blonding too fast

[Espressoluver]

need help!
I have been using my vivaldi and a baratza vario for 6 months at home without any problem. Great color in the crema, was able to bring out the desired flavors in redbird.
I moved my machine to another place last week, and all my shots were sink shots
I kept all the variables the same: same tamping pressure, same grinder, same setting, same extraction time
but all my shots start blonding (lime yellow color) after 5 secs or so. And the taste is aweful. It has a limey sour taste. Nothing like the redbird i tasted at home.

fyi, this new batch of rebird is 3-4 days old, so freshness is not the issue. In addition to redbird, i also tried counter culture expressos, but the limey sour taste is the same.

Any ideas?

[slo]

My guess would be that the grind adjustment is off or the dose. Either grind finer or increase the dose.

If it blonds after 5 seconds, what do you call the extraction time? You should not expect all shots to run at 25 secs for 2 ounces for every coffee without having to adjust the parameters a bit.

[Endo]

First, try taking off the top burr and thouroughly cleaning the Vario. Then tighten the grind to the point of almost choking with almost no tamp pressure. Then increase the coarseness on the Vario slightly (say 3 micro notches) to get the required time.

The key here is to move UP from a choked state, not move DOWN from a gusher state.

[slo]

The key here is to move UP from a choked state, not move DOWN from a gusher state.

Although I have no objection to doing it that way, why would it be key?

[Endo]

Maybe not "key", but it is preferrable to approach the shot from the tight side. It usually means less attempts, and you also end up on the "tight" side of the acceptable band, so the shot setting is acceptable longer as it ages.

[slo]

Makes sense!

[Espressoluver]

Thanks guys, I think it was the grinder.
Maybe the burrs were stuck that day and didn,t grind fine enough despite my adjustment
It started grinding ok the next day

Btw, I am thinking about getting another grinder. How do you compare the masser mini electronic to the sj doser

[chas]

As a subtle way of reply, I got more on e-Bay for my Mini-E than I paid for it new!