I just received my new Olympia Cremina today, and was surprised to see the power when I did a flush of the group head. The video is below. Is it supposed to come out this strong? I'm used to seeing dribbles of water during a flush when I had my Brewtus pump, so I was surprised by the force of the water with the Cremina. Which may explain why most of my pucks look like a bomb hit it. The pressure goes to .95 bars.

This is my first lever machine ever, so I'm back to square one when it comes to pulling shots. Going from a 58mm to a 49mm PF has been a challenge. I tried dosing 14 grams, and the screen hit it. So far, about 12 grams fit the double. Not sure what I am doing wrong. I'm using the stock double basket.

Any insight or advice is welcome.


Cindy

Congrats on new Cremina. That flush is OK. I do not use stock basket but I think with it the max is 14 grams. So go for about 14. If you use 14 grams and tamp then lock in portafilter and take it out without pulling the shot if puck is not damaged you are OK.

Get Elektra Leva double-basket which will allow you to dose up to 16-17 grams depending on coffee.

I find sweet spot with the Elektra basket is 15 grams.

Get the OE temp strip which will make it much easier for you to know when group head is at right temperature. When first bar on the strip is deep blue temp is right and you can pull your shot. This is in my opinion crucial for consistent excellent shots with Cremina.

When raising the lever make sure you do it slowly since you are pulling air through the puck and doing this hastily will break your puck and cause massive channeling.

With regards to pull on the lever and grind, if you are pulling on the lever and are tipping machine, you are pulling to hard and grind is too fine, grind coarser. Pull should feel almost like knife through cold butter.

Once you have your grind and temperature sorted out you should be getting good shots.

Good luck.

Thanks Dennis. I probably raised the lever too fast, hence the messy pucks. Will go slower next time.

I do have the temp strip (it's on the far side of the group out of camera shot). I was trying to decipher what it was telling me. I did see blue a couple of times, but when it sits, all the squares are black (I know the first square should be my target). If the first square is black and not blue, is it too cool or hot?

Thanks for the Elektra basket rec. My stock basket won't hold 15 grams (which was my sweet spot with my Brewtus).

Anyway, thanks again.

Beautiful new cremina,
Raise the lever up just before water comes out then lock in pf and then slow but steady to top.
This will minimize the chance of the bed getting disturbed

Lift the lever until water just starts to come out of the head and note the lever position. When you put the portafilter in, leave it loose and lift the lever to just before that position. Lock, and then lift slowly to the top. That will avoid applying a vacuum to the puck and the slower you lift from there the more gentle the preinfusion. You can get all fancy from there with 'active preinfusion' felini pulls and whatever else.

I don't know what the range is on the new Creminas between the pressurestat kicking on and off, but I found on my 67 that an average of .8 bar was ideal. The old pressurestats seem to have a band of about .2 bar, so it kicked on at .7 and off at .9. You may want to drop it a bit from .95- but I wouldn't mess with it until you have all the moves down to get some good pulls.

Tekomino is right, you don't want the pull to be too hard. Creep the grind finer until you get a resistance on the lever you are comfortable with. If you miss and choke the machine, sometimes giving it a good pull and then raising the lever quickly makes it easier to complete the shot (not sure why- puck explosion?). Otherwise you'll have to let the machine cool down or suffer the biggest portafilter sneeze you ever saw .

Congrats on this beautiful machine. May you pour many Godshots with it.

Paolo

Thank you everyone for the tips. I'm confident that a god shot will happen soon (I hope!).

Cindy,

Welcome to the wonderful world of the Cremina. Dennis nailed pretty much everything in his post, so really not much to add.

A few minor things I can add...
- The speed of you raising the lever in your video is about right. To be even more careful, you can partially lock in the portafilter and wait until the lever is just past halfway to fully lock it in...or lift slower.
- As for the temp strip and the colors for the different blocks, you really will need to see what the strip looks like when you nail a shot, and use that as a basis. The strip itself has a +/-3C (~10F) margin of accuracy according to a supplier I found. (I can email you the link in a PM if you'd like), so what displays on your machine may not be the same on Dennis'.
- I, too, use the Elektra basket, but good shots can be pulled from the stock. In the Elektra, I normally use 15.5 grams, which leaves a little head space but produces fantastic shots for me. To check how much you can load in the stock, grind and tamp as usual, and then place a nickel on top of the puck. Insert the portafilter fully. You should have a small indentation but not enough to seriously disrupt the puck. Also, the nickel should not be fully burried.

Post a video after you have made a few changes to your routine and are more comfortable. We'll do our best to help make your shots even better.

Cheers!

Thanks Merle.

Do you know if the Elektra basket would fit the Cremina stock PF? It looks deeper than the stock double, so I'm worried about it not fitting. I know it would fit the Penney Naked PF, but I don't have that yet.

Cindy,

I have the stock portafilter, not a bottomless, and it fits just fine. Barb and Doug can confirm this in your order, but it should fit. The basket is only about 1/8" taller.