/ck/ - Food & Cooking

Can an espresso knower help me figure something out?
I have a new gaggia classic and i got myself some Arabica coffee beans. I made a double shot of 18g at a very fine grind. It took over 30 seconds to reach 2 ounces of coffee and yet it was still quite acidic and strong, even though it looked nice. Is this normal? Should I grind even finer and let it brew for longer?
Pic related.

>got new gaggia classic yesterday
>getting the hang of using the machine with single shots
>use 9 grams of coffee in a single basket
>coffee comes out way too fast at like 10 seconds for an ounce and is barely cooked, awful body
>exact same grind but 18 grams in a double
>coffee comes out super slow, has a great body and beautiful crema
What the fuck is the deal with single baskets? I understand it's really hard to tamper them properly but still, it's like all the theory behind brewing just doesn't work with single baskets, but still, what can you do to make them work? I tried the finest setting on my grinder and couldn't eek out even 20 seconds of exposure to one ounce.