First night with my Silvia / Rocky - bunch of beginner questions!

Hi all,

I received my Silvia and Rocky (doserless) today -- it was my first
time making espresso or even drinking it. It went... alright. I have
a couple of questions that I hope someone can answer!

- I followed Mark Prince's guide (http://groups.google.com/group/
alt.coffee/msg/f6abad357b9c0312) on 'tuning' the Rocky - and based on
what I've read on other forums, the 'zero' point is usually never what
is actually on the machine but something like +3, +4, etc. Yet after
following his guide, I could only hear a "whisper" of the grinding
wheels when it was at exactly 0. Did I happen to get one that was
calibrated correctly, or am I not hearing the right thing?

- Seeing that the "0" point seemed correct, I decided to grind at a
+9. I then measured out 14 grams into the portafilter and put it on a
scale and tamped with ~30lbs (I also used a reg barber SS tamper - not
the plastic one). I hit the brew button (after letting it warm up,
waiting for the light to go off, running a blank shot under it until
the light went off, and repeated it 3 times and made sure the
portafilter etc was hot) and used a timer set at 25 and as soon as I
hit the brew button, I hit the timer. I noticed that I had to stop
the brew before 25 seconds was up - more like 6-10 seconds left. If I
didn't, the 3 oz Bodum Pavina espresso class (I used two of these)
would of overflowed - it was right at the top. So I take it this was
too fast? There was crema on top, not a thick layer, kind of thin,
and within 30 seconds - 1 minute it started to "fade" away. Anyone
have any tips on improving? It looks like it came out too fast, no?
Would a +7 be too fine to grind at? Could it be my tamping?

- What is the 'proper' way to clean up after the shot is done
(assuming no steaming/frothing of milk was done) if I want to turn the
machine off? Right after I was done, I removed the portafilter, got
rid of the puck, put it back on, and then ran an empty shot through it
into a glass. I then removed the portafilter and hit the brew button
again to let anything else out that might of been on the shower
screen. Is this good enough? Do I also have to 'clean' anything
around the shower screen daily as well, like the black gasket? I take
it I can just use the supplied group brush from WLL to do that? Is
there anything else I'm missing in 'cleaning up' besides this?

- My Silvia does NOT have the 'drip tray base' like the one here and
other pictures I've seen of it: http://www.sweetmarias.com/Rancilio/RancilioSylvia1.jpg
- mine has the holes on the right half of it, and the left half seems
to have horizontal "slots" for the water to go into. What's up with
that? Is this a new thing and all the pictures are of an "older" one,
or do I... have the wrong one?!

Thanks for any help!
Rob

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