Anything look wrong with the way this is coming out?

[zealous cairn]

About 30 seconds for a 18:36g ratio with a Sage Bambino.

It still tastes very sour/bitter (can't tell). Grinded beans with a Timemore C3 on click 9. Click 8 makes it come out in like 50 seconds (too fine).

Sorry about the bad angle, does it look like there's channeling?

Pre infusion of about 8 seconds. Pre heated machine and portafilter with a couple of empty single shots.

[kindred thorn]

Looks fine, work out whether sour or bitter. lick Lemon flesh versus bite Lemon Rind flavours.

If Sour: Pull a longer ratio (try 18:45)
If Bitter: Pull a short ratio (try 18:27)

[worthy lichen]

Looks pretty even

Figuring out bitter and sour as mentioned is a good idea.

I find actually slurping coffee helps distinguish in cases where I can’t really tell otherwise

But ymmv with that.

[zealous cairn]

So I tried 45 seconds but it's still quite...astringent? Like it makes me squeeze my eyes and lift my nose because of how strong it tastes. I should be ending up with like 55g of output after that long?

It's a medium - dark roast

Roasted 5 days ago

I am also starting to time as soon as I hit the button to start pre-infusion, not when the first drip hits the cup

[worthy lichen]

45 seconds is a long shot

Roasted 5 days ago… that’s hella fresh.

If you aren’t solid on how your grinder and machine work together, super fresh coffee will give you more headaches since it will be drastically changing every day

If you have older coffee on hand swap to that to get a feel for dialing in by taste first

I rewarched your video too. Did you slide your cup away before the flow ended completely? It sounded like the last 3-5 seconds of coffee were hitting the drip tray.

[worthy lichen]

Try and relate your taste to something else common. For example, does it taste like biting into lemon skin? Dripping lime onto your tongue?

Until we know for sure whether you are hitting bitterness or acidity it’s hard to make suggestions

[zealous cairn]

More like dripping lime onto tounge, like acid

Yes I removed the cup before it ended because I had already hit 36g

If I left it, it would've gone upto 40 or more, should I be leaving it?

[zealous cairn]

Also, how long should I wait after roast date? (20th April)

[zealous cairn]

Or hit the stop button at 30g and leave it to drip until 36g?

[kindred thorn]

Either the pull cup at weight or stop shot in advance method work. The pull cup method is more common amongst lever machine owners.

Arguably the results could be subtly different. I’ve never done side-by-sides on the two methods, and you’d need to do a few hundred to get usable data. Which I could do… if I started now I’d have a preliminary conclusion in August maybe.

[worthy lichen]

Either increase your time by grinding finer, or increase your ratio by dosing a bit less

[worthy lichen]

Atleast 10 days is my recommendation. Some light roasts maybe even a month

[zealous cairn]

Okay thanks will try soon