Posted Thu Aug 19, 2004, 11:56am Subject: Inconsistency in dosing
When I first bought my Mazzer Mini I hated the doser. I circumvented its use by holding small cups, measuring scoops, etc. under the spout and used the doser more as a trash can which I would clean out every couple of days with a vacuum cleaner. My biggest gripe with this was that the lack of space in the doser forced me to hold the scoop so close to the spout that the flow of grounds would be restricted and come out in clumps, leading eventually to pitting in the portafilter.
I just recently decided to give the doser a chance. The clumping problem was immediately resolved and the pitting stopped, more or less, but now I have a new problem. The grounds are now so poofy that upon dosing, leveling, and tamping in exactly the same manner as before the surface of the coffee is about 3/16ths of an inch below the fill line - obviously this causes my shots to blonde early. If it can be avoided in any way, I don't want to dose, tamp, and dose again just because of the extra time it takes, not to mention potential inconsistencies from one dose to the next. I also don't own a scale accurate enough to measure tenths of a gram and would like to avoid having to buy one. Anyone else had a problem like this? All the shops I've been to seem to have no problems just dosing out of the grinder, smoothing, and tamping, why doesn't this work for me?
Posted Thu Aug 19, 2004, 1:10pm Subject: Re: Inconsistency in dosing
Dosing using a doser is no problem if you grind into an empty doser and pull the doser lever over and over again while your PF slowly fills up with grinds. Just turn the grinder off a little before the PF is full and pull the level a few more times to get the last grinds out.
Upon reading your post in more detail, it seems you are trying to get exactly the same dosage in every single shot? Right down to a 10th of a gram? Well, this would be ideal I suppose however I think it's a bit extreme. Perhaps you should set the grinder a tiny bit finer to compensate for the missing 3/16 of an inch of grinds to eliminate blonding?
Posted Thu Aug 19, 2004, 1:44pm Subject: Re: Inconsistency in dosing
First of all, thanks for the advice with the doser. That's more or less what I'm doing now, but I desperately need to complete that Mazzer clean-up modification because I'm pretty sure I'm getting some small amount of stale grounds in my shots.
I didn't really mean I expected to be accurate to within tenths of a gram, but right now I'm not even accurate to within one or two grams. Since switching to the doser my regular routine consistently leaves way too little coffee in the basket. My spent puck is about a quarter or half inch shallower than it was before the doser. It's hard for me to explain accurately but if your basket has a fill line which is about a quarter inch from the brim, my dry puck only reaches about a quarter inch below that.
The reason I didn't have this issue without the doser is because the crammed space took most of the fluffiness out of the grounds before I dumped them into the portafilter (but had a side effect of clumping and uneven distribution.) I'll try grinding a little finer, but won't that cause low-volume over-extracted shots? Hmm. Please do let me know where I'm being unclear, because I'm having a hard time describing the problem. If confusion continues, maybe I'll try taking pictures.
Posted Thu Aug 19, 2004, 1:48pm Subject: Re: Inconsistency in dosing
What works for me is to use the "tamper" that's attached to the Mazzer to level the grinds in the PF (and very lightly tamp) in between clicks of the doser. Also, I usually only grind what I will need plus a small amount extra.
But I am NOT trying to precisely measure my grounds per shot.
Posted Thu Aug 19, 2004, 4:22pm Subject: Re: Inconsistency in dosing
Hi Karl!
Did you know that the line on the inside of the filter basket is actually NOT a fill line?!
It is the indentation from where the filter spring holds the filter basket in place within the filter holder body.
Therefore, the level of the dose should not be level with this line, it should be above it. Quite deceiving!
Any WBC barista will agree with this.
Also, instead of using the measured dosing compartments, dose by sight - this is the method preferred by WBC baristas. Use your senses and use as much ground coffee as you need to produce a great pour of espresso.
All you have to do is pull the dosing lever until it slightly overfills the filter basket. Tap the group handle on the counter to settle the ground coffee. Then, get your finger and run it over the top of the filter basket, pushing off the excess grounds that are above the rim of the filter basket and level it off ready to tamp.
The tamping will then finish it off by expelling any air from the ground coffee, producing a flat, even surface and a dose of equal density throughout that offers equal resistance to the water ensuring an even extraction and a nice firm puck. (depending on your grind though)
Remember, you must have your dosing method as a fixed variable. The grind is the only variable that should change. Never change the dose and the grind together - set one and then the other.
Posted Thu Aug 19, 2004, 4:40pm Subject: Re: Inconsistency in dosing
Wow, that information about the indentation certainly shines some light on things, thanks :-) On the other hand that deepends my worries about my dosing. I dose and level with my finger exactly as you described but upon tamping the air out of the grounds, so much air is expelled that the grounds only reach a point approximately 3/16in below that indentation, and you say they should reach to a point above it. In other words, I'm doing everything I should be but there is so much fluff in my grounds prior to the tamp that leveling off evenly with the top of the basket and tamping thirtyish pounds leaves me with only about 2/3s of the grounds I need to pull a quality double shot - and I don't know why.
Tonight, when I have my evening cup, I'll try the method of using the Mini's attached tamper just to de-fluff the grounds before I give them a real tamp and will report back. Thanks for the help so far guys.
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