Breville the Infuser - double shot pour issues with single wall filter basket

[Rastamanv1]

I am already aware of grind, and tamp variations,and how they can impact pulling correct shots. The use of quality, recently roasted, beans as well. Having said that, I cannot successfully pull a double shot using a single wall filter with my machine. It will not reach the "espresso range" on the gauge no matter how I adjust the variables. I am able to pull a single shot, using a single wall filter no problem. Any thoughts? All assistance is much appreciated.

 

[shadow745]

Well several things can cause this... grind not fine enough, dose not high enough, coffee not fresh enough, grounds not distributed properly leading to channeling... All of which affect resistance in the puck.

Personally I wouldn't rely on the gauge as it could be out of calibration. How was the taste and texture of the double?

 

[Rastamanv1]

Thanks for the thoughts. I'd been aware of all these variables impacting pulling a correct shot. I'd also considered just completely disregarding the gauge as suggested, and going off taste/texture only. Probably makes the most sense anyway, but as its a new machine just wanted to put it thru its paces as intended. I'm just sort of at a loss as to why I can consistently pull a single shot, but never a double. Even if I pull a bad single shot, I can adjust something - dose, tamp, grind - to get it right easily. Besides the occasional unicorn however, never with a double - no matter how much I work I put into it.

 

[shadow745]

A few thoughts... what grinder are you using? Normally a single is a bit more difficult to master and based on what little experience I have with them usually require a finer grind than a double. Does the double run fast, slow, blonde early, etc? Could possibly be that the pump just doesn't have enough grunt to push through the double puck due to increased resistance.

 

[Musicphan]

What exactly is the problem... are you getting bad tasting shots or is it simply not hitting this pressure range

 

[Johnny_Hopper]

I have the Infuser and Smart Ginder Pro and after much tinkering I have found a few different sweet sports (with different beans).

With my darker, oilier roasts I find I need to go a bit finer and need a bit more in the basket. 10 on the SGP, roughly 21 second grind time for double shot. I then give roughly, I don't know the exact pressure I don't have a scale yet (in the male) around 15-20lbs pressure with the tamp. this produces around 30 second poor time and needle is between the screws for a nice shot.

I found that with my medium roasts, I needed a much lower grind time and bit more coarse. For whatever reason, I find 13 and 14 seconds, yes 7 whole seconds less grinding produced the same results with the pressure gauge and poor time of around 30 seconds. a bit lighter tamp with that one.

I don't know if this is industry correct but this is what I have experienced this far and I only make double shots with single wall filter basket. Didn't by this machine to be using double basket..