stove top macchineta - coffee comes out veery slowly, thick and bitter

[ivod]

Hey guys,
I'm new here, thanks for this forum and hopefully answering my question.

I bought a new moka pot, macchinetta, since the former bialetti was too small. It's no specific brand, as far as I can tell.
When I make coffee, it takes a looong time and it starts spitting right away, the coffee never flows out as it usually does. In the end about half the pot is full, it's very thick and bitter. Now obviously something is going wrong.

The filter seems quite big, about double the size of my smaller bialetti, while there's not so much more water in the machine. Could that be an issue?
Did I fill it too tight? Too much coffee grounds?
Too much heat? It's on a small flame, I'd be surprised if that was the issue.

Is the macchineta bad?

I'd appreciate any hint.

 

[topher]

Coffee could be ground too fine or you could be using too much coffee..

 

[bluesmike]

ivod, I'm having the same issue with my new Bialetti 3-cup moka express. The brewing starts as is should, a nice stream of coffee, but then it begins spurting and bubbling, and not much more coffee comes out. Lots of water remains in the bottom after I'm done, and I'm only getting about half the coffee I should. I don't think the grind is the problem -- it's not too fine (I'm grinding with a Hario Skerton hand grinder) I suspect it might be the heat. I use an electric stove on medium, so I figured that wouldn't be too hot -- is that still too hot, or not hot enough. I've tried it twice with the same miserable result. If anyone has a suggestion.

UPDATE: I brewed another pot: I coarsened the grind just a bit, and didn't fill the basket quite as high as I see in some of the video demos (i.e. not right up to the very top and flattened). I used slightly less than the Medium heat setting. It took over 10 minutes, but then it brewed in a nice even stream, and fairly quickly. The best result I've had. And the coffee is great. Perhaps not quite as strong and bitter as the two previous, but much more enjoyable. I drink it black, as is. I think I found the "sweet spot" for my coffee tastes. Perhaps is was the grind and the amount of coffee I was using, after all.