what am I doing wrong??

mummy_needs_coffee

hey guys -
I guess we have been using the machine a month now and I have with some luck had some lovely coffees (way better than what I was paying for) saved a whole heap of money not continually going out for crappy coffee. I have taken the advice of some very nice people here esp one local who put me onto a great coffee place to get fresh beans. So I am evolving a little but I am missing some of the basics I think.

I have the EM6910 and 480 grinder

I am lost at grind dose and tamp. I mean what grind setting, what dose and how hard to tamp. I have rectified the problem of uneven pour......yep lopsided tamping was most def the cause of that (thankyou to those that pointed me in that direction )
With some beans this morning (the last of the bag and have been open a week) I used the single basket and the grind setting of 17 but the pour was fast, it went light very quickly )I was using the manual button should I use the single cup one???)

any help always appreciated....thanks again guys
Bec

forgot to add whats the best way to store beans?? I have taken advice and only buy in 250g lots once a week. and is there somewhere good online worth trying?

askthecoffeeguy

coffeesnobs.com.au has excellent brown beans online what coffee are you using?  unless its less than 10 days old from the date it was roasted (ie not supermarket bought) then you are going to struggle to get a good crema from your coffee no matter how good your technique is the coffee grind should be set nearer the finer end of the 480 grinder, and you may be well advised to use the double basket (even for single coffees) until you get a feel for it all, as the double basket tends to be a bit more forgiving what area do you live in?  try doing a google search of coffee roasters in your area then try buying freshly roasted beans from them: you  will definitely note a difference as for tamp pressure the rule of thumb is 20pb of pressure per sq in - which is about as hard as you would press down on a rolling pin if you were putting a bit of weight behind it - but not so hard that you have to strain yourself - just a good, firm pressure try experimenting with one variable at a time, such as fresh coffee, or tamping pressure, or how far you fill the baskets, or grind finesse etc, and see what difference this makes you should start to notice a difference straight away - but I can't stress enough what a difference freshly roasted beans will make, more so that any other variable you may experiment with: if the product aint great to start off with, no amount of trickingit up will make any difference cheers, pat

mummy_needs_coffee

ok, so I rang sunbeam and it turned out some of the problem was my grinder needed recalibrating and some was dose and tamp.. I have made one shot since on a grind of 12 with immesnse improvement. The shot doesnt "resist" and is prob still a little on the quick side. They couldnt give me a set idea on exact dose ie how much wt wise to load into the basket. Just a bit over one scoop lightly tamp, one scoop lightly tamp again, a little more then very firm tamp. off to see if I can gleam some more information cheers bec

mummy_needs_coffee

sorry must have replied at the same time Thankyou for that I will take that on board and have a play. I turned up one roaster in newcastle thanks to another local from this site and the beans are from all accounts fresh they used to roast onsite until recently (and made a huge difference in flavour). There is even more locally a belaroma perhaps I should try there?? they may well roast onsite?? I have tried another place but there was no comparison in taste. bec

askthecoffeeguy

btw - best way to store beans is in a zip lock bag with a one way seal that lets air out but not in and keep them in a cool dark place and use before 2 weeks old

One-a-day

Hi MNC I grind on 16 or 17 , and gradually add to the basket then tap on the bench to settle, I usually leave a bit of a mound and then tamp and twist leaving a gap of about 3mm between the puck and rim of single basket. I couldn't make it into town so I got some french vanilla from one of those large franchises every one loves to hate still not as good as that wholesaler, but I'll make it in later, the local entertainment book has a 2 for 1 voucher so I should get in there and get some african kick and the other one I get. I gave up on the preprogrammed buttons only ever using the manual and watching the flow. Still have not managed to stall it with heavy handed tamping.

mummy_needs_coffee

One-a-day hey there, suspension was great  (thanks for that) have gone there twice (only for beans) and yummo ethiopian limu was yum going there tomorrow Bec do you know if belaroma in lambton roast on site? cheers bec

DoubleRistretto

Don't know about belaroma in Lambton, but the Belaroma I know is a Sydney-based company - apparently pretty good coffee, but wouldn't be as fresh as something roasted locally... why don't you ask them?? dR

One-a-day

Dont know about that, but they do have a website listed in the white pages. Might find it's shipped from Sydney like a lot of satellite stores get supplied.

Honest_Gaza

Just got back from a 2 day trip to Lorne Victoria and said hello to my Sunbeam "kit". Powered up the EM6910, hit the toggle on the EM480 and watched it spit out some grind...shuffled the grind into the basket....squashed it with the tamper...hit the auto 1-cup pour button....stopped it via the manual button when I thought I had enough crema in the cup. Sitting here now in front of the PC with the best cuppa I've had this week  ;D

askthecoffeeguy

Yep... you can't beat the cuppa that you make for yourself And the reverse also applies: if there is something wrong with it there is only one person to blame! One of the joys of making your own coffee at home too is if for any reason you are not ahppy with the product you can simply chuck it and start again - which is what should but does not always happen in a retail environment Cheers, Pat

mummy_needs_coffee

Hey guys. Thanks for the replies yet again. You guys are rubbing off on me. I had a coffee today from somewhere (chain) that I used to like and YUK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it was awful, nothing like the stuff I make  at home. t seems the better i get the fussier i get I rang subeam about the bean hopper for the grinder. Hubby managaed to break part of the burr shield inside it. the next day a new one arrived so that was nice. I asked a few questions re grind ect while I had her on the line too. She thought the grinder might be out so reset that and so far so good and much better till I got home yesterday from work and the coffee leaked around the group handle. I thought maybe I had underdosed?? then hubby made one this morning and same thing he said it has been doing that for a few days for him. I tink I updosed to far today but its mainly at the back of the grouphandle. Do I need to use the cleaning disk thingy and if I do I need the cleaning tablets?? I am particular about cleaning and use a clean damp chux (I even have diff colour for coffee machine ones) folded to clean the shower screen and around it?? I make sure the group handle is clear of coffee before I insert it. Any suggestions please??? The gauge was almost hitting the red and the pour was slower (grind now on 13 - 14 as I was advised by sunbeam after reseting the grind) so it was getting better now this??? cheers bec

askthecoffeeguy

hey bec ~ sounds like you're making progress! The 'choked' shots that you're talking about are perfectly normal part of the coffee making process & to a certain extent they're unavoidable given the prefered 'up~dosing' method of making coffee where you fill the basket of the group handle to slightly over~flowing, & then collapse the grind into the basket by taping the handle either lightly on the bench ~ or by taping the handle with the tamper itself (which is my prefered method) to keep as much grind in the basket as possible. What you are aiming for here is a level filed basket so if there's any more grind than this after this process sweep it off with your finger. Then a firm even tamp is required which should leave a gap of about 3 to 4mm from the top of the basket. The idea here is that the puck should expand when the handle is entered into the machine to press against the shower screen to produce a long smooth continuous extraction of around 30mls of coffee from 30sec extraction from a single basket

askthecoffeeguy

opps had to cut that last post short coz my 2 yr old was jumping all over me! just a quick note on the backwashing with chemicals: once a month should be all you need if you're only making a couple of coffees at home each day one thing though: you should be in the practice of re-inserting your empty and clean group handle back into the group head soon after each usage, and then place a cup or a cloth underneath and run some water through the group head to dislodge any built up grind also flushing around 30 to 60mls of water through through the group head immediately prior to inserting the filled group handle is good practice - and every now and then flush out the machine by running a fair bit of water through it: helps to keep everything running smoothly and to prevent build up of nasties Cheers, pat

mummy_needs_coffee

Pat, thanks for your ongoing support, it has been and still is very much apprecited. I do run a double shot of water before and after and some water throughtthe steam (10 seconds after each use)  and also pump some water through the hot water wand each time. So far hubby is pretty good at doing the same. Gave the grouphead a clean with a damp cloth as I do each time and then no leaking when extracting a shot. might have missed a spot on previous cleans. I will get some of te sunbeam tablets on the weekend the machine is used 3 times sometimes more a day between me and hubby so def will do a monthly backflush. Now I will go through the manual but is it tricky and is there any benefit to doing it without the cleaning tablet (this is just for the clean through the  shower screen group head with the little disk that goes in the filter basket)?? any tips   Thanks again Pat, Bec

askthecoffeeguy

sure use the blind filter on its own to bachwash if you haven't got any chemicals - its better than not doing it at all - you can also use some coarse salt instead - but this is only a temporary solution and you need the chemicals to clean thoroughly make sure you read the instructions first though - as not all machines require a blind filter but I'm pretty sure that the em6910 does cheers, pat

Honest_Gaza

Buy yourself one of these : http://www.coffeeparts.com/accessories/brushes.html (the pallo brush....or similar) and give the grouphead seal a brush (with water running for about 5 secs), after each use of the machine.