I bought myself a Porlex tall grinder for my Gaggia Cubika Plus.
I have de pressurized the portafilter and started to grind some cheap starbucks beans for practice.
I set the porlex to espresso grind which is 2 clicks according to has bean instructions and some reviews I seen.
My problem is I still get a fast shot and also there are lumps of coffee that is being ground.
Is this normal?

I did try with one setting higher for more finer grind but after tamp it choked the gaggia and it was dripping out.
Also my filter is always wet which can get messy as since I removed the pressurizer the portafilter leaks more.

Since you don't have much choice of grind, have you tried varying the dose?

I can change it to coarse but cant have too coarse for espresso.
Do you mean less coffee or more?
Currently I fill it to the top but not overflowing and then tamp it.

Hi, there. I use a Porlex with my Pavoni. Three things that may help:

1. Get rid of the plastic adjustment nut that it comes with and replace it with a washer and two regular nuts. These two can be tightened together against each other to form a lock nut. That will give you the ability to freely choose whatever grind setting you want and hold it there, especially between the "clicks" on the adjustment nut it comes with.



2. You may want to use a WDT to get rid of the clumps.

3. I find coffee gets clumpier as it gets staler. I suggest using up your Starbucks coffee quickly and then buying some freshly roasted coffee (maybe even from Has Bean).

Hope this helps.

Nekromantik wrote:...started to grind some cheap starbucks beans for practice.

Practicing with cheap coffee that is likely stale is false economy; it will invariably lead to second guessing your equipment or technique. Get a good, freshly-roasted coffee that's well known to other forum members. That way we can offer diagnostic advice that's more likely to be correct than (wrongly) guessing at the causes.

Dan (HB) is on the ball there: the coffee is probably not fresh.

Don't blame either your grinder or machine.

And I certainly wouldn't go modding anything before you have a good idea of how it works as designed.

The Porlex is a perfectly good grinder and should handle any fresh beans very nicely.

I know the feeling of wanting to get going immediately, but you will hit the same frustrations with pretty much any coffee chain/supermarket coffee. Save the money you could be wasting on more cheap/stale beans and get something from any of the good roasters recommended.

You will find yourself in another world

thanks

SlowRain I will try and get some nuts and washers and try that out.

I will buy some has bean coffee next week and try with that.

Could the stale beans be the reason why my shot gets pulled too quick?
or is that because im using a pressurized portafilter that I de-pressurized?

Nekromantik wrote:Could the stale beans be the reason why my shot gets pulled too quick?
or is that because im using a pressurized portafilter that I de-pressurized?

Yes * 2. For the latter point, I refer to one my favorite Quotable Quotes: "Pressurized portafilters and pressurized filter baskets come in many guises, but they basically have a single purpose: to allow the customer to get the appearance of acceptable crema from stale, poorly ground supermarket coffee." --Alan Frew

HB wrote:Yes * 2. For the latter point, I refer to one my favorite Quotable Quotes: "Pressurized portafilters and pressurized filter baskets come in many guises, but they basically have a single purpose: to allow the customer to get the appearance of acceptable crema from stale, poorly ground supermarket coffee." --Alan Frew

I cant seem to find any un pressurized portafilter that will fit my machine in the UK.
The only one I know of is the Saeco Aroma portafilter but thats only in the US. I think its the same machine as it looks exactly the same (plastic version) apart from different branding. Even the portafilter looks the same.

I've had great results w my porex and my LaPavoni Europiccola with 14.5 grams for the double basket being a good starting point for most fresh beans. For most espresso blends like those from Barefoot or Blue Bottle, I use two clicks forward from the point where you no longer hear shaking from then inner screw and outer ring when you lightly shake the grinder. I also use WDT and get beautiful uniform grinds with no globs once I've WDT'd. Good pulls on most attempts. Much better than I can acheive w my Rocky doserless.

As an aside, what sort of cleaning routines to people follow w the porex?

Should one use grinder cleaner pellets every so often? Dissassemble and brush clean? I've used mine for nearly a year now and was wondering.