After much reading, I very recently upgraded from Krups plastic wonders to a new Silvia and Rocky. I'd hoped Rocky would be the answer to the 10-second doubles I was getting from the finest grind my Krups Il Barista would provide and the 12 seconds I was getting from the "espresso-fine" ground beans a local coffee shop made for me. Rocky arrived this week and I worked my way down to the 5 setting (1 above a 4+ zero) to produce 15-second doubles with minimal crema (flow starts at about 4 seconds). I’ve either used two scoops of powered beans or leveled the filter basket and used a scale-tested tamp to 30 lbs or more. From what I've read about Rocky’s capabilities, Silvia should choke on that. The beans I'm experimenting with are Millstone Italian Roast that is "fresh" from the store (I did freeze them while waiting on Rocky and thawed before use). Any idea why I can't slow Silvia down? I assume stale beans would just harm the crema and taste and would not produce such fast flows. I wish I had a better tamp than the apparently undersized plastic one Silvia came with - perhaps that is causing water to flow around the tamped coffee. I usually have a screw impression in the puck and do not see any evidence of channeling. I suppose there is a chance the pressure on my new Silvia is too high or I got a bum Rocky that somehow grinds its burrs before grinding beans fine enough for Silvia’s taste. Will have to try different beans soon. Any advice would be appreciated.
Rocky arrived this week and I worked my way down to the 5 setting (1 above a 4+ zero) to produce 15-second doubles with minimal crema (flow starts at about 4 seconds).
Hi... How do you know where your 'Zero' point is? Have you in fact started the motor and tightened the burrs till the barely ching and then backed off? (indicating the true Zero point on a Rocky) You will not injure your burrs doing this, and you will then know where Zero is.
If you have done this...read on.
Better beans... Get some fresh roasted coffee - the more local the better. Poor beans - poor results...
Freshly roasted, not freshly received at a store (I am assuming these are prepackaged beans not roasted in store...right?).
Adjusting the pull... If you are leveling the grounds and tamping consistently, then you need to grind finer.
Keep your amount of grounds and tamp the same and adjust the pull with the fineness of the grind.
Hi... How do you know where your 'Zero' point is? Have you in fact started the motor and tightened the burrs till the barely ching and then backed off? (indicating the true Zero point on a Rocky).
Better beans... Get some fresh roasted coffee - the more local the better. Poor beans - poor results... Freshly roasted, not freshly received at a store (I am assuming these are prepackaged beans not roasted in store...right?).
Adjusting the pull... If you are leveling the grounds and tamping consistently, then you need to grind finer.
Yes, I spun my doserless Rocky up, let go of the grind switch and quickly rotated the dial until he "chinged" Tested again today and am still grinding at "1 above Zero". That was my point, I can not grind finer. Today I took the PF to the water closet and tamped to 40 lbs - still too fast. I'll look for a local roaster in the Howard county Maryland area to use instead of buying bulk from the grocery store and will keep experimenting. If everything worked perfectly the first time, life would be boring.
I know very little, but one thing I found out right away is that the plastic tamp that comes with Miss. Silvia has no use, you will need a tamper. If you are going to try to use the little plastic tamp then you need to "tamp around" the outside of the basket to pack the grounds.
I know very little, but one thing I found out right away is that the plastic tamp that comes with Miss. Silvia has no use, you will need a tamper. If you are going to try to use the little plastic tamp then you need to "tamp around" the outside of the basket to pack the grounds, even then you are mile from a good result. My experience is this, bought Miss. Silvia, thought shot was good, built a 58mm tamper first shot at least 75% improved, found fresh roast ground at specialty store (Everyday Gourmet) 50% improvement, got Rocky another 75% improvment. I am going to get a new tamper, and expect even further improvement.
Hi... When I got my Rocky/Silvia I had the same problem. After about 45 minutes on the phone with Whole Latte Love, they determined that I had a bad grinder. The ground coffee it produced at 1 above zero was a mixture of powder and drip coffee-sized chunks. I sent back the bad Rocky and they send another one which worked fine. After searching on the web (including here) I found that there have been other folks that have had the same problem (something about a batch of Rockys with excess "slop" or wobble in the upper burr assembly - ummm... I think). Hopefully, someone with more experience will chime in, but if better beans don't fix the grind then it might be this burr problem. If so, of course the best thing would be to have it replaced... if you can't do that, then I think some of the posts here suggested wrapping the grinder shaft with teflon tape to take care of the wobble... but that really seems like a band-aid fix.
I'm glad to report my worry about Rocky was unnecessary. Fresh roasted beans from Cafe Mayorga in Silver Spring, MD did the trick. Unlike with the grocery store bulk beans, Silvia choked on beans roasted fresh today and ground at 1 above zero. Backing off to about 6 and keeping my 40 lb tamp made for a 20-second shot. I ordered a Presso Barista tamper, will work on my grind and tamp, and will be sure Rocky only presents the best to Miss Silvia in the future.
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