Burr grinder espresso advice

[NDA]

Having used an espresso machine for a long while now, I decided to buy myself a burr grinder rather than always buying beans pre-ground.

I'm finding the coffee comes out of the espresso machine MUCH more slowly on my ground beans. The grind looks very fine - could it be too fine? I'm experimenting with the settings, but obviously something is not quite right.

Any grind experts out there?

[jamiebae]

Sounds like the grind is too fine, knock it back a click and see how that works.

[NDA]

Did that.... Still slow. Maybe another click. It has about 10 settings I think.

Do you think it's too fine rather than too coarse? I know nothing about grinds and what grade is needed.

[whoami]

NDA said:

Having used an espresso machine for a long while now, I decided to buy myself a burr grinder rather than always buying beans pre-ground.

I'm finding the coffee comes out of the espresso machine MUCH more slowly on my ground beans. The grind looks very fine - could it be too fine? I'm experimenting with the settings, but obviously something is not quite right.

Any grind experts out there?

What's the flavour like?

[Pferdestarke]

For £3 get yourself a phin and some Nguyen blend coffee. simply brilliant.

[Flibble]

NDA said:

Did that.... Still slow. Maybe another click. It has about 10 settings I think.

Do you think it's too fine rather than too coarse? I know nothing about grinds and what grade is needed.

Too slow is too fine.

[NDA]

Flibble said:

Too slow is too fine.

Ok cool. If it needed finer, that would be a problem.... So I shall keep experimenting.

Flavour is good.

Thanks

[NDA]

Sorted!

Grind seems to work best on around halfway - just having an espresso now, good crema and quickly through the machine.

Thanks for the advice, I was p'eed off that I might have bought a grinder that wasn't quite right for the Gaggia.

I assume beans are going to last a lot longer than pre-ground? I have some experimenting to do.

[Dr G]

If left as beans, yes - only grind what you need to keep coffee as fresh as possible.

Double espresso (50ml) pull should be 25-30 seconds ideally.

[LordHaveMurci]

If I'm not getting a great Crema might that be because I'm not tamping the coffee down enough?

[cqueen]

LordHaveMurci said:

If I'm not getting a great Crema might that be because I'm not tamping the coffee down enough?

You might actually be tamping too hard,.. or you're using stale coffee?

[Dr G]

It goes stale surprisingly quickly - give your grinder a brush out before/after use as anything that's been sitting there for a day will extract very differently to fresh ground.

[LordHaveMurci]

cqueen said:

LordHaveMurci said:

If I'm not getting a great Crema might that be because I'm not tamping the coffee down enough?

You might actually be tamping too hard,.. or you're using stale coffee?

Tamping too hard it seems

[cqueen]

LordHaveMurci said:

Tamping too hard it seems

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