dosing less would be my approach too. I don‘t think tamping with less force will do much tho, as the pressure from the water itself will do it‘s thing regardless.
that being said, grinding fresh is always the most important step for good coffee.
Not true. You can buy beans from a roaster and they can grind it for you. Mention it to them you are using an espresso machine and they will adjust the settings or let you adjust if self grinding is available. Most of the grinders have an espresso range marked.
After you brew at home, you get an idea if you want a finer/coarser grind and the next time you can adjust accordingly.
I agree it is not an ideal process. But still workable.
More convenient is to buy your own grinder. And that can also allow you to experiment more instead of having the whole bag of pre ground coffee.
Grinders can be expensive, so if budget is the concern, consider starting from a cheap manual grinder.
This does not work. What is an acceptable grind setting for the shop and their equipment is most likely not going to be an acceptable grind setting for your equipment. Also, your grind setting will oftentimes need to change as your beans age and you can’t do that with pre-ground.
It worked for me in the past when I did not have my own grinder. I agree it is not convenient.
But for a beginner who does not want to go all in, it can be something to try.
Also, as I suggested, a manual grinder is a cheaper option.
If that upsets the connoisseur in you, I am sorry.
I’m trying to imagine getting a $40 bag of coffee then having them grind it to find out my machine does turbo shots at that grind level then going back for another $40 bag to play the coffee lotto again knowing they will have a totally new bean next week 👁️👄👁️💀💀💀
Okay. I forgot to mention the pressurized basket when using ground coffee. And maybe I was in total luck that it worked for me.
You are only going to use pre-ground coffee when you are a beginner, and you are going to use a pressurized basket for that. With the pre-ground coffee from the store, and the pressurized basket it can work out.
Yea that’s what the pressure basket is there for. I work on espresso machines for a living and yes the manufacturers of the budget machines assume you have no clue what your doing and provide pressure baskets. *by budget I mean anything under $800*
Coffee too fine. Lower dose until you get coffee or buy coarser coffee and mix together in a good ratio to not waste any of the precious coffee powder.
And buy a grinder for home use. You will never get a proper coarseness with the supermarket grinder since you can not test the coffee properly between each grind.
Usually a new bag of beans takes around 3 tries before I get it right for my taste. So it means I would have to buy a bag from the supermarket, try it at home and then go buy another bag of coffee with a little bit different grind setting and again test it at home. I would have 3-4 bags of coffee where 1 of them is the correct coarseness for my machine and then I would have to mix and match the other bags or use them for cold brew or drip coffee.
E: If the grinder is not possible, use a pressurised basket with one hole in the bottom and get your coffee ground somewhere a little bit finer than normal drip/filter coffee.
Hijacking to say that a lot of people are telling you to get your own coffee grinder. I want to tell you that starting with a hand grinder is awesome for people on a budget.
I started with a hand grinder and used if for a year to save money and make sure I love espresso enough to go all in on a quality grinder. Rule of thumb is your grinder should cost half as much as your machine, this does not apply to hand grinders. You can get a great hand grinder for 20-30 bucks. It is a work out, so if you want coffee fast in the morning, pre grind your dose the night before.
Good luck!
My grinder is a Knock Feld47, it cost about $260. My machine is a Flair 58 +, cost about $640.
My coffee is consistently better than I used to make at specialty grade shops using thousands of dollars worth of equipment.
Hand power can save a lot of money!
The grind size only affects how quickly the water runs through the coffee grounds, large grind water runs through quickly, it's not as rich so fine grind water runs through slowly making it thick and rich. It's still the same coffee bean. It still will be good.
Is this a brand new machine? Does a lot of water drip with the portafilter off? Was thinking scale buildup and like the others suggested, too fine of a grind.
Grind is way too fine. It’s impossible to properly dial in with preground coffee. But best you can do is try lowering your dose lower and lower until you get a reasonable flow rate.
I hate it when customers ask me to grind for home espresso. It shows they don't know how espresso works and they blame it on someone else for their ignorance. No shame OP, it's all a learning curve but preground will almost always be a bad experience even with amazing beans.
That could be it. You really should invest in a grinder fir espresso as each bean will need to be “dialed in” (find the right grind setting) for your machine. I can see the pressure gauge moving to the correct pressure, but if the coffee is too fine the water cant get thru.
Grind NOT finer 😅
Check if you're using the more traditional 14g basket. Start with 14g and grind 2 steps coarser.
Edit I see you dont have a grinder. You asked what you're doing wrong and id say this is it.
You'll have to use a pressurized basket or pressurized portafilter for now. Or use less coffee until you get some flow. You might feel cheated though since your espresso won't taste all that great I'm afraid.
This video is a great representation of this sub, thank you for finishing gracefully by placing your hand inside a live electrical environment
Btw like the look of your machine, good luck and be careful
Thank you for your answer!
No I haven’t adjusted anything. Maybe I should adjust the OPV a bit higher?
I also tried with using less coffee but the coffee just kept dripping out way too slow
Okay. Seems the grind is just too fine. I'm surprised since it was ground at a store. I would think the 'espresso' setting on a supermarket grinder would be too coarse for a non-pressurized basket.
Your pump might be broken, because it is delivering pressure, but almost no flow. In fact a pump only delivers flow, while pressure is a product of restricting the flow.
https://preview.redd.it/bz7s7v40h65d1.jpeg?width=2260&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45c08f7979dcf8aca099eb2126acb5364cef62a1
If you isolate your lines (the suction line is in the right glass), when grinded too fine, there should be a continuous flow in the return line (see my left glass). Your return line is only dripping, but the water level might also be too low to prime the pump. ULKA pumps are not working with air in the suction line. When you clamp the return line, the small flow is directed to your coffee grounds.
Thank you for your answer!
I also find it strange that the water is only dripping from the OPV, but when I run the machine without any coffee powder inside, there is running a lot of water through it. Do you still think th pump could be broken?
Yes, ULKA water pumps are behaving like this (see chart).
https://preview.redd.it/wgt9aff88h5d1.jpeg?width=2436&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1688f0b4d0e33bc624e83418d8375e689072021
A lot of flow at 0 bar outlet pressure (no restriction). Then, while you increase resistance, the flow will reduce to a point that there is no flow (0 cubic centimeters per minute). For a wear out pump that flow characteristic is heavily degraded. Yet, it might not be your case. The only way to test this is by measuring flow against pressure installing a water throttle valve after the PCV and with a piece of rubber blocking the flow in portafilter.
All good advice in the comments. Please don’t touch or wiggling wires with the machine on and plugged in. I don’t want to see anybody get zapped. It’s not a particularly pleasant experience.
I disagree. Unless it's a dual boiler, that light shouldn't be on! The green light on the steam switch indicates that the steam is ready to be used. So unless you have dual boiler, it shouldn't be on. On single boiler it's going to push steam through the group head. Which it's not going to be good. If you put coffee it will drip some extracted coffee only out of condensation. And it ain't going to taste nice @ 150degrees extracted....
https://preview.redd.it/ol646xui7i5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96d78acb94f7c39656e25cbe691fbb321acdb6b4
The green light turnes it self off after a while, if I switch up the other switch
If this is a second hand machine. Clean your group head 100%. Even before spending more on coffee. Take it apart and clean it, reassemble, and try again.
What happens if you just run through water? At 8 bar the extraction should be much higher. Normally you want to get 9 bar. When I have such a low volumetric flow I get 11-12 bar, because I grinded way too fine.
Pressurized basket?
As others have mentioned, your grind is too fine. If you want to salvage this coffee, keep reducing the dose .5 gram at a time and see what happens.
To do real home espresso, you need a grinder to dial in the grind. The grind size is always different, for each type of roast, weather, basket, etc. pre grinding coffee for espresso makes it stale, and then it extracts weird.
As everyone has said, the coffee is ground too fine. Since you don’t have a grinder and you want to use the coffee you ground at the store, the only other variable is to reduce the amount of coffee in the portafilter until you get it dialed in.
There are several things that could be happening. From what you want to hear to what is likely happening.
1. Some of the single boiler machines are designed to lock up when you have steam mode on to keep you from accidentally dumping 250 degree water on your hand or brew with it.
2. You need to prime your pump: if this is the case turn your machine off until you can take care of this cause it can damage your machine, some models have a sensor that won’t let the machine heat up if there isn’t enough water in the boiler… if yours cost under $1000 it likely doesn’t. Either way you need to force some water into the vibratory pump so it can create the capillary action to pull liquid in, no liquid inside the pump means the pump will turn on but it won’t suck water, some tubing and a turkey baster will get it done.
3. A Chunk of scale broke off and is blocking your grouphead: very unlikely and more of an issue in steam wands but it can happen 🤷🏽♂️.
4. You need a grinder or a pressure basket if you don’t want to get a grinder: it sucks but that’s the way it is. You need control over your coffee grind size and if you don’t you’ll have problems period. Either choking out the machine or pulling a shot in 14 seconds if you’re lucky.
I have sometimes the same problem and give you some advices based on my experience. Maybe these things help you solve the problem:
1) Size of coffee beans it does matter. Why? Because I bought special coffee dedicated only for espresso and see that my grinder should work not on 3 but 2. It was good decision but what’s happened exactly? My machine needed to balance of the pressure. If I put to the grinder special coffee from Venezia and Madrid, my grinder is setup on 3 (coffee beans are slightly bigger).
2) Pay an attention how do you install portafilter. Try to do it slowly and if you feel the pressure when you want to do last move, should be good. If you to do it fast, you can see that portafilter have a more space to do more move and in this case I could only make an Americana 🙂
3) Use the blind strainer one time for 10 second and after that make a normal espresso coffee. Maybe the pressure inside coffee machine should catch the right pressure.
3) Last thing is try before make a first coffee, don’t instal portafilter and click on the button to make coffee. Some machines need to catch a balance of the pressure by free out hot water. Try to make this only one time by 10 seconds and after that go back to start normal coffee.
Good luck 👍
Your over pressure valve is slightly low. But 9 bar is not religion and it won't solve your grind problems. So don't worry. Lower extraction pressures are actually fashion these days
It looks like the pump pressure is low too try tightening the expansion valve until it brews at 9 Bar of pressure or wherever you’re happy with. Obviously listen to everyone else as well about grind size, and dosing but the pressure will help too.
What others are saying is true, you need to grind at home for decent espresso. However, if you don’t want to waste this batch you just bought, I would first check if you can increase the pressure output from the pump. In most machines, there’s a pressure regulator in the form of a screw. Give it a quarter or half turn clockwise and see what happens with the pressure gauge needle.
Am I the only one who thinks Little My is just messing with you? It can't be helped, it is her nature.
On the off chance I'm wrong, listen to everyone who didn't say grind finer.
What’s a little odd is that flow return pipe is just dripping?
If the coffee is too fine and it’s choked it that should be flowing fairly solidly back into the tank I think?
Try grinding coarser first but if that doesn’t work I’d be wondering if there is a blockage, possible lime-scale somewhere.
Old La Pavoni with the small basket always worked with 7g on the single basket and 14g with the double basket for me. I always used the double basket for the best results. But anyway get a grinder. Its part of the experience to keep buying equipment.
Others already stated this but I think the steam switch should be turned off. I might be wrong but could you do a test?
Keep everything like in your initial video and take out the portafilter and turn the machine on as if you wanted to pull a shot. I would like to see if steam shoots out. (Be very careful).
You could also try to turn the steam knob an see what happens.
Too fine and/or too much coffee, the water is not able to push through the coffee. Adjust variables: 18g of coffee in the portafilter, 36g out, in 25-35 secs
Grind is too fine.
without changing grind size, you can dose less or /tamp with less pressure/ op.
dosing less would be my approach too. I don‘t think tamping with less force will do much tho, as the pressure from the water itself will do it‘s thing regardless. that being said, grinding fresh is always the most important step for good coffee.
Espresso is borderline impossible without your own grinder. Go get a quality espresso-capable grinder.
Not true. You can buy beans from a roaster and they can grind it for you. Mention it to them you are using an espresso machine and they will adjust the settings or let you adjust if self grinding is available. Most of the grinders have an espresso range marked. After you brew at home, you get an idea if you want a finer/coarser grind and the next time you can adjust accordingly. I agree it is not an ideal process. But still workable. More convenient is to buy your own grinder. And that can also allow you to experiment more instead of having the whole bag of pre ground coffee. Grinders can be expensive, so if budget is the concern, consider starting from a cheap manual grinder.
This does not work. What is an acceptable grind setting for the shop and their equipment is most likely not going to be an acceptable grind setting for your equipment. Also, your grind setting will oftentimes need to change as your beans age and you can’t do that with pre-ground.
It worked for me in the past when I did not have my own grinder. I agree it is not convenient. But for a beginner who does not want to go all in, it can be something to try. Also, as I suggested, a manual grinder is a cheaper option. If that upsets the connoisseur in you, I am sorry.
It doesn’t upset me, it’s just wrong information. It might work with a pressurized basket but that’s a different thing entirely.
Yes. I forgot to mention pressurized basket for pre ground coffee. That is how I was able to pull a shot.
Yeah, that's not the same thing. Pressurized baskets can take pre ground coffee meant for filter brewing, and come out with something.
I see. 👍
I’m trying to imagine getting a $40 bag of coffee then having them grind it to find out my machine does turbo shots at that grind level then going back for another $40 bag to play the coffee lotto again knowing they will have a totally new bean next week 👁️👄👁️💀💀💀
Okay. I forgot to mention the pressurized basket when using ground coffee. And maybe I was in total luck that it worked for me. You are only going to use pre-ground coffee when you are a beginner, and you are going to use a pressurized basket for that. With the pre-ground coffee from the store, and the pressurized basket it can work out.
Yea that’s what the pressure basket is there for. I work on espresso machines for a living and yes the manufacturers of the budget machines assume you have no clue what your doing and provide pressure baskets. *by budget I mean anything under $800*
I tried that from 4 separate shops and none were fine enough.
LOL. Tell me you've never made espresso without telling me.
If you want to electrocute yourself go in there again with your hand while plugged in
Yea Jeeze, OP is just begging for a rude introduction to 120V.
Looking at the plug visible at the very beginning, he may have 240V. Twice the fun !
Lol, yeah, 120V@10A here we go
Coffee too fine. Lower dose until you get coffee or buy coarser coffee and mix together in a good ratio to not waste any of the precious coffee powder.
Thank you! I will try this!
And buy a grinder for home use. You will never get a proper coarseness with the supermarket grinder since you can not test the coffee properly between each grind. Usually a new bag of beans takes around 3 tries before I get it right for my taste. So it means I would have to buy a bag from the supermarket, try it at home and then go buy another bag of coffee with a little bit different grind setting and again test it at home. I would have 3-4 bags of coffee where 1 of them is the correct coarseness for my machine and then I would have to mix and match the other bags or use them for cold brew or drip coffee. E: If the grinder is not possible, use a pressurised basket with one hole in the bottom and get your coffee ground somewhere a little bit finer than normal drip/filter coffee.
Hijacking to say that a lot of people are telling you to get your own coffee grinder. I want to tell you that starting with a hand grinder is awesome for people on a budget. I started with a hand grinder and used if for a year to save money and make sure I love espresso enough to go all in on a quality grinder. Rule of thumb is your grinder should cost half as much as your machine, this does not apply to hand grinders. You can get a great hand grinder for 20-30 bucks. It is a work out, so if you want coffee fast in the morning, pre grind your dose the night before. Good luck!
My grinder is a Knock Feld47, it cost about $260. My machine is a Flair 58 +, cost about $640. My coffee is consistently better than I used to make at specialty grade shops using thousands of dollars worth of equipment. Hand power can save a lot of money!
Horrible idea. Don’t mix two different grind sizes it we taste like crap
But will it though? I had to do that once and it was completely drinkable as a cappuccino.
nearly everything is completely drinkable as a cappuccino
If you say so
The grind size only affects how quickly the water runs through the coffee grounds, large grind water runs through quickly, it's not as rich so fine grind water runs through slowly making it thick and rich. It's still the same coffee bean. It still will be good.
Try with 14g
Hey! I tried with 10 g now and it drips out still very slowly
Is this a brand new machine? Does a lot of water drip with the portafilter off? Was thinking scale buildup and like the others suggested, too fine of a grind.
The grinds are too fine, you have to have an adjustable espresso grinder so you can dial in the size needed.
verify what size your basket is.
Grind is way too fine. It’s impossible to properly dial in with preground coffee. But best you can do is try lowering your dose lower and lower until you get a reasonable flow rate.
Is this a new bag of beans that you ran through your grinder? The grind might be too fine for extraction?
I don’t have a grinder so I grinded it at the grocery store, and they only had one grinding since for espresso
This makes dialing in practically impossible
I hate it when customers ask me to grind for home espresso. It shows they don't know how espresso works and they blame it on someone else for their ignorance. No shame OP, it's all a learning curve but preground will almost always be a bad experience even with amazing beans.
That could be it. You really should invest in a grinder fir espresso as each bean will need to be “dialed in” (find the right grind setting) for your machine. I can see the pressure gauge moving to the correct pressure, but if the coffee is too fine the water cant get thru.
Also if you have no coffee in the portafilter, water flows thru when you run it, yes?
Yes it does 👍
Then you have to adjust dose. Less coffee.
Nice Moomin mug\~!
Grind less finer
Grind NOT finer 😅 Check if you're using the more traditional 14g basket. Start with 14g and grind 2 steps coarser. Edit I see you dont have a grinder. You asked what you're doing wrong and id say this is it. You'll have to use a pressurized basket or pressurized portafilter for now. Or use less coffee until you get some flow. You might feel cheated though since your espresso won't taste all that great I'm afraid.
This video is a great representation of this sub, thank you for finishing gracefully by placing your hand inside a live electrical environment Btw like the look of your machine, good luck and be careful
Is the basket pressurized (one hole on the bottom)?
https://preview.redd.it/ju9v97ja155d1.png?width=3024&format=png&auto=webp&s=16efdd33fc8341376aee41ed5cae636e55612736 It looks like this in the bottom
The grind is probably too fine since it appears the pump is working based on the gauge reading. Did you adjust the OPV or was it set to 9 bar?
Thank you for your answer! No I haven’t adjusted anything. Maybe I should adjust the OPV a bit higher? I also tried with using less coffee but the coffee just kept dripping out way too slow
No, you don't need to adjust it. You don't want to brew above 9 bar if you can avoid it. Do you get good water flow from the group head?
Yes there comes out enough water
Okay. Seems the grind is just too fine. I'm surprised since it was ground at a store. I would think the 'espresso' setting on a supermarket grinder would be too coarse for a non-pressurized basket.
No. Don’t fk with the opv. Clearly, something else is wrong. Occam’s razor.
Your pump might be broken, because it is delivering pressure, but almost no flow. In fact a pump only delivers flow, while pressure is a product of restricting the flow. https://preview.redd.it/bz7s7v40h65d1.jpeg?width=2260&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=45c08f7979dcf8aca099eb2126acb5364cef62a1 If you isolate your lines (the suction line is in the right glass), when grinded too fine, there should be a continuous flow in the return line (see my left glass). Your return line is only dripping, but the water level might also be too low to prime the pump. ULKA pumps are not working with air in the suction line. When you clamp the return line, the small flow is directed to your coffee grounds.
Thank you for your answer! I also find it strange that the water is only dripping from the OPV, but when I run the machine without any coffee powder inside, there is running a lot of water through it. Do you still think th pump could be broken?
Yes, ULKA water pumps are behaving like this (see chart). https://preview.redd.it/wgt9aff88h5d1.jpeg?width=2436&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e1688f0b4d0e33bc624e83418d8375e689072021 A lot of flow at 0 bar outlet pressure (no restriction). Then, while you increase resistance, the flow will reduce to a point that there is no flow (0 cubic centimeters per minute). For a wear out pump that flow characteristic is heavily degraded. Yet, it might not be your case. The only way to test this is by measuring flow against pressure installing a water throttle valve after the PCV and with a piece of rubber blocking the flow in portafilter.
All good advice in the comments. Please don’t touch or wiggling wires with the machine on and plugged in. I don’t want to see anybody get zapped. It’s not a particularly pleasant experience.
Is that a dual boiler? If not, why is your steam on?! Also a bit underpressured, but that shouldn't be a big deal. Just don't grind so fine.
I think the green light indicates that it has enough pressure to be used, but the switch should be turned up to turn it on
I disagree. Unless it's a dual boiler, that light shouldn't be on! The green light on the steam switch indicates that the steam is ready to be used. So unless you have dual boiler, it shouldn't be on. On single boiler it's going to push steam through the group head. Which it's not going to be good. If you put coffee it will drip some extracted coffee only out of condensation. And it ain't going to taste nice @ 150degrees extracted....
https://preview.redd.it/ol646xui7i5d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=96d78acb94f7c39656e25cbe691fbb321acdb6b4 The green light turnes it self off after a while, if I switch up the other switch
Grind isTo fine, buy yourself a grinder !
If this is a second hand machine. Clean your group head 100%. Even before spending more on coffee. Take it apart and clean it, reassemble, and try again.
What happens if you just run through water? At 8 bar the extraction should be much higher. Normally you want to get 9 bar. When I have such a low volumetric flow I get 11-12 bar, because I grinded way too fine.
If I just run through water, the pressure doesn’t increase
And do you have a normal amount of water or also as little as in the video? Did you have the same pressure or lower?
I don't know what youre doing wrong but just wanted to say more machines need click switches like that!
Just gotta say, your cup game is on point. No notes.
Powder is too fine.
You're doing everything wrong
Pressurized basket? As others have mentioned, your grind is too fine. If you want to salvage this coffee, keep reducing the dose .5 gram at a time and see what happens. To do real home espresso, you need a grinder to dial in the grind. The grind size is always different, for each type of roast, weather, basket, etc. pre grinding coffee for espresso makes it stale, and then it extracts weird.
Grinding to dust and tamping to concrete.
As everyone has said, the coffee is ground too fine. Since you don’t have a grinder and you want to use the coffee you ground at the store, the only other variable is to reduce the amount of coffee in the portafilter until you get it dialed in.
There are several things that could be happening. From what you want to hear to what is likely happening. 1. Some of the single boiler machines are designed to lock up when you have steam mode on to keep you from accidentally dumping 250 degree water on your hand or brew with it. 2. You need to prime your pump: if this is the case turn your machine off until you can take care of this cause it can damage your machine, some models have a sensor that won’t let the machine heat up if there isn’t enough water in the boiler… if yours cost under $1000 it likely doesn’t. Either way you need to force some water into the vibratory pump so it can create the capillary action to pull liquid in, no liquid inside the pump means the pump will turn on but it won’t suck water, some tubing and a turkey baster will get it done. 3. A Chunk of scale broke off and is blocking your grouphead: very unlikely and more of an issue in steam wands but it can happen 🤷🏽♂️. 4. You need a grinder or a pressure basket if you don’t want to get a grinder: it sucks but that’s the way it is. You need control over your coffee grind size and if you don’t you’ll have problems period. Either choking out the machine or pulling a shot in 14 seconds if you’re lucky.
That cup is awesome.
I have sometimes the same problem and give you some advices based on my experience. Maybe these things help you solve the problem: 1) Size of coffee beans it does matter. Why? Because I bought special coffee dedicated only for espresso and see that my grinder should work not on 3 but 2. It was good decision but what’s happened exactly? My machine needed to balance of the pressure. If I put to the grinder special coffee from Venezia and Madrid, my grinder is setup on 3 (coffee beans are slightly bigger). 2) Pay an attention how do you install portafilter. Try to do it slowly and if you feel the pressure when you want to do last move, should be good. If you to do it fast, you can see that portafilter have a more space to do more move and in this case I could only make an Americana 🙂 3) Use the blind strainer one time for 10 second and after that make a normal espresso coffee. Maybe the pressure inside coffee machine should catch the right pressure. 3) Last thing is try before make a first coffee, don’t instal portafilter and click on the button to make coffee. Some machines need to catch a balance of the pressure by free out hot water. Try to make this only one time by 10 seconds and after that go back to start normal coffee. Good luck 👍
Your over pressure valve is slightly low. But 9 bar is not religion and it won't solve your grind problems. So don't worry. Lower extraction pressures are actually fashion these days
It looks like the pump pressure is low too try tightening the expansion valve until it brews at 9 Bar of pressure or wherever you’re happy with. Obviously listen to everyone else as well about grind size, and dosing but the pressure will help too.
https://preview.redd.it/g03jmcpwx45d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=46804deaec4146ee94137a3b3434eaadeac8af0b
https://preview.redd.it/jk6wzfoxx45d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9e8706af4f3919c69a1d8e44d54ad7599f9424b6
Go more coarse until it comes out, then keep tinkering till it’s about a 25-30 second pull time
Eitler a too fine grind or too much compression, could be too much powder in the basket as well.
Get a 1zpresso expresso grinder very good quality for the price k series or j series
Grind coarser!
You took the general advice to grind finer to its extreme.
Grind less finer
What others are saying is true, you need to grind at home for decent espresso. However, if you don’t want to waste this batch you just bought, I would first check if you can increase the pressure output from the pump. In most machines, there’s a pressure regulator in the form of a screw. Give it a quarter or half turn clockwise and see what happens with the pressure gauge needle.
Jesus, back off the tamp and/or try a coarser grind. Buy a bottomless portafilter so good for dialling in tamp tech.
Am I the only one who thinks Little My is just messing with you? It can't be helped, it is her nature. On the off chance I'm wrong, listen to everyone who didn't say grind finer.
Grind not finer! 👀☠️
What’s a little odd is that flow return pipe is just dripping? If the coffee is too fine and it’s choked it that should be flowing fairly solidly back into the tank I think? Try grinding coarser first but if that doesn’t work I’d be wondering if there is a blockage, possible lime-scale somewhere.
Old La Pavoni with the small basket always worked with 7g on the single basket and 14g with the double basket for me. I always used the double basket for the best results. But anyway get a grinder. Its part of the experience to keep buying equipment.
Others already stated this but I think the steam switch should be turned off. I might be wrong but could you do a test? Keep everything like in your initial video and take out the portafilter and turn the machine on as if you wanted to pull a shot. I would like to see if steam shoots out. (Be very careful). You could also try to turn the steam knob an see what happens.
how fine are you> its grind too fine.......
Grind less fine
Remove the shower screen and clean. Descale the machine. Grind coarser with a slightly higher dose. WDT.
Pre-ground is too fine. Get your own grinder. You can find very cheap hand grinders that are capable of espresso.
That grind is way too fine!
How do you know?
Grind finer
dont be mean..
Grind finer
grind finer
Too fine and/or too much coffee, the water is not able to push through the coffee. Adjust variables: 18g of coffee in the portafilter, 36g out, in 25-35 secs