monday the apotheosis of pineapple

sungod
sungod Posts: 16,434
edited October 2019 in The bottom bracket
'ning

it's cold

coffee, lead rebellion against some gmc stodginess, bail
my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny

Comments

  • lincolndave
    lincolndave Posts: 9,441
    Morning, very cold sungod a frost here this morning, dog already walked, porridge and. Coffee on the way
    Have a good week
  • Morning. Overcast here but dry. Rode yesterday so not sure if again today, was hoping for a surf but it looks a bit flat.

    However, flat isn't the mood! Still buzzing from weekends rugby.

    England into final!

    ONE MORE GAME!!!
  • thistle_
    thistle_ Posts: 7,121
    Morning
    Cold at home this morning and had to chisel ice off the car, even colder when I got to work. Lovely morning though.
    Office is pretty empty again, a day of thumb twiddling looms. Might do some more work on my escape plan.
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    Morning, I thought I'd posted already so if anyone sees a waffling good morning post randomly inserted elsewhere on the forum then join in to confuse the hell out of the others.

    Frosty and bright here, perfect morning. I still think over winter we should continuously shift time to keep sunset at half 7 every day rather than making it lovely and sunny for my dreary drive to work...

    Also, a colleague gave me a very nice ~15 year old Gaggia espresso machine last week so I spent most of my pre-work routine re calibrating my coffee grind size
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    Only cold for solar deities. Optimum operating temperature for me with an alpha jersey and "light winter" tights. Glowing nicely by the time I got to work. Rather than the sweaty mess I become in warmer temperatures.
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    HaydenM wrote:
    Also, a colleague gave me a very nice ~15 year old Gaggia espresso machine last week so I spent most of my pre-work routine re calibrating my coffee grind size
    Grind size varies enormously according to when the beans were roasted. 2 to 4 weeks seems to be the optimum. If you buy beans with no "roasted on" date, they're normally old, and however fine you grind them, it's impossible to get a shot of espresso that isn't thin and sour. Fine for filter coffee though. That's my experience though, ymmv.
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    ciao!

    shattered. weekend went stupid mental busy, so 5 hours sleep overall. all good in the end though.

    couple of days off with bambini but can't really expect anything major to happen apart from somework on the now dust gathering Frankenbike and some packing for house move.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    hopkinb wrote:
    HaydenM wrote:
    Also, a colleague gave me a very nice ~15 year old Gaggia espresso machine last week so I spent most of my pre-work routine re calibrating my coffee grind size
    Grind size varies enormously according to when the beans were roasted. 2 to 4 weeks seems to be the optimum. If you buy beans with no "roasted on" date, they're normally old, and however fine you grind them, it's impossible to get a shot of espresso that isn't thin and sour. Fine for filter coffee though. That's my experience though, ymmv.

    Balls, I bought a couple of bags of Lavaza beans to get the thing up and running. I get variable results but I'll certainly need a new grinder, this one creates some extremely nonuniform coffee...
  • Busy weekend with a good night out on Saturday, swam this morning so feeling slightly more revived than I did on Sunday morning.

    Possibly gym, possibly running, possibly pumpkin carving.
    Advocate of disc brakes.
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    HaydenM wrote:

    Balls, I bought a couple of bags of Lavaza beans to get the thing up and running. I get variable results but I'll certainly need a new grinder, this one creates some extremely nonuniform coffee...

    Warning - coffee geekery :shock: :

    We spent some JL vouchers that we got for our wedding on a Sage machine - it has a built in burr grinder, with settings 10 (coarse) to 1 (super fine). I bought some Lavazza and some supermarket beans. The recommendation was that a grind setting of 5 with a grind time of 16 seconds would produce a double shot in a brew time of 20-25 seconds. We had no joy - getting half a mugful of sour coffee, with no crema. We took the grind down to 1, with no appreciable improvement. I then popped out to Waitrose, and got some Union beans (their Revelation espresso blend), which had been roasted 3 weeks previously according to the pack. Went back to the original settings and got just about a perfect double espresso.

    Rule of thumb is that 16-18 grams of beans should pull a 35-40 gram double espresso in about 25 seconds. You can get scales to help (below). Weigh the coffee - grind it, pull the shot and weigh the output while it is brewing - stop the machine when you get to the right weight - if you get there too quickly (15 seconds), it'll be under-extracted and sour (finer grind needed), too slowly (30 secs or more) it'll be over extracted and bitter (coarser grind needed). A good, firm, even tamp is important. It's a faff to begin with, but you soon get an eye for it and don't need the scales any more once you get your preferences dialled in.

    https://baristashop.co.uk/products/bs23175?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-5yenNi-5QIVQbDtCh0BkgB0EAQYAiABEgKvxfD_BwE

    Union beans are pretty good, and fairly widely available. They work for me anyway, the quality of an espresso made in a proper machine seems to be dependent on the freshness of the beans. I like the Revelation and the Yayu Ethiopian beans.
  • Nescafe?
    Advocate of disc brakes.
  • hopkinb
    hopkinb Posts: 7,129
    Nescafe?

    As long as it's gold blend. :D
  • tlw1
    tlw1 Posts: 21,831
    WFH - longer walk for hound and potential for theatre later depending on what the rugrats are up to
  • Stevo_666
    Stevo_666 Posts: 58,167
    Best post before they shut the forum for 3 days - apparently we're moving to a new platform and we'll be back up and running on Thursday. I reckon productivity at work will go through the roof in some places this week :)

    Other than that I can only report a few numb fingers on the ride in this morning. Probably should have put my winter kit on. Hey ho.
    "I spent most of my money on birds, booze and fast cars: the rest of it I just squandered." [George Best]
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    Best post before they shut the forum for 3 days - apparently we're moving to a new platform and we'll be back up and running on Thursday. I reckon productivity at work will go through the roof in some places this week :)

    .

    thats us down here phucked then - i reckon its a Po Face engineered clear out of the cantakerous rabble and the site will re-open under the pseudonym of "boring bstardd clubbie cycle po face"

    however, we could all spend the next three days constructively:

    https://antique-bottles.net

    it'll be a smashing place to meet up and discuss anything really.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.

  • https://antique-bottles.net

    it'll be a smashing place to meet up and discuss anything really.

    WTAF?

    I hope "digging partner" is a euphemism, but I fear it is just looking for someone to look for old bottles covered in dirt.
  • Gym gymmed.
    Advocate of disc brakes.
  • veronese68
    veronese68 Posts: 27,252
    Stevo 666 wrote:
    Best post before they shut the forum for 3 days - apparently we're moving to a new platform and we'll be back up and running on Thursday. I reckon productivity at work will go through the roof in some places this week :)
    I've been working too much and not posting enough bollox lately, really should remedy the situation.
    Had a meeting with one of the thorns in my side and I had to explain to him why him not checking his information screwed everything else up further down the line and it really wasn't my job to check everything he did. He's sulking for all he's worth now. He is proving his stupidity in a wide variety of ways on a regular basis. I don't understand how he still has a job.
    Set the tubeless tyres up last night, unfortunately the bottle of sealant I had wasn't. They were a bit soft this morning but rode fine once I'd topped them up a bit. Should buy some decent sealant.
  • haydenm
    haydenm Posts: 2,997
    hopkinb wrote:
    HaydenM wrote:

    Balls, I bought a couple of bags of Lavaza beans to get the thing up and running. I get variable results but I'll certainly need a new grinder, this one creates some extremely nonuniform coffee...

    Warning - coffee geekery :shock: :

    We spent some JL vouchers that we got for our wedding on a Sage machine - it has a built in burr grinder, with settings 10 (coarse) to 1 (super fine). I bought some Lavazza and some supermarket beans. The recommendation was that a grind setting of 5 with a grind time of 16 seconds would produce a double shot in a brew time of 20-25 seconds. We had no joy - getting half a mugful of sour coffee, with no crema. We took the grind down to 1, with no appreciable improvement. I then popped out to Waitrose, and got some Union beans (their Revelation espresso blend), which had been roasted 3 weeks previously according to the pack. Went back to the original settings and got just about a perfect double espresso.

    Rule of thumb is that 16-18 grams of beans should pull a 35-40 gram double espresso in about 25 seconds. You can get scales to help (below). Weigh the coffee - grind it, pull the shot and weigh the output while it is brewing - stop the machine when you get to the right weight - if you get there too quickly (15 seconds), it'll be under-extracted and sour (finer grind needed), too slowly (30 secs or more) it'll be over extracted and bitter (coarser grind needed). A good, firm, even tamp is important. It's a faff to begin with, but you soon get an eye for it and don't need the scales any more once you get your preferences dialled in.

    https://baristashop.co.uk/products/bs23175?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-5yenNi-5QIVQbDtCh0BkgB0EAQYAiABEgKvxfD_BwE

    Union beans are pretty good, and fairly widely available. They work for me anyway, the quality of an espresso made in a proper machine seems to be dependent on the freshness of the beans. I like the Revelation and the Yayu Ethiopian beans.

    Useful stuff, I did work in a coffee shop during the summer at uni but the grind, beans and machine calibration was all sorted so idiots like me could make something decent at speed. The nicest crema I've had so far was the grind the daylights out of the beans, still bitter so I went for a more mellow roast. I need to get it perfect or my colleague will judge me negatively when he's next over from Italy ... :lol: