I decided to try making mini fellini-preinfusion style lever pumps until the bottom of the basket started beading. This worked quite well: the body was very thick and slurpy, the crema was healthy, and I had minimal water-pulling-up-through-the-puck hissing. To achieve this, I did slow, smooth quarter-pumps of the lever after taking it all the way down the first time. Once I saw some beading, I brought the lever back up and released it for the shot. I'll try to get a picture sometime, and I think I'll take the grind a bit finer to slow down the shot.

Well, I just sent my PFs off to Lino; since I'll be away on vacation next week, this is the best time to have it done. My main interest in the NPF is having the flow unimpeded, so I can have my espresso a bit hotter and maybe with more crema than I usually get after the lengthy dribbling through the PF spouts.

But I'm also intrigued by the increased ability to hear the pressure changes, in order to anticipate and prevent "puck-sucking". Last night I tried a "multi-Fellini" pull, with extra pre-infusion (as peacecup described above), and it was quite successful. In addition I do vertical PF tapping prior to tamping -- just tapping gently in my palm, not on the counter. There's very little waste, and I end up with a dense but permeable "plug" (with those dimensions I can't really think of it as a "puck"). Once the extraction begins, the plug can't really go anywhere, so it tends not to fracture.

Happy Brewing,
Wayne