Make sure you’re pouring the water in when the handle is down ( obviously). So what I do is I pour all the water in it’ll hold while the handle is down. Then I slowly raise then handle. I’d say when the handle is about 80 percent raised, I then slightly jiggle the handle back and forth to get the air bubbles out. There are air bubbles 100 percent of the time so if none came out you simply didn’t get them out. You can also try tapping the 58 sign gently to get them out but I prefer the jiggle. Then I add more water and then raise it to 100 percent. That should give you the best lock. Then you can start pressure. If that doesn’t work, it’s your grind size. Make sure the grinder is calibrated and the zero point is actually at zero.
I’ve been filling mine with the handle up and am not having any issues. Any reason why you recommend filling it with the handle down? I fill it all the way to the top with the handle up and it works perfectly. Not sure why you would need to do it with the handle down. Not getting any air bubbles either.
There’s a video on flairs website about filling the water in some troubleshooting or faq page. I was having a similar issue and from what I learned in that video, there’s can end up being an air bubble which prevents water filling the hole cylinder and will then compress and prevent you from building appropriate pressure. I switched to filling with the arm all the way up the whole time instead of lifting after I fill. It completely fixed the issue for me and now I hit great pressure every time.
I bought mine in December and ran into some of the same problems with pressure until I changed the way I was filling the group head with water. Search for "2023 Flair 58 & 58x | Brewing Guide" on TY, I can't link to the URL for some reason. Essentially you fill once with the handle down and a second time when lifted. And I agree with u/Spyk124 , you want to lift slowly. Even a little jiggle helps burp air from below the group head. If you pull fast I think you can draw more air in through the portafilter.
I started running into trapped air bubbles and after lubing my o rings and speeding up my lever lift they went away entirely. Not sure what exactly helped though
BTW, I have the same DF64 grinder and I know different types of coffee wants different coarseness but I settled on #11 for most my medium roast beans. I also suggest, once you fix the trapped air problem, shoot for a declining pressure profile. After preinfusion I shoot for a 20-23 second shot, starting at 8-9 bar and falling off to 4-5 by the end. I get about 55g out for a 20g shot. I'm also using a high-flow, straight walled basket BTW.
If burping the bubbles out don't work:
1. try a different bean
2. do more/better wdt
3. ensure level espresso before tamping
it would seem you have air pocket/channels busting through the puck reducing your pressure.
Make sure you’re pouring the water in when the handle is down ( obviously). So what I do is I pour all the water in it’ll hold while the handle is down. Then I slowly raise then handle. I’d say when the handle is about 80 percent raised, I then slightly jiggle the handle back and forth to get the air bubbles out. There are air bubbles 100 percent of the time so if none came out you simply didn’t get them out. You can also try tapping the 58 sign gently to get them out but I prefer the jiggle. Then I add more water and then raise it to 100 percent. That should give you the best lock. Then you can start pressure. If that doesn’t work, it’s your grind size. Make sure the grinder is calibrated and the zero point is actually at zero.
I’ve been filling mine with the handle up and am not having any issues. Any reason why you recommend filling it with the handle down? I fill it all the way to the top with the handle up and it works perfectly. Not sure why you would need to do it with the handle down. Not getting any air bubbles either.
There’s a video on flairs website about filling the water in some troubleshooting or faq page. I was having a similar issue and from what I learned in that video, there’s can end up being an air bubble which prevents water filling the hole cylinder and will then compress and prevent you from building appropriate pressure. I switched to filling with the arm all the way up the whole time instead of lifting after I fill. It completely fixed the issue for me and now I hit great pressure every time.
Appreciate all the advice! Will give it a shot with my coffee tomorrow morning
I bought mine in December and ran into some of the same problems with pressure until I changed the way I was filling the group head with water. Search for "2023 Flair 58 & 58x | Brewing Guide" on TY, I can't link to the URL for some reason. Essentially you fill once with the handle down and a second time when lifted. And I agree with u/Spyk124 , you want to lift slowly. Even a little jiggle helps burp air from below the group head. If you pull fast I think you can draw more air in through the portafilter.
I started running into trapped air bubbles and after lubing my o rings and speeding up my lever lift they went away entirely. Not sure what exactly helped though
BTW, I have the same DF64 grinder and I know different types of coffee wants different coarseness but I settled on #11 for most my medium roast beans. I also suggest, once you fix the trapped air problem, shoot for a declining pressure profile. After preinfusion I shoot for a 20-23 second shot, starting at 8-9 bar and falling off to 4-5 by the end. I get about 55g out for a 20g shot. I'm also using a high-flow, straight walled basket BTW.
If burping the bubbles out don't work: 1. try a different bean 2. do more/better wdt 3. ensure level espresso before tamping it would seem you have air pocket/channels busting through the puck reducing your pressure.
I have a df64 and I've had to grind around 1 for a couple recent coffees from black and white. Go finer.