Gaggia Classic - Fast flow

[NurturedByTheBean]

Hi CS'ers - I saw another classic thread but this query is quite the opposite so I thought I'd better start a new post.

I just picked up a Classic for a steal. I don't know much about the internals of a machine and so I'm trying to work out if this is a user error, or if it is something that I have no clue about (but am keen to learn!)

The pressure is non-existent. Water just flows straight through the head to portafilter and into my cup, leaving me with dirty water. I've played with dosage, grind and tamp (almost half a kg worth of play - really don't want to kill anymore of my fresh Cleanskin beans) and I'm at the point where I think I can confidently rule out user error.

I've cleaned the shower screen and descaled but I doubt that either of these things have a huge amount to do with increasing the pressure in the unit.

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[JojoS]

Thoughts? Do you have a coffee grinder that is espresso capable? The Gaggia Classic is very particular about it.
Suggestions? Try grinding fine enough to choke the flow. If you can't do that at your grinder's finest setting, get another grinder.

[NurturedByTheBean]

I've ground pretty fine.. will try finer and see if it can choke some more. Thanks

[Dimal]

G'day mate...

What brand/model of grinder are you using at the moment?

Mal.

[NurturedByTheBean]

Grinding it finer worked! I thought it was fine enough - I never would have ground this fine without the encouragement so thank you.

Unfortunately I haven't got a grinder yet. When I buy my beans I get them ground up for me (I'm usually a manual brew kinda girl) and if I need it finer I blitz it through my thermomix (I know, I know, I can see those eyes rolling from here lol). A good grinder is next on my to-do list (unfortunately fixing the washing machine is higher..)

[Dimal]

Fair enough....

Mal.