# Lack of Barista skills



## mike57 (May 3, 2016)

Big deal - today was to be my first espresso from my ebay Gaggia Classic. I spent all morning cleaning gunge off parts and working up to my first back flush.

Somewhat over confident after all the videos I have watched I asked my wife to stand beside me for the first espresso

Press brew and start timer.

Almost simultaneously coffee sprayed out from around the group head -

Sadly over the basket of fresh washing waiting for ironing.

I had enough control to wait 27 seconds before switching off so that I had two shot glasses of espresso to try (actually I was so shocked I couldn't really have reacted much quicker).

I think it was only the fact that it was my white shirt that took nearly all the coffee that hadn't hit the wall saved me.

A 'technical inquest' into what went wrong suggested blaming either the fact that I used an ESE pod basket (by mistake - I'm really not that stupid, just careless!) and tamped 'hard' or that the group seal gasket was old and should have been replaced?









Any more knowledgeable suggestions, as I dare not do it again. In fact I'll probably make the next one in the open air when it stops raining.


----------



## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

How much coffee did you force into the ese basket? Was the handle actually locked in or was it wobbly? You will want to replace the gasket shortly anyway. But in the meantime, try again but with a teatowel to use as a shield.


----------



## mike57 (May 3, 2016)

It was a double basket so 17 gm went in easily.

I 'think' the handle was locked in, at least I intended it to be and it seemed ok.

Not sure about the teatowel though. I think if it goes wrong again I'll need a suit of armour to protect myself from my wife.


----------



## Robbo (Feb 17, 2016)

If you didnt get spray when you did the backflush the only thing it could be is the ese basket or amount of coffee in it. How much free space was there from top of basket and coffee after tamping? Sometimes double baskets are only designed for 14g.


----------



## classicMike (Mar 13, 2015)

If you did put 17gm into an ese pod basket I'm amazed that you managed to lock it at all. The pods are only 7gm and there's no room on top for another 10. still, it would explain the gusher


----------



## mike57 (May 3, 2016)

Robbo said:


> If you didnt get spray when you did the backflush the only thing it could be is the ese basket or amount of coffee in it. How much free space was there from top of basket and coffee after tamping? Sometimes double baskets are only designed for 14g.


The basket was not full after putting the coffee loosely by spoon in and I guess it was about 2-3 mm from the rim after tamping. I don't remember exactly but I did think I hope there is enough coffee! (Remember this was my first ever espresso.)

The pod basket is actually 1mm deeper overall than the standard Gaggia basket but I think that is due to the doming on the pod one. Ther than that I would guess they are of equal internal volume.

I don't know what size the single hole should be but if the standard hole is about 0.25 mm then I'd put the pod one at somewhere around 0.1 mm (from looking at them against the light.

It does point to the excessive back pressure being the start of the problem.

So now I need to find out if I didn't lock the portafilter of if the group head gasket has taken a set.

I have a new gasket coming tomorrow so the experiment should be straightforward.

Thank you for bothering to comment. At the start of something new it's easy to miss what 'everybody all knows'


----------



## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

mike57 said:


> The basket was not full after putting the coffee loosely by spoon in and I guess it was *about 2-3 mm from the rim after tamping.* I don't remember exactly but I did think I hope there is enough coffee! (Remember this was my first ever espresso.)
> 
> It does point *to the excessive back pressure being the start of the problem*.
> 
> ...


Id think it was to do with the portafilter not being locked into place correctly due to the basket being over filled. That 2-3mm headroom isnt enough.

If you have managed to succesfully backflush the classic that would have generated the same, if not more pressure that an over filled basket, but because of lack of content in the blind basket it was properly locked in.

id suggest inserting the protafilter with the right basket unfilled into the head of the machine and noting where the handle is when it is locked into place, make a mental note of that and aim for that when you have another go

Replacing the head gasket is still a good idea though


----------



## mike57 (May 3, 2016)

Yes, that is my conclusion now - *operator error*. I had one more go this morning with the double basket and 15 gms coffee but still the old gasket (as the new one is not here yet).

All was fine and the portafilter handle seemed further round than I remembered - probably about at the 5 o'clock point.

I'll look for the difference when the new gasket is in.

I am using Round Hill Roastery "Thunguri AA" roasted 6th May - they kindly opened a pack and ground it for me when I called in Monday; so proper grinding is one less factor for the time being.


----------



## AMCD300 (Feb 11, 2016)

Thank the laundry gods you fixed the problem...


----------

