Coffee lovers

vbrad26

You all may appreciate this coming from a n00b - while I used the phrase "idiot proof" in my last post turns out there is still room for error lol.
This morning after the coffee was done brewing, I left the full cup in place while the milk was frothing.
When the milk was done, I was planning on taking the used grounds (the puck?) in the handle thing and the milk cup to the sink.
The fresh coffee was still in the cup below so when I removed the handle thing (sorry, don't know the actual term 😵‍💫) I was surprised to see that the used grounds were not in there!!!
I couldn't even get out my full "what the fu....." before the puck splashes down into the cup of coffee.
I laughed at myself and you all should too....but what caused it?
Was a ratio of some sort off? At first, I was having a hard time even getting the used grounds out of the thing. Like, I was having to take a knife to loosen them up.
Finally got to the point where it just needed a light tap for the puck to drop out. But this morning, it was stuck to the damn machine!
And fyi, I did already order a "puck sucker"

vbrad26

Now, I've seen some of those portafilters that just have a flat bottom with the holes, where as mine has two spouts on the bottom.
Is one better than the other?

Jakeys

It can happen but it shouldn't be happening that often. Your machine probably has a three way valve and is sucking the excess water out when the shot finishes, and it's enough vacuum to pull the puck up. In theory you'd need a courser grind so it can't cause that vacuum effect but the only thing you should care about dialing your grind parameters is taste, not puck suction.

I occasionally had this problem in my old setup and I just got into the habit of slightly angling the portafilter as I released it so the side of the basket would knock the puck and help if that happened. But it was rare.

Unrelated, I can't remember if I mentioned in this thread but for years I've been running a custom modified ECM V-Titan 64 with some 3D printed parts I designed to convert it to a single doser. A few years after I designed mine, ECM released their own kit but I wasn't impressed by it, mine was better. Some time recently, a random Chinese company has done their own polished stainless version and it looks much better aesthetically than my silver plastic but supports my bellows and internal parts, so I've switched the cup holding the bellows over. It looks much nicer now. The laser etched wood lid I had someone on Etsy do for me.

This grinder is a massive titanium flat burr one, but in stock form it's meant for cafe volumes so it has horrific grind retention. Mine has <0.1g retention usually, though you do need to knock the side of the dosing chamber to drop any grinds clinging to the walls. Really it would work better without that but I love the old school look, this is my end game grinder.

arturo7

"Bottomless" portafilters seemed to be preferred by the hard core espresso freaks. I'm not sure why...

goudaville

I have the Fellow Ode grinder which works well enough, but this looks incredible.