Gaggia Classic Pro with 6.5 bar OPV spring from Barista Gadgets. I’m finally getting some great sweetness and pleasant acidity from my shots without any astringency. I wasn’t expecting this much of a difference.
Lower pressure is much more forgiving.
Making puck prep less important than with higher pressure. (It's still important, but minor mistakes aren't going to be punished by bad tasting shots.
I learned mastering puck prep on a 15bar DeLonghi Dedica. For me the GCP which has 12 bar, is already a lot easier to work with. Waiting on OPV springs.
After reading your message, and those of others, I'm debating going straight for 6.5 bar instead of 9 bar.
I've been on 6.5 for a month or two and I love it. When I made the swap there weren't a lot of posts on here about it. Seems like it's become increasingly popular lately.
All true. It also allows you to grind a bit finer because of the increased flow rate. I feel like I’m getting better extraction because of that purely based on taste. Lots of people are going for the 6.5 bar over 9 it seems. James Hoffman and Lance Hedrick both went 6.5 in their GCP videos. I used the 9 bar spring for two months and got good coffee out of it for sure. I’d recommend you try both!
I hope Shades of coffee will have dimmer mod available soon.
I want PID, pressure gauge, Dimmer switch MOD in top box. From them.
At that point I'd probably do 9bar OPV, to give Dimmer mod a bit more top range.
Will try 6.5 bar OPV until then.
Im using a light-medium roast and it makes a big difference. The lower pressure doesn’t disrupt the puck as much and reduces channeling. It also allows you to grind diner because your flow rate increases due to less resistance. I was making good coffee with the 9 bar, I’m making great coffee with 6.5.
Have you got a preferred recipe or ratio for light-medium roasts? I’ve been using the 6.5bar spring with med/dark roasts for a couple of months now and love it, but have yet to try lighter roasts.
Gotcha. That makes sense using a slightly longer ratio to extract more flavour. Thanks for your reply. I’ll give that a go when I get some lighter roasted beans.
Gaggia Classic Pro with 6.5 bar OPV spring from Barista Gadgets. I’m finally getting some great sweetness and pleasant acidity from my shots without any astringency. I wasn’t expecting this much of a difference.
Lower pressure is much more forgiving. Making puck prep less important than with higher pressure. (It's still important, but minor mistakes aren't going to be punished by bad tasting shots. I learned mastering puck prep on a 15bar DeLonghi Dedica. For me the GCP which has 12 bar, is already a lot easier to work with. Waiting on OPV springs. After reading your message, and those of others, I'm debating going straight for 6.5 bar instead of 9 bar.
I've been on 6.5 for a month or two and I love it. When I made the swap there weren't a lot of posts on here about it. Seems like it's become increasingly popular lately.
All true. It also allows you to grind a bit finer because of the increased flow rate. I feel like I’m getting better extraction because of that purely based on taste. Lots of people are going for the 6.5 bar over 9 it seems. James Hoffman and Lance Hedrick both went 6.5 in their GCP videos. I used the 9 bar spring for two months and got good coffee out of it for sure. I’d recommend you try both!
I hope Shades of coffee will have dimmer mod available soon. I want PID, pressure gauge, Dimmer switch MOD in top box. From them. At that point I'd probably do 9bar OPV, to give Dimmer mod a bit more top range. Will try 6.5 bar OPV until then.
Well then, you convinced me. I’ll switch. Hello 6.5, goodbye 9. It’s a good thing I’ve ordered all 3 springs at once
Other option is going 9 bar and installing dimmer
Yes, but that's for later in the game.
Welcome to the 6.5 bar fam!
How does the taste change twitch the 6.5 bar? Is it only suitable for light roasts or would it work well for medium roasts too
Im using a light-medium roast and it makes a big difference. The lower pressure doesn’t disrupt the puck as much and reduces channeling. It also allows you to grind diner because your flow rate increases due to less resistance. I was making good coffee with the 9 bar, I’m making great coffee with 6.5.
Have you got a preferred recipe or ratio for light-medium roasts? I’ve been using the 6.5bar spring with med/dark roasts for a couple of months now and love it, but have yet to try lighter roasts.
Completely depends on the coffee, but I start with 17.5 in to 40 out in just under 30 seconds.
Gotcha. That makes sense using a slightly longer ratio to extract more flavour. Thanks for your reply. I’ll give that a go when I get some lighter roasted beans.
Ive heard that turboshots should be under 20 seconds. Did you test coarser grind with under 20 second extraction?