# Classic + MrShades Pid....first few shots, criticism welcome



## mcrmfc (Sep 17, 2016)

Hi all,

Would be really keen to get your collective thoughts on the shot in the video. Pretty new to this - read a lot but no machine until now, reconditioned a pretty old classic and added MrShades PID and Invensys pump (anticipating the dimmer mod).

Stats:

Temp: 93.0

Pressure: 9 bar (opv mod, measured with portafilter guage)

Coffee: Monmouth espresso, week post roast, ground pretty fine on sage smart grinder pro

18g in 36g out, 30s

It tastes good to me, but looks pretty dark - not experienced enough to analyse the pour and know about blonding, over extraction etc so keen to get opinions. Feel free to be critical and I know the video quality isn't great!

Regardless it's so much fun and this forum has been a veritable treasure trove so thanks all. Props to Mrshades as well, top top chap.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Go by taste. You can try tweaking, e.g. tightening the grind or even coarsening a bit to see what effect this has on taste but you are already in the ball park.

Blonding is the end of the extraction when the colour is thin reflecting there is nothing left in the puck to extract. It's worth tasting this section of the pour on its own to see what it tastes like, i.e. rank.

Set up for an extraction but have three shot glasses, cups or something similar ready. Start your extraction and pull the shot third, by third into your three containers. Taste in order from first bit of extraction to the third. First will be sourer, middle sweeter and the third insipid.


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## mcrmfc (Sep 17, 2016)

Systemic Kid - that's awesome advice, will try.

Will also try with different coffees and roast dates as I guess this has a pretty big impact on how you need to grind etc

Thanks!


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

I would not overly be concerned about judging a blonding point . Use weight in and Weight out . Don't try and matcha brew recipe to a blonding point . Adjust grind by taste.

The last part maynot taste optim on your thirds experiment , this though is not a reason to leave if from your extraction, as the taste in the cup is a combination of all three .


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## DavecUK (Aug 6, 2013)

My advice adjust grind each time and do a number of shots over the same time 30s, increasing the output each time e.g. 40g, 45g, 50g and 55g out...just see how they taste and how the taste profile changes

Then repeat the above at 25s brew time and then select what you like. This will be good for that particular coffee. repeat this for all the different types of coffees you drink and you will notice these amounts vary a little. make a physical or mental note, so than you are aware of how the different origins of coffee extract best (e.g A tight shot might be good for one origin, but terrible for another).

now the bad news, you also have to do this for roast levels as well...so lots of combinations. Of course you won't do this all in 5 minutes, more like a year or two.


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## mcrmfc (Sep 17, 2016)

This forum is amazing thanks guys, great advice - yep I am up for the long game so looking forward to all the experimenting with all these variables.


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## banjobill (Jun 12, 2016)

I get all my coffee from Monmouth, I bought come of the Fazenda beans and Finca Las Nubes beans today, can't wait to try them out in the morning.


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## James87 (Sep 8, 2016)

I've got no experience with judging flow rates from bottomless portafilters, but it looks like you're getting some good results with your setup there. I'd agree with above, everyone has there own taste of right brew ratio so just go with what tastes right for you. Still looking for the right sweet spot myself. Some good tips up there, I might have to follow a couple of those too, will be going through a lot of coffee!


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