Francis Francis! X1 1st gen extracts too fast

[Vlemoine]

Hi! I'm very new to espresso making and recently got a second hand Francis Francis! X1 1st gen machine as a gift. I've tried using it with a Melitta Molino grinder on the finest setting. The basket is 53mm and takes around 14g of ground coffee, so I've tried to extract around 28g of coffee per shot. The problem is that it takes just about 5 seconds or so for 28g of water to pour out of the portafilter...

I've tried tamping harder, but other than that I don't really know what I can do? Is the grinder not grinding fine enough, or is it too fine? Any help is much appreciated.

[thirdcrackfourthwave]

That is not an espresso grinder; it will not grind fine enough. If the grind was too fine it would choke your machine.

[Nunas]

I don't know anything about this grinder other than from a photo. So, I may be off base here. First, you should see if there is an internal adjustment to move the burrs closer together. Many grinders have an adjustment to do this. Generally, the process is to set it to the finest setting and move the secondary adjustment until you begin to hear a faint chirp from the burrs just barely touching (easy does it!). If it does not have this adjustment, it's a flat burr grinder from the looks of it. You could cut a shim or shims from aluminum foil and raise one of the burrs. While you're at it, you could correct any misalignment. Search Flat Burr Grinder Adjustment, looking for something like this http://coffeenavigated.net/grinder/ However, as they say, one cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Even though Melita advertises that this grinder will make grinds fine enough for espresso, it isn't really an espresso grinder, as already noted.

[happycat]

Hi! I'm very new to espresso making and recently got a second hand Francis Francis! X1 1st gen machine as a gift. I've tried using it with a Melitta Molino grinder on the finest setting. The basket is 53mm and takes around 14g of ground coffee, so I've tried to extract around 28g of coffee per shot. The problem is that it takes just about 5 seconds or so for 28g of water to pour out of the portafilter...

I've tried tamping harder, but other than that I don't really know what I can do? Is the grinder not grinding fine enough, or is it too fine? Any help is much appreciated.

When I stared espresso a decade ago, I used a grinder that cost twice as much as yours and it was advertised for espresso (the Baratza Encore). It wasn't good enough and I wasted a lot of time and effort trying to work around the problem including modifying the grinder to create very find grounds. But those grounds were never good enough for a real espresso machine.

One of the reasons manufacurers get away with advertising "espresso" capability is that there are so many "espresso machines" that use tricks to produce a shot with low-end grinders or even stale, pre-ground coffee. A pressurized portafilter is commonly used in those cases. A moka pot is another example-- people call it an espresso maker when it's not.

In the end I had to stop denying reality-- as soon as I bought a proper espresso grinder, life was easy with my real espresso machine. I didn't want to listen to the advice of people at the time, and I wanted to magically make the grinder work. Now I know better.