driggers Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 27 Location: Victoria, BC Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012, 7:42pm Subject: Honing (La Pavoni) home espresso skills with log book
I have used La Pavoni Professional daily for nearly 3 years, producing decent espresso most of the time. But I want a more precise understanding, and better control over the quality of my shots.
My partner and I have decided to keep a journal, and I wanted to ask what you all think of this template. I start timing when the lever is up and the coffee is pre-infusing, I lift the lever up 3/4 of the way before putting the portafilter in, the cup is always preheated etc. Lastly, the portafilter is naked, so I do not heat it.
<Date> <State of machine (for the La Pavoni it makes a big difference how long it's been on and how many shots you've pulled since then)> <grind setting> <amount of coffee> <source of coffee w/ roast date> 1p <pre-infusion (time at start of first pump)> d <time at first drip> 2p <time at start of 2nd pump if I do one> b <time of first blonding if any> t <time at end of shot> q <quantity of liquid in shot> t<temperature of shot just after brewing> s <notes about shot itself (eg channelling)> a <appearance of shot in cup. is there red speckling? blonding? amount of crema, thickness, colour> fl <flavour, bitter, sour, sweet, balanced, syrupy, muted, specific flavours?> p <puck, cracked, dry, wet, stratified, crumbly?>
Here is an example copied from my notebook: Feb 17 1st shot, 1oz temp surf, on for 8 min grind 11 12g discover espresso Feb 10 time 1p 8 d 10 2p n/a b 28 e 30 q 0.9oz t 70 a red cheetah speckles, slight blond streak, weak crema fl muted, balanced p good
What else would you measure?
ps: I couldn't find this topic, but maybe that's because the terms "log", "book", "espresso", "shot", "journal" all seem to turn up thousands of irrelevant results.
Posted Fri Feb 17, 2012, 11:18pm Subject: Re: Honing (La Pavoni) home espresso skills with log book
Alejandro, you are pretty thorough there, to be sure. I owned a Millennium Europiccola (51mm) PF model 5 years ago, before I got my Olympia Cremina. I had some wonderful shots, not just"decent" as you describe.
OK, so first, as far as your template, i'm not sure how important it is to test the temperature of the just poured shot.You break the crema, and lose some temperature doing so. You probably know a dark circle around the cup usually indicates too hot a temperature during the pour, and a pale pour might indicate the opposite.
In the case of a soggy puck there are several factors that could contribute to that. One, water not hot enough. Two, not enough coffee in the basket. This is critical with the Pavoni. My best results came with about 2.5-3mm of coffee below the top edge of the basket. Lighter tamp, finer grind.
Please forgive this question if you do this, but do you bleed your steam wand when first the brew light goes out? Doing so will relive the 'false pressure" and allow the machine to get to proper brewing temperature, which can make that first shot a lot more palatable. My best shots were #'s 2 and 3. After that, I sank my PF into a glass of ice water for 10 seconds, then inserted into the group. i Waited 2 minutes, and was ready to rock.
With ALL THAT SAID (whew...lol)....
You haven't mentioned your grinder. What are you using?
AND..... IMO...Espresso shouldn't be quantified to the extent that you are doing, unless you're of a scientific bent and enjoy the process of note taking. Why not just grind, pack the basket, load, lock in, and pull?
For us lever heads, consistency may ALWAYS be more problematic than a folks with an Alex Duetto (a fine machine, but pretty much a no brainer for pulling consistent shots, as I can testify.)
Bottom line, with freshly roasted coffee freshly ground, good clean water, proper technique, and your machine, the shots should ALL be better than decent. If you were just being modest about your results, that's cool, but if your really getting wonderful sweet shots, it's OK to say so, at least around here.
driggers Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 27 Location: Victoria, BC Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sat Feb 18, 2012, 12:09pm Subject: Re: Honing (La Pavoni) home espresso skills with log book
Thanks for the great reply. For the record, I do like the science, and I use a rocky grinder.
I've recently learnt more about espresso and have a more critical eye. I would have called them wonderful before, but now old shots pale in comparison with what we have been able to produce lately, and in light of our new knowledge (wow, sounds almost biblical, yeesh).
Thanks for the tip on temperature. We are switching to a cold/good/hot scale, measured by our lips. I didn't know that about the dark circle, thanks.
I don't have a brew light that goes out - but you can see when it stops boiling because the guage twitches. I bleed it when the guage reads too high. My best shots are #1 after a temperature surf, but today I beat 4 shots out of the poor thing by cooling the group head with a cloth and backflushing cold water into it (probably bad for it, yes).
I started measuring my tamp with a bathroom scale too x)
Cinnabon Senior Member Joined: 13 Feb 2012 Posts: 4 Location: California Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: La Pavoni PC 16 Grinder: La Pavoni Zip Drip: Keurig Roaster: Air Popper
Posted Sat Feb 18, 2012, 12:10pm Subject: Re: Honing (La Pavoni) home espresso skills with log book
I don't really have anything to add to your list. For me the major points to monitor are:
Grind, amount of coffee in basket, pressure of tamp and the pull technique. The pull technique I used with success is to lift the handle up about 75% of the travel, insert portafilter firmly, pull to the top to let water in, count about 10 seconds, pull down enough to get the coffee to drip out, pull it pack up to fill again, then pull down all the way.
Only had the machine for a few days but this is getting very thick espresso that tasts good, although a little light on the golden brown crema.
Also, be sure to wipe out the area under the plastic tray as it is a rust site.
Next for me is to roast some beans at home and see what that does.
driggers Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2010 Posts: 27 Location: Victoria, BC Expertise: I live coffee
Posted Sat Feb 18, 2012, 12:14pm Subject: Re: Honing (La Pavoni) home espresso skills with log book
Cinnabon Said:
I don't really have anything to add to your list. For me the major points to monitor are:
Grind, amount of coffee in basket, pressure of tamp and the pull technique. The pull technique I used with success is to lift the handle up about 75% of the travel, insert portafilter firmly, pull to the top to let water in, count about 10 seconds, pull down enough to get the coffee to drip out, pull it pack up to fill again, then pull down all the way.
Only had the machine for a few days but this is getting very thick espresso that tasts good, although a little light on the golden brown crema.
Also, be sure to wipe out the area under the plastic tray as it is a rust site.
Next for me is to roast some beans at home and see what that does.
Cool thanks. I was a 2 pump person for a long time, but the results with 1 pump have been so much better lately that I've virtually stopped doing 2. I might go back to work on it after perfecting 1. I agree with the 3/4 up before putting in the portafilter, but what about the second pump. I tried to take the PF out between pumps and got coffee everywhere and ruined the shot :D (I kind of expected it but had to try).
Posted Sat Feb 18, 2012, 4:30pm Subject: Re: Honing (La Pavoni) home espresso skills with log book
I wouldn't advise bleeding the wand except the very first time, to get the machine to temperature. Every time you do that, you cause the machine to reheat the water, which will cause hotter shots. Best just to let the machine cycle naturally. Mine did, about every 45 seconds, as I recall. Funny, you should have a light that goes on when the boiler is active...cycling, and goes out when it's done it's thing. The first time the light goes out, was when i'd bleed the wand.
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought that's how mine worked. (Millennium Europiccola)
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 