Hello everyone!

My postcount is rather low, but I have been lurking for quite some time. I started with a Silvia which produced some excellent coffee, but I couldn't get past the aesthetics of it. I didn't like that such a simple concept: push hot water at high pressure through coffee, could require such a large machine with so many parts. Too complicated.

After much deliberation, I found a pre-millenium brass Pavoni that produces comparable espresso at a much smaller size. Now, I can't say enough positive things about the pavoni!

One of my difficulties I have with the pavoni is that the baskets are ridge-less. With the silvia I would just shake the portafilter over my garbage can and the puck would drop eventually. With the Pavoni, I have to wait until it cools so I can take out the basket. The puck is so compressed it won't shake out. What I do now is scrape the puck out. I prefer not to get a knockbox because it just adds complexity to the set-up.

So how do you guys empty your baskets? Is there a more elegant solution?

Yes, a knock box.

Before I got a knockbox (you're going to have to go this way eventually, believe me) I would smack the basket on the side of my metal compost bin. In other words, I was using my compost bin as a knockbox. You can get knockboxes for $15 or less.

Yeah, you'll eventually want a knockbox of some kind. There's a good reason they are so popular.

I'm weird, so I went to Petco and picked up a plastic cat bowl that is built solid, has rubber feet, and looked like it would work out okay. Been working well for me, and doesn't look bad either. I can handle 2 pucks in that before I have to dump it in the nearby wastebasket.

If this ever cracks I'll probably get a real knockbox. Before that I also knocked over a small wastebasket, but that turns into a pain quickly.

Check out the following thread for other ideas, including the Yak Wack, which works best on smaller diameter baskets... a pre-millennium Pavoni should still work, but a 58 mm basket tends to flip right out.

Grounds disposal when dosing basket outside the portafilter

p.s. I've since gotten more lever machines and real knock boxes and generally just knock the grounds out of the basket in the knockbox now. None of my machines have springs / ridged baskets, and it seems to me that it's more flexible that way, allowing me to dose and tamp the basket outside the portafilter if desired.

I leave mine in the basket, throw it in a bowl on the counter until it cools. I then tap it upside in the bowl and it drops right out, my cheap knock box.

Thanks everyone for your very helpful replies.

I'm amazed that people can recall specific posts from months or years ago.

With my ridgeless baskets I wrap the basket with plumbers tape to lock the basket in the portafilter with tension. You can also get a Richard Penney portafilter that has a clip spring to hold the basket in place. Either way, you need a knockbox, it just too much of a hassle otherwise.

drgary wrote:Yes, a knock box.

+1 or go back to ridged baskets.

hi, i use an elastic to lock the basket in my Faema Lambro