• Beans
  • I can’t seem to get rid of unpleasant harshness and dryness

MediumRoastSteam

I’m keeping my beans in such wardrobe it’s rather cooler there, even when I brew between coffees I keep my bags away from heater, I only hope that keeping the grinder like that by radiator is not damaging in any way, radiator is on now and I can’t feel my duo is any warmer.

When you suggested beans might be stalled , after 3-4 weeks is just alarming if I should change the way I store them, I probably use my 1kg beans within 1,5 month after purchase .

    MuddyOne - look… I think you are jumping to conclusions. 😊. I don’t live in your house, so I don’t know. All I can see is a video and made a few comments based on what I could see.

    I’ll say again…

    Buy a smaller bag of Redbrick (because that’s what you have and is not working) and brew within one week from delivery. If it works (read: if you can extract 36g in 30s) then you know what your problem is (read: stale coffee). If nothing changes, then it’s something else. This is all I’m trying to tell you. One step at a time.

      MediumRoastSteam

      Yep vile just taste of grass

      https://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/getting-accurate-shot-temperature-displays-on-pided-double-boilers-without-thermometer-t54897.html

      Have a look at that for your flash boiling, temps too high by the sounds of it, remember its just a number, if you are flash boiling something is wrong, try dropping your temp down to 90 and repeat, keep all other things the same change one variable at a time

      Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

      Sorry I was giving an example of how I don’t like a certain bean, which the op may not like a certain bean, not that it’s part of the square mile roast hahah caused a right tangent

      Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

      MuddyOne - unless someone has a better idea, the only time I see a shot taking ages to start and then pouring down half way through is with coffee that’s stale, or coffee that’s very finicky, light roasted. I don’t believe Redbrick is one of them.

      I’m assuming you’ve tried the stock basket and the same thing happens?

        MediumRoastSteam I tried stock today once and surprisingly I got a little bit more sweetness but I will try tomorrow again after adjusting grind setting .

        Are there any baskets that are better than stock but not difficult as vst? Is it worth buying ims or something else?

          Ims comp, rounded bottoms are easier than straight wall

          Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

          MuddyOne The stock basket is slightly waisted - they are more forgiving and good to learn with. Always good to explore the limitations of a standard basket and to keep it around for comparisons when you get new beans that are tricky to dial in. Red brick may not be a blend you like. I’ve seen a lot of people mention that it and sweet shop are difficult to dial in and an acquired taste even when they are brewed “correctly”.

          Your opening post does state there are some beans you’ve managed to get great shots from. It may be beneficial to share what those were, and to get recommendations from there.

            MediumRoastSteam I need to pull more shots to adjust grind setting,different basket. I will record my next shots and post them here.

            Raja123 I’ve been running subscriptions I honestly don’t remember the beans anymore

            MediumRoastSteam

            So these are the results, duo allows changing settings by half step, that’s what I do. First shot I didn’t record, but it took 22s to pull 38ml

            Next shot with video I’m changing only half step, 27s

            Third shot again only half step it took 38 s and machine was already choking as you can see.

            Looks the same to me: takes ages to start, and then the flow speeds up. It’s not right. There’s nothing else for me to say here.

              MediumRoastSteam

              So beans are stale? Similar thing happens with other beans, I’ll order tomorrow new red brick , if I’m getting same thing with other beans then I should change the way I store them.

              Unless it’s somehow machine fault.

              That long time to start may be the culprit why puck gets saturated for too long and result in bitterness?

                Change bean try again

                Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                MuddyOne So beans are stale?

                I’ll answer with what I’ve already said:

                MediumRoastSteam MuddyOne - unless someone has a better idea, the only time I see a shot taking ages to start and then pouring down half way through is with coffee that’s stale, or coffee that’s very finicky, light roasted. I don’t believe Redbrick is one of them.

                  MediumRoastSteam sorry, I was just confirming what you said earlier.

                  I will also order vacuum bags for coffee storage.

                  I personally wouldn’t worry about the coffee storage too much yet, you need to understand what the issue is to begin with. Coffee storage can affect things but I don’t think that dramatically especially if the beans are still relatively new. Fresh beans shouldn’t be going stale within a month.

                  That said, your issues have all the hallmarks of stale beans but perhaps there is another issue. As others have suggested, you need to look at one variable at a time.