Lorenzomusic Senior Member Joined: 9 Nov 2012 Posts: 2 Location: Copenhagen Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Classic Grinder: Gaggia MDF
Posted Fri Nov 9, 2012, 2:03am Subject: Gaggia MDF - Either too fine or too coarse
Greetings! When I grind on step 5, I have to be really gentle with the tamper. On step 6, I have to punish it in order to not get Niagra Falls dripping. In general, should one go for the light touch or the tougher one? It's not 15 pounds pressure either way - at least with these beans.
The color of the drip seems much more darker in the beginning when I do the light tamp on level 5. I use a Gaggia Classic.
NobbyR Senior Member Joined: 10 Jul 2011 Posts: 1,605 Location: Germany Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Poccino Opus One, Ariete Grinder: Eureka Mignon Istantaneo,... Vac Pot: N/A Drip: Melitta Linea Unica de Luxe Roaster: N/A
Posted Fri Nov 9, 2012, 5:30am Subject: Re: Gaggia MDF - Either too fine or too coarse
The steps of the MDF are rather wide, therefore it can happen that the ideal setting of the grinder is in between two steps. In that case you'll have to adjust by tamping pressure or dose modification.
*** "This drink of the Satan is so delicious that it would be a shame to leave it to the infidels." (Pope Clement VIII on coffee)
You're right, Bud, the influence of tamping on extraxtion time is rather limited and it's best to keep tamping pressure consistent. However, professional baristas often compensate the otherwise necessary difference in coarseness setting between the single shot and double shot basket by adjusting tamping pressure, simply because they don't want to fiddle about grinder settings all the time. But that takes a lot of experience in order to get good and repeatable results, and for the average home barista it's more practicable to adjust the dose. But one should know that it's done at the possible cost of altered taste.
*** "This drink of the Satan is so delicious that it would be a shame to leave it to the infidels." (Pope Clement VIII on coffee)
Yes the stepless mod turns this into a pretty good grinder. Takes all of 15 minutes is cheap and reversible if you ever what to go back. The steps are way too large as you have found out. I am between a 4-5 most of the time. Aaron
Lorenzomusic Senior Member Joined: 9 Nov 2012 Posts: 2 Location: Copenhagen Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Classic Grinder: Gaggia MDF
Posted Wed Nov 14, 2012, 2:43am Subject: Re: Gaggia MDF - Either too fine or too coarse
Thanks for your replies! I have experimented with less dose and keeping it on finer grind in order to keep tamping consistent, and It's getting better.
I'll take a look at the mod with the teflon tape. I think the spring for the dose handle went off the other day, so I have to open this baby up anyway.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
= No New Posts since last visit 