Had a naked experience

[wallisj]

hi all

Had a nice naked lunchtime experience in the capable hands of Jo at brandmeesters in bijlmer (south amsterdam)

She had a nice new naked portafilter for her to evaluate and test (along with some other nice gadgets)

She poured me 2 doubles using the naked PF and they were very nice (personal pref was to the sodade blend, this is now my choice for home brewing since i can get a fresh supply weekly).

They were so crema rich and lovely to watch....would be nice to watch them slow-mo ... they were really like guiness to pour....all crema initially until it settled (30 seconds or so) and left with a good 1/4" of deep crema on top.

Tasted stronger and deeper than normal (mainly down to overdosing to get a better pour with the naked PF) .... i think it will be a while before i dare to buy one myself....

Thanks to Jo again for the nice coffee

[fiend]

All this talk of naked portafilters makes me wonder what the point of a spout is. Can anyone shed any light?

I've taken my spout off so that I don't get as much spillage when pouring into a narrow shot glass, and it doesn't seem to have had any effect.

Do you think that the naked portafilter actually produced more crema than if it had trickled through the spout?

[wallisj]

100% more ... the entire pull was crema until it settled like a guiness...it left a good thick layer of crema behind ... was a different flavour profile too in my opinion

[Steve]

I too go naked with my Spazio

I'm not 100% sure that there is more crema but its really nice to see the colours mixing together and a great way to see if you've tamped evenly.

I think the only reason for the spout is for commercial outlets to pour two at a time or swap the spout for one at a time

Steve

[simonp]

I'm still unsure about the naked portafilter thing. You are loosing a lot of material and hence thermal mass from the portafilter, does this not adversely afftest the temperature stability of the shot? One of the things people like about the better commercial style machines is the heavier portafilters, which help keep the temperature during the shot. By cutting away lots of the brass doeasn't this create the same problem that the cheaper machines have?
I suppose maybe that the good commercial machines have enough water temp stability that this doesn't matter, but I'm not sure it would be a good idea with a machine like mine.

[HughF]

I'm still unsure about the naked portafilter thing. You are loosing a lot of material and hence thermal mass from the portafilter, does this not adversely afftest the temperature stability of the shot?
...snip...

Maybe... I think air is a much worse conductor of heat than metal so that little heat would be lost to the air in the extra height of free drop from a naked PF even though the air is much cooler than a PF in the group would be.

In addition, I think the espresso would take the same time or longer to flow through a conventional PF as it would take to drop the small extra distance through the air from a naked PF.

As the conventional PF would thus have (I think) more influence on the espresso temperature than the air (and PF temperature varies much more than a room's air temperature, e.g. cooling while being filled) then the bulk of a conventional PF plays a bigger role in espresso temperature than the air does with a naked PF. So, the conventional PF probably hurts temperature stability from shot to shot more than a naked PF.

The espresso will drop nearly as far through air with a conventional PF as it will from a naked PF after all (right to the bottom of the glass/cup at first).

Cheers,

Hugh

[kingseven]

For me its a great diagnostic and training tool and thats about it.
Crema is lovely stuff, very important but you can easily have too much of a good thing, excessive crema for me is quite unpleasant.

The change in mouthfeel is noticeable, and I do like it. Its just not a viable way of making coffee every day, and its a bit impracticle.
Taught me my old tamping and distribution style was rubbish though, and that most 58mm baskets need convex tamps.

[Beanie]

And of course, just the sheer beauty of the crema oozing out of the PF basket, and then the little droplets just embrace each other as they gently cascade into your cup. Mmmmmm... make you want to forget the cup and just stick your head under the PF. Thankfully, my machine doesn't allow me to do that... head wouldn't fit in that space

[simonp]

I'm still unsure about the naked portafilter thing. You are loosing a lot of material and hence thermal mass from the portafilter, does this not adversely afftest the temperature stability of the shot?
...snip...

Maybe... I think air is a much worse conductor of heat than metal so that little heat would be lost to the air in the extra height of free drop from a naked PF even though the air is much cooler than a PF in the group would be.

In addition, I think the espresso would take the same time or longer to flow through a conventional PF as it would take to drop the small extra distance through the air from a naked PF.

As the conventional PF would thus have (I think) more influence on the espresso temperature than the air (and PF temperature varies much more than a room's air temperature, e.g. cooling while being filled) then the bulk of a conventional PF plays a bigger role in espresso temperature than the air does with a naked PF. So, the conventional PF probably hurts temperature stability from shot to shot more than a naked PF.

The espresso will drop nearly as far through air with a conventional PF as it will from a naked PF after all (right to the bottom of the glass/cup at first).

Cheers,

Hugh

I'm not talking about the temperature drop after leaving the filter, I meant that with the lower thermal mass of the naked portafilter means that it will have cooled more by he time you have dosed, tamped etc, so when the water hits the puck it will cool more. If there is no disadvantage to having less brass in the portafilter, then why bother with big heavy ones at all?

[ivdp]

Why not?
Becaue it is easier to pour shots.
Beacuse you can make 2 shots at the same time.

Why yes?
You see immediately if your distribution and tamp was OK
Nicer crema and mouthfeel of the coffee
(Possibly better cup if you have no channeling)

Ivo