Ok, Just got my new-used Gaggia Factory 106 today from Francesco Ceccarelli in Italy.

I have been using semiautomatic espresso machines for several years now. I'm pretty happy with what I can pull from them. After reading H-B lever forum, I decided to try and see what all the fuss, ecstasy and agony is about. (little difficult to type with burned fingers...)

I turned the grind a few clicks finer on my LaCimbali Junior Hybrid (finer than what I'm currently using on my Nuova Simonelli Mac2000). I began using Cafe Vivace's Vito blend.

Now, Francesco was nice enough to throw in a nice wood handled tamper but it doesn't fit the double basket very well.



Well, the tamper fits in the basket, but I have to spend five minutes trying to separate the two. <beginning of salty language>

Very little to no resistance. A few clicks finer - very sour but lots of resistance. Of course, now the group head is overheated. So, I turn it off, go and pet the dog, come back (wash hands of course) refill the boiler and try again. Still sour. I futzed around and now the group was too hot. I thought what the heck, I'll try anyway - of course it's too sour so I removed the portafilter and WHAM - big ole PF sneeze!!! All over everything. Here's a pic.



So, I clean that up - my language starts to get a little more salty.... and I go to the plastic tamper....

Came back and started reading on H-B. Found someone recommended 12g only in the double basket.

Ok, maybe I was overdosing and maybe even over tamping... hmm... So, I started weighing out 12g inside the basket... Too thin...'

OK, maybe it's because I'm not so very familiar with Vivace's Vito blend... So, I switch back to my old standby - Dancing Goats from Batdorf and Bronson here in Olympia, WA.

Not so much better.

Ok, so this is as far as I wanted to go on my first trip... I'll try more tomorrow. I'm getting a little shaky just now and I have burned fingers - not used to exposed boilers nor am I used to the machine trying to get away while I "pull" a shot....

So, I have the griping down. I have a small amount of the agony. I'm still waiting on the ecstasy part. But, I'm pretty tenacious... We'll see.

Sour? I would think the water is too cold or you have nasty channeling. You haven't described what the flow looks like or whether you have measured water temps or if you stir your grinds to distribute them.

Well, I do wait until the pressure gauge shows 1.0 bar (if too much, I let out some steam). The flow was a little fast at times and I did choke the machine once so I'm still in the process of dialing in the grind and tamp.

I have not at this point started stirring the grinds because I am using a grinder with a doser.

Thanks,

Rick

Hi Rick -

Glad to see you took the plunge and got a manual lever. They make incredible espresso, but there is definitely a learning curve. Mine was about one year long, and of course it's different for everyone. I'm saying one year because that is the point at which I realized that I was consistently pulling excellent shots on my La Pavoni (and you essentially have a Pavoni in your Gaggia Factory).

There is a ton of very good advice in this site - you just have to dig through it. Two very important pieces of advice I can pass along:

1) Only adjust one variable at a time - the basic scientific method. Otherwise you have no way to know what made it better or worse.

2) Be patient. Most people don't get great results immediately. My learning curve is probably extreme, but again, that's the point at which I noticed that I could pull great shots virtually all of the time.

I have several other levers - open and closed boilers, fully manual and spring levers. The Pavoni was the most difficult for me to dial in, but I still believe I get the best shots from it. Well, except maybe for the Caravel. That's a truly special machine in every sense.

Hang in there. Just make some coffee every day, continue to refine your routine, and the rest will follow in time.

Your learning curve doesn't have to be so very long. The temperature at the group is the crucial thing and on these home machines you can tell that by measuring the outside of the group. Thermometers are cheap as are thermocouples. I like my pressure set at about 0.85 bar. Start by flushing water through the group and purge the steam wand to eliminate air pockets. The Gaggia Factory is essentially a Millennium La Pavoni with a 51mm group. For a double I like to dose 15.5 to 17.5 gm depending on what the blend likes (i.e., Stumptown Hairbender likes to be updosed to 17.5 gm and pulled at a starting temperature outside the group of about 192F). I've started lots of threads on temperature control and adding thermometry. You can find them in the Levers forum.

You can make beautifully controlled shots on a Gaggia Factory without a long learning curve. Really you can.

Greg and DrGary,

Thanks for the great info. I am determined to learn how to use this beast.

I like a challenge.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Cheers,

Rick

Rikinwa wrote:After reading H-B lever forum, I decided to try and see what all the fuss, ecstasy and agony is about. (little difficult to type with burned fingers...)

Yeah, these machines like to bite and burn you until they get to know you! Once you get used to the machine you don't have to worry about burns so much I noticed.

Still learning on my La Pavoni, and I've had it operational for about 1 month, but I am getting better espresso every week. Fewer sink shots too. My La Pavoni is one of the older models, and the original double basket for that works out great in the 12.0-12.5g range. I was reading great posts by DrGary and overdosing for my old unit until I figured that out. So when you see dosage mentioned for La Pavoni's it pays to make sure you know if it's a pre-millenium 49mm basket or a millenium 51mm basket. Big difference in the load, and the heat control issues too.

You'll get there in time. My first mistake was grinding too coarse, and once I tightened up the grind somewhat I started getting better extractions. (My grind is coarser than what I use for the NS Oscar.) I still have a long way to go, but I was really happy with results from 2 varieties I was pulling today.

Thanks Dan.

As you can tell (still up at 2:00 AM) I had a fair bit of coffee today. And, I'm still excited about starting over again tomorrow..... Good thing I'm on vacation this week.

Rick

Congratulations on picking up a Gaggia Factory G106. I have the same machine and am quite happy with it.

drgary wrote:The Gaggia Factory is essentially a Millennium La Pavoni with a 51mm group. For a double I like to dose 15.5 to 17.5 gm depending on what the blend likes (i.e., Stumptown Hairbender likes to be updosed to 17.5 gm and pulled at a starting temperature outside the group of about 192F). I've started lots of threads on temperature control and adding thermometry. You can find them in the Levers forum.

You can make beautifully controlled shots on a Gaggia Factory without a long learning curve. Really you can.

I just had to quote this again. DrGary taught me about temperature control and pulling when I picked up my Gaggia and helped me get up to speed pretty quickly and pulling good shots.

As stated above, any of the La Pavoni Millennium threads will be applicable, with out the Tin Man hat and other aesthetic changes made to brand it as a Gaggia. I think the following two threads might be a good place to start.

Tips for Controlling Brew Temperature on a Home Lever Espresso Machine

La Pavoni Millenium for Newbies

Rikinwa wrote:Thanks Dan.

As you can tell (still up at 2:00 AM) I had a fair bit of coffee today. And, I'm still excited about starting over again tomorrow..... Good thing I'm on vacation this week.

Rick

Sounds like me a few months ago, I never drank that much espresso in my life, I was a wreck.

All good advice above, but I would certainly get a thermometer, that is the single most important thing you can do. A pressure gauge is great initially, helping you learn how the machine comes up to pressure and what it does once there, but i found that after a few weeks the gauge becomes more of a hood ornament, and I took it off. The other thing that you will need to do is get the hang of cold water dipping the group if you are making multiple shots. I have a plastic container (kind that salsa comes in) standing by, load up your pf for shot number two and have it standing by, raise the container of water so that the bell is submerged just above the first step and then gently pump the lever pulling cold water into the group and expelling it. You can bring the group from 100c to 85 with about 6 quick pumps.

Good luck, you will get the hang of it and then you will turn into an espresso perfectionist freak that can't tolerate anything but the best.