# New VST Store.



## Filthy_rich85 (Jan 20, 2011)

Just noticed Hasbean now have a VST store


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## vintagecigarman (Aug 10, 2009)

Come on! Who's going to be first to buy a refractometer?

But a lot less hassle to buy a basket than we went through.

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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Wonder if the 18g ridgeless would fit my machine/naked filter....the ridged one wouldnt quite.....


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

vintagecigarman said:


> Come on! Who's going to be first to buy a refractometer?


Moi!







Hoping to buy today.


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## truecksuk (Sep 22, 2011)

Ridiculously priced lol!


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

MikeHag said:


> Moi!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Give you a fiver for your TDS meter....as you are so flush!


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Ha! I'm hoping to use it to compare accuracy. If it's anywhere near then I'll be keeping it just as a quick dipper, mate. If it's wildly inaccurate then it's all yours


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

MikeHag said:


> Ha! I'm hoping to use it to compare accuracy. If it's anywhere near then I'll be keeping it just as a quick dipper, mate. If it's wildly inaccurate then it's all yours


Gee thanks. I look forward to a report on the VST in your blog.... Now where is my nearest Lottery ticket outlet....


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I'm sure if you were in my shoes you'd be buying one without a moment's doubt, Gary


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## Outlaw333 (Dec 13, 2011)

I found this yesterday but it wasn't live then. Holy Bananas that refractometer is expensive! I really thought it was going to be around £200, well that is me out! At least until I have my speciality coffee house up and running. I'm afraid the bespoke carpentry a' la my oak craftsman brother and the LM Strada are my priority for extravagant niceties though, If I have £650 left after setup and a years rent up-front, then i will get one!


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## vintagecigarman (Aug 10, 2009)

I'd love to know how many of these fall into the hands of 'enthusiastic amateurs' rather than businesses users. Seems like an awful lot of money to pay out of taxed income - though I suppose some private users will no doubt shell out for one.

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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

Those refractometers look like the "lab" versions. Even on the VST web site the lab refractometers are considerably more expensive (50% more) than their standard ones. Does anyone know whether HasBean plan to stock the standard VST refractometer at any point?


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## DonRJ (Apr 3, 2010)

Good grief, that is expensive gear, I have a refractometer and a TDS meter for aquatic use at a total cost of £50. No use for coffee though i`m sure.


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

might have to buy a VST basket come pay day


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

Are the gaggia baskets ridged ?


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

Hrm 15g or18g...... Life's most difficult question!


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## onemac (Dec 15, 2011)

I was tending towards the 15g but I'm slowly changing my mind. I suspect I may be female.......









Al


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

think it would be the 15g for me


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

I've kind of settled on 17g for my ideal dose, generally how does the VST effect how much you need to dose? Have people that own a VST generally found they dose less, more or the same as the standard baskets?


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I would say following some of the feedback on here - 15g if you lean towards lighter roasts.

Another point , if you follow an extraction ratio, think about the end beverage weight you want.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

18g FTW...


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

seeq said:


> I've kind of settled on 17g for my ideal dose, generally how does the VST effect how much you need to dose? Have people that own a VST generally found they dose less, more or the same as the standard baskets?


Each basket is designed for a specific dose within 1g, the 15g will take 14-16...the 18g 17-19.

Pre VST, in a standard Expobar basket, I would dose 17-18g.... but am very happy with my 15g basket


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

Ridged or unbridled for the classic?


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

ive been using a 15g dose in my Classic so far, but thats purely as a starting point as ive only just got my grinder, im so new to all this and its all very technical, thats my only reason for choosing the 15g


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

The Gaggia portafilter will fit ridged or ridge-less baskets. I bought my VST baskets before they started making the ridge-less variants. There are two slight annoyances with the ridged baskets as follows:

- they need to be prised out of the portafilter using the edge of a knife or, as in my case, a caffiene wrench.

- coffee tends to get trapped in the ridge - not a problem but it is slightly irritating.

The standard spring in the Gaggia portafilter will work fine with ridge-less. However I think Silvia owners might need a different spring.


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

so seeq are you going ridgeless ? or sticking with ridged ?

i think ill buy ridged as id like the basket pretty secure when i knock it down on the counter, ill only be changing basket for the backflush basket every now and again so it will stay in place most of the time


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## lucky13 (Dec 30, 2011)

what would the drawback be of putting 15g in and 18g basket?


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

brun said:


> so seeq are you going ridgeless ? or sticking with ridged ?
> 
> i think ill buy ridged as id like the basket pretty secure when i knock it down on the counter, ill only be changing basket for the backflush basket every now and again so it will stay in place most of the time


I still haven't decided yet! It's payday today too. I might just go on the hasbean site, close my eyes and click at random! I will probably get the 18g though. Eventually I will be getting the HD naked portafilter, how does the ridged/ridgeless fit in that? I'm swinging towards ridgeless at the moment.


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

I'll let you know what mine is like, should be here tomorrow, 15g ridged


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

lucky13 said:


> what would the drawback be of putting 15g in and 18g basket?


The baskets are designed to accommodate the stated dose +/- 1g i.e. the 15g basket is designed for 14-16g and the 18g basket for 17-19g.

The 18g basket offers less resistance (larger holes) to the brew water than the 15g basket to compensate for the increased resistance caused by having more coffee in the basket. If you use less ground coffee in the basket you would need to grind finer than the equivalent amount of ground coffee in a smaller basket. This finer grind could result in over-extraction of the coffee and perhaps a bitter taste.

I bought the ridged basket because the ridge-less baskets were not available when I bought mine. The ridged baskets are harder to take out of the portafilter and tend to catch coffee in the ridges where as the ridge-less behave more like the stock Gaggia baskets in terms of tamping and removal.


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## bobbytoad (Aug 12, 2011)

the ridge provides a handy guideline when tamping


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

bobbytoad said:


> the ridge provides a handy guideline when tamping


Agreed, you can see your tamp is level


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

Surely the top of the basket does that anyway? Either way I've gone for the 18g ridgeless, should come tomorrow


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## brun (Dec 26, 2011)

Mine came Sat but I'm yet to use it


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## Spazbarista (Dec 6, 2011)

The jury is out on these things for me. Somewhat limited experience of them as I quickly realised 18g basket was to big and passed it on to VCM.

In the few pours I did notice that the holes are bigger, which of course means a finer grind, which might cause trouble with particles making their way into the coffee.

Either way, the coffee didn't seem to taste any different.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I see Has Bean now have the standard VST refractometers. Are these the poor cousin to the Lab ones? Why would I choose one over the other? (Mike you'll probably know)


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Oh, that's good. Will make them more accessible for home users.

The LAB i.e. the more expensive version, has a few advantages, but the Standard one is still a fantastic product. The main differences that I know of are accuracy and robustness, and it's the robustness that made me go for the LAB for a cafe environment. They are both accurate, but the LAB is just moreso... probably more than it needs to be for most users.


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

I saw this post and thought "ooo that'd be good, wonder how much they are - I could probably stretch to £50 or something".


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I know what you mean - £325 can be a lot. But also when you think of it as another piece of good quality brewing equipment then it can seem relatively cheap compared with many other pieces of equipment. Some people are spending more than this on their grinders, well over £1000 on espresso machines, Syphons can cost almost £100 on some websites, and a lot more than this is spent on beans every year, which are then often not brewed to their full potential.

Like I've always said, not for everyone... but £325 is a lot better than £480 for the LAB.

BTW I rarely use the software and mostly use the coffee & espresso modules of the iphone app - just incase anyone was thinking whether the software package was a good option.


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

I was face-palming more at my naiveness, thinking it was going to be as cheap as £50. It's a worthwhile investment, especially for anyone that leans towards the science side of all this. One I don't think I can make though..... yet!


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

I think if the price was circa £200 I could justify it


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

You know it's only a matter of time....


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## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

I was trying to figure out some kind of joint custody thing between several people to ease the cost. I.e 6 people in, £50ish each, 2 months of the year visitation rights. Posting it around might end up expensive though, and you're left without for a long time.

Came to the conclusion it was a crap idea! Maybe with 3 people at the most it could work.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Another idea is to try and get some sort of a group buy going , where we obtain a massive discount because 10 people want them.

Again a bad idea : (


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