u/Nightmareve

Hi everyone,

I have a Lelit Victoria PL91T, which I’ve had for about a month. I’m still struggling to get consistently satisfying shots, and I’m trying to understand whether this is still a skill issue or whether I’m hitting a limitation of the machine/setup.

With a blind basket, my machine reaches about 12 bar. I contacted a local service center that works with Lelit, and they told me that 12 bar is normal for the Victoria. However, I’m wondering whether this is really ideal for espresso, or whether the OPV might be set too high and therefore limiting the usable dial-in window.

My issue is that, if I grind coarser and/or reduce the dose to stay around 9–10 bar, the shot runs very fast. If I grind finer or increase the dose to get a more normal flow/time, pressure goes up to 11–12 bar, and I sometimes get unstable flow, possibly because the puck is being stressed too easily.

I know some people will say that brew pressure is not set by the OPV alone, and that puck resistance strongly affects both pressure and flow during extraction. That is actually my point: if a puck can make the machine reach 11–12 bar, is that necessarily desirable? Could the same puck perhaps extract better if the OPV capped the pressure at around 9–9.5 bar, instead of allowing it to climb higher?

In other words, I’m not trying to avoid dialing in by grind and dose. I’m wondering whether allowing the machine to reach 12 bar is narrowing the usable process window. Otherwise, why not set the OPV even higher, for example 15 bar, if puck resistance is supposed to control everything?

Would you recommend adjusting the OPV to around 9–9.5 bar with a blind basket?

Or do you think 12 bar with a blind basket is perfectly fine/normal on the Victoria and should be left as is?

I’m asking also because I assume that adjusting the OPV myself could potentially affect the warranty, so I would like to understand whether this is actually worth pursuing before doing anything.

Thanks!