espresso making mags?

I am not a coffee snob, but my girlfriend is trained and employed by Blue Bottle itself and a Sightglass wholesaler. She goes on and on about boiler and head pressure, temperature, and portafilter coverage. This also doesn't cover steam needs for milk and milk fat content. They only use beans roasted that week and many of those have been imported recently. Sweet Maria's has some really good equipment in their website. They are world famous for their equipment, roasters, and green bean imports. Check them out.

Or just buy the solo Slayer. It is totally reasonable if you want to never hear another no in your relationship.

thanks for the quick input guys, I will be re-reading through this thread several times in the coming weeks I am sure.

I think I settled with the gaggia classic with their burr grinder as well. Going to have to check out some beans too, hopefully grab some locally.

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Originally Posted by Todd Zander

thanks for the quick input guys, I will be re-reading through this thread several times in the coming weeks I am sure.

I think I settled with the gaggia classic with their burr grinder as well. Going to have to check out some beans too, hopefully grab some locally.

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This forum will be your friend: www.gaggiausersgroup.com

It really is worth reading everything you can on this machine to get the best out of it. The silva steam wand swap and a thermocouple thermometer on the boiler are must haves, cost very little and require no real DIY.

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Originally Posted by dcpnz

At risk of diverting thread, anyone know why all of a sudden my shots are coming out quite foamy. Never had a problem like this before. Likely related to change of coffee bean and just not dialed in on volume, grind, tamp but not sure what to change.

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When did you last backflush and descale?

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Originally Posted by narc

When did you last backflush and descale?

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I try to remember to backflush with detergent about every month. Descale less frequently unfortunately.
Good suggestion/reminder. I'll give both a go.

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Originally Posted by narc

This forum will be your friend: www.gaggiausersgroup.com

It really is worth reading everything you can on this machine to get the best out of it. The silva steam wand swap and a thermocouple thermometer on the boiler are must haves, cost very little and require no real DIY.

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thanks for the link, I already have the to-do list for this thing started! I had no idea I would get to wrench on this thing.

as far as the wand, is the gaggia one sufficiently long enough to just cut some threads onto it for a drilled out acorn nut? I just cant justify the cost of the silva one when I can spend a dollar at ace hardware instead.

looking for a non-powered way to make espresso for on the road. I can boil water, and was thinking of just using a french press, but any ways to truly make a shot of espresso?

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Originally Posted by mntlion

looking for a non-powered way to make espresso for on the road. I can boil water, and was thinking of just using a french press, but any ways to truly make a shot of espresso?

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Did you see this buried upthread?
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...81#post3141381

I was all ready to get one, but I got distracted and it fell off my radar.

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Originally Posted by Todd Zander

thanks for the link, I already have the to-do list for this thing started! I had no idea I would get to wrench on this thing.

as far as the wand, is the gaggia one sufficiently long enough to just cut some threads onto it for a drilled out acorn nut? I just cant justify the cost of the silva one when I can spend a dollar at ace hardware instead.

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I think so. I think most people do the silvia wand mod out of convenience more than anything - they are pretty cheap on ebay.

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Originally Posted by mntlion

looking for a non-powered way to make espresso for on the road. I can boil water, and was thinking of just using a french press, but any ways to truly make a shot of espresso?

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A moka pot does a nice job and I use an AeroPress when I want a single cup of coffee. If space is an issue the moka pot takes up less space than an AeroPress.

thanks guys, good info

Already have an actual tamper and silvia wand on the way. Adjusted the OPV back a hair but havent checked with a guage so that will happen soon.

From my reading people generally ground between 3 and 4 on the mdf however i found the lavazza beans i ordered with the machine seems better on a 5, does that sound right for a not so fresh bean?

Sounds reasonable -- the ideal setting on my grinder varies in a range of ~2-3 depending on the beans (on a ~50 notch scale)

Been a fun couple of weeks with the Classic and mdf. Made it a stepless via teflon tape, but still sticking with whole number grinds until I decide to start experimenting.

Built a needle valved pressure gauge and dialed back the OPV to just under 10, and lastly decided to PID it with an auber kit w/ steam control. Definitely considering a 1/4" copper preheating circuit between the pump and boiler...cost all of $20.

Really glad I went this route as its been a fun learning process. Total cost including all the necessary accessories was around a grand, should last quite some time.

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Originally Posted by Todd Zander

Been a fun couple of weeks with the Classic and mdf. Made it a stepless via teflon tape, but still sticking with whole number grinds until I decide to start experimenting.

Built a needle valved pressure gauge and dialed back the OPV to just under 10, and lastly decided to PID it with an auber kit w/ steam control. Definitely considering a 1/4" copper preheating circuit between the pump and boiler...cost all of $20.

Really glad I went this route as its been a fun learning process. Total cost including all the necessary accessories was around a grand, should last quite some time.

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I stuck a PID in mine over Christmas after reading this: http://www.reddit.com/r/Coffee/comme...the_right_way/ which uses the PID in a very different way. There is no need to spend the money on auber, I bought a £30 sestos VR 220 and with zero electronic knowledge got it working no problem. Also I wouldn't bother with steam control either. After reading the boiler could take it I changed the steam themostat to a 186deg one and the steaming power is totally nuts, I could actually spin half a litre of milk all over the kitchen if I wanted it is that powerful.

The classic is quite fun if you like cheap and modding.

Gathering parts to relocate the opv and add a copper preheat coil.

Have a brew question however, and im thinking its an opinion based answer. We get fresh beans( lb/week) and the brew ratio and taste result is throwing me off. I have found that a slightly finer grind with a lite tamp works well to produce a tasty 1:1 18g shot, whereas a coarser grind/harder tamp produces a not so tasty but higher volume shot.

Im thinking the preheat and opv relocate will provide for a very stable intrashot temp drop and these irregularities will go away.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Todd Zander

Gathering parts to relocate the opv and add a copper preheat coil.

Have a brew question however, and im thinking its an opinion based answer. We get fresh beans( lb/week) and the brew ratio and taste result is throwing me off. I have found that a slightly finer grind with a lite tamp works well to produce a tasty 1:1 18g shot, whereas a coarser grind/harder tamp produces a not so tasty but higher volume shot.

Im thinking the preheat and opv relocate will provide for a very stable intrashot temp drop and these irregularities will go away.

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That is one mod I'd have liked to have done but don't have the DIY skills. Having the PID set point at 110C and a flush does a good job of blunting the intra-shot drop due to the initial inrush of cold with the PID then taking over getting to a steady state accomplishing the same thing. Until you do your mod you can blip the steam switch for a few seconds before pulling the shot.

So the ratio is the same but higher volume? Your flow rate will be higher which will account for the difference in taste. Also check our OPV valve setting, they are usually set far too high (mine was 12.5 bar!). 10 bar static at the brew head is about 9 bar dynamic.

Right now is really figure out what kind of temp profile I'm getting I'm making a thermo-filter. A basket filled with jb weld to represent the puck with a central channel going into an adjustable flow restrictor with a t-type thermocouple running into the central channel.

Brew ratio ...coffe dose in grams : brewed shot weight in grams.

I thought i read a 1:2 is ideal.

The preheat coil and opv relocate is pretty straightforward, although i havent seen any documentation online of the relocation on our machines.

I do blip the steam but also run the pump for a couple seconds on/off/on for the remainder of the shot, dumb way to preinfuse but i do it. Dimmer switch as yet to be installed.

anyone have any info on Gaggia Achille (or other lever presses?)

super finicky?

total PITA?

great once you get them dialed?

Nespresso mags: someone brought a Nespresso machine into work (uses original style pods, not the new ones). I'm looking to buy a few pods to have on hand for midday caffeine boosts (and maybe decaf pods for afternoon coffee).

where do you buy them, have you had luck with cheaper ones, etc? I don't want to buy a large quantity because it won't be my primary means of coffee, and it looks like in smaller quantities the nespresso ones are $1/ea, and other brands maybe a little cheaper. Obviously, cheaper ones not worth it if they're not as good. Also, interested in the "lungo" pods unless someone says I shouldn't; I need more than a shot of coffee!

WHERE ARE ALL THE CAFFEINE HEADS?

I guess they're not using an nespresso? Maybe that should tell you something ;)

True. But there were nespresso posts in this thread!

I thought my nespresso pulled a pretty good shot. Only upgraded to a real machine because I didn't want to have to buy the pods and I thought it would be fun. I ordered a different brand's assortment off of amazon and they were fine.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N11GM70?psc=1

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Originally Posted by jamesp

I guess they're not using an nespresso? Maybe that should tell you something ;)

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This.

I mean, those little things are kind of cool for how cheap they are, but a lot of people would argue they don't even produce real espresso (not enough heat and pressure). We have one in my company's HQ so whenever I'm in town I go to the coffee shop around the corner. ;-)