I suppose it should be straightforward to work out the respective volumes of the 49mm and 52mm baskets for the pre-millennium and millennium versions of the La Pavoni Europiccola machines, but I don't have the knowledge to do it myself. Does anyone know how much more coffee (in percentage terms) the larger basket holds compared to the smaller?

I ask because I gather from my unsystematic reading of various posts that 14g of coffee is what most people pack into their Europiccola baskets, but they don't always specify which size baskets they are using. I find 14g fits tightly in my 49mm baskets (although varying with type of coffee, freshness and grind). So I got to thinking about how much more coffee the 52mm basket holds.

depending on how fine I grind, I average 17gm in the "millennium" basket. I find it hard to put 14gm in my original 49mm basket. That being said, basket size does vary and if you use an elektra 49mm you can fit 16.5 gm fairly easily

I have three baskets for my 49mm La Pavoni. The one which came with it (the medium size one) holds about 12 grams comfortably.

I also have two baskets, which I bought from Stefano's. They are technically Elektra baskets, but they work on the La Pavoni. The single shot elektra basket is necked down at the bottom and works well for 7 to 9 grams of coffee. The double shot basket will hold up to about 16 grams and leaves plenty of head room between the top of the puck and the dispersion screen. Might even be able to get 17 or 18 grams into it if you really tried.

The double shot basket is nice, because you can pull a really rich shot. The single shot basket is good too, since it allows you to use 7 to 8 grams off coffee, if you want to do the traditional 7 grams to 1 oz of water.

The double shot basket is a few millimeters deeper than the normal La Pavoni basket and may or may not fit into the portafilter handle (if you have a naked portafilter, then it's no problem of course).

Ray

mathof wrote:it should be straightforward to work out the respective volumes of the 49mm and 52mm baskets for the pre-millennium and millennium versions of the La Pavoni Europiccola machines, but I don't have the know

I recently got out a caliper and worked out the difference for millennium, pre-millennium, and the popular 49mm Elekctra basket, posted here Pavoni Basket Size Identification

Found that the stock millennium holds appx. 33% more than the stock pre-M when filled to 7mm below the rim. The Millennium and the Elektra hold about the same.

- Pat

And not all pre-Millennium portafilters can hold the Elektra basket without being chopped or ground out. My 49mm pre-2k portafilter had a curve inside that had to be ground out to fit the 90 degree angle at the bottom of the Elektra double basket. I didn't chop it because I want the metal mass for cooling, and that seems to work well, combined with watching the pressure gauge and temperature strip I've added. Here's the stock 49mm Pav double basket next to the Elektra:



Here are before and after photos of the portafilter that I ground out. The photos are a little hard to see, but I added some depth and created a right angle using a rotary tool with grinding bits.