# Gaggia Classic Spurting Issue!



## NRG (Mar 8, 2014)

Hi Guys,

I was hoping someone might be able to help! I'm a complete newby, so please go easy with me!

This may sound like a first world problem although after leaving corporate work life and having a change of career to work from home I really wanted to find someway to produce amazing coffee from home. After some research and lots of good online recommendations I bought a Gaggia Classic and an Iberial MC2 grinder. Also, after reading online about how poor the supplied portafilter with the Gaggia was, I also bought a new portafilter from Happy Donkey (http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/gaggia-domestic-portafilter/).

Yesterday, after eagerly unwrapping everything I set about trying to make my first espresso









I was following the instructions from Happy Donkey (http://www.happydonkey.co.uk/dosegrinders.html) when grinding and I managed to get as far as changing the timer to grind out 7g of coffee for a single espresso shot. I also managed to setup the Gaggia Classic with the new bottomless portafilter from Happy Donkey and ran through the pre-use/cleaning instructions (which seemed to work absolutely fine) then onto trying to make the coffee&#8230;.

So&#8230;.I ground 7g of coffee, poured it into the basket and used a new tamper I bought online (as opposed the dodgy plastic one supplied with the Gaggia). I fixed the portafilter to the Gaggia, switched it on and&#8230;.then whilst joyously seeing fresh coffee beginning to come out, I also started to get pressurised jets of water all over the place too









At this point - after trying a few different things, e.g. tamping harder/softer, fixing the portafilter tighter into the Gaggia, changing the coarsity (just invented a word) of the grinding, I spent quite a bit of time looking around on the net for help and stumbled across this article (http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?2362-Messy-Spitting-gaggia-classic) which is exactly the same as my problem. However, it seems the problem these guys were having was because they were using the supplied portafilter and basket. After swapping it out with the new one from Happy Donkey it seems to have solved their problem although not mine









I'd be really appreciative of any ideas as to what I'm doing wrong? Not the best first experience although I really want to persevere if I can

Thanks


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## oracleoftruth (Jan 15, 2014)

Hello!

Welcome to the forums.

A video would really help to diagnose. In the absence I would try a different basket.

You aren't using a pressurized one are you? If you look on the bottom, it should have holes almost to the edge of the basket. If just in circle in the middle it is pressurized.

The gaggia is probably over pressured. The OPV mod may help.


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## oracleoftruth (Jan 15, 2014)

Oh and I'd try using the double basket and 15-16g.


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## Neill (Jun 26, 2013)

It sounds like channeling which is what you use a bottomless to spot. First thing I would do is try using a double basket and dose at 16g. Singles are much harder to extract correctly. Second thing is to make sure your grind and distribution is correct. To course a grind will spurt everywhere. Make sure the coffee is evenly distributed in the basket. You'll find various instructions and vids online of preparing a basket.


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## NRG (Mar 8, 2014)

Thanks for the quick response guys











oracleoftruth said:


> You aren't using a pressurized one are you? If you look on the bottom, it should have holes almost to the edge of the basket. If just in circle in the middle it is pressurized.


No it's not pressurised. It has holes right out to the edge of the basket



oracleoftruth said:


> The gaggia is probably over pressured. The OPV mod may help.


I've read the Gaggia Classic starter thread here (http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?3858-So-you%92ve-just-bought-your-Gaggia-Classic) (Awesome post) and read about the OPV mod although I was expecting the OPV mod to be a subtle modification to improve the quality of the coffee, not that I'd have to mod it just to get it to work in the first place!

I'm using a double basket although only with 7g as opposed to the 15-16g - could this be my issue?


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## NRG (Mar 8, 2014)

Thanks Neill



Neill said:


> It sounds like channeling which is what you use a bottomless to spot.


Sorry, don't quite understand this?



Neill said:


> First thing I would do is try using a double basket and dose at 16g. Singles are much harder to extract correctly. Second thing is to make sure your grind and distribution is correct. To course a grind will spurt everywhere. Make sure the coffee is evenly distributed in the basket. You'll find various instructions and vids online of preparing a basket.


As per my response to oracleoftruth, I'm using a double basket, although only with 7g of coffee - this maybe the problem? I'm pretty sure the distribution of the grind is ok in the basket although I'm not quite sure how hard/soft I should be tamping (I've watched a few video's online and pretty hard by the look of it!)

I'll try using 15-16g and see what happens!

Thanks again.


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## oracleoftruth (Jan 15, 2014)

Yes. If you are using 7g in double basket that is problematic. That's a single dose.

Channelling is when the water passes straight through one part of the coffee bed and therefore leads to overextraction at that point and underextraction at the rest.

If your puck at the end has holes this is where the water channelled through.

Could be due to uneven tamping. Experiment with harder and lighter but focus on even, level bed for the water to hit.

Also try adjusting the grind but only change one thing at a time.

Good luck!


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## NRG (Mar 8, 2014)

Thanks oracle









I've tried quite a few goes with the 15-16g and success! I've adjusted the grind slightly given I obviously had it far too fine before and it was taking quite some time to produce about 2oz. I've now got it to produce about 2oz of coffee within about 25 seconds which I believe is about right? Anyway, it tastes pretty damn good









Just out of interest, I know there's lots of material on the net indicating you should let the Gaggia warm up for between 15-20 mins before using it. Why out of interest? What's the impact if you use it when it's cold?

Thanks again for your help!


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## Neill (Jun 26, 2013)

As oracle says, channelling is when water is forced through one are a of the puck due to uneven distribution. I think the dose is your problem though. 7g in a double basket is likely going to fracture and spray everywhere.


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## oracleoftruth (Jan 15, 2014)

The taste of coffee is down to quite unstable molecules in the extracted oils and dissolved solids. The temperature effects the extraction process. So with the internal components being warmer you get a different profile due to less of a temp drop during the 25 second or so extraction. This changes the molecules and thus the taste.

There is no right or wrong so if you like the taste then the important thing is to be able to replicate what you did to get that particular profile. That's why people measure time, weight, temperature and pressure.

When you get an awesome shot and didn't record the dose or time or other factors you'll realise why it is important!


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