triple shots

[michael]

i am looking for some guidance on triple shots: i am using around 20 gs of coffee; what pour time should i be shooting for? i have increased the amount of water for the triple, a bit from the double; so far, most of my shots start with only a drip and seem a bit too long; i found that the same grind from a double when used for a triple is a bit too fine; am i correct?

any experience with triples would be appreciated

[JohnB]

You will always grind coarser with a larger dose then you do for a smaller dose if you want to maintain the same shot time. As for a specific time for a triple I'd say it depends on what you want in the cup. No matter the dose I usually prefer the taste of the long, drippy, gloppy, sweet pours. 35-40 seconds is fine with me.

[Niko]

I concur.
You'll need to grind just slightly coarser, keep the tamp around 20lbs since there's more coffee in the basket (I keep my tamping on the light-side anyway for most shots) - if you're using an Espro it's OK, just tamp until the piston is about the click. As for the time, just like John mentioned it's in the neighborhood of 35-40 seconds or so. The triple shot should take longer to blonde, if it's happening around the same time as your standard double, then work on your distribution and packing technique. I find that the triple is actually more forgiving and especially with blends, plus you get more coffee!

[michael]

thanks
sort of figured out the coarser grind after the second triple was still around 50+ seconds even after using a slightly coarser grind than the first shot; was using a bit more water, maybe around 45gs; any thought about going for more that 6 seconds pi with a triple; seems to take quite a while for the water the run through as compared to a double

seem to be doing ok on the blonding; btw, what causes blonding

[Niko]

You can take the P/i all the way out to 8 seconds if you'd like, no harm in that since I've used 6 seconds on most doubles with good results.
Blonding is basically the end of your shot, it's also caused by channeling due to bad distribution, packing or tamping - or a combination of all. When a good shot reaches it's maximum extraction point, the light colored "blonding" will indicate that the shot is being over-extracted. Old (and bad) coffee can do the same thing right out of the gate no matter how well you prepare for the shot.

[michael]

thanks for the advice; probably could have figured it out eventually, several pounds of coffee later, but likely would have missed the lighter tamp; seem to have gotten a handle on it this morning, really good stuff, but still cant get all of 20gs into the triple basket with the coarser grind: how much coffee are other people getting in the basket

[Niko]

I get 20g's in one triple and 21 on the other. It depends which style of triple you have, some baskets have a rounder bottom and fit about a gram less than the other version.

[michael]

i recently got this triple from tom from the list; the bottom seems flat, but with a slightly coarser grind so the coffee in fact pours it holds around 19 +gs it seems

[Niko]

My triples are from two different batches so they're not exactly the same (not Lino's fault).
Sorry Michael, I was trying to pull a triple and report back to you this morning but I forgot to change the grinder setting choked the machine so bad I got 3 droplets in the glass
...it was ground so fine that the tamper couldn't fit down deep enough in the basket

I'll try again in a few days