# Joining the streams failure....



## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

I'm having a hard time reaching the perfect looking shot at the moment. My streams won't join in the centre and I also appear to have dead spots. I'm using a lighter roast currently.

The shot tastes great but I basically just want advice on why the streams won't meet in the middle. I mean the ghostbusters joined their steams and it saved NYC so who knows what will happen if I can get mine to join up!!










This is a typical example of what is going on. I'm hoping its just down to the type of bean I'm using.

Cheers


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

joey24dirt said:


> I'm having a hard time reaching the perfect looking shot at the moment. My streams won't join in the centre and I also appear to have dead spots. I'm using a lighter roast currently.
> 
> The shot tastes great but I basically just want advice on why the streams won't meet in the middle. I mean the ghostbusters joined their steams and it saved NYC so who knows what will happen if I can get mine to join up!!
> 
> ...


Do they join later on in the shot? Or remain like that for the whole duration?


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## DaveP (Jul 14, 2017)

Make the holes bigger...

Orrrrrrrrrr examine the grind / dose weight / tamp pressure


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

igm45 said:


> Do they join later on in the shot? Or remain like that for the whole duration?


They stay like that for the full shot. With other beans I have had the god shots so I know I can get it right.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

DaveP said:


> Make the holes bigger...
> 
> Orrrrrrrrrr examine the grind / dose weight / tamp pressure


Roger that 

*makes journey to shed, grabs 5mm cobalt bit*


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## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

Please tell me that is not the Rwandan.


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

Distribution I reckon, give it a stir with a tooth pick or similar before using your funky lathed distribution tool


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

lake_m said:


> Please tell me that is not the Rwandan.


No it was the Peru from union coffee roasters. I've just tried the Brazilian from the same roasters and the streams joined up ok with a reduced dose. Did you have a bit of chew with the Rwandan? Must depend on the bean maybe?


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

igm45 said:


> Distribution I reckon, give it a stir with a tooth pick or similar before using your funky lathed distribution tool


I have a flipping whisk sat there waiting to be used but I always forget lol. Do you think that's the issue? Has my knock off OCD finally met it's match?


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## lake_m (Feb 4, 2017)

joey24dirt said:


> No it was the Peru from union coffee roasters. I've just tried the Brazilian from the same roasters and the streams joined up ok with a reduced dose. Did you have a bit of chew with the Rwandan? Must depend on the bean maybe?


No, the Rwandan was great - but I wasn't using my naked p/f. I'm going to order some but froze when I saw your post about a shanky pour.


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

joey24dirt said:


> I have a flipping whisk sat there waiting to be used but I always forget lol. Do you think that's the issue? Has my knock off OCD finally met it's match?


I know where @lake_m is coming from, I've struggled with Rwandan beans before.

Giving it a stir is definitely worth a pop. I have generally found the majority of problems with extraction can be solved by spending just that little more time in the distribution phase.

Unless your tamping is on a proper wonk...


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

lake_m said:


> No, the Rwandan was great - but I wasn't using my naked p/f. I'm going to order some but froze when I saw your post about a shanky pour.


The Rwandan has always been a great bean to use, other than the bubbles but that's only a problem if hunting for perfect art lol


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

igm45 said:


> I know where @lake_m is coming from, I've struggled with Rwandan beans before.
> 
> Giving it a stir is definitely worth a pop. I have generally found the majority of problems with extraction can be solved by spending just that little more time in the distribution phase.
> 
> Unless your tamping is on a proper wonk...


Tamping isn't too bad. I need to adjust my knock off OCD tamper to be able to reach deeper into the IMS basket, then hopefully I can rule that stage out haha


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

definitely try to include the whisk in the workflow, it should help a lot with this issue


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

Stanic said:


> definitely try to include the whisk in the workflow, it should help a lot with this issue


Tried the whisk again this morning and slight improvement. Do lighter roast beans give you more trouble? And dose amount?


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

Just reduced my dose to 16.5g, slackened the grind and went for it. Over 18's only please. Absolute money shot haha.


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## DaveP (Jul 14, 2017)

joey24dirt said:


> Just reduced my dose to 16.5g, slackened the grind and went for it. Over 18's only please. Absolute money shot haha.





> Orrrrrrrrrr examine the grind / dose weight / tamp pressure


QED


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

DaveP said:


> QED


I missed this first time around. I went straight for the drill didn't I haha

Cheers Dave


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

With my setup, I'm most concerned about distribution. The dosing is quite flexible as there is no shower screen. Difference between lighter or darker roasts, regarding proper extraction time is most noticeable in grind setting for me, and I can have a bad shot with both types, it really goes down to distribution and tamping.


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## joey24dirt (Jan 28, 2017)

Stanic said:


> With my setup, I'm most concerned about distribution. The dosing is quite flexible as there is no shower screen. Difference between lighter or darker roasts, regarding proper extraction time is most noticeable in grind setting for me, and I can have a bad shot with both types, it really goes down to distribution and tamping.


Thank you. I read somewhere that if you overdose it can cause issues with a dead spot in the centre of the basket. I think my problem has been too much and too fine, but only just as my shot times to weight haven't been too far over. Anyway hopefully I've cracked it.

Obviously it's not the be all and end all of it but I'd started to have a little freak out that I had damaged my machine in some way with the mods I have done. So by pulling a perfect looking shot, that reassures me that all is still well with the DTP


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## Stanic (Dec 12, 2015)

Great!


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