It can be understandably frustrating when you go to knock your espresso puck out and you find that there's extra water on top. It doesn't look very nice, and it can cause unwanted messes. However, it's worth noting that this doesn't imply that your shot didn't pull correctly, and it can be manageable! Keep reading to learn why this happens and what you can do about it. 

Table of Contents

1. Why does it happen? 
2. What can I do about it? 
   1. Up the Dose a Little
   2. Increase the Pressure

Why does it happen?

With Series 1, a messy espresso puck is predominantly caused by two main things: 

1. Extra space between the top of the puck and the shower head
2. Using a profile that ends at a lower pressure (like 3 bars)

It's natural for different coffees to fill up your basket to different heights because of a variety of reasons. If your coffee doesn't take up as much space, or you're pulling shots with a lower dose, there's going to be extra room for water to pool up on top of the puck during extraction. 

If you're using a shot profile that ends with a lower pressure, there's not as much vacuum pulling water out of the puck toward the end of the shot cycle. In these instances, the leftover water will pool on top of the puck.

What can I do about it?

Up the Dose a Little

If you have extra space above your puck in the basket, try adding a few tenths of a gram to a gram extra to fill the space. A little can go a surprisingly long way and help clean things up. 

Increase the Pressure

If you're using a shot profile that ends at a lower pressure, try bumping it up a little bit in the profile's settings (you'll need to copy the in-unit ones because they can't be edited specifically), or using a profile that ends at a higher pressure. If you'd like more information about the stock profiles that Series 1 comes with, check out our blog post here!

Have More Questions? 

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