Hi,

I've started playing with my rebuilt peppina and I'm trying to figure out the best way to pull a shot. I've gotten some decent pulls, but usually they're a bit thin. Using the same roast and grind in my La Pavoni, but getting very different results.

One thing I've noticed is that there is no puck like I get with the LP. Instead, when I pull off the pf, it's kind of mushy and swampy. Not hard and compact like I get with the LP. Is this normal?

Yes, wet puck is normal.

Grind fine. Tamp lightly. Use a series of mini-pumps to preinfuse the coffee in the basket. In order that the coffee in the basket has time to swell, wait 5 seconds or so after you see a drop in the cup (should take a couple of little pumps to produce a drop in the cup if your grind is right) and then do a full pull and release.

Thanks. This is close to what I've been doing, but without the 5 sec wait, which is probably why it's kind of thin. I'll be trying this tonight.

just started dialing in my la peppina last night and i noticed that on a few pulls there was a hissing noise as the lever was going up (liquid was still coming through the puck, though it took about 3 full pulls to get about 1.5 oz....did i tamp too tight, or do i have a leak?

i will say that the espresso was the smoothest i've ever made, i can only imagine what's in store once i get better

I'm pretty sure that's a seal problem.

If it is the piston seal, there will be water below your Peppina. If there isn't any, it's the large valve.
Did you use the old valve with the rebuild? If so, it might be that the dimples in it are misaligned, causing a bit of water leak. This will go away when the rubber conforms to it's new position.
If it's a new seal, confirm that the area behind it is clean and perfectly flat.

To check the seal after you've reinstalled the seal without wasting coffee you fill the basket with a bit (5mm/1.4") of flour, since you probably won't have a blind 45mm basket. If the lever rises with the flour in place, the seal isn't working properly. This trick probably also works when trying to get the large washer to conform to it's position faster.

well, there was no water below, so i guess its the large valve. i have not rebuilt it yet, but will be ordering the kit from orphan espresso in the next day or so.

and thanks for the flour tip, will definitely try it out

The lever's rising corresponds with water being pushed out of the piston cylinder. A hissing noise would mean that the issue is in the group, not in the piston cylinder, because you wouldn't hear hissing if water were making its way back into the kettle because the larger seal were not right. The small seal in the group is probably not seated, so that air is being sucked back into the cylinder on the piston upstroke, and forced out on the downstroke. The screw that holds the small washer in place should be tight but not so tight that it causes the washer to cup. You want the washer to be flexible enough that it's pulled back flat against the group head to seal the water egress port during the piston upstroke; if it's not flat against the metal, the water egress port becomes an air ingress port.

If there was water coming through the group while it was hissing, it can't be air. The air is pushed out before the water since air floats above water. Also, you feel it in the resistance of the lever. When air is pumped, the lever jolts up instead of a gentle rise.

I suspect the OP's sense of simultaneity may be slightly off, or that he wasn't being precise. Either is certainly more likely than a hissing sound coming up through the water in the kettle. A badly seated or defective one-way washer in the piston cyclinder might produce a faint gurgling sound, but not a hissing. The source of hissing on the Peppina is the small washer inside the group bell and/or the o-ring that seals the group bell to the group. The o-ring should be smeared with some Dow 111.