Sleven78 wrote:out the portafiller, its almost like there is no resistance going through the coffee puck. I thought my grind was to coarse so went finer, not much difference. im now wondering if ive raised the leaver too high so its open the flood gates so to speak.

Puck prep is the biggest factor I find. Puck prep needs to be good for even extraction. Research, experimentation, practice and good tools are important. Outside of puck prep there might be other factors.

Might be the roast, might be the grinds, might be the grinder, might be the dose, might be unseating the puck when you pull the lever up.

New grinder burrs go through a time of seasoning. I don't have a lot of experience with big grind problems during burr seasoning but inconsistency for a number of pounds of grinding happens which could affect dialing in.

The roast is stale. If the roast is old it can pull with not much blooming. Preinfusion helps. I like doing a Fellini move to charge the grouphead with more water and stretch out the preinfusion. There's a point where you feel you can't pump in more water and drips of extraction might start. That's a good time to slowly pull down with more pressure.

The grind setting is off. If you're prep is good grind setting could be a factor.

Dose is too high or too low. The puck could be hitting the showerscreen with over dosing and getting disturbed. With a dose too low there's a lot of head space where flooding in extraction water could disturb the puck. Anything that disturbs the puck, even aggressive locking in, could disturb the puck and cause channeling.

Pulling up the lever after you lock in could be causing a vacuum that unseats the puck. With my La Pavoni and old '74 Cremina 67 I try not to lock in all the way while pulling up until I hit the point just before water starts getting drawn in. I pause there and lock in all the way then continue up slowly letting the infusing water flow under pressure into the basket. I can hear and feel it. A few gentle Fellini moves and I can get a decent double shot in one pull. Fellini moves are something that turned into a habit for me. It's a personal preference whose benefits are debated on. Preinfusing for long times would affect extraction profile but I think that would be a factor only after all more important extraction parameters are met.

I think these are some factors that affect even a good puck prep.

Someone else said below. But I also recently got a Cremina and was having a similar issue with water dripping around the PF. I needed to lock in harder than I initially was. Like needed to put a little umph in it vs just twisting to resistance. Also I've found you don't generally want to be grinding so fine it's really hard to pull the lever and you need to get your whole body into it.

Also, want to plug attaching the K type thermometer with aluminum tape. Super easy to "install", completely reversible, and very easy to take uncertainty of the temp variable out of the equation.

Hi! Long time lurker, first time poster Besides the suggestions already made, installing the PressureKit from naked Portafilter is very helpful, especially in the beginning:

https://www.naked-portafilter.com/produ ... 11-recent/

Other than that, when the Creminas are new, you need to tighten the portafilter thoroughly...

Quickly cleaning the group head gasket after pulling a shot with an espresso brush helped me with this. Grinds trapped between the gasket and the porta filter can create drips and a tight fit.

Thank you very much for this. I think I'm moving into the right direction as I'm not spraying water everywhere as I'm grinding finer, but need a lot more to dial that in. I'm probably a bit stupid for trying to figure out work flow with two new machines. I have gone too fine and i cant extract anything, so switch off the machine to lose pressure to try again later. i know i have to season the grinder so i bought fairly fresh beans, usually id roast my own on a Logic Nano or ceramic stove roaster. But since I'm dialing i went local café that roast weekly. My concerns now aren't so much the Cremina as i managed to pull a few 6g single dose cups without the mess, but they are far from ideal. Focus now is on the grinder to hone in on a nice consistent pull. I'm using a Lagom p64, but setting this up isnt the easiest as i can have it on 7 and its like flour...its a nice weight and silent grinder, but it would be great if 0 = 0, maybe its how I've put the top of the grinder on...but i think there should be only one way to put it on with the result always being the same....0 = 0.

these are fresh out the box and i know there are a lot of variables to note and tweak slowly, i really do appreciate the insight from this community and have been using it as motivation and also guidelines in a way to help me get the better results.

so thank you

if anyone is a master of the lagom p64 any tips on setting up would be greatly appreciated.