# Classic - wet puck & ill-fitting basket.



## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Hi all - keen newbie here. Got my Gaggia Classic and MDF grinder from ebay recently (4-5 year old but not used much) and spent the last week stripping, cleaning, backflushing, calibrating, replacing group gasket, PF basket, shower screen etc. after reading great advice on forums like this one. Also done mods for OPV and Silvia steam wand. Feel like I'm on the verge of getting things right









Two things I need help with please...

1. The new double basket doesn't fit as flush to the top of the PF as the old one. There's maybe 1 or 2 mm gap. The spring is fine. Is this a problem?

2. The puck is always wet after an extraction. Pre-extraction, I always level off the grounds with the back of a knife then tamp with a 57/58mm tamper (not the plastic one). I'm now grinding on MDF setting 5 with a fairly firm tamp, as the extraction was too fast on setting 6. Any idea why the puck isn't dry? (ps - this happened with the old basket too)

Cheers.

Mike


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

Sorry Mike, no idea on the impact of a gap with the basket. As to the wet puck, are you using blonding as your criteria for stopping the shot or volume? What kind of time is the extraction taking?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

RolandG said:


> Sorry Mike, no idea on the impact of a gap with the basket. As to the wet puck, are you using blonding as your criteria for stopping the shot or volume? What kind of time is the extraction taking?


Thanks Roland. I'm set up to extract a 60ml double shot (plus 5mm crema) in 27 seconds. The shot seems good, but the water left in the basket baffles me.


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

I seem to remember having a similar problem when I started with my Classic - but I can't remember what I ended up doing about it! Some suggestions are below, but if the shot tastes good as is, I wouldn't over-worry it.

1) Try reducing the dose a bit and making the grind a little finer to compensate.

2) Use the shot colour as it pours (blonding) to chose when you stop your shot.

I'd suggest trying these and seeing what the effect both on the puck wetness and shot flavour is. Can't promise it'll help, but should be interesting at least


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Just to confuse (and not conflict with Rolands info), try increasing the dose

A soggy puck often indicates the coffee has not expanded and pushed against the shower screen

Another consideration is the age of the beans. How fresh are they? (How many days after roast are you using them?)


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## RoloD (Oct 13, 2010)

On this subject - apart from being aesthetically unpleasing and slightly inconvenient, is a wet puck necessarily a bad thing?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Glenn said:


> Just to confuse (and not conflict with Rolands info), try increasing the dose
> 
> A soggy puck often indicates the coffee has not expanded and pushed against the shower screen
> 
> *Another consideration is the age of the beans. How fresh are they? (How many days after roast are you using them?)*


Thanks Glenn. I must admit, for my first week using the machine I just picked up some Starbucks beans that I think were roasted 3 months ago. But yesterday I went to http://www.thomsons-coffee.com/ in Glasgow and picked up some freshly roasted. I'll post the results









As for the dosage, I've just noticed that the dry grounds touch the shower screen plate before brewing, which might be due to the new gasket. I'll try reducing the dose until there's clearance.

Thanks gents.

Mike


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## MonkeyHarris (Dec 3, 2010)

I always used to get wet pucks and finally cured it by upping dose. Also instead of trying to get 60ml + crema cut the shot when the crema reaches the 60ml or before if blonding appears. If you're already levelling the grinds and cannot fit any more in you'll need to grind finer.

With regards to the basket I have a basket that sits the same in th PF but it makes no difference to me. It just means the PF doesn't twist as far for a seal.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Well I think it's improving. Fresher beans, finer grind, a more consistent tamp... I think I also just need more practise. Thanks for the help!


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

Glad things are improving. I'd encourage you to try varying all the parameters and taste the results - it's good fun & the best way to learn







One of the biggest surprises for me, when I started on espresso (after years of brewed coffee drinking), was the huge variety - there are so many variables you can effect (dose, tamp, grind, time, volume of water, temperature, to name a few!); they can have so many different effects on the end cup (acidity, bitterness, crema, mouthfeel, etc.); and different interpretations of any one coffee - which can be very different but all good (or bad) in their own terms!


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Thanks for the support. This is indeed an enjoyable, if frustrating, learning curve. I seem to be having a bad day with it today. The tight-fitting portafilter just burst off the group head two seconds after pushing the brew button - it's hard to rotate it far enough to the right. Such a waste and a mess and I'll have to put up with it until the new gasket wears a bit, I suppose.

A worse problem though seems to be to consistently get good steam. Sometimes the steam is fine, but other times after purging the wand I seem to just get invisible hot air rather than steam, and the machine sounds like it's really struggling. This happens even if I wait 10-15 seconds after purging, to re-establish the steam in the boiler. Could it be a fault?










I'll get over it


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

With regards to the clear steam (hot air)

That's pretty normal. White steam is just more water content (and often indicates lower temperature)

Are you turning the steam knob on fully?


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Oh, well that's good news about the clear steam. I turn the knob to full. Usually the horrible choking sound from the machine kicks in at around 140 degrees, and by the time I squeeze out another 20 degrees it sounds like the poor thing is going to give a final cough, roll onto its side and depart to the espresso machine graveyard.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

It died!

Made a latte for the missus this morning, after which no water is coming through the group head - just running back through the overflow into the water reservoir. Am I right in thinking this is probably a failed solenoid valve?

Starting to wish I'd bought new rather than from ebay.

*EDIT* 1 hour later, have removed solenoid valve and left it in a cup of Puly Descaler Cleaner for a while, then blown through it and pushed the internal piston down with a piece of guitar string (bass E







) to try to free it, incase its sticking. Reassembled and *success*, water now flowing normally.

http://toomuchcoffee.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=8064

Going to do a descale flush now, just incase there's crap in the boiler etc. which I thought was unlikely considering the machine's always been in a soft water area, but not taking chances now.

At least I'm getting to know how this machine works


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Just a follow up on my wet puck syndrome. It's cured now, and here are the things I've done differently - all of which match up with the things suggested above and elsewhere on this forum, so thanks guys and I hope this helps someone in future too.

1. I've been using Janszoon beans from Artisan Roast and the difference in the puck was immediately remarkable. Use freshly roasted beans!

2. I changed the MDF grinder from setting 5 to 4 (finer), making sure the portafilter was tightly secured in the group head to handle the extra resistance (after a messy incident where the PF blew off the group head)

3. I now watch for blonding, which has been a good indicator for whether I've ground, dosed and tamped correctly to avoid channeling. The puck is much dryer if the flow is a nice brown/tiger-striped colour, and was much wetter when I let it run beyond commencement of blonding.

4. I'm more careful with my tamp, not tapping the size of the portafilter (to avoid creating fissures in the grinds) and trying to position the tamper handle straight up so the tamp is evenly distributed.

As for dosing, I'm still just levelling off the basket with a knife/finger (experimenting with WDT), and haven't needed to up/down-dose at this stage.

Cheers!

Mike


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## Flanners (Mar 21, 2011)

Yep agreed I find 4 on the MDF to produce the best grind for most fresh beans I use. My new Rancilio Silvia steam wand is producing some great lattes!


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