I was a spouted fan until recently. The crema is slightly different with a spouted PF. However, I pulled off one of the removable spouts on the LM portafilter a couple of weeks ago and saw the inside after 6 months use… Needless to say I now exclusively use the bottomless. I know you can soak in Pulycaff etc but it’s extra faff.

Never use anything else - you get so much feedback

I must be the only weirdo deliberately not looking at the bottomless PF during extraction… If I spot an off-centre flow or a dry patch on the basket I’m already making my mind up the shot is going to taste terrible. Haven’t had a bad tasting one since 😂

> @"Ernie1"#p47118 I must be the only weirdo deliberately You are not alone. I defo pay attention when I have opened a new bag. Once I am happy with the shot, which is normally after 2 shots or 3 max, I don’t pay any attention. > @"Ernie1"#p47118 Haven’t had a bad tasting one since Thats’s all matters

@"Systemic"#p47116 Same here, only use spouted when I am testing a unit with manufacturers portafilters.

Spouted for me as a bottomless would be an insane mess extracting into my preferred thimble sized demitasse... Also wouldn't like the .4 degree temp loss from less metal mass.

I initially moved to bottomless to check that I was tamping the coffee well enough to ensure a single outflow without it squirting randomly from the basket. Now I have the hang of tamping I don't really need to check the outflow but am staying with bottomless as it's really easy to clean the portafilter🙂

Bottomless user here, even though spouted portafilter produces tastier shots to my liking.

Always bottomless, just for the ease of cleaning. I tend to use the spouted with a blank on hand for my back flush.

I occasionally need to split shots and I don't want another portafilter hanging around as I don't have the space.

How many use a bottomless?

JimmyP

dfk41 We should always be striving for better, and I believe a bottomless portafilter can provide a wealth of useful information.

dfk41

JimmyP We should always be striving for bette

Why? How many wives does the average person have? The secret is to know when you have arrived. I suspect that I have and you are still on your journey

JimmyP

dfk41 Lol. That’s some prime stinky bullshit! 😂😂😂

Cuprajake

What a bottomless pf shows is very limited in my opinion, great for a new user who can’t pick prep, but after that not much

Esp if you are using light roast and fast flow shots

It happens so quickly you need to film it 🤣

Adrianmsmith

For me rhe bottomless has 2 big advantages

Plenty of room for my mug under it!
No need to remove rhe basket to clean the PF and spouts.

Dont give a monkeys about being able to see whats happening at the basket bottom because i cant see it anyway as my mugs are too big!!

Have only ever used a bottomless portafilter on my many machines and always for the 2 above reasons ☕

Dusk

Adrianmsmith
Agreed, it’s so much easier to clean a bottomless and extra clearance just makes life easier

dfk41

Dusk I can get my cup sitting on top of my scales without issue. I rinse the basket out after every shot, and soak the pf in cafiza every couple of weeks or so. Do you not think the balance of the shot is affected since a spouted pf is far hotter than a bottomless? This is why they were considered to be a tool used by a barista who then put the spouted pf back on, and why you see very few bottomless ones in use in commercial premises

Dusk

dfk41
Tbh I wouldn’t put much weight behind what you see in a commercial environment because then you could argue single dosing, rdt, wdt, level tampers, scales etc are all pointless. Bottomless portafilters would probably make such a mess in most coffee shops because puck prep isn’t a priority, speed is

FadedFrontiers

dfk41 Do you not think the balance of the shot is affected since a spouted pf is far hotter than a bottomless?

It’s affectinflg temp but not in the way you’re saying, even a preheated spouted PF resulted in a cooler shot of espresso than an non-preheated bottomless PF in my testing. Ran approx. 8-10c cooler.

But some people do like cooling their shots and claim it does great things mind you.

dfk41

Dusk Tbh I wouldn’t put much weight behind what you see in a commercial environment because then you could argue single dosing, rdt, wdt, level tampers, scales etc are all pointless.

It is though! It has been generated by people to sell accessories and create content to people who think they can make 3 coffees a day on their home equipment than a trained barista making hundreds of drinks. Take all of your tweaking and roll it up into a ball and I doubt anyone could tste the difference of 0.000000001% it makes to anything. A lot of these techniques make perfect common sense and you cannot argue against them, but in reality the difference they make is in your own head

Dusk

dfk41
Not strictly true, I would argue consistency is key and consistency in a home environment doesn’t equal consistency in a professional environment. I agree that I’m unlikely to taste the difference between using rdt or not but good puck prep definitely makes a difference. I will notice if I get bad channeling which is likely due to a poorly prepped coffee bed(either distribution or tamping). Most cafes will grind straight to portafilter and a tap will leave the coffee pretty level and ready to tamp. A lot of home grinders can’t or won’t do that(dosing cups often make this impossible) so some sort of puck prep, perhaps wdt and then level tamper will be necessary to get the equivalent level of consistency.

dfk41

Dusk Again, I disagree. Unless you are a newbie, you should be aware of how good or bad your puck prep is per each time you do it. Therefore the end result ought to be no surprise. The point of a bottomless was always for a barista to check that the shot met expectations, not for home users to have an array of mirrors so they can watch the shot pour and marvel at the process. They have been adopted by the home user as top of the list for totally useless kit with excuses like a bottomless is more hygienic…..twoddle I am afraid. Please deal with the point I made that a bottomless pf will be much cooler than a spouted pf and how that affects the taste of the shot. After all, if the best tasting shot you can produce is what you are after, then once you have sprayed the beans, then ground using your very expensive grinder, shaken the grinds in your special cup, put into the pf, used needles to distribute, then used a leveller, then tamped, then stuck a filter on top what sense does it make to use a piece of kit to then pour the shot well below the temperature at what it should be poured at

LMSC

dfk41 Please deal with the point I made that a bottomless pf will be much cooler than a spouted pf and how that affects the taste of the shot.

Interesting you say this. My daughter uses a bottomless. But, recently, I saw her holding the espresso cup closer to the group at her home. I asked her is it to avoid coffee splashing? She said the coffee consistently tasted a lot better than otherwise. Perhaps, it is something to do with the temperature difference of the coffee in the cup.

JimmyP

dfk41 Jeez. It’s like you’ve got all of this lame secondhand knowledge and you haven’t got a clue what to do with it! Really disappointing 🫤

DavecUK

I have lots of accessories, but the ones I use on a regular basis (the rest I mostly don’t bother) are

Tamper (Reg Barber US Curve 20+ years old)
£8 scales
Sintered Puck screen
Small Milk Jug

Of course I always use a bottomless, just easier and cleaner.

Pompeyexile

DavecUK

I know I am being a pleb, but what is a ‘Sintered’ puck screen. I put that into Amazon, and it came up with a brand called NOTSEK, but it had no mention of the word ‘Sintered’. Is sintered a description rather than a brand name? Just out of interest, what make do you use? There are tons out there, and I guess like anything, some much better quality than others.

HarveyMushman

I’ve tried WDT a number of times over the years and remain unconvinced. For reasons unknown I’ve never seemed to get much channeling even with a tap/tamp so perhaps that’s why but I can’t taste a difference in the cup.

FadedFrontiers

Question for those that notice a difference in taste between the spouted and bottomless and primarily drink milk drinks, are you tasting the difference in a straight shot or when diluted (or both)?

JimmyP

Manual lever + bottomless filter.

This is where Decent etc owners are missing out.

The ability to salvage a bad shot and improve an indifferent one 😎👌

dfk41

JimmyP You talk absolute bow locks……you do not know anything about me. I do know that you seem to get immense pleasure from trolling…..are you inadequate in someway? Is this a replacement therapy?

JimmyP

dfk41 I’m not trolling bro. My disrespect for your opinions is genuine 😁

DavecUK

Pompeyexile I know I am being a pleb, but what is a ‘Sintered’ puck screen. I put that into Amazon

https://tinyurl.com/2d387omf

I purchased the one above for my Evo2.

Sintered stainless steel is a metal material that’s made by heating powdered stainless steel to just below its melting point. This process creates a molecular bond between the particles, resulting in a material that can be used for filters….very fine ones.

They make great puck screens, mine was 1.7mm thick but are more difficult to clean. I did consider getting an ultrasonic cleaner for it, but so far, boiling water, puly and an overnight soak has worked OK.

Gagaryn

DavecUK That the right link? That ain’t sintered SS, it’s woven mesh!

Pompeyexile

DavecUK

Everyone seems to be using this thing called tinyurl.com now when adding links. For some reason whenever I click on them, all I get is website cannot be found. Any suggestions?

Pompeyexile

DavecUK

My puck screen, whilst not the same brand, is the same in every other respect. However, recently I read about someone using a paper puck screen. So, I grabbed some Aeropress papers, drew round my metal puck screen and spent 15 minutes cutting them to size… and yes, before you comment, that is about as exciting as my life gets.

Like my metal puck screen, the paper one worked like a charm, but the one difference was that I found I could control the pressure the water went through easier. With the metal screen, it would tend to overshoot more and need more adjusting, but with the paper one, it seemed to hit the 9 bar more consistently.

As for taste?… Well, can’t say I noticed any difference, but then I love sprouts, so that probably says it all.

« Previous Page Next Page »