Vent: Chasing a sour shot for 11 weeks before checking water temp

I spent 11 weeks chasing sour espresso pulls. New beans, different grind settings, more preheat time, even switched my drip tray. Nothing worked. Then my buddy stopped by and watched me pull a shot. He asked what temp my water was. I had my kettle set at 195 the whole time. My machine recommends 200 to 203 for medium roasts. That one number was making everything taste like lemon juice. I should have checked that first week, but I figured the machine was fine since it was new. Anyone else spend way too long on something this basic before checking the obvious? What was your biggest dumb fix?

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1 Comment

ellis.robert4d ago

Bought a used PID machine that kept stalling mid-shot, drove myself nuts for a month cleaning steam wands and reseating the gasket. Turned out the previous owner had wired the heating element backwards... no wait, that's a lie. My dumb one was timing pre-infusion with my phone's stopwatch while the actual machine timer was right there, and I was reading the wrong number the whole time. Swapped beans, changed pressure, nearly returned the grinder before I realized I was just looking at my lap timer. Now I write the target number on a sticky note and tape it to the group head, because apparently I can't trust my brain past 7 AM.

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