# Tamp Pressure with different beans



## Russeh (Apr 15, 2020)

While i've been trying an array of different beans over the last 3 months or so, i've noticed that one or two of them have been especially difficult to tamp consistently compared with others. Am i doing something wrong or do other people adjust the pressure depending on the beans?

In my case 2 of the beans (which when tamping correctly) are really nice but very easy to apply too much pressure and then it either chokes the machine or pours very very slowly.

Any advise would be welcome.


----------



## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

I'm not sure what you mean by "difficult to tamp consistently". Are you talking about different volumes in the basket at the same weight so you find the puck is finishing up at different heights when tamped? The coffee doesn't have any affect on how much pressure you apply...

Adjust your grind coarser if the pour is slow or dose less.


----------



## Russeh (Apr 15, 2020)

Rob1 said:


> I'm not sure what you mean by "difficult to tamp consistently". Are you talking about different volumes in the basket at the same weight so you find the puck is finishing up at different heights when tamped? The coffee doesn't have any affect on how much pressure you apply...
> 
> Adjust your grind coarser if the pour is slow or dose less.


 yeah sorry probably badly explained. What i'm finding is that different beans respond to pressure differently. When i dial in a new coffee i am timing the dose so it produces the weight i'm expecting (usually 18g). But even with the same grams of coffee, it seams that with some beans are more prone to pressure than others. At first i just thought it was it was the grind size, e.g. easier to compacted smaller graduals but with the example i have at the moment even on a relatively course setting, its very very easy to apply too much pressure.

I've asked the question to partly canvas if anyone else finds this or if its just me lol.

The coffee i've found this happens with so far is Hill and Valley by Coffee Compass and the one i've using now is Under Milk Wood by Darkwoods. I've had other CC coffees that doesn't seem to be so sensitive.


----------



## BCScoops (May 31, 2020)

Have you considered using a PUSH tamper or similar? This would remove the pressure variable and allow you to pursue consistency through a fixed dose and depth of tamp.

Having also tried a number of different beans recently I have noticed varying characteristics between all of them: one of which would be brittleness.


----------



## Rob1 (Apr 9, 2015)

Russeh said:


> yeah sorry probably badly explained. What i'm finding is that different beans respond to pressure differently. When i dial in a new coffee i am timing the dose so it produces the weight i'm expecting (usually 18g). But even with the same grams of coffee, it seams that with some beans are more prone to pressure than others. At first i just thought it was it was the grind size, e.g. easier to compacted smaller graduals but with the example i have at the moment even on a relatively course setting, its very very easy to apply too much pressure.
> 
> I've asked the question to partly canvas if anyone else finds this or if its just me lol.
> 
> The coffee i've found this happens with so far is Hill and Valley by Coffee Compass and the one i've using now is Under Milk Wood by Darkwoods. I've had other CC coffees that doesn't seem to be so sensitive.


 If you're finding the pressure of your tamp makes a big difference you're probably grinding too fine and not tamping hard enough to compress the puck usually. I tamp fairly hard and if I marginally increase or decrease the pressure it wouldn't make a difference. If you're grinding very fine and tamping very lightly then very small changes to tamp pressure will make a big difference to how the shot runs.

It sounds like you're describing density differences with the beans. Some will compact more than others....really you are probably set up for a light tamp with a fine grind which may or may not be good depending on your equipment.


----------



## Caffeinated_fiend (Apr 15, 2020)

I found this article helpful when I was having flow timing differences,

https://www.baristahustle.com/blog/how-hard-should-you-tamp/


----------



## Bica60s (Dec 3, 2019)

Buy a sprung tamper, set to 30lbs and then just dial the grinder so that roughly 25 to 30 seconds for twice the dosed mass of the raw bean mass, tweaking either side for flavour.


----------

