Bummer!

Ive completely lost my way! Ive upgraded to the Alexia PID and the K3 doserless. No way would I ever like a doser model.

I had a Silvia and a Solis and did 'fine' with that for 4 years.

the K3 has a little bit of clumping but no more than the Solis.

Ive tried the clump break up as noted here

but my coffee is no where near as good as with my older system.

I think I have not found the 'right' grind on the K3 yet

I get some 'pinholes' with the bottomless portafilter. but Ive never had a bottomless PF before.

Woe is me!
I know in the end this will be a super system for me

I do roast my own.

any ideas on how to tackle this problem?

many thanks!

It should just be a simple matter of trial and error. The K3 is stepless which should serve you well. It seems as if it really is just a matter of dialing in the grinder. One presumes you have a good 58mm tamper and are doing a tamp properly.

my coffee is extremely "thin" Im assuming that I havent dialed in the grinder yet for my beans. I get early blonding and some pin-hole streams.

I have the bottomless PF which is a new thing for me.

Ive read all the readings etc and will keep trying.

many thanks for your comments.

I have which is also new to me a bumper 'curved' tamper.

It takes time to adapt your technique to a new setup. Hard to say what's going on here based on your description, but you may need to grind finer and possibly dose differently. How much are you dosing right now? What kind of coffee are you using, and it is fresh?

If you don't have one, it's useful to get a gram scale for dialing in your dosage. I find that my Anita works best with a dose of around 18 grams for most coffees that I use. I can usually get an 18-gram dose by overdosing the basket and sweeping level using a pseudo Stockfleth's move to fill in any gaps in the dose. You also need to be careful to get your tamp level, as any unevenness in the tamp can lead to channeling. Weiss Distribution Technique (WDT) can also help if you're having trouble with clumping. Other than that, you just need to practice and figure out what works best for your machine, grinder, coffee and your own personal tastes. You should be able to get awesome results very soon if you keep practicing.

+1 to what Eli said.

It takes time to get used to a new piece of kit. I think this applies more to the grinder than the espresso machine, and more so when going from stepped to stepless. Trying to get used to a new machine and a new grinder would probably break my caffeine meter.

When I upgraded from an Infinity to a Simonelli MCI, I was expecting a huge jump in quality. I got it for sure, but not until I spent a little time getting used to it. I'll bet I went through 2 pounds of coffee before things started to settle down. Some of the pour meltdowns I had during this time were remarkable. It was probably 10 pounds before I had gotten used to the grind adjustment. After that everything settled down and using it became routine.

A gram scale is a nice thing to have and will certainly help you keep the dose variable to a minimum while dialing in.

many thanks for all the tips.

Ill look into a gm scale and tomorrow Ill grind with the solis thats still set 'about right' and the K3 and try them both.

I only use coffee Ive roasted myself.

i did fine for about a week now its pretty 'thin and bad'

10 lbs is a lot to grind to get back to the good stuff!

Pinholes have

nothing to do


with your Alexia ( )
Ya gotta fix the double spacing thing on your posts.
Seriously, we've ALL had pinholes and the accompanying water sprites.
My suggestion would be to try using the WDT *Weiss Distribution Technique" as Eli suggests. This should pretty much eliminate the cause of your pinholes, clumpy grind and uneven distribution.
Here is a link
Banish Uneven Extractions with Weiss Distribution Technique

cant say I know how to change the double space.

I realize right now all my problems are in the grind, the minor clumping and the tap.

I do the WDT. will get a scale soon and try some other roasts Ive roasted in the past.

might have to pull the old Solis out and try what I have with that and the Alexia in the mean time

thanks for your help!

Robert

I've used a Compak K3 touch for almost a year now and I've never had any of those problems you describe. I do weigh out my doses and I also use WDT. I can and do vary my grind by tiny amounts and I can see the resulting effects on extraction times and predict what they will be. I saw this immediately and without break-in time wasting large amounts of coffee. The alexia baskets and E61 are as far as I know identical with my Anita so I am at a loss to see what is wrong with your equipment.

You have received good advice on technique - keep trying.