extraction issues from local roasters

[gmclean13]

I'm total new to coffee roasting, to the point where I'm just looking. I would like to get involved and this looks like a great site to learn from folks first hand. Before I plunge into a machine, I would like to ask some questions about roasted beans that I have tried and had no luck using. I buy from a roaster here in the Seattle area. I have had good luck with their blend and my set up. I'm using a Quickmill Andreja Premium and a La Cimbali Jr. grinder. What I have found in trying a variety of beans from roasters is many of them, even with multiple setting changes, tend to have the extraction come out like water. I know the grind is fine enough, but I can't get any pressure up to around 8.0 - 9.0. Stays around 3.0 - 4.0. So my question is, are there that many bad roastering companies out there or am I missing something? I guess my final question is, will I end up in the same boat buying a roaster and getting readings in that low scale again. Kind of scattered thoughts, but that is the best way to describe it situation.

Thanks

[endlesscycles]

Go to David Schomer's web site at http://www.espressovivace.com/archives.html and read up.
Sounds like either grind, tamping, or pump problems.

[yakster]

You may also want to check the age of the beans as old, stale beans can act like this.

This is a problem that I learned about on the coffee forums and it's funny because I got into home roasting before I got into espresso, so when I started playing with espresso, my beans were always fresh and I never seemed to have too much trouble, but I'd read about those sorts of problems. At some point I ended up using some old beans, maybe commercially roasted, and realized firsthand what people without a source of fresh beans are up against.

-Chris

[davidearls]

I live in the Kansas City area, and we have one of the best roasters anywhere (The Roasterie). I drank their roasted coffees from the day they opened their door until I took up home roasting two years ago. What I learned instantly is that the even though their roasted beans only have to travel a short way to the grocery stores - and would theoretically be fresh - you really had no way of knowing how long the beans had been sitting in the store before you bought them. A two-week-old roasted bean is a two-week-old roasted bean no matter how you cut it.

If you're using a local roaster, try picking your coffee up from them instead of getting it in a market. They'll give you fresh roast. When i started home roasting, I continued to buy my green beans from The Roasterie until I switched to Sweet Maria's.

There's nothing to compare with home roasted, though. You do small batches and you do them frequently. You get two or three different coffees to drink every week and the beans are always fresh. My wife, who really doesn't care about this home roasting thing, won't even drink coffee anywhere but home any more.

[veganjosh]

I'm total new to coffee roasting, to the point where I'm just looking. I would like to get involved and this looks like a great site to learn from folks first hand. Before I plunge into a machine, I would like to ask some questions about roasted beans that I have tried and had no luck using. I buy from a roaster here in the Seattle area. I have had good luck with their blend and my set up. I'm using a Quickmill Andreja Premium and a La Cimbali Jr. grinder. What I have found in trying a variety of beans from roasters is many of them, even with multiple setting changes, tend to have the extraction come out like water. I know the grind is fine enough, but I can't get any pressure up to around 8.0 - 9.0. Stays around 3.0 - 4.0. So my question is, are there that many bad roastering companies out there or am I missing something? I guess my final question is, will I end up in the same boat buying a roaster and getting readings in that low scale again. Kind of scattered thoughts, but that is the best way to describe it situation.

Thanks

Sounds like an equipment problem to me. If you put in the blank basket (the filter basket with no holes), how high does the pressure go?

[gmclean13]

When I put the blank in, it is usually around 11.0 to 12.0. I have no issue when I use the beans from a couple of local roasters. I don't think it is a machine issue but more of buying old bean from very large well known coffee roasters in the Seattle area. I think my hope is if I get into home roasting, that I won't have that issue. I have spoken with the folks at chriscoffee.com and the machine and where the needle hits with the blank by their comments, seems to be OK. Thanks for responding.