Excellent.
What more could we possibly ask for????

Thanks for the update.

Susan

I'm happy with the new (higher) pstat adjustment. I've noticed that my lever is working very differently than before.

In the past, I would need to use 3-5 (sometimes more if the grind was way too fine) to yield ~25-30g of liquid and the lever behavior always seemed odd to me. If would engage only in the top 1/2 of the action. After the pstat adjustment, the lever now works as I believe it should: it engages immediately after I release it (of course, I still try to do this gently) and slowly takes its time to reach the top.

Now, one pull yields ~20g which is great but I usually (out of habit, I suppose) do a second pull which is where things go a bit wonky. The second pull seems to just rush out and blond and so much gushes out that I end up with about ~40g. The taste is actually pretty good (are these lungos?) but I prefer a tighter setting.

Anyways, Export users, what's your current technique?

Higher pressure obviously fills the group much faster, as you've noted. As long as the brew temperature is not to hot for your tastes all is well. That depends on the group temperature. Look on the Cremina temp study page, where you can see the climb on brew temp as the machine initially warms up. One trick to brew at lower temp and still get great steam pressure is to have everything prepared as the machine initially comes to pressure, the pull the shot right away, before the group gets too hot. That's how I use the Export. The Lusso is easier to manage temperature.

40g is a lot out, but not unheard of. How many grams in? One trick is to let the first pull only rise halfway, then pull it down and have a second full pull.

You can increase/decrease brew temperature by waiting various periods between pulls. I mean if that if the group is already very warm, you can hold the lever down a few extra seconds to allow the water to cool a little more. Here is a "typical" adaptive brewing routine.

1. Lever pulled down and held for 5 sec.
2. Let the lever rise under control until 1 drop falls (depending on grind and dose the distance travelled will vary)
3. Pull the lever down again, hold for 10 sec (the group is now warmer, so it takes a few extra seconds to cool the water)
4. Let the lever rise under control again - if the flow is "fast" let it go all the way to complete the shot
5. If the pour is "slow" you can repeat steps 3-4 again.

I finally was able to remove the shower screen from mine and boy there was so much gunk on it and on the piston. Cleaned the screen and the piston as best I could without removing the group or the piston (though the pf gasket was removed). Put it all back together (non-trivial for me) and there's lots of brown water. Is this normal? Sorry for the newbie question as this is the first time I'm doing this

You mean you can't get clear water running out of the group? I would expect some brown water at first but it should run clear again fairly quickly.

Well, I filled it twice and emptied it twice through the group. Still a few stray grounds but more or less clear. I suppose I'd need to completely remove the piston and clean it but I'd prefer not to until I absolutely have to (or someone starts selling a gig). I'm hoping it clears up after I start pulling a few shots and if not I'll report back.

Oh the export, I had one of those a while back-
Hopefully it says clear, otherwise it could be that the rear seal is starting to go (or had a tiny tear in it to start with.) Removing the seals can be a pain, but it gets easier once you get the technique down, I used a 3" 3-way clamp which made it all so much easier (no jig needed.) For me, it was always orienting those seals on the piston without damaging them that was the hardest!