Two quick and easy tips on using the grinder bellows: 1. quick tap (even kind of light) usually works better than long deep presses. Try it and see if you prefer that. 2. the stuff that gets stuck in the grinder and doesn't fall by itself to the dosing cup is usually smaller powder, flakes and other light stuff like that. That's actually easier to extract and reduces the uniformity of the size of the ground coffee in the puck. So I'd keep using the bellows but do it in the knock box. Your cup of coffee will taste better without that stuff. As far as your dose becoming smaller - you can just compensate for the difference by adding an extra 0.1 or 0.2g beans to begin with. So instead of 20.0g in the grinder, 19.8g out of it (before bellowing), you can do 20.2g in -> 20.0g out and then bellow in the bin. Hope that helps! PS: and 0.1g or even 0.2g doesn't make a huge difference considering all the other variables. Honestly, I just ignore it if it happens but if you want to really control as much of the variance as you can, then you may keep it up
Hey Pavel~ great suggestions, I'll give it a go next time! regarding factoring in the extra weight, we used to do that before we got comfy using the grinder. honestly our varia's been doing a great job with the near-zero retention ever since we added the RDT step😉 - zee
for getting the right dose of coffee in your basket keep adding coffee to the basket (Add one gram at a time) and close the portafilter on the machine until the screw mark of the machine stays on your coffee. Then you can reduce half a gram and you have got the right dose ( without puckscreen and dont pull a shot out of it )
That's what I was thinking since 20g is a little on the high end and with the puckscreen it's probably touching the showerscreen, preventing the grounds from expanding and absorbing water normally. I'd also like to add that most baskets have a set dose or range. But sometimes it may be irrelevant depending on how far down the showerscreen is on a particular machine.
good point, I've never thought of increasing half a gram before hahaha. Tbh, we've been noticing that our puckscreen's starting to touch the shower screen. Might try 20.5g🤔 - zee
@@thegroundedduo the coffee being 1g lower than the max is not such a big deal with a large basket like yours. Most downsides are wetter puck after the shot and the need for finer grind size. The second is the main reason I typically go for the maximum the basket can hold. Coarser grind size does help with extraction uniformity and lowers the chance of channelling. It generally improves consistency, but as I said 5% less in the basket isn't a huge deal. What you don't want is overfilling. Also keep in mind that when you add the puck screen you have to compensate in the dose for its height. And the puck screen affects the extraction, so you typically need different grind size for brewing with vs without puck screen
@@thegroundedduo help with what do you mean? It's just that the thicker the puck screen, the less maximum dose the basket can hold, as the restriction comes from the total height of the tamped coffee + puck screen thickness. And aso different puckscreens may require different dialing
Precision baskets are more unforgiving of mistakes. Let them feel comfortable with their current setup. But yes, precision basket should definitely be somewhere on the road!
As Pavel mentioned we're trying to get used to the current set up before moving on to more advanced tools hahahah. We're really just beginners in this niche but maybe one day! ☺️ - zee
Using a naked portafilter(wont break the bank when you purchase) really shows the difference in your espresso prep. Some people might think it’s overkill, but once you see the results, it’s hard to argue. Precision basket will also show the result of your prep and is definitely the future for you to explore, and these steps will prove it.
@@Acxtcx we actually did get a bottomless portafilter online. Altho it did state it fits our rancilio, it didn't and had a gap between the grouphead and portafilter, causing water to spray out when we ran a shot. After that, for some reason our rancilio portafilter couldn't fit onto the grouphead as well as it did. So I think that might've slightly damaged the grooves on the grouphead. So, we're now looking at more known and reliable brands. Unfortunately, that means it'll cost 3-5 times of what we spent originally. Trust me, we'd love to get the 'best' of everything but our budget doesn't allow us to hahaha ☺️ Also, we understand the idea behind being able to 'check' our puck prep with a bottomless portafilter. So we're currently building our tools bit by bit. In due time maybe👌🏻 - zee
Grind seems a tad bit too fine, especially considering there is no pre-infusion going on. Also, a switch to a naked portafilter can is a good way to see how well your puck prep is as well as offer eye candy.
hey andrew! mm what do you mean by no pre-infusion...? I thought pre-infusion happens at the group head and for us it's the first 6-8 seconds before the first drop falls into the cup🤔 are we missing something? - zee
@@thegroundedduo Yes, you are somewhat correct. The technique of pre infusion is pulling a shot at lower pressure the first 0-10 seconds before ramping up to full pressure. Unfortunately, your machine does not have that feature, that is only found in the Pro X model. You have 3 options; 1. Steam wand pre-infusion hack, 2. not worrying about it, 3. installing a PID/Pressure mod kit for $200.
@@andrewlucas3681 right, okay I get it now hahah. Yeah, I don't think the pressure fluctuates on our little Rancilio so it's pretty much the same throughout I guess. Had a quick read on the steamwand pre-infusion hack. Sounds intriguing yet I feel like I'd need extra hands to do all that hahah. But also, when we're very comfortable with our workflow, it's definitely something we'd be keen on trying 💪🏻 - zee
Although I don’t think you guys aren’t ready for temperature surfing yet, there are some factors I think you now need to take into consideration…. Rancilio Silvia V6. From a cold start with ambient room temperature of 21c, it takes 20min - 25min to fully heat up all the components including the 300ml brass boiler and an inserted portafilter. This is without flushing any water. In brewing mode, the max water temperature can be as high as 97c-98.5c when the brew light goes off, or as low as 70c when it comes on. You can tell if the water is too hot by doing a 1sec flush and seeing if some steam is emitted from the group head. This usually occurs right as the boiler light goes off or if the machine has been left on and not in use for a while. When flushing water, remember the water is cooled with the water drawn in from the water tank. Alternatively, you could just wait about 60sec - 90sec after the brew light has gone off to pull your shot. This will ensure the water will have cooled down to about ~95c - 93c. Perfect for medium to dark roasts. Incidentally, 60-90sec is usually the amount of time it takes to prepare a puck after grinding. Check out Seattle Coffee Gear on TH-cam for temperature surfing tips for the Silvia titled “Tech Tips: Temperature Surfing on the Rancilio Silvia”. Its about 10 years old now but still holds true. If anybody in the community can add to this, please do. You guys a doing amazingly well in a very short period on a fully fledged prosumer espresso machine. Keep it up!!!😁 P.S. Try and taste your shot before you add your milk. You'll have a better point of reference that way.
Hey raj~ that was another very technical comment but thanks for sharing! Not complaining tho, keep them coming!☺️ That makes sense that it could be too hot right after the light goes off. If everything goes well during puck prep, I reckon we might be able to hit the 60-90sec mark. But knowing how clumsy I am, I might not be able to do it hahaha. Will give it a go tho! We'll have look! Somehow it's either our algorithm or just mainstream influencers, I don't think we've seen any rancilio on social media. Mostly la marzocco, lelit, Breville and the newer pro-consumer brands. So tbh we've only been learning through comments in fear of the outdated videos online hahaha. We've actually been doing that recently! Does make a difference and it's rather interesting I have to say. Thanks again Raj!🤎 - zee
The new WDT is working great Zee! Love it. I immediately wanna have a go with it 😂 Which one is it? P.S The coffee looked delicious. Well done on the Latte art, great progress
Hey Curtis! we bought it on an app that's only available in Singapore, so I'm not sure if you guys have access to it. But, I'm sure Amazon would have something similar!☺️ Wasn't too expensive, roughly $7 USD. Thank you! It was a good cup of coffee🤤 - zee
tbh, I tend to unknowingly hold my breath while recording so you guys won't hear me breathing😂 but jokes aside, we have a lot of background noise around our apartment soo I guess background music will do for now😛 - zee
Two quick and easy tips on using the grinder bellows:
1. quick tap (even kind of light) usually works better than long deep presses. Try it and see if you prefer that.
2. the stuff that gets stuck in the grinder and doesn't fall by itself to the dosing cup is usually smaller powder, flakes and other light stuff like that. That's actually easier to extract and reduces the uniformity of the size of the ground coffee in the puck. So I'd keep using the bellows but do it in the knock box. Your cup of coffee will taste better without that stuff. As far as your dose becoming smaller - you can just compensate for the difference by adding an extra 0.1 or 0.2g beans to begin with. So instead of 20.0g in the grinder, 19.8g out of it (before bellowing), you can do 20.2g in -> 20.0g out and then bellow in the bin.
Hope that helps!
PS: and 0.1g or even 0.2g doesn't make a huge difference considering all the other variables. Honestly, I just ignore it if it happens but if you want to really control as much of the variance as you can, then you may keep it up
Hey Pavel~ great suggestions, I'll give it a go next time! regarding factoring in the extra weight, we used to do that before we got comfy using the grinder. honestly our varia's been doing a great job with the near-zero retention ever since we added the RDT step😉 - zee
#TEAMZEE
Your latte art in this one is simple but very pwetty
Yay #teamzee🤙🏻 hahahah aww thank you!! I probably should've stopped at the third blob tho🥹 - zee
for getting the right dose of coffee in your basket keep adding coffee to the basket (Add one gram at a time) and close the portafilter on the machine until the screw mark of the machine stays on your coffee. Then you can reduce half a gram and you have got the right dose ( without puckscreen and dont pull a shot out of it )
That's what I was thinking since 20g is a little on the high end and with the puckscreen it's probably touching the showerscreen, preventing the grounds from expanding and absorbing water normally.
I'd also like to add that most baskets have a set dose or range. But sometimes it may be irrelevant depending on how far down the showerscreen is on a particular machine.
good point, I've never thought of increasing half a gram before hahaha. Tbh, we've been noticing that our puckscreen's starting to touch the shower screen. Might try 20.5g🤔 - zee
@@thegroundedduo the coffee being 1g lower than the max is not such a big deal with a large basket like yours. Most downsides are wetter puck after the shot and the need for finer grind size. The second is the main reason I typically go for the maximum the basket can hold. Coarser grind size does help with extraction uniformity and lowers the chance of channelling. It generally improves consistency, but as I said 5% less in the basket isn't a huge deal.
What you don't want is overfilling. Also keep in mind that when you add the puck screen you have to compensate in the dose for its height. And the puck screen affects the extraction, so you typically need different grind size for brewing with vs without puck screen
@@PavelPavlov1 Would a thinner puckscreen help with that? We were thinking of changing to the 1mm one🤔 - zee
@@thegroundedduo help with what do you mean? It's just that the thicker the puck screen, the less maximum dose the basket can hold, as the restriction comes from the total height of the tamped coffee + puck screen thickness. And aso different puckscreens may require different dialing
TIP:
get a naked portafilter and some precision basket ims/vst 20g
Precision baskets are more unforgiving of mistakes. Let them feel comfortable with their current setup. But yes, precision basket should definitely be somewhere on the road!
As Pavel mentioned we're trying to get used to the current set up before moving on to more advanced tools hahahah. We're really just beginners in this niche but maybe one day! ☺️ - zee
Using a naked portafilter(wont break the bank when you purchase) really shows the difference in your espresso prep. Some people might think it’s overkill, but once you see the results, it’s hard to argue. Precision basket will also show the result of your prep and is definitely the future for you to explore, and these steps will prove it.
@@Acxtcx we actually did get a bottomless portafilter online. Altho it did state it fits our rancilio, it didn't and had a gap between the grouphead and portafilter, causing water to spray out when we ran a shot. After that, for some reason our rancilio portafilter couldn't fit onto the grouphead as well as it did. So I think that might've slightly damaged the grooves on the grouphead. So, we're now looking at more known and reliable brands. Unfortunately, that means it'll cost 3-5 times of what we spent originally.
Trust me, we'd love to get the 'best' of everything but our budget doesn't allow us to hahaha ☺️ Also, we understand the idea behind being able to 'check' our puck prep with a bottomless portafilter. So we're currently building our tools bit by bit. In due time maybe👌🏻 - zee
Grind seems a tad bit too fine, especially considering there is no pre-infusion going on. Also, a switch to a naked portafilter can is a good way to see how well your puck prep is as well as offer eye candy.
hey andrew! mm what do you mean by no pre-infusion...? I thought pre-infusion happens at the group head and for us it's the first 6-8 seconds before the first drop falls into the cup🤔 are we missing something? - zee
@@thegroundedduo Yes, you are somewhat correct. The technique of pre infusion is pulling a shot at lower pressure the first 0-10 seconds before ramping up to full pressure. Unfortunately, your machine does not have that feature, that is only found in the Pro X model. You have 3 options; 1. Steam wand pre-infusion hack, 2. not worrying about it, 3. installing a PID/Pressure mod kit for $200.
@@andrewlucas3681 right, okay I get it now hahah. Yeah, I don't think the pressure fluctuates on our little Rancilio so it's pretty much the same throughout I guess.
Had a quick read on the steamwand pre-infusion hack. Sounds intriguing yet I feel like I'd need extra hands to do all that hahah. But also, when we're very comfortable with our workflow, it's definitely something we'd be keen on trying 💪🏻 - zee
Although I don’t think you guys aren’t ready for temperature surfing yet, there are some factors I think you now need to take into consideration….
Rancilio Silvia V6. From a cold start with ambient room temperature of 21c, it takes 20min - 25min to fully heat up all the components including the 300ml brass boiler and an inserted portafilter. This is without flushing any water.
In brewing mode, the max water temperature can be as high as 97c-98.5c when the brew light goes off, or as low as 70c when it comes on.
You can tell if the water is too hot by doing a 1sec flush and seeing if some steam is emitted from the group head. This usually occurs right as the boiler light goes off or if the machine has been left on and not in use for a while.
When flushing water, remember the water is cooled with the water drawn in from the water tank.
Alternatively, you could just wait about 60sec - 90sec after the brew light has gone off to pull your shot. This will ensure the water will have cooled down to about ~95c - 93c.
Perfect for medium to dark roasts.
Incidentally, 60-90sec is usually the amount of time it takes to prepare a puck after grinding.
Check out Seattle Coffee Gear on TH-cam for temperature surfing tips for the Silvia titled “Tech Tips: Temperature Surfing on the Rancilio Silvia”.
Its about 10 years old now but still holds true.
If anybody in the community can add to this, please do.
You guys a doing amazingly well in a very short period on a fully fledged prosumer espresso machine.
Keep it up!!!😁
P.S. Try and taste your shot before you add your milk. You'll have a better point of reference that way.
A single thing to add: if tasting the shot before the milk, make sure to stir with a spoon, not just swirl it around - you want to mix the shot well.
Hey raj~ that was another very technical comment but thanks for sharing! Not complaining tho, keep them coming!☺️
That makes sense that it could be too hot right after the light goes off. If everything goes well during puck prep, I reckon we might be able to hit the 60-90sec mark. But knowing how clumsy I am, I might not be able to do it hahaha. Will give it a go tho!
We'll have look! Somehow it's either our algorithm or just mainstream influencers, I don't think we've seen any rancilio on social media. Mostly la marzocco, lelit, Breville and the newer pro-consumer brands. So tbh we've only been learning through comments in fear of the outdated videos online hahaha.
We've actually been doing that recently! Does make a difference and it's rather interesting I have to say.
Thanks again Raj!🤎 - zee
Hey Pavel! Yeah, I made that mistake once and Jon told me to use a spoon off-camera😂 - zee
give your grinder a knock with your finger to help with retention
ooh, like... At the spout? Or the bellow? - zee
damn zee the milk was so perfect ,next step is to do a rosetta 😁haha
hahah might be more of a tusetta but I'll try💪🏻 - zee
The new WDT is working great Zee! Love it. I immediately wanna have a go with it 😂 Which one is it? P.S The coffee looked delicious. Well done on the Latte art, great progress
Hey Curtis! we bought it on an app that's only available in Singapore, so I'm not sure if you guys have access to it. But, I'm sure Amazon would have something similar!☺️ Wasn't too expensive, roughly $7 USD. Thank you! It was a good cup of coffee🤤 - zee
@@thegroundedduo Ahh I see! Got ya. Thanks Zee. I definitely need a better one :)
loool i'm here for Zee and Jon's facial expressions....😑😑
hahahah it's our honest expression cause we're new to a lot of flavours😂 - zee
How fresh are your beans?
Hey, there were about 2.5 weeks from roast date :) - Jon
Can you make a video without music, would be great ASMR!
I think they're afraid to because they sound like Minions when they speak...🤣🤣🤣
tbh, I tend to unknowingly hold my breath while recording so you guys won't hear me breathing😂 but jokes aside, we have a lot of background noise around our apartment soo I guess background music will do for now😛 - zee
Hahaha, how'd you know? banana?🍌 - zee
I like that music!