Who goes for weight of extraction and who goes for time?

[chimpsinties]

First a bit of background.

I got into brew ratios a while ago and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). So I got some little scales and usually I weight out 18g beans, grind them into my PF and then turn my machine off at 30g which results in about 34g in the cup at the end. I adjust by either updosing a little or grinding finer as and when needed.

I usually aim for the sweet spot of 25s extraction time and do this by timing from when I hit the switch to when I reach my desired 30g on the scales. Inevitably this can vary from 20s up to 40s. As you can see, I tend to use the time as a guide but the weight as a rule. This usually gets me a very nice espresso that I'm happy with. :coffee:

I was just wondering what others do?

Do you tend to go by the weight and ignore the time?

Or aim for a 25s extraction and not care how much weight you get out at the end of it, in other words just ignore the TDS and brew ratio.

I suppose there's a third option which is just to do the whole thing by eye and wait for the blonding. I think this is the least consistent way to measure personally.

I suppose, as long as you're getting nice tasting shots it doesn't really matter. I'm just interested in what others do.

[RolandG]

blonding takes precedence for me. Whilst time & mass of shot are both useful information, they assume an even extraction and that other variables are constant. By focusing on blonding, I can compensate for a difference in my tamp, changes in the beans, varying machine and environmental factors... Etc.

I'll still change grind etc. after tasting, but the blonding directly reflects what is being extracted and so I find it more useful in getting to a tasty shot quickly (although I don't usually spend lots of time with one bean trying to get it to it's full potential - for this I'd look more at time, extracted mass & dose).

[MikeHag]

Depends what I'm trying to do. On a daily basis pulling shots for Mrs Haggie with beans I'm familiar with I aim for a 25-30 sec double shot of around 1.5oz/45ml with minimal blonding, adjusting grind accordingly. But if I'm trying to learn or communicate something about the beans I prefer using beverage weight as a reference point, to be more accurate.

[chimpsinties]

Isn't blonding a bit like a frog in hot water. You're watching and watching waiting for it to change then suddenly you realised it's already changed and you've missed it.

I can appreciate what you're saying though, maybe I need to look into it more.

[RolandG]

Blonding definitely requires experience - and yes, you miss it happening sometimes. I wouldn't suggest ignoring other criteria - if the shots run at 15 seconds to blonding, I know it'll probably be too insipid for my taste. Fundamentally, the more info you have and can make sense of whilst your pulling the shot, the better. I still think I'd choose blonding as the factor I'm looking at most, but I would hate to be without a timer etc..

Blonding varies a lot too. Blonding on my Gaggia Classic is much harder to spot than on a commercial machine (Lucky me gets to pull shots occasionally on a Nuovo Simonelli Aurelia at work ;) ) - the lack of temperature stability on the Gaggia means the crema starts off much lighter than on a commercial machine, making blonding harder to spot. Roast also impacts this, as do other factors.

One thing to look for is change in surface tension of the espresso streams. As they run out of flavour to extract, the flow becomes thinner and rather than pulling in towards each other, the streams start to flick outwards - personally, I generally want to stop it just before it gets to that point, but that's sometimes easier said than done :)

[MikeHag]

Other things to bear in mind regarding using blonding as a visual aid are that if your machine is running cool for whatever reason, the extraction will be a lighter colour throughout; and also that blunt burrs cause early blonding. In both these cases it's not so much "when should I stop the shot?" but "what can I do to fix it?"

[garydyke1]

Yesterday I pulled a shot which aimed to produce a ratio of 1.55 15g/23g going purely by weight...I checked the time afterwards 27-28 seconds. It tasted a lil sour and under extracted. If I had gone by sight & blonding alone I probably would have cut the shot 3-5 seconds later but then I would have maybe 30g extracted not the ratio we are told to aim for for a normale.

Thus I re-ran exactly the same variables but with 14.5g and this time cut the shot 27-28 seconds (which incidentially looked the correct level of blonding ) & weighed the result 22.6g.....1.55 ! Taste = perfect.

Go figure

[chimpsinties]

Other things to bear in mind regarding using blonding as a visual aid are that if your machine is running cool for whatever reason, the extraction will be a lighter colour throughout; and also that blunt burrs cause early blonding. In both these cases it's not so much "when should I stop the shot?" but "what can I do to fix it?"

Why will blunt burrs cause early blonding?