# Puck prep revelation



## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

Firstly, I have a slight OCD for sharing information, maybe because I lecture students.
If I find something that works I like to spread the info, ASAP. 
Even if everyone is like duh, we knew that already!

Anyway, I have been enjoying my La Pavoni journey so far.

I bought a good condition pre-mill and have converted it to water heated with a £5 plug and 30 minutes of time. 
Installed an LCD temp monitor
Got the pressure gauge for the boiler and a PPK both really useful.

But, I was still finding that my shots weren't all that great, I'd often get a bit of edge channeling. Lighter roasts in particular. 
I even put a filter paper on top, this has really improved things. 
I bought a 49.5mm tamper, more improvements but not massive

But today I had an absolute revelation which turned an ok extraction into a great one, every time.

I think it was a comment from Home Barista, which was.

When you prep the puck gently make the bed concave to the middle, so rising up at the sides. I did this, made quite a significant concave going all the way round with my finger. 
Then tamp.
Then filter paper.

Wow, zero edge channeling, fantastic looking extraction and great shot!


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## mctrials23 (May 8, 2017)

So you poke the coffee around in the PF with your finger? Have you tried a convex tamper?


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## TomHughes (Dec 16, 2019)

mctrials23 said:


> So you poke the coffee around in the PF with your finger? Have you tried a convex tamper?


 Yep, very lightly, so it's nicely concave before tamping. Then tamping it lightly to a flat surface. I've heard bad things about convex tampers so I probably wouldn't want to go that route


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## Tim95 (Jan 9, 2021)

Thanks for the tip! Could you post a photo of your basket when you have made this small well?

Also, which paper filters do you use?


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