Hi guys,
I've been reading quite a bit on the forums for the last few weeks trying to educate myself.
I had a gaggia classic in storage for about 10 years, ( long story )
Pulled out of the box, took it to icoffee down the street from me for a once over. $100 for something and good to go.
Also have a bodum grinder, last night I went to supermarket , got some beans, grinded in their grinder, I knew I wasn't going to pull good shots, or even good coffee for that matter, I just wanted some practise.
Way too much coffee for a 25 second period and tasted real bad!
Today I went to a roaster, carvalho coffee in Oakville , on.
Huge shout out to Wayne the owner, spent half hour with me and made some amazing coffee.
I purchased oct 21 roasted beans, went home and ground some up on my bodum.
First issue is after I weighed coffee, tamped to roughly 30 pounds, very little came out,
It's like my gaggia was working overtime, 20 ml at best in 25 seconds.
I even had water coming out of back of my gaggia.
I repeated in case I missed something, same thing,
When I ground the coffee it almost seemed like powder.
I turned down the dial on the bodum. A little coarser. Viola
60 ml in 25 seconds and tasted decent.
I'm just baffled as the bodum I know has its short commimgs to grind fine for espresso?
Could it be the coffee too fresh?
Any insight would be greatly appreciated!
And sorry for the novel. Just trying to provide as much info.

A good grinder will give you consistancy. Bodum grinder... I've never seen one or even heard of them. I know they make French presses, but so does Ikea and I would never buy a grinder from Ikea.

This is only a wild guess, but probably a better grinder will sort your problems.
What you need is a good espresso grinder.

This forum has lots of information about them... But first you have to decide your budget, and then double it.

I bought an espresso machine that came with a Bodum grinder as part of the deal. Its adjustability and grind quality were not at all adequate for espresso and I already had a much better entry-level grinder, so I sold it. (After selling the Bodum grinder for $45 I ended up with a working La Pavoni Europiccola that needed servicing for $5.) The grinder is more important than the espresso machine, so please read our Buying Advice forum for grinders and get something that is at least entry level. The Bodum will make your learning process much more difficult if you continue to try using it.

Ok guys,
Thanks for replies, I've already been shopping for a new grinder.
And a new machine, I just want to somewhat get my routine as I have read the grinder is vital.
What a rabbit hole I'm into.....

And a better output measure is by weight (grams with a scale with .1 resolution) instead of by volume, which can be inconsistent when dealing with varying crema production.

Yes I have been weighing with a scale.
14 grams
Now seems my gaggia classic is leaking slightly at top of brew head.
Argggg

After ten years in storage, the group head gasket is most probably all dried up.

Yes I was reading that as well.
I'll order gasket this week as seems simple to install.
Thanks

Yeah, less than a minute if you know what you're doing. Three minutes if you don't.