chanty 77 wrote:Dan, I've never had a scale, and normally this has worked for me. To get 2 double size, I use the portafilter twice. To get the amount of coffee I need ground, I use 2- 1/4 cup (measuring cups) or a 1/2 cup. I grind 1/4 cup first in case I have to play with the grind. I use the portafilter that came with the Gaggia Classic. They send a pressurized porta. with the unit.

^^^ A number of baskets come along with the Gaggia's portafilter. Just use the standard (i.e. non-pressurized) one!

Maybe I should just order a non pressurized basket from Gaggia. I only got a single shot and double shot basket with the portafilter. The single shot is useless. I never use it cuz it never worked normal. Plus I always do double or more anyway. Never got a non pressurized one when got new Classic...

Are you sure you have a pressurized basket? It looks like this http://www.wholelattelove.com/Gaggia/ga...basket.cfm and only has one hole on the bottom if I remember right. I also think they don't usually ship with the machines and are only sold separately. I believe only non-pressurized baskets come with the gaggia machines but I could be wrong.

Don't have that little black piece of hardware. I'm pretty sure it is pressurized.

In that case, this would be the basket you need. http://www.wholelattelove.com/Gaggia/ga...basket.cfm Either way, you are still grinding too coarse. This means you need to adjust the macro lever (right lever) to a finer setting (move up). The only reason you would need to recalibrate is if the right lever is all the way to the top (finest setting) and the espresso is still brewing too fast. From what you are describing, it sounds like you might be adjusting the wrong way (adjusting coarser instead of finer).

No, I wasn't adjusting the wrong way. Macro at very top. First with the micro at about 6 notches down, it was dripping out very slow at first (several seconds), then came out about 30 seconds. I then tried another shot at that same place, and it came out quite quick(about 3-4 sec. after I turned brew on). It started to blond after about 20 seconds. So I put the micro notch on 3 from top. That still seems to only take 20-22 seconds and it starts to blond. I'm hoping that this is just the start, and it will get better. I used a good quality (all I had to work with) of beans, but had to be careful with those cuz there seems to be many shells of beans in the 1lb. I opened.