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“realapplescrap”. [emoji23]

Trust me, I wish I could have pulled 40 shots belly now. Unfortunately, the manual grinder that I had just didn’t cut it and I’m not going through all the trouble to pull shots out of the LP to get subpar results. You are not witnessing patience, rather a guy just digging himself into a rather deep hole.

I’m too quick on response with chess too. I stay away from the pay version. Instead I use other resources such as books, YouTube, and 365chess.com to study games.

that's the problem with online chess IMO. I used to play it, won't anymore. I like the long games at home. I do have a clock at home though, just in case :)
 
dang i thought i saw someone mention chess here recently. still love the game but it sucks getting back to a game these days. feel like a total fish out of water. can't remember any basic strategy or opening series'. such a great game though.

Opening: Control the center of the board, promote your pieces (non-pawns), castle early, hold back the queen. That's what I taught my kids. There's reasons behind all of it, but for opening that'll work most of the time.
 
that's the problem with online chess IMO. I used to play it, won't anymore. I like the long games at home. I do have a clock at home though, just in case :)

I will admit that online has changed the true game of chess. With that said, it allows me to dig deeper into theory and strategy while the game is being played whereas if I were to play a timed game in person, I wouldn’t remember half of the positions that I would like to study.
 
Opening: Control the center of the board, promote your pieces (non-pawns), castle early, hold back the queen. That's what I taught my kids. There's reasons behind all of it, but for opening that'll work most of the time.

Personally, I don’t always promote an early castle. Some cases yes and some cases no. There are also games where my Queen comes out fast. For instance, last game with my dads I traded my Queen for his two rooks. Had I held the Queen...

IMG_0622.jpg


Sorry, back to coffee. My IMS portafilter and shower basket made it to DC!!
 
chess stuff....

Those are my default suggestions. I don't always castle early, or at all (though, it's always my intent). And, I come out early with the queen all the time, thought most of the time I do it I'm sorry for it. Opponent chases the queen of course, which means he's developing pieces and I'm not. I think it's a pretty big mistake to bring the queen out until the pieces are well developed and there are open areas on the board. That's how I open, I learned from Dummy's Guide :)
 
I bought this board over 10 years ago. Had some serious battles on it over the years. I agree, PassedPawn - interweb games are not the jam. Chess involves soul & hand to hand combat between 2 gentleman. A clock is authorized if said gentleman are proper scholars of the game & enjoy elevating the stakes.

Blah blah chess blah - here is said board prior to my Labrador, Owen giving me a hell of a match with some calculated pawn play..
BklFtMr.jpg
 
I bought this board over 10 years ago. Had some serious battles on it over the years. I agree, PassedPawn - interweb games are not the jam. Chess involves soul & hand to hand combat between 2 gentleman. A clock is authorized if said gentleman are proper scholars of the game & enjoy elevating the stakes.

Blah blah chess blah - here is said board prior to my Labrador, Owen giving me a hell of a match with some calculated pawn play..
BklFtMr.jpg

So similar to a board that I have. I’ll have to snap a pic tomorrow.

I definitely enjoy it on the web. I almost exclusively play with my dad back home. It’s good to get some good old competition with him since we are so far apart.
 
I've always been a big Connect Four fan ;)

Tried playing Chess but never really had anyone to play with. When I was a kid I'd play Chess on Pogo.com (can't believe I remember that, and can't believe it's still around).

Speaking of project updates...Jimyson has some great updates. My kitchen has fallen flat. I installed the new cabinets in two days, rushed to get the countertop measured, and....I'm still waiting. The salesperson forgot to call me to get an authorization for a little extra money it turns out they needed after the measurement, and it delayed things by another couple weeks. So I'm at 32 days without a useable kitchen, having to go to the basement for water any time I cook, make coffee, etc.

That also makes it 32 days of drip machine coffee. Ugh. Hoping the counter can be installed in the next few days so I can hook up a sink, but I'm guessing it's going to be another week plus.
 
And today’s update is the receipt of my IMS shower screen and portafilter. Looks like I’ll be losing a bit of ground coffee, which I expect to be ok since I felt that the old one required too much coffee for the amount of output that the machine gave. That’s all a guess since I didn’t pull too many shots before.

Old basket to the left, new basket in the middle, and shower basket on the right.

IMG_0648.jpg


IMG_0649.jpg


I’m thinking about possibly sending in the portafilter for powder coat with everything else. Thoughts?

IMG_0650.jpg


I’m hoping to drop things off tomorrow or Thursday.
 
Like charlie parker! The brass here is so wonderful - sometimes it's sloppy. And the drum guy keeps it on beat.


That's right, and for those who dont know that's where applescrap came from. I heard scrapple from the apple was slang for sausage outside of the casing. Enjoyed that passedpawn.

Haha, the "realapplescrap" #theofficialapplescrap, funny

Burundis 30 percent off this week


bitmoji-740177501.png
 
Those are my default suggestions. I don't always castle early, or at all (though, it's always my intent). And, I come out early with the queen all the time, thought most of the time I do it I'm sorry for it. Opponent chases the queen of course, which means he's developing pieces and I'm not. I think it's a pretty big mistake to bring the queen out until the pieces are well developed and there are open areas on the board. That's how I open, I learned from Dummy's Guide :)
Your advice is sound, and jimy did exactly that (early queen) in our first match still going on. I think it would have cost him the game but a blunder by me blew the whole game open. Now we're going to have to play chess to the finish. I play, but I rush and don't really care that much about winning. It's so easy online, you win some you lose some. I can play well above my rating but I don't see the upside too often. Enjoying playing with jimyson and we can chat and have been playing for a few days, its cool. This website is super cool.
 
That's right, and for those who dont know that's where applescrap came from. I heard scrapple from the apple was slang for sausage outside of the casing. Enjoyed that passedpawn.

Haha, the "realapplescrap" #theofficialapplescrap, funny

Burundis 30 percent off this week


View attachment 572707

Have you ever had scrapple? I've eaten a ton of it. When I was growing up, my dutch family made a lot of it (we called it balkebraj), but it's nearly the same thing as the stuff you get in Pennsylvania. I remember tongue and liver and such going into the meat grinder that was clamped to the counter.
 
Your advice is sound, and jimy did exactly that (early queen) in our first match still going on.

I was drinking and feeling ballzy. Quite an ugly opening. When the bourbon starts pouring, watch out!!

I was playing my dad this weekend too (although we go game after game so we are always playing) and I started getting some terrible moves in and he suggested that he send me some more bourbon. [emoji23]

Needless to say, I accepted his offer.
 
Do you guys think I should be looking at a distributor or higher end tamper? I currently have this

IMG_1527648223.157432.jpg


Should I find a distributor tool and something like an espro calibrated tamper or just let it ride with what I have. I’m anxious to have everything that I need to get awesome shots immediately when tho FS are built. Should I investigate this more?
 
Making the assumption that your tamper is the right size for your portafilter basket, the most important thing to me with a tamper is how it feels in your hand and how comfortable you are using it, IMO. So, it's pretty difficult to say if you need something different or not. Try going through the motions with it, how does it feel in your hand?
 
Making the assumption that your tamper is the right size for your portafilter basket, the most important thing to me with a tamper is how it feels in your hand and how comfortable you are using it, IMO. So, it's pretty difficult to say if you need something different or not. Try going through the motions with it, how does it feel in your hand?

With the limited use, it was too small in my hand. It is also light weight and I never knew how hard to tamp.

I’d need to measure it, but it I think fits about 3/4-7/8 into the portafilter basket
 
With the limited use, it was too small in my hand. It is also light weight and I never knew how hard to tamp.

I’d need to measure it, but it I think fits about 3/4-7/8 into the portafilter basket
Mine are both fairly heavy. Since I happen to be posting from the kitchen while roasting, 456g for the espro and 427g for the other. I don't know what brand the second one is, but it's a pretty solid chuck of metal and has a slightly convex bottom.
 
@jimyson - great choice in shower screen. I just installed an IMS 200 shower screen on my Synchronika. I’m quite surprised how much nicer it is than the stock screen. Much easier to clean & coffee/oils/grounds don’t stick to it nearly as easily. It feels Teflon coated. I ordered mine from CafeLat (Paul Pratt’s store I believe) & grabbed some of his 8mm Silicon group gaskets. I’m equally as impressed with those as well.

Personally i can’t see any reason to powder coat the Porta-Filter. It might look cool so if you have a good idea in your mind go for it but i can’t picture it on my end.

nickel trick - sounds line you’re figuring out how much coffee to dose? It’s critical to use the exact same amount in the basket every time. The old school trick is to place a nickel on top of the prepared coffee & lock it in. If the nickel is depressed into the coffee bed by the shower screen you are using too much coffee for that filter basket. *noteworthy - too much head space is also bad but not as big of a deal.

distribution tool - I just recently got my first one with my MonoLith Flat. Dennis throws them in for free with every grinder. I do use it but have recently felt like it’s not really useful. It’s handy but your finger (google Stockfleths method) is just as expedient.


Edit: really glad to see you went with a bottomless (aka naked) portafilter. They are invaluable for checking how your distribution is and how the shot is progressing. I haven’t used a spouted PF in over 10 years and don’t plan on going back
 
Can't wait to see the results!

BTW, seeing that sign the first thing I noticed is no area code. Man. We started having to use them when I was in MI back in like 1999/2000 and I can't imagine not dialing that any more.
 
@HarborTownBrewing - you and me both! About the area code. I’ll be honest and say that I have no idea if it’s required or not. I’m used to using it from other places that I’ve lived and it’s just habit.

I have a feeling that if it is required, updating his sign is one of his lowest priorities.

@jammin- I’ve read good things about the IMS filters, so I’m excited to have them.

The nickel trick sounds awesome. I’ll definitely do that. I do feel like the portafilter basket that came with the LP was too big and allowed too much head too. The naked portafilter also came with the unit, as did the tamper. I’ll need to learn more about how to visually analyze the basket.

I was thinking about sending the portafilter to powder coat simply because it was in rough shape on the inside with brass showing. That said, I elected against it mainly because of the lack of necessity and additional cost.

I see that people use cut off mini baking whisks, tooth picks, tapping, and even a nifty tool that has 3 fins on it to evenly distribute the coffee and break up clumps. Speaking of which, I should also learn more about this “WDT” I think is the acronym people use for this process. Not sure though. I may just wait to see what kind of clumping I get once my modifications are done to the grinder.

So it could be anywhere up to 4 weeks for the powder coat to finish. He said he is running 3 weeks but my size job gets fit in between larger jobs so, I could see it in a week or possibly 4. I’m ok with that since I’m waiting for the special order doserless components to arrive anyway. I am also trying to track down how I can get my hands on some SSP Red Speed burrs. I’ve not been successful yet.
 
Mine are both fairly heavy. Since I happen to be posting from the kitchen while roasting, 456g for the espro and 427g for the other. I don't know what brand the second one is, but it's a pretty solid chuck of metal and has a slightly convex bottom.

Mine is a measly 177g. I saw the convex bottom on the espro. I need to understand the logic behind that and water distribution in the puck with that.
 
Can't wait to see the results!

BTW, seeing that sign the first thing I noticed is no area code. Man. We started having to use them when I was in MI back in like 1999/2000 and I can't imagine not dialing that any more.
Around the house, there are various stickers with phone numbers on things. Plumbing, electric panel, garage door opener, furnace, patio door all have the sticker of a business that installed or serviced them. I can date some of them based on if there is an area code and what area code is on them. Several of them don't have area codes and are from when the entire Chicago area was 312 (suburbs were switched to 708 in 1989).
 
Can't wait to see the results!

BTW, seeing that sign the first thing I noticed is no area code. Man. We started having to use them when I was in MI back in like 1999/2000 and I can't imagine not dialing that any more.


dude we just started dialing 208 in Idaho! lots of folks had to go through their phones & add area codes to all their local contacts. pretty crazy especially considering Boise is the fastest growing city in America.. (thanks California)

even crazier, when i was in high school we didn't even have to dial a prefix! our town's phone book was just a large piece of paper. you could call anyone using 4 numbers - similar to a lot of office buildings I'm sure
 
dude we just started dialing 208 in Idaho! lots of folks had to go through their phones & add area codes to all their local contacts. pretty crazy especially considering Boise is the fastest growing city in America.. (thanks California)

even crazier, when i was in high school we didn't even have to dial a prefix! our town's phone book was just a large piece of paper. you could call anyone using 4 numbers - similar to a lot of office buildings I'm sure
When I was in middle school (1990) we moved from the Chicago suburbs to a small town in Indiana. In that town, nearly everything had the same prefix and it wasn't uncommon for someone to write down their number as 5-XXXX or 6-XXXX since 95% of the numbers were 936-XXXX and the other 5% were 935-XXXX. Four digit dialing either still worked within the prefix, or had very recently went away.
 
^I've never had a Yemen I regretted buying. The latest Yemen I grabbed from Royal's Crown is the best I've had. Just finished up the 1st pound today. It took a while for it to rest but the shots were terrific! Kind of wish I kept more of the box for myself. For drip only I don't think it would compare to a good Kenyan or Ethiopian though due to it's mild chocolate/sweet forward cup.

--------------------------------

I have been in touch with Cafe Imports recently about there Yemen selection. It's extensive & quite expensive. They have a 90pt offering which is a VERY high score for them. It is $14.31/lb but it's nearest in the peer group is $17.85 and scored an 89.
https://www.cafeimports.com/beanology/view/haraaz-fresh-jarmah-12417

Cupping Notes:
"Balanced with juicy sweetness, fruit acidity and a heavy syrupy mouthfeel; lots of cooked fruit flavor with strawberry, orange, chocolate and floral rose flavors." I was informed this cup has a substantial amount of acidity & fruit. Not your normal Yemen lot & may not be suitable for espresso due to it's intense qualities.

I've been reluctant to mention this coffee due to the price but if there is some serious interest I am willing to secure a bag for us. 32kg(~70lbs) bags are the only size & shipping is $40. Short side of the story is $225/head for 14.1lb shipped to your door. If there is 4 other folks (I make 5) who want to make this a go PM me. I have never order a coffee of this level and this company is new to me as well. For the price I want to be clear I am by no means certain it's a winner.
 
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