Calibration (Unseasoned Burrs)

My rather sloppy dataset from the first day that they let me mess with the grinder. To think that I avoided being a natural scientist mainly because I found wet-lab work boring.

5:23pm
notch ~ 2.9
time 4.95
: stuck

n ~ 3.3
: stuck
: stuck

time 3.95
: dripping

time 3.5
: cone 9s still slow

time 3, notch 3.3
: j0, cone 8s, stop 30s, 30g extraction,

time 3, notch 3.3
: j1, 15g dose, cone 7, stop 30, 43g extraction

time 3, notch 3.3
: j0, 16g dose, cone 6, stop 30, 54g ext

time 3.25, notch 3.3
:j0, cone 6, stop 30, 43g ext, bitter
:j0, cone 7, stop 30, 47g ext
:j0, cone 7, stop 30, 43g ext
:j0, cone 6, stop 22, more sour, less bitter, less offensive

time 3.25, notch 3.2
:j0, cone 6, stop 24, less sour, more bitter, more balanced
:j0, cone 6, stop 23, 33g ext, more bitter
:j0, stop 23, 38g ext, a bit flatter
: purge
: purge
:j0, cone 6

time 3.25, notch 2.7
: purge
: purge
: j0, cone 6, stop 24, 43g ext, slightly more acidity (weird)
: j0, cone 6, stop 22, 25g ext, much more acidic
: j0, cone 6, stop 22, 23g ext, acidic, hint of fruit
: j0, cone 6, stop 24, 23g ext,
: j0, cone 6, stop 28, 25g ext,

(I think we should go coarser)

time 3.25, notch 2.9
: purge
: purge
: purge
: purge
: j0, cone 7, stop 22, 14g dose, 22g ext, bitter, but tastes weak in latte (probably underdosage being obvious)

8:09pm
grind 3.25s, notch ~3.5
: 16g dose
: 17g dose
: 16g dose, 7s cone, 23s stop, 29g ext, sour and bitter

dose 3.50s, notch ~3.5 (the day eventually ended around here, so I almost had it, but then...)
: 18g dose, 7s cone, 27g ext, sour and bitter
: 20g dose
: 18g dose

(switched scale to Hario)

: 18.8g, 7s cone, 22s stop, 35.5g ext
: 17.8g, 7s cone, 23s stop, 35.0g ext

dose 3.5s, notch ~4.0 (...this was a mistake, I went coarser, but had meant to go finer)
: purge
: 20.5g dose
: 20.7g dose

dose 3.5s, notch ~3
: 19.4g
: 17.4g
: 18.4g
: 18.0g, 7s cone, 22s stop, 47.7g ext
: 18.9g, 7s cone, 20s stop, 37g ext (this was the mistake beginning to reverse itself, perhaps, but I mistakenly thought that we weren't getting anywhere, and fussed with the input variables; ridiculous - it seems we needed to purge 90-100g before the output variable (extraction mass) started heading where I wanted it to go)

dose 3.5s, notch ~2.4
: 17.3g
: 16.5g
: 15.6g
: 15.0g
: 15.4g, 7s cone, 25s stop, 15.2g ext
: 15.4g, 29s stop, 18.5g ext

dose 3.5s, notch ~2.7
: purge
: 15.8g
: 16.2g
: 16.0g, very slow flow
: 15.5g, very slow flor
: 15.7g

dose 3.5s, notch ~2.8
: 15.5g, slow
: 15.4g, slow
: 15.4g, slow
: 15.8g,

dose 3.5s, notch ~3
: 16.7g, slow
: 16.8g, slow
: 17.0g
: 16.8g slow
: 17.0g

10:00pm Thursday - dose 3.5s, notch ~3.4
: 17.6g, slow
: 18.0g, slow
: 17.7g, a wee bit faster
: 18.2g, as fast as the last shot
: 18.3g, cut at 27s, stop at 30s, 29.9g ext

This was after the client had demoed his testing process of how confusing new gear can be. In any event, Roburs need 30+g purges between grind-size-setting changes, per empirical evidence and forum advice.

Moving On

No more construction work, and no process in sight yet. Looks like we're back in girl scout mode for a few weeks. Yawn.

I think my job is done. Switching to to a $340/month ops role at the end of the month. Good times. Then I can think more clearly about the future. Too often, one does a bunch of stuff and then thinks, "that's it? I must find something harder."

Napping at non-work. A well-deserved rest if I do say so myself.

Good reminders: "It's more important to do work that's important, than work that's pretty." And, part 2: Q&A.Next month's bartender/barback job probably won't require social media, so this may be the last month on Facebook for a while. Other media, then.

There go the last of my savings. Hopefully this property can finally transact. Hooray for Malaysian infrastructure.

Synesso really needs to up their game in UI/UX. The Hydra's controller makes me feel like I'm driving a sports car via GameBoy :(

Milk Art Training

After I learn how to do traditional clean-line latte art I am going to have so much fun telling people how much I prefer dirty marble.

Latte bandung, anyone?

Replacing espresso with a coloured liquid works - food colouring is ideal, but coloured syrups led to the discovery of gimmicky coloured art drinks that could actually be served at a milk bar. I can't wait to drop three colours into a pot of foamed milk, then do a drawing on espresso, someday. It'll never sell at this client's cafe though. ;)

Detergent instead of milk?

After an hour of testing, a few days ago, I learnt that detergent has a lower surface tension than the ideal milk foam. Means big bubbles are harder to break via stomping the jug on the table. More testing required.

Water Activity

A standardised way to measure green coffee bean moisture content. More to come on this - it seems it's generally for foods of any kind.