Also there is no golden time frame. Make your shots by taste rather than arbitrary ideas and figures. If your beans are stale the grinder might not go fine enough the choke the machine and if you're using coffee that's poorly roasted it might not either. 25-35 seconds is a good bracket to aim for, so long as you are keeping dose and yield consistent.


----------



## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

Skowt said:


> Awesome, I shall do so!
> 
> Related to that, I read online that if you've got a medium-dark roast you'd want to make your grind more coarse while a light roast should be more fine? I tried to do that (make it more coarse because I'm using a medium-dark roast) but then there's no chance that I'll be able to hit the 25-30 second brew time frame for a double shot. So with that in mind, if I'm grinding courser because dark roast, does it matter that I'm not hitting the 25-30 second mark?
> 
> It's very confusing trying to get the right taste but also try make the grind more coarse and still hit the golden time frame.


It's a bean to cup, they work differently to an espresso machine, so the same parameters don't apply. Don't overthink it, just get fresh coffee from a roaster that comes with a roast date in a sealed valve bag..


----------



## Skowt (Jan 14, 2019)

Thanks for the advice everyone! I'm not great at Espresso tasting because they all taste strong and bitter but I'll do some more experimenting and maybe man up a bit.


----------

