Having tried my (inexpensive) distribution tool for quite a while now, my most regular technique is as following.
1. tapping the basket to settle the ground - photo 1.
2. a few spins left, pushing & leveling the ground beans towards the basket edge - photo 2.
3. a few spins right - photo 3. This pushes the small amount of heaped grinds ( visible in photo 2) towards the center. The distribution tool is set reasonably shallow as not to strongly tamp the grind.
4. tamp as usual.
I'm quite happy now with both workflow and extraction results. My naked portafilter extraction has improved and looks even. Occasional channeling I put down to change of beans and initial inadequate depth adjustment of the distribution tool.
I haven't got any extraction measuring tools etc., so I'm only trying and following my ideas and intuition for my own pleasure.
Comments etc. are welcome, cheers, Steve
1. tapping the basket to settle the ground - photo 1.
2. a few spins left, pushing & leveling the ground beans towards the basket edge - photo 2.
3. a few spins right - photo 3. This pushes the small amount of heaped grinds ( visible in photo 2) towards the center. The distribution tool is set reasonably shallow as not to strongly tamp the grind.
4. tamp as usual.
I'm quite happy now with both workflow and extraction results. My naked portafilter extraction has improved and looks even. Occasional channeling I put down to change of beans and initial inadequate depth adjustment of the distribution tool.
I haven't got any extraction measuring tools etc., so I'm only trying and following my ideas and intuition for my own pleasure.
Comments etc. are welcome, cheers, Steve