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. Grind Coarser and Pull a Flat 9 Bar Shot
   3. Increase the Pressure

Why does it happen?

Series 1 was designed for people who enjoy all styles of coffee, from light to medium to dark and everything in between.

Since we designed it for everyone, we had to make sure that it could accommodate all styles of coffee. This means that depending on the coffee you like to drink, the amount of space between the top of the ground beans in the portafilter and where the water is dispensed out of the grouphead can have different heights.

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.

Please note that the visual aspects of an espresso puck after extraction is NOT a correlation to how good the shot pulled or how the coffee tastes.

What can I do about it?

Up the Dose a Little

If you have extra space above your puck in the basket, try adding an additional gram or two to your dose. For instance, if you typically dose 18 grams for a shot, try 20 grams. Just this one change alone can have a significant impact on how dry your puck is after extraction.

Grind Coarser and Pull a Flat 9 Bar Shot

When pressure profiling, you typically have to grind finer than normal. To get the driest puck possible, dose 20g, grind a bit coarser, and pull a flat 9 bar shot. Your puck should be as dry as possible. Rest assured that Series 1 can do exactly what you want it to do. If getting a dry puck is a priority, this is the easiest way to get there.

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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