Hi y'all,

I have a problem with my La Pavoni Prof. Mil. machine and I'm hoping someone can help me figure out the cause of the problem.

The machine, my first espresso maker, is about 3 months old. I've been working on developing my technique (grind, tamp, coffee selection, etc.). It's worked fine, achieving slowly improving espresso taste, until about two weeks ago when I noticed that I was having to grind finer and finer. Otherwise, the water was flowing through the filter as if there was no coffee in it (or it was ground extremely coarse) in about 10-15 secs. At the time, I thought this might be due to using beans that had been frozen and thawed, and I didn't pay much attention to it.

But I'm now using fresh beans and I still have the problem. I used to be able to choke the La Pavoni with a 10+D setting on my Baratza Virtuoso Preciso grinder, but, now, I can't even get the flow to slow down. The grinder seems to be working fine and, in an attempt to eliminate it as a variable, I got some store ground espresso blend that I've used before with the same result.

I first thought I was having a channeling problem but the puck looks fine. I tried grinder coarser and tamping lighter but the results haven't changed -- extremely quick, free flowing extraction -- so I'm at a loss.

Can anyone shed some light on what might be causing this problem?

Miguel

Have you searched the site for typical use of the pavoni levers? Also, might help to know how much coffee you are using (i.e. 16 grams). Is machine heated up? Pressure when pulling shot? pulling up quickly on lever can also "unsettle" the puck. Fresh coffee? etc?

It's a great machine and capable of producing awesome coffee. Don't give up! I've had mine 7 yrs and have gotten frustrated at the process more than once. You'll keep getting better.

I'm using about 14-15g of coffee. The machine is up to temperature, pressure is in the green zone, around 0.8 and everything is normal. I pull up the lever most of the way and then insert the portafilter so as not to disturb the puck. I've read just about every single post in this and other forums on how to use a lever machine.

I'm not about to give up on the machine. As I said in the original post, everything has been working just fine for two months and I've been able to make good coffee. I could vary the grind to speed up or slow down the extraction as needed.

The problem I have is that, all of a sudden, no matter what the grind, the water just flows through the coffee rather freely and I can't figure out why. My first thought was a problem with the grinder but that seems to be working fine too.

This seems like a real dilemma -- you have my sympathies. Normally I would suspect that the calibration screw loosened on your grinder, but you ruled out the grinder by trying some store-ground espresso that worked before. But I think I'd go a little further with suspecting the grind, because nothing else makes much sense. Try going way down to notch 2 or 4 and see if you can't choke the thing. Or perhaps open it up and double check the calibration and the calibration set screw (Baratza has some good online guidance about calibrating these things.)

... just realized I advised you to try to choke a Pavoni without warning you of the sneeze. Be sure to read this:
La Pavoni Millenium for Newbies

The top posting is general advice for Millennium owners, and warns you what to do when you choke them.

I've had this same problem not only with my LP, but also with my TEA. Both time it was my grinder.
I have a Vairo and for whatever reason when I click the micro lever finer it does nothing. Even
at the finest setting which should chock either machine.
Both times I took grinder burrs out and cleaned. Checked macro & micro lever operation by putting finger on lower burr and operating both levers. You can feel the lower burr moving up and down. Put back together and back in business.
Not sure how your Preciso calibration works, Try doing a couple of test grinds to see if you can tell the difference in grind. My bet It's your grinder,not LP.

Thanks all,

I have a nagging suspicion that it's the grinder too. I did try the grinder at three settings (coarsest, medium and fine) and, while they do look and feel different, I noticed how the grinder sounds different from a couple weeks ago. I figured it was breaking in as I used it and that would account for the difference in sound. I think I'll look into the grinder again as I just can't figure out how the La Pavoni could be failing this way.

Thanks again to all who responded.

Miguel

I think I figured out the problem. The top ring burr holder on my grinder is broken. I'm not happy, this is the second grinder in less than two months. The first one had to be replaced as the micro adjustment crept towards coarser settings as I used it. This one lasted a couple weeks.