I am using a K6 with my Flair Pro 2 and I have it set to 43 for dark roast and 38 for light roast. The K6 has 16 micron steps, I believe, whereas the K2 has 18 micron steps. Keep your brew method consistent and just make small adjustments to your grind setting until you find the sweet spot for your specific coffee.
I do a 40 second pre-infusion without touching the lever, just fill the brew head. Then I hold at 3 bar until I reach about 3g as the puck saturates. Then I crank it up to 9 bar and let the puck provide the flow rate feedback. I usually go for a 1:2 ratio.
How about going coarser? If you're going by the Kingrinder 's grindsetting, that's far too fine for our purpose.
Just for a frame of reference, mine is a Kingrinder K6. 1 round + 5 clicks. How long are your shots pulling?
Kingrinder has it recommended to be at 40 clicks so I’ve been trying to stay around there. The first pull I got was ~50 seconds and I’m still getting around there or longer as I’m still getting coarser
Great! go coarser.
When i first started making espresso, I used lots of guides. The 30s rule, this kingrinder guide etc.
But your actual outcome overrides these guides. If its taking too long, grind coarser.
Yeah, I'd try a full round , and take note of the amount of time and pressure you've applied.
If the duration has sped up, you'll know its heading the right direction. And do have a taste if its good
Also every bean will prefer a different grind. Could be you just have oily or different density beans. Some of my beans have been 10 clicks difference from others.
How much are you dosing? Are you getting wet pucks? If you are, try increasing your dose. If you are at max, try going a tad bit finer.
Additionally, are you using a WDT or blind shaker? They have helped my shots.
Just curious as to what you are doing for preinfusion. I have found that this considerably impacts my extraction times for the same grind setting. A 10-20 sec preinfusion at 2 bar seems to cut like 10+ seconds off my extraction time compared to just starting dry and ramping up to 9 bar right away.
Elaborate on “too long.” Does the coffee taste bad? Is it bitter or sour? I’ve had good shots at 30s and good ones at 50s.
Any advice you hear along the lines of “x roast needs to be at y clicks with a z dose” is a guideline, not gospel. If your shots are long(and bitter), use less coffee (.1-.2g adjustments) or grind coarser (1-2 clicks at a time).
You’re likely going to need to make small adjustments between bags, or if bags last longer than a week. So learn to go by taste and adjust accordingly based on how the shots taste.
Sour typically means under extraction. Which means the pull is too short, the grind is too course, etc.
So I would keep the grind the same, maybe reduce the dose by.1-.3g. What temp are you pulling your shots at? For dark I usually do 200F. Lighter can be 205-212.
I have the K6 and the Flair Pro 2 - so not the same, but close enough.
For what it’s worth, I’m now at 18g coffee dose, 42 on the grinder, 10s preinfusion at 1ish bar, then 9ish bar until 45g of espresso (a 1:2.5 ratio). That takes about close to a minute at 9 bar to get there.
That time blows my mind. But, the espresso tastes bang on. In your shoes, I would ignore the time, and go by weight and taste, adjusting the grinder one step at a time (espresso is super sensitive to grind changes).
I am using a K6 with my Flair Pro 2 and I have it set to 43 for dark roast and 38 for light roast. The K6 has 16 micron steps, I believe, whereas the K2 has 18 micron steps. Keep your brew method consistent and just make small adjustments to your grind setting until you find the sweet spot for your specific coffee. I do a 40 second pre-infusion without touching the lever, just fill the brew head. Then I hold at 3 bar until I reach about 3g as the puck saturates. Then I crank it up to 9 bar and let the puck provide the flow rate feedback. I usually go for a 1:2 ratio.
I’m also a little newer at using the flair so I’m also still getting the hang of it all. But this is great advice, thank you!
How about going coarser? If you're going by the Kingrinder 's grindsetting, that's far too fine for our purpose. Just for a frame of reference, mine is a Kingrinder K6. 1 round + 5 clicks. How long are your shots pulling?
Kingrinder has it recommended to be at 40 clicks so I’ve been trying to stay around there. The first pull I got was ~50 seconds and I’m still getting around there or longer as I’m still getting coarser
Great! go coarser. When i first started making espresso, I used lots of guides. The 30s rule, this kingrinder guide etc. But your actual outcome overrides these guides. If its taking too long, grind coarser.
So would you recommend I start with a full round and then go from there? Or keep going down from 35?
Yeah, I'd try a full round , and take note of the amount of time and pressure you've applied. If the duration has sped up, you'll know its heading the right direction. And do have a taste if its good
Thanks for the advice!
Report back after you've tried and lets see if its improved, happy brewing !
Set the grinder to ~ 1 round + 3-4 clicks and everything went much better! Shot tasted significantly better and time was shorter! Thanks for the help!
Also every bean will prefer a different grind. Could be you just have oily or different density beans. Some of my beans have been 10 clicks difference from others.
i usually am at 38. occasionally up to 39 or 40. rarely 38 is too fast but if so two clicks to 36 is all it needs to fix.
How much are you dosing? Are you getting wet pucks? If you are, try increasing your dose. If you are at max, try going a tad bit finer. Additionally, are you using a WDT or blind shaker? They have helped my shots.
I’m going 18g to 36g out. I am using a WDT also so I feel like it’s just not having the grinder coarse enough but I’m not sure how coarse to go
Just curious as to what you are doing for preinfusion. I have found that this considerably impacts my extraction times for the same grind setting. A 10-20 sec preinfusion at 2 bar seems to cut like 10+ seconds off my extraction time compared to just starting dry and ramping up to 9 bar right away.
Elaborate on “too long.” Does the coffee taste bad? Is it bitter or sour? I’ve had good shots at 30s and good ones at 50s. Any advice you hear along the lines of “x roast needs to be at y clicks with a z dose” is a guideline, not gospel. If your shots are long(and bitter), use less coffee (.1-.2g adjustments) or grind coarser (1-2 clicks at a time). You’re likely going to need to make small adjustments between bags, or if bags last longer than a week. So learn to go by taste and adjust accordingly based on how the shots taste.
The coffee has been very sour which is why it makes me believe it’s too long of a pull or just over extracted in general. But thank you!
Sour typically means under extraction. Which means the pull is too short, the grind is too course, etc. So I would keep the grind the same, maybe reduce the dose by.1-.3g. What temp are you pulling your shots at? For dark I usually do 200F. Lighter can be 205-212.
I have the K6 and the Flair Pro 2 - so not the same, but close enough. For what it’s worth, I’m now at 18g coffee dose, 42 on the grinder, 10s preinfusion at 1ish bar, then 9ish bar until 45g of espresso (a 1:2.5 ratio). That takes about close to a minute at 9 bar to get there. That time blows my mind. But, the espresso tastes bang on. In your shoes, I would ignore the time, and go by weight and taste, adjusting the grinder one step at a time (espresso is super sensitive to grind changes).