After several years of becoming increasingly in love with coffee and espressos, I decided to spring for my own espresso machine and a nice grinder. They finally came in last Thursday - a Le'Lit PL041 espresso machine, and a Le'Lit PL53 grinder.

Full disclosure: I'd never pulled an espresso shot in my life. Most mornings I'd been making my coffee with a French press. I don't know exactly when my beans were roasted, but it's a popular local blend which I believe is roasted nearby and sold independently. I can't imagine it being that old, but you never know. It may have been my excitement, but the first shot I pulled with the machine didn't seem that bad. But I feel like they're only getting worse, no matter what I try! I'm feeling extremely discouraged. See below...

1) I read that it's ideal to wait for a machine to heat up for 45 minutes. However the "ready" light comes on for my machine after about 1 minute. Is 45 minutes really necessary?

2) My manual says to not tamp the grounds, but fill the filter evenly to the rim. Both of these go against what I'd been reading - 21 grams of beans, tamped down. Incidentally, are they serious? I'm lucky if I can fit FIVE grams in a single filter. My scale isn't super accurate, but it weighs in at least within 1.5 gram difference. (Note: I'm weighing the beans prior to grinding - is that right?) Regardless of the amount of beans, the machine always seems to become choked.

4) I'm having a really hard time figuring out the right coarseness for the grounds. It's hard for me to tell a difference between "as coarse as possible" and "as fine as possible". There's an arrow on the knob, and coarseness levels printed on the machine, but the knob just turns indefinitely making me wonder if it's broken, or if I've twisted it way beyond the point of return. (It's hard for me to tell a difference in the coarseness of the beans.) Can anyone with this grinder confirm that this is intentional?

5) When I have NO portafilter on the machine, water comes out at close to 1/2 oz per second. With the coarsest grounds, leveled off evenly and not tamped, it takes around 12 seconds for anything to even start dripping out, and after 60 there's less than a half ounce. What gives? Am I incorrect for thinking that coarser grinds = easier water flow?

I saw Pulling shots with Lelit PL041, but it's extremely long and seems to divert into stuff way beyond just basic operation (e.g. disassembling).

Try http://www.coffeeco.com.au/pl041_instructions.html .. my instructions in English. The PL53 grinder adjustment needs to be turned anticlockwise to go coarser, and you need to grind and discard for 5 seconds after each adjustment to clear out existing grinds.

Alan

Thanks Alan! I tried your instructions, but it still isn't working. The coarseness of the grounds is mid-way on the grinder, and I basically just rested the tamp on top of the grounds with no pressure to level it off. After over a minute there was barely 1/2 oz of espresso.

Is there a surefire way to tell if the machine is at fault? I feel like I've tried everything. It would be one thing if it was only bad flavor, but I can't even get a full shot out of the machine.

Sorry everyone, the egg's on my face....

See item #4 in my original post. The Le'Lit PL53's knob can be turned hundreds of times, as mentioned on the 1st Line page for the grinder (http://www.1st-line.com/machines/home_m ... t/PL53.htm). The marks around the knob are similar to a car's air conditioner or stereo's volume control, where there's a "Max" and "Minimum". There's an arrow on the knob, which in my mind indicated that the grounds were as fine or as coarse as they would go once the knob reached that "minimum" or "maximum" mark, even if the knob continued turning. Just toying with the grinder to test this, I at one point made the grounds WAY too fine so that even untamped, water wasn't making its way through. But I couldn't tell a difference with just my naked eye.

The good news is, it's a valuable lesson learned and there were many other discoveries I made during the troubleshooting process. The bad news is that the grounds are so coarse now that I'm getting major over extraction. But the great news is that my machine seems to be working fine and it was just a stupid beginner's mistake caused by wonky interaction design. Thanks for the help... I'm sure I'll be back.

Hi walter, I read your questions and hope I can offer a little bit of help.

1. Your machine is technically ready to brew after a short amount of time. Leaving it on for 45 minutes allows all the parts to heat up in the machine so that you are getting better heat stability during your shot. So the more heat up, the more stable the temperature will be.

2. Tamping your coffee isn't the MOST important step in the espresso process, but I don't know why you wouldn't. the PL041 is non pressurized if I'm not mistaken, so tamping shouldn't hurt the machine. It will also help you fit more coffee in the basket. A single basket should hold around 7 or 8 grams of coffee. A double basket will hold around 14 to 16. Finally, a triple holds around 21 grams. These are all just standard stock basket measurements. If you are chocking your machine, you should grind coarser.

4. The lelit PL43 grinder is known as a "stepless" grinder. This means that it has an unlimited amount of settings. This is helpful to find the perfect grind you need. The knob should turn many many times, as each adjustment is minute.

5. Water comes out very easily with no portafilter in place. Your grounds must be finer than you think, because a coarse grind does allow water to flow easier.

I hope you have fun learning the ins and outs of espresso, as I'm still a learner myself. Good luck!

I used one of these machines for over a year, and do not consider myself an expert, but perhaps these observations will be helpful.
1) 15 minutes of warm up is enough. 10 is about the lower limit.
2) You are probably close to the right grind. I only used the double basket, adjusted the grind until the machine chocked on the tamped double basket, and then backed off the grind a bit. This worked pretty well.
3) The variety of beans and freshness are really crucial. You just have to experiment to find out what you and your machine like. You will find that as your beans age (even by a week), or you try a different variety, you have to adjust the grind.
Hope you enjoy the process.
Mike

Thanks Mike, thanks Matt! The shots are at least pouring now, which is a tremendous improvement over a few days ago. I pulled one shot that I tamped too hard, and another that I didn't tamp hard enough, so I think the grinder setting may be close to correct, at least for now. Tomorrow I'll begin trying to measure the quantities again.

I'm glad your doing better! Another thing that I could suggest would be to use a bathroom scale to see what 30 lbs of tamping feels like. You should focus on keeping your tamp consistent so you can focus on the grind. Hope that helps.