I got my naked portafilter today and I think I can see what happens. The grinder fills the basket to the side of the handle, this area is always very dark, the opposite side turn light very early.

I tried several ways to redistribute but I really don't want to resort to the wdt for my morning coffee, are there other ways, quicker, easier to redistribute grinds? I carefully top off a basket with my finger but this doesn't correct it

edit: I got a bag of cheap beans today and then from another supermarket even cheaper beans to practice, the grind from these really cheap beans, really dark and oily, distributes much better in the basket and the extraction looks a lot better (it tastes vile though )

Okay I gave up and treated myself to a new machine and grinder A Bezzera Strega which I just got and a Quamar m80e which will hopefully arrive soon.

I think I will need to play with the Strega for a while, the espresso taste bizar, very very sweet, like turkish coffee almost, but I guess that's for another thread if I can't figure it out myself