Breville Barista Express - tried almost everything ... dial in impossible

There is a lot of overlap in the BBE grinder settings. As an example, having the burr set to 1 and dial 10 may not be that different from having the burr at 4 and dial at 3. I would start by moving the burr back to 3 or 4.

If my pressure gauge is at 1 o'clock, my shots are more like 18 in, 36 out in 36 seconds. I'm guessing you grind is fine enough but your getting channeling which speeds up the shot.

I have found skipping pre-infusion reduces channeling. I would hold then release the button for at least 1 second, or 2 seconds to be sure, which effectively turns off pre-infusion.

Adjusting factors like temp or dose are fine tuning steps. I would keep those consistent until you are in the ballpark.

Puck prep will also affect channeling. Sometimes the less you do the better. If you are willing to waste a few shots experimenting, try overfilling and leveling the basket and pull the shot without doing anything else. The do the same but add tamping, and then WDT. Finally, weight out an 18 gram dose. At a minimum, from those 4 shots you will see if those steps are improving or hurting your shot.

/r/espresso Thread