I have recently got a Linea 2AV to replace the La Scala Carmen I had before, but I am now getting worse cappuccinos than I did with the Carmen. Sigh.

1. I am using the same beans at the same freshness.
2. The grinder is the same (Super Jolly) and is roughly the same setting to get a 25-30 second pour.
3. The water is the same.
4. The temperature of water coming out of the head is about 93 degrees C.
5. Brew pressure is showing 9 bars.
6. I have cleaned the group heads and replaced the seals and shower screens.

The crema starts off with a reasonable golden colour, but quickly blonds, so at the end of the pour it is very pale.

What do I do now?

Any help would be appreciated.

Maybe the difference is in more aggressive pressure ramp up? If your puck does not handle it, then you need to improve your pucks, i.e., improve distribution, grooming and tamping. Or adjust the LM to be more forgiving, if possible.

Hi Nick,

can it be that the Linea is running with no gicleur? this would mean faster pressure ramp up and higher water debit. You can check the latter turning the pump for 10s and checking how much water you get from an empty group.

Regards,
dsc.

Hi Tom,

I manually ran a group for 10 seconds with no portafilter and got 240 mls of water. I don't know what I should be getting ...

dsc wrote:can it be that the Linea is running with no gicleur?

I second that. Also remember that different machines have different baskets and grouphead geometry, so the best doses etc that you were using before won't necessarily translate across.

Oh, and some machines are more forgiving than others. e61s as I am sure you know have a reputation for being very forgiving. I used to be able to pull a decent single without WDT (just attention to distribution) from SJ burrs on my old e61, try it on the speedster and it won't have a bar of it!

240mls sounds high. I've got a .6mm gicluer and get around 80-90mls in 10 secs.

Good luck, Chris

NickA wrote: manually ran a group for 10 seconds with no portafilter and got 240 mls of water. I don't know what I should be getting ...

Both groups the same water debit?

Hi guys,

yes 240ml seems quite high, something around 100ml would be better I think. Try increasing the dose and checking how that works, although remember you might have to grind coarser to get something good out of the PF.

A good idea would be to disassemble the group and check if there's a gicleur mounted anywhere. I'm not sure where to look for it in a Linea, but I'm sure other LM users will post something useful. Also what dispersion method does the group use? is it the standard LM screw with 4 holes or something else?

Regards,
dsc.

I have used a Linea with no gicleur. It will still pull a perfectly good shot but you have to be spot on with your distribution.

NickA wrote:The crema starts off with a reasonable golden colour, but quickly blonds, so at the end of the pour it is very pale.

Sounds like the classic symptom of stale coffee or channeling. Assuming the coffee is fresh, a bottomless portafilter would help diagnose further. FWIW, I found the La Marzoccos in Counter Culture's espresso lab much friendlier after they installed 0.6mm gicleurs. The only downside I've heard is from their tech, who complains they clog easily.

In answer to various points raised:

I have now checked both groups and they both give 240mls.

The shower screen screw has 2 holes; i.e. 1 channel through it.

There is no obvious evidence of channeling in the puck after a pour.

re Bean freshness; the same freshness of coffee yields very acceptable results in other machines I have.