With a couple of additions, this thread could become a how-to for making a shot with a Europiccola pre Millennium.
So, let me summarize including Jack and John's innovations:

1. Warm-up the machine, in switch position II until a loud hissing sound is heard, about 7 minutes, release false pressure for a couple of seconds and then turn-off the machine when the hissing sound resumes.

2. Have the basket already filled or prepare it quickly using a good distribution technique, WDT, Stockfleth, etc. Stockfleth's Move for Dummies and WDT.

3. Do a cooling flush of about an ounce.

4. Raise the lever until you see a few drops of water and lower it a bit until the water stops, then insert the portafilter. Slowly raise the lever all the way up. No preinfusion with the lever held at the top—just take the lever to the top carefully, hear the group fill with water, and without delay draw down the shot. Shoot for 30 pounds of lever resistance during the shot pull.

5. Quickly remove the cup as soon as blonding starts.

I'd like some feedback on this. A reoccurring comment about this site, is how much reading it takes to learn certain aspects of espresso making, the things that aren't listed in the FAQ's. It would be helpful to have a consensus routine, considering how often we are asked about Europiccola techniques.

Mine this morning, was a little hot as well. This supports Jack's idea of turning off the machine as early as possible. Waiting for the loud hiss may not be ideal. The first shot I pulled, using the machine turn-off technique, was a 6:45 warm-up. It was definitely superior to the 7:00+ minute warm-up shot of this morning. The other difference between this morning's shot and the 6:45 warm-up shot, was the basket was already prepared, so the shot was pulled sooner, at about 7:30. The extra minute and a half shot prep time may have allowed the group to cool enough to produce a better shot temperature.

At 6:45 there was a little steam coming out of the pressure valve, but no loud hiss. Let's give shorter warm-up a try and compare notes tomorrow.

Today's shot was cooler, turned off the machine at 6:40, pulled the shot at 7:00. It was still hotter than the one pulled on 6/29. The 6/29 shot pulled faster because it was pulled with a more coarsely ground coffee. That may have contributed to its cooler temp.

In playing around with this routine, i've found my best shots, temp wise, tend to be pulled in a 20-30 second window that begins when steam first starts to come out of the safety valve, at around 6:40 and ends when the loud hissing noise occurs.

another_jim wrote:My own limited experience with levers attests to the conventional wisdom of selecting a grind so that an 8 to 10 second, 1 bar preinfusion results in a few drops, i.e. a saturated puck

You have to give a lot of weight to statements by another_jim, so if you're going to pre-infuse, start 10 seconds before you would normally see steam begin to come out of the safety valve, for me that would be 6:30 minutes after starting the machine. After the pre-infusion, kill the switch and start pulling the shot.

I was out of town and ran out of my blend #86, a Brazilian, Indonesian, Central American and African mix, so I ordered some Hairbender and Black Cat. The Hairbender was better than the Black Cat with the Pre, the Black Cat better than the Hairbender with the Semiautomatic. I like my blend better with the Semi and the Lusso than the pre. Four Barrel's Espresso Blend also excels on the Semi and Lusso, but it's not as good with the pre, (just my opinion).

Installed an Orphan/espressme gauge kit today. It's a pretty slick set-up.