Hey All-
I've had my new La Pavoni Pro (pre-millenium) for about a week now... this forum has been really helpful and I am very excited about this machine and my progress. Great tips in the other threads about grind, technique, and accessories (I already picked up the single-hole steamwand tip and 49mm steel tamper)

My question today is about pucks. This is a pre-millenium machine with the 49mm basket. I am generally dosing to the top of the double basket and leveling off before packing. Currently I am having good luck with 18-20lbs of tamping pressure and a grind in the 7-8.5 range on my rocky grinder. I am using a "freshly opened" bag of starbucks guatemala beans currently (Maybe not ideal...thats another thread)

Anyways when I knock out my puck, it's coming out of the basket in crumbles.
Is this typical for the 49mm basket, or does it tell me anything about my grind or packing technique?
I.e. I am wondering if I should try a coarser grind and more packing pressure. The crema lead me towards the finer grind and less pressure, but I'm still looking for improvements.

Difficult to say without a picture, but if it's a crumbly rather than firm cake, it could well be that you can take things finer still... More importantly: how does it feel pulling a shot? It should feel like pulling a knife through firm butter. Not everyone agrees, but the current consensus and my own findings are that you want a fine grind and light tamp - as light as you can go to simply eliminate any pockets of air and smooth the top. This relies on fairly fresh beans, though.

Cheers

Mike

Cool thanks. With the current grind, I am choking the machine if I tamp at 30lbs+, or put a lot of weight on the lever. Backing off the tamp to 18-20lbs and putting lighter pressure on the lever, and the resistance feels nice. Good tips in the other thread, I was surprised to find that lighter pressure on the lever actually works against the choking. taking about 20 seconds to pull top to bottom with firm pressure. I'm getting decent crema in the shot glass but it seems to dissipate pretty quickly. The crema is reddish brown (good!) but there's not a lot of it- maybe 1mm across the top of the shot. I am sure fresher beans will help.

I'll try to post some pictures later.

How does the espresso taste? I have had a Europiccola for about a month now, and having tried many dosing methods, I get my best results, including the most consistency, with a low dose (my Ponte Vecchio Lusso seems to do best with an overdose). With good distribution from my doser, I then level across with a chopstick—this is what I call a full dose. To achieve the low dose (as recommended by many others, including fullsack), I level across with a finger, grip side down, in two directions. This removes about a gram or so. Then I tamp.

With the underdose, the grounds do not swell to the point of touching the screen enough to leave any visible impression. A puck with good resistance during the pull will allow the portifilter to be safely removed in about a minute. With an full dose, a pull with the same resistance may require a several minute wait to safely remove the portafilter.

Perhaps try a low dose, and see how it does.

F.M. wrote:when I knock out my puck, it's coming out of the basket in crumbles.
Is this typical for the 49mm basket

It also happened occasionally to me with my 51 mm basket. I suppose it has to do with tamping too often or too heavy. It happens mostly when I use the plastic tamper that comes with the machine, I don't know why.
Nothing to worry though. You can pull a nice shot even when that happens (and you can have an inferior shot with a nice puck too by the way....)

Thanks for the tips everybody.
Here are some shots I just took. Obviously another issue I'm working on is getting equal volume shots. I think there is more than my dosing/tamping technique at issue here, since I typically get even shot volumes on a La Marzzoccha I have access to. Maybe my home countertop is uneven? The are consistently off (right shot is always larger). Otherwise I'm feeling prettty good about things thus far but obviously there's room for improvement. ANy thoughts or tips are appreciated!

Nice shots for only a week of practice. 2nd shot looks very good indeed (and with great colour). I'm sure you will be getting still better in a month or so. Are you using the plastic tamper?

Thanks Calb. I am using a stainless 49mm tamper I got through ebay seller "precisiontampermaker". Under $20 and I received it within 3 days of purchase! That and a single-hole steam wand tip from orphanespresso were both great inexpensive upgrades.

I am really curious to take a level to my countertop now. My whole set-up is on one of those adjustable wire shelving units, so I woudn't be surprised if it's way off level. If I can get the shot volumes equal it will make it easier to focus on other things. I hope you are right about more improvements to come!

If I can get the shot volumes equal it will make it easier to focus on other things.

Boiler pressure correlates with shot volume—do you always pull at the same pressure? I have settled on .7 bar on my Europiccola.

I was pulling my shots at .7 (basically as soon as the gauge was in the green again, after releasing the false pressure).. but it seems like I'm getting much better shots when I wait for it to get up to .9, where it stabilizes. Also, seems like the first shots are usually sink shots, then 2 & 3 come out better.