Tal Generally not that fine, unless you’re pulling very long shots (1:5/1:6), more akin to finest end of drip, maybe around 35-40 on a Niche Zero?
dfk41 I generally drink it as it comes. (5%TDS, half as concentrated as a 1:2 shot, unsurprising as my better moka pot brews are around 1:4 using the espresso brew ratio).
I don’t understand pre heating, it just increases the risk of burning yourself at the start & makes it harder to get a tight seal between chambers.
The way I approach it is:
Establish the dose for your basket.
Put the base on some scales and add water until it just touches the bottom of the basket spout.
Add this water weight to the same weight in water as your dose.
Add anorther 5-10g for luck.
Add 4x your dose weight in water - this is the amount of liquid that will go in the cup.
So let’s say your dose is 17.5g
You want 70g out
Your bottom chamber takes 20g below the basket tube
Add 5g more for 113g total.
Dose with coffee, screw it all up & place on a low heat.
Kill the brew when you see the foam come out of the centre pipe, you won’t see violent sputtering.
To tune (as well as grind adjustments):
If the brew is too cool, under-extracted, see if you can reduce the heat. More time will lead to a hotter output, as will using a touch more brew water.
If the brew seems over, or is nuclear hot, turn up the heat a tiny bit, or use a touch less brew water (lose the extra 5g).
I’ve had some nice tasting, but cool brews around 50-60c, but 70-80c seems better (all measured as direct output once the brew chamber is full).
If you time the flow, I’d aim a little under 1g per second.