Hi All,
Had my Silvia for just over 2 weeks now and although am learning some of her quirks, can't seem to get an even shot through both sides of the PF. 85% of the shot comes from the right side when facing the machine. Tamping is as far as I can tell even, i.e. the gap to the ridge inside the standard Silvia double basket, is about 1/4" from the top of the basket, and even all the way round. The machine is level.

If anybody has experienced this or may have any ideas of possible causes I would appreciate any advice.

Thanks

John

This is not an answer to your question, but the shots from my Silvia (pre-V3) got a lot better when I switched to a bottomless portafilter.

But, casting my mind back to the pre-chop days, I remember getting unequal flow from the portafilter spouts only when there was very little flow at all, which is a bigger problem than uneven flow. So if you're getting a good volume of espresso, but unevenly, I don't know what's going on.

And but also, some good advice that you'll see all over these forums is, "if it tastes good, it is good".

Thanks for the response,
Shots are inconsistent and either bitter or sour. Can't seem to get the sweet spot, though it has only been a couple of weeks with the machine and I have actually got some decent shots too, just sporadic ones. Good idea about the bottomless PF, will look for one this week.

Cheers

John

Could be spout that has a burr around one exit hole. Given the taste notes you have a lot of other stuff to worry about before you should be concerned about uneven flow from the spouts. Could be channeling, could be temperature, could be dose, etc... Fresh coffee that is freshly ground with a dose that is within +- 0.2 grams dose to dose is a good place to start. Then you can work on temperature management. Once the shots are consistent (same flow/time/taste) you can try changing your temperatures and varying the dose as it will be different for each coffee and vary over the life of a blend. A bottomless portafilter is a wonderful learning aid. There are many, many posts about taming a Silvia and quite a few of them in the FAQ's. You may want to start there and work your way through others experiences to help get going.

Hi Dave,
Thanks for your advice. The plot has actually thickened a bit! this morning whilst making my espresso, I must have over dosed/tamped or something as Silvia started to choke, but what was really quite disconcerting was the portarfilter actually started to unwind! I stopped the shot immediately and jumped into HB to interrogate the forums for pressure check tips and tricks. If my understanding is correct, I should be displacing approx. 300ml of water per minute through an empty portafilter. The rate of water flow was 300ml in 30 seconds, implying that my pressure is too high. I tried another shot and backed off on the dosage, the shot started OK but then gushed and the shot tasted thin and insipid.

Although there are frustrations, it's actually quite an exciting journey, teased with the odd 'decent' shot thrown in leaves me quite excited about the whole thing. I will contact the store that I bought the machine off and see if they have any pressure testing equipment to lend.

Cheers

John