If you have any coffee and energy left, try again but DON'T tamp hard.

The pull could suddenly have become easy because of channeling in a puck that was too compacted, not in the least self-repairing, and generally acting not like a cake but a plug....

Cheers

Mike

I tried again this time not tamping hard.
The pull was a bit harder all the way but still at the end it was not hard enough and the results are the same.

I think I have to try fresh beans now to be sure if this is the problem. It is still kind of strange to me that I cannot use beans used in coffee shops. It can be a real limitation if I have to buy some specific fresh beans to make decent shots.

I'll keep trying until I find the golden path... I hope it will not take too long to get there!

No matter how trivial it may seem before you get it right, freshly roasted beans (e.g. beans that are not canned, no matter what the label on the can) and which are properly ground immediately before the pull, are absolutely essential to achieving a good hard pull on this machine. Once you do get both of those factors right, the difference will simply amaze you... and you'll recognize those two factors are not trivial at all - they're absolutely essential and make all the difference between "the machine" appearing not to work vs. "the machine" working beautifully...

Thanks. This gives me confidence I can make the machine work.

Does anyone have experience with hand grinders?
How fine should I set it to grind?
In my recent tests I put the grinder at the finest level (I turned the setting lever till I could not move it anymore) where I almost can't turn the grinder. (Burrs fully touching). I use real force to grind and I think the grind is fine enough. It seems to me this is too fine and that the burrs should not be touching so much and be that hard to turn.

It will be good to hear some experience on using hand grinders with Pavoni, the grind level setting and how much the burrs should be touching to make a fine enough grind.

Firstly: congratulations on your perseverence. It will pay off in the end

The burrs should at the most only be touching very slightly, but you should be able to grind so fine that it is basically impossible to pull the Pavoni lever down (known as "choking" the machine). You then want a grind that is slightly coarser than that so you can pull a firm smooth shot in about 25 seconds or so (some people are happy with 5 or even 10 seconds less, some like longer pulls). Your grinder setting will also need to change slightly when you change beans , as the beans age and when there are changes in temperature and humidity.

Cheers

Mike

Please, forget the Illy and get some freshly roasted beans. After about a month of using good beans you'll be able to get the best out of canned beans like Illy.

I've been using hand grinders with lever machines for years, and they work very well. Probably as well as most very expensive electric burr grinders. You needn;t set the burrs so hard that you can barely crank, but light rubbing is ok.

sbenyo, I have no suggestions that will help you, but I want to say that I admire your patience and perseverance as well. Most people would have thrown in the towel by now.

If ordering freshly roasted beans from England is too far, Italy should be closer. Surely there should be some freshly roasted beans somewhere in Italy--some small, artisan roaster who will ship internationally (non-Illy, non-Lavazza). What about Turkey?

However, a local roaster is still your best bet. Try to buy beans that have just been roasted a few days ago, and ones that have been stored in a sealed bag with a one-way valve, not stored in open bins or bags. Even at home you should be storing them in an air-tight container. Try to buy only what you will use within a short time, perhaps a week or so.

Or, maybe you could find another local coffee enthusiast who does his or her own roasting and would be willing, for a fee, to roast you a bag.

Fresh is best.

And then, as another alternative, there's home roasting... though it would properly move this thread into the realm of a different forum. Home roasting would put you in control over how fresh your roasted beans are. And, home roasting is really only as complex as you want to make it... Some folks chose to make it extremely complex, but it needen't be. It really isn't all that hard to do, nor is the equipment necessarily all that expensive. You'd need to order your green beans and have 'em shipped to you, but green beans are much less expensive than roasted beans - and, once you have 'em, they last virtually forever until you're ready to roast 'em... Just a thought to bypass the geographical impediment some folks encounter when trying to find a local source of freshly roasted beans...

Thank you all for your all the help and information!
This gives me great motivation to continue my research for a good Pavoni espresso shot.

I found a local seller of fresh beans and I also found a place where I can buy green beans and roast them.
I'm going to try these beans and keep you updated with the results.

I hope this will make all the difference.

Hi Sbenyo--

So, I've been watching this thread since it started but haven't spoken up until now...here's my disclaimer:

I am a noobie with a Europiccola as well. I also bought a nice PeDe grinder from OE that was tested to grind to a wide range of espresso. I am NOT a veteran lever operator like the others that have offered their advice, so take what I have to offer with a grain of salt.

I too bought my Europiccola on eBay and got it for a steal. It showed up in pristine (zero scratches, marks, rust, etc.) condition and after removing the base-plate I found out it is a 1996...so it has the I/II heating element switch.

Out of the box I filled up the machine, ground up some coffee and gave her a test run just to see if it worked (it was sold by a broker that didn't do any testing except that "the light turns on") It turns out it works perfectly, but I still opted to do a complete maintenance overhall to give it a fresh start with me. The test shots I pulled before doing the maintenance looked almost exactly like what all of your pictures show.

So the maintenance: Bought a gasket set from OE, as well as a "Starter" cleaning kit with some Citric acid, JoeGlo, and some gasket lube. Searching around HB and other sites, I took the whole machine apart and gave it a good cleaning as well as replaced the gaskets.

The whole process was not difficult at all and I encourage you to get familiar with how to disassemble your Europiccola (not relying on a maintenance shop if you can) so you can inspect gaskets, clean the insides, etc. The biggest thing I found was that the grouphead water-distribution screen was incredibly clogged with old coffee grounds. It didn't look like it at first, but hold yours up to a light and see how many of those tiny holes are plugged up. I went to town with a needle and made sure each hole was clear--took a while. Don't use an abrasive like steel-wool or a ScotchBrite pad because I heard it will make the holes bigger.

Today/tonight was the inaugural run after getting her put all back together and descaling/rinsing/etc. I was nervous I'd be pulling shots similar to before the big cleaning since I've been reading this thread, especially since I was going to try with some beans that were almost 3 weeks old. I didn't know if my freshness/grind/tamp combo would be up to snuff. To my surprise, I got some pretty decent crema on my 2nd try (forgot to take a picture, but I'll try to when I make a latte tomorrow if you'd like).

Here are some tips that I found useful:

1. Check that water dispersion screen in your group head. If it's clogged, you're forcing water through select portions of the screen and won't get even flow through your coffee puck = channeling = easy lever pull = overextraction.

2. Make sure your piston gaskets are good. They're the ones that keep that pressure locked in the group, so if they're weak/leaking, you won't be able to get a good pull.

3. Does your machine have the I/II toggle switch? If so, it's important (at least it was for me) that you get the machine good and hot with the II setting - should have steam coming out the relief valve. Then turn it down to I to maintain the pressure you built. Bleed off any "false pressure" by opening and closing the steam wand. Once I left it on setting I, there was still a steady (not vigorous) stream of pressure coming out of the relief. With the proper amount of pressure in the boiler, your 10s pause at the top of your lever pull will transfer that pressure to the group and force water in. It shoud be pretty stiff pressure from the top to the bottom of your pull if this filling under pressure occurred correctly. If you never get that pressure up (like trying to pull shots only heating up to setting I), the group doesn't fill very much and the lever pull is easy and you'll get shots looking like your pictures (low volume, no crema, overextracted)

4. Inspect your pucks. When I pull my portafilter off, I look at the top of the puck to see if there are dimples indicating channeling. I am now very aware to keep the group screen clean from ground build-up as well as not overfilling my PF and forcing grounds up into the group screen. My pucks from my first few shots look almost exactly like after I tamped them...one of them I forgot to take the temp up to setting II and it had 2 big dimples, and I got a crappy shot out of it.

5. Once you do get good pressure on your pulls, keep your pull at a pace that crema comes out at a consistent flow rate. Not too fast, not too slow. This is the "art" everyone talks about (I think) and I'm very much still working on it, but just thinking about that concept I got some pretty darn good shots after a few trys.

Like I said, I'm learning just like you. I hope that something I said might help (like the I/II setting maybe). I'm not discounting what the other pro's on here (with many many more posts than myself) are saying about fresh beans, but from what you describe/show with your grinder and tamp I find it hard to believe you're still getting poor shots. You should at least be getting stiffer pulls, hence why I offered the advice about the pressure.

I hope this helps....I will tell you the first crema you pull will taste sooooooo good, especially after all that you've been enduring trying to figure this out - it's totally worth it and I'm pretty much hooked on trying to perfect my espresso preparation now, you will be too I'm sure.

BC

P.S. This video kind of illustrates the pressure building in the boiler, you can see the guy flip the switch back down to I to pull the shots, but the steam is still flowing out of the relief valve.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDV9KwdYldI

Good luck!