Hey! I've had a cremina for about a week and I'm struggling to get a good shot. I replaced all the seals and cleaned the head and boiler. The lever raises as it cools, so I'm positive the seals are all good. I fashioned a steam arm pressure gauge and have it between .7 and .9 bars. I also have a superjolly, so it's not the grinder. I'm using some week old (at this point) barismo beans (highly recommended). I've read all the posts I could find on the cremina and also all the videos.

My espresso is not good. I usually overfill the basket and do a wdt and level with the top of the basket. Then I tamp, and I've been doing a hard tamp but it wasn't great so I followed some other advice and used a really light tamp. When I use the light tamp I can see some channeling. Once I did almost no tamp and I saw a giant tunnel. I do an 8s preinfusion and am sure to lift the lever until just before water comes out.

I pull a single stroke and get about 1.5 - 2oz. However, I've been pulling into 2 cups and always one of the cups is ALRIGHT and the other one has less espresso and is bitter and terrible. I'm fairly certain that it's channeling. My hard tamps don't usually show channeling, however they taste the same. On a light tamp I can see where the water hit the puck right when I lifted the lever and made indentations in the grinds. My tamps are level. Either tamp I get pretty much the same results. I really want to saw off the portafilter bottom but I have too much respect for olympia.

So my real question is, do you think my problems are water rushing in too fast? Should I lift the lever EXTREMELY slowly? I already do it pretty slowly. I'm at a loss, and I've put a pound almost of beans through. Fresh coffee is in the mail as well.
Thank you for reading my enourmous post.

p.s. i could post a video if that helps

If your machine is level and your getting noticeable different amounts in the 2 cups and one is better and your tamp looks level I'd suspect uneven distribution. If you press your finger down on different spots after you tamp do you feel a difference in the degree of pack? How many grams are you using?

Hmmm, interesting thought about that finger pressure! I'll let you know about that. As far a weight goes, I don't weigh but fill by volume. I've been meaning to get a scale but it wasn't totally necessary on my le'lit.

Actually, I never really understood the weight thing. If I grind finer and I level to the top of the basket, the weight will be less (more fluffy). And the opposite for coarser. So weight is just another name for grind? But I already adjust the grind by how hard it is to pull the lever, so what does weight get me exactly?
THANKS!

Well, after a few weeks i have much to report. I changed my technique totally. I:
-Stopped wdt (it wasn't helping)
-Started thwacking the pf
-Started overdosing and tamping with a orphan tamper so at the end of the tamp (30#) the top of the tamper was level with the top of the basket.
-Lowered my pressure. I turns out my gauge was inaccurate so I stopped using it. I found out after smelling the pf after a shot smelled like a moka pot. I lowered the pressure to stop channeling, but I may slowly raise it again.
-Started paying very close attention to the temperature of the pf and the grouphead. If I pull several shots, the hotter one is better (so I slightly raised the pressure).

So far my shots have improved DRAMATICALLY. But they are still a bit bitter and harsh. The shots I got at the shop where I bought my current beans (on their commercial la marzocco) tasted like chocolate with no bitterness and extremely dark crema. My shots don't taste nor look anything like that. The shots get better and better so we'll see. Any advice?