For the people scared of tight fits and suction, tamp on top of bplus, that is how I did it for 2 years, on the lever too. This way the tamper remains clean too, otherwise there will be coffee stuck to the base or behind it that you need to clean weekly, with the decent/bravo/force tamper too.
Regarding ims vs stock, I tried some stock shots and did not find the flavors in, it was high body low clarity. This is also true when using 20-22 g dose vs 16-17 g dose. 16-17g dose can over extract fast, specially on this lever so my advice for you is to stop at 1.8 ratio and taste it, then 2 ratio and taste it. Don’t go to 1:2.5 ratio, it’s pointless.
16.5g in- 30 g out taste- if too acidic pull longer
16.5g in- 32 g out taste- should be okay, now pump the temp up and down to hit the spot
16.5g in- 40g out- sweeter, but when cooling some ashy/biter/dry aftertaste- you extracted too much:
increase dose to 17g and grind coarser
reduce the ratio from 40g to 35 g
reduce the time from 35 sec shot to 25 sec shot - so grind coarser see point a
