New Mini II owner - 2 questions (wet pucks / singles)

[Shorttdogg]

Hi there,

I'm a new owner of a slightly used Mini II. I used to have a lever but decided to make the move to a db semi-auto and so far I'm glad I did!

(1) My machine has pre-infusion and I'm dosing 14g into a double basket with 30lbs pressure tamp (approx). The shot quality is pretty good - some tiger flecking but also some blonding earlier than I'd like. I need to get a bottomless pf to improve my dose/temp technique. Taste is pretty good but some room for improvement. I am used to a very dry puck from my lever. However, the Mini produces a very wet puck that stays mostly intact when I dump into the knock box. Is the wet puck mostly a product of the pre-infuser or could I have a technique problem that needs addressing?

(2) If I dose 7g into the single pf, again at 30lb tamp, I get a gusher, and 3/4 of the coffee is stuck to the group. Not used to making singles, and not sure what to do. Any suggestions?

Thanks - look forward to learning and contributing to this community.

Adam

[Louis]

[quote="Shorttdogg](1) [...] However, the Mini produces a very wet puck that stays mostly intact when I dump into the knock box. Is the wet puck mostly a product of the pre-infuser or could I have a technique problem that needs addressing?[/quote]
Puckologists might have a thought on this but personaly I would not mind about it.

(2) If I dose 7g into the single pf, again at 30lb tamp, I get a gusher, and 3/4 of the coffee is stuck to the group. Not used to making singles, and not sure what to do. Any suggestions?

This is the routine I follow (from viewtopic.php?p=18656#p18656):

Since I've got it (4 months ago), I've mostly pulled singles. My current routine is:
1. pull basket out of portafilter (bottomless, upside down, push basket out)
2. grind on the Vario
3. weigh 9g (I'm lucky: my single basket weigh exactly 25g, no need to tare the scale, so total of 34g)
4. put the basket back in the portafilter
5. use the Espro convex tamper to nutate/distribute
6. tamp to the tamper predesigned pressure
7. pull shot

I have constant success with this method (using bottomless portafilter), which I attribute to the 53mm diameter (provides for a taller puck) and line preinfusion.

By using an updose of 9g, I even usually get some nice crema and body, something singles are not commonly known for.

So, another nice feature of the S1: it can easily pull singles.

Currently, I pre-weigh the beans, which seems easier that weighting post-grind.

[slo]

The grind setting is never the same for a double basket and for a single basket, for me at least. You may have to adjust the grinder setting when going from a single to a double. Or you could try to adjust with the dose a little.

Singles can be more sensitive to channeling and, to me, requires a bit more attention to the preparation of the puck.