roltyid

Most recent activity

• Coffee Appreciation

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 13 hours, 53 minutes

  

  Brilliant - thanks for that. I'm under no illusions that this a fairly basic machine, but if I can get some half-decent coffee out of it, I'll be happy.

  I am still using the standard pressurised basket, so will look to invest in a non-pressurised version. Thanks so much for posting the specs of yours.

• Coffee Appreciation

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 17 hours, 1 minute

  

  Dualit Espressivo https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dualit-Espressi­vo-Machine-Polished-Stainless/dp/B00BUQ8­FAK

• Tweeks Cycles rant thread

  in General • 17 hours, 2 minutes

  

  So, all of the items (other than the one that was now flagged as out of stock) arrived on Friday. That was a month from order to dispatch for items that were listed in stock.

  The item that is now out of stock (despite being listed in stock when I ordered) has no update other than they were expecting stock in late-May.

  This will be the first and last time I use Tweeks for sure. I liked the idea of getting most of the components from one place, but in future I'll just buy items separately from the likes of CRC, Merlin, Tredz, Planet X, etc.

• Coffee Appreciation

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 17 hours, 14 minutes

  

  Could you give me a run down of your brew method? I have exactly the same machine, but am struggling to get an extract time of around 25 seconds.

  I have noted the manual states to pull the shot for 15-20 seconds, and the coffee tastes about right at 18 seconds. I'm wondering if this machine just extracts a bit quicker than higher end machines and it's something I just need to HTFU about and accept.

• Coffee Appreciation

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 1 day, 9 hours

  

  Thanks for the prompt responses.

  That seems like a massive dose. Is there any chance you're over-filling and when you put the portafilter in and rotate, the puck is rubbing against the shower screen?

  This could be something to look at - I'll look to try a smaller dose (around 18g). I have noticed some grounds on the shower screen when cleaning so it could be that the puck is making contact with it. That's not something I'd considered.

  Any chance the tamping isn't level so you're getting channelling down the side? Or are you knocking the portafilter with the tamper to get grounds of the side? That can also cause channelling by cracking the puck.

  I'm happy that the tamping is OK and I'm taking care not to knock the portafilter, but I'll pay more attention to this in the future.

• Coffee Appreciation

  in Miscellaneous and Meaningless • 1 day, 9 hours

  

  Finally got around to buying a scale and has confirmed my suspicions that my extract is too fast. I'm using Pact coffee, pre-ground to 'fine' for espresso use.

  This morning, aiming for a 2:1 ratio, a 22g dose yielded 45g in around 16 seconds - I understand that I should be in the 20-30 second bracket.

  My thinking is to tamp with more pressure to slow the extraction. After that, I'm really not sure...

• Tweeks Cycles rant thread

  in General • 6 days, 12 hours

  

  Ordered (everything listed as in-stock) at the end of April - have had an email 2 weeks later saying one of the items is out of stock, and isn't due until end-May. Have to think they have dispatched everything but the out of stock item, but I have no tracking details so not a clue where anything is.

  Have emailed them with no response and phone number is always busy.

  I am going to ask them to cancel my order and refund me - any benefits of ordering all of the parts from one place is offset by them not actually turning up.

• FS Various, Brooks, King cage etc.

  in Components, clothing and miscellany • 3 weeks, 5 days

  

  Fuck it - I have no need for the D-Bag or saddle covers but I'll take them anyway.

• Good Traders

  in Classifieds • 1 month

  

  Top marks for @Adscan - dibs to delivery in 2 days

• Retro mountain bikes

  in Bikes & Bits • 1 month

  

  Needed a bike suitable for a child seat and general pottering about with the mrs so have taken it upon myself to try and resurrect my old Carrera Gradient MTB from circa 1996. Not anything amazing, but a bit of sentimental value as it was the first new bike I ever had.

  Current plan is to build up on a 1x drivetrain, some wider tyres and a general tidy up. Inspiration is something like this posted in #502

  

  My father has made a number of changes over the years since I moved away and it existed as a flat bar hybrid, a drop bar audax/gravel mix and now in its current state as shown.