how to make regular coffee with saeco incanto sirius

[aj_soma]

i have a new superauto saeco incanto sirius. i'm pretty happy with it, but am trying to find out how to make coffee that's close to the press-pot coffee that i've made up until i got the sirius.

i used to make 12 fluid oz of coffee by using about 1/4 cup of peets ground guatemalan in a press pot. this would make a good strong cup of coffee, imo.

peet's claims that 1/4 cup is about 21 grams. but the sirius only has 7, 9 and 12 gram dosages for coffee. so, perhaps i should be making 2 5oz pulls with the 9 gram setting. and should i be using a middle-range setting for the grind and for SBS?

I've tried doing this:

9 gram dose
high temp
SBS set to about 10:30pm
volume set to 4 fluid oz
medium grind
peets guatemalan

So, this should make coffee that's pretty close to the press-pot coffee that i make, i would think, but it comes out a bit weaker. Any ideas why?

Also, should i be trying to tune the SBS knob such that the stream of coffee doesn't go "blonde" or watery until the very end of the 4oz pull? I would assume that i want to turn SBS counter-clockwise.

Would i be better off if i just pulled 2 1.5oz espresso shots instead (with different grind/sbs settings) and then made an americano?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I'm sure i'll continue to experiment, but if someone has things dialed in already, would love to hear your comments.

thanks!
-aj

 

[CafeBlue]

You are on the right track, just need to go farther.
Your Americano will taste better when you prepare an exceptional espresso.
Definitely stop the brew before it goes blonde and becomes bitter and watery. Your 4 fluid ounce shot is way over-extracted, and will add bitter and sour taste into the cup. Try approximately 1.25 fluid ounce brew on your 9 gram fill, and 2 fluid ounces on your 12 gram fill - these should be close to acceptable. A "short" extraction (diluted a little more) will taste better than a shot brewed too long. Always brew the espresso short, then add hot water to dilute it to milder strength Americano.
Most cafe's will use a single or double shot then add hot water to fill the cup as a "normal" recipe.

 

[jwhite]

Aericano

I have the magic comfort plus. I like my americano strong I brew Americano using a 9 gm dose with approximately 12 0z fill/volume (ie the maximum amount of liquid that will come out when you hold down the 9age cup button). I have also done 2 5gm shots with the samll (espresso) button pressed then used the hot water button to fill the large cup near to its top. That has beeen fine too. So far I have not needed to change the built in grinder setting from the middle ( i think 5) setting.