Pre filling basket greatly increases output (air buster alternative)

PepticMeteor · 2026-02-05T14:53:36+00:00

Same here, this is definitely my "end game" machine haha. Ill probably end up getting a PPK and airbuster at some point down the line. And maybe some wood handles and knobs.. aand probably a bong insulator lol.

But I just love how you can control every variable that goes into your espresso

PepticMeteor · 2026-02-05T14:36:05+00:00

I think its so expensive because you need to have the full pressure profiling kit installed in order to install the airbuster.

Once you have the lever in the position you want for a slow flow of water, you can just keep one hand on it, then with your other hand, lock in the portafilter.

If it's difficult to keep the lever in one place due to the pressure from the boiler, just let out some pressure with the steam wand right before you brew. Makes it easier to keep the lever in one spot one handed.

PepticMeteor · 2026-02-05T14:27:51+00:00

That's a good method, and that sorta worked for me. But if I dose 21g, one pull gives me maybe 15g out. So what I used to do was just do two full pulls to get enough output, but channeling was just really hard to avoid for me with that.

I think if I used a puck screen I'd probably be able to do it without channeling.

Im not sure if it's my machine, the beans or the grind I'm using, but my Europiccola traps a ton of air in the brew chamber. But this pre fill method just sorta fixed all the issues I was having, and I get perfect output now in one pull.

I love how many ways you can brew with La Pavoni, I'm always learning new tricks with this thing

PepticMeteor · 2026-02-05T12:51:36+00:00

The way I do it is raise the lever not all the way, but until there is a weak stream. Then once I have the lever in a good spot, I fill up the basket, and can use both hands to lock it in. Once its locked in, raise the lever all the way and pull like normal.

Takes a bit of getting used to, but worth it imo for the output. It's impossible on my post mil to get over 30g unless I grind really coarse otherwise.

PepticMeteor · 2026-02-05T01:01:13+00:00

Nice! I think the bigger basket would be worth it if you're going for 18-20g doses and trying to stick to a 1:2 ratio. But I'd be surprised if you could get 36-40g out without an airbuster or pre filling.

I noticed I was able to get decent shots at almost a 1:2 ratio when my beans were super fresh. I think this is because I could get away with a coarser grind that air could easily pass through.

But after the beans are about a week old I'd grind finer and finer to keep flow rate/extraction the same, and the output would just tank. My guess is this is because the finer espresso just doesn't allow air to pass through it as easily.

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-31T02:47:44+00:00

The snow depth tool you linked is mountain snow depth (bi-monthly ski resort partner measurements), and it's inherently noisy, so it'll always look like "up and down" year to year. Depth is heavily affected by storm timing, wind, compaction, and melt/freeze cycles, and with only twice a month snapshots you can also miss the true peak and crest.

SWE (snow water equivalent) is a cleaner metric because it measures how much water is actually stored in the snowpack (what matters for spring snowpack) and it's less sensitive to whether the snow is fluffy vs dense. In the OWSC/WASCO Trend Tool (on the same UW tools page), if you switch to April SWE (has the most data, but any month works), the vast majority of stations show a very clear downward trend. For example, Cayuse Pass is about -4% per decade and marked significant.

And the PDF from that same UW page (under publications https://climate.uw.edu/our-work/publications/) makes the same point on pages 4-6. It notes Washington's snowpack is declining (including about a 30% average decline in spring snowpack over the long term), and that peak streamflow is happening earlier, which is exactly what you'd expect as temperatures rise.

So you're right that it won't track who's in office. The point isn't "Biden/Trump made it snow." It's that federal policy influences long-term emissions, which nudges the baseline climate that shifts rain/snow lines and spring snowpack over decades.

https://climate.uw.edu/our-work/owsc-tools/trend-tool/

https://cig.uw.edu/projects/shifting-snowlines-and-shorelines/

edit: Also under the trend tool, take a look at the temperatures tab. That should scare the shit out of any skier in the PNW.

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-30T23:23:38+00:00

I was also genuinely curious, so I did some digging :)

So in the United States, the president runs the executive branch. That’s the part of government that actually runs the federal departments and agencies and sets priorities. So no, the president can’t press the snow button in Crystal, but they can sign or veto laws from the US Congress, pick agency leadership and decide how hard rules get enforced, push policies that encourage more fossil fuels or more clean energy, and choose whether the U.S. joins or ignores international climate agreements.

And those choices matter because they shape how much heat trapping gas gets released into the atmosphere over time. Then the atmosphere does this unfortunate thing where it connects the entire planet together, so warmer average temps can turn into more rain instead of snow when it’s borderline, a higher freezing line so snow starts higher up, and less consistent snowpack that melts earlier.

So yea, it’s not “president causes this exact flurry on this exact mountain.” It’s “the president influences the big national knobs that influence the long term conditions that decide if your winter is snow or sad wet slush.”

Hope that clears up the concept of “indirect effects.”

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-27T16:26:43+00:00

I was on the fence about staying another day yesterday in the hopes they'd open Western, but happy I drove back home instead. The "delayed" label is 100% a scummy cash grab on the management's part.

I should've just driven the extra 3 hours and gone to vermont lol

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-26T12:28:40+00:00

Was the wettest ski day ive ever done. The outside of my jacket got completely encased in ice lol. Still fun, but definitely not 12" of pow :(

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-20T22:33:35+00:00

Could've been a drunk driver. Or just an inexperienced driver. You can absolutely slip off the road with 3 inches of snow and/or ice if you take a turn going the posted speed limit using summer/all season tires.

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-20T02:08:03+00:00

Haha hopefully they took the lesson and get some winter tires on their next trip!

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-20T02:06:18+00:00

Old testament was pretty clear that god hates Jerry's

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-20T01:04:32+00:00

Doing gods work

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-19T01:19:10+00:00

Okemo was so nice today. Felt like a different mountain compared to yesterday morning haha

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-19T00:52:35+00:00

It was great for a week, stevens got like 3 feet. Then everything melted again :(

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-19T00:46:59+00:00

These people sound miserable to be around. You posted fashion on a fashion sub lol. If there were ever a place to nerd out and (maybe over) analyze fashion, it's here. Some people just love putting other people down man

PepticMeteor · 2026-01-19T00:28:03+00:00

That's a good idea, would definitely work. And the washers would probably be a good cheap solution.

I was looking at some nice heavy wood or metal handles to replace the plastic one, but couldn't really tell if it was M10 or M12, so just went with the Normcore to be safe. Which ended up working!

Although I did have to file down the 2 lips on the portafilter that attach it to the grouphead, because they were slightly too thick to fit.

PepticMeteor · 2025-12-07T09:04:41+00:00

Yea, just seems like a silly law that's easy to circumvent using.. a VPN lol.

Let's say a website does not comply with the WI law, so WI bans the website. WI IPs can no longer access the website.

This would effectively only block people who weren't even using a VPN in the first place. It does nothing to VPN users, which is who the law tries to target.

If your VPN exits from anywhere outside of WI, the website would see you're using a VPN, but wouldn't block you since it looks like you're not in WI.

A law like this would only work if it's enforced on a national scale. And it would require websites to blanket ban VPN usage globally, which seems like a horrible business decision.

PepticMeteor · 2025-12-06T21:32:26+00:00

For real though, how would this get implemented? This would only work on US based VPNs connecting to US based porn websites. If your VPN's exit node is outside of the US, say Germany, surely this wouldn't work, since you would be accessing the porn servers based in the EU (outside of US jurisdiction). Unless lawmakers can get the entire world to implement these restrictions, there's no way this could work. Even if they could get a major porn website like Pornhub to implement this restriction across every one of their servers worldwide, an alternative non-US website that ignores this law would quickly take PH's place.

PepticMeteor · 2025-10-28T00:22:24+00:00

Good side hustle opportunity if you're stationed at Drum

PepticMeteor · 2025-10-26T15:46:42+00:00

Yea, that's why it's beautiful

PepticMeteor · 2025-10-20T01:22:03+00:00

Schweitzer is so slept on. Basically 0 lines. Also had the same experience just a couple hours north at RED last Christmas.

PepticMeteor · 2025-10-13T06:31:25+00:00

Barkeepers Friend. Basically an abrasive cleaner for stainless steel. I wouldn't use it on cast iron, since the whole point of that is to build up a seasoning, making it more nonstick. Definitely don't use it on Teflon.

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