todays sellout.woot.com - delonghi pump espresso maker. Any good? Or more accurately - worth $105? Not sure of I could deal with the name... makes me think of John Holmes... not exactly the image I want first thing in the am.
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todays sellout.woot.com - delonghi pump espresso maker. Any good? Or more accurately - worth $105? Not sure of I could deal with the name... makes me think of John Holmes... not exactly the image I want first thing in the am.
Was about to post here asking about this as well. Anyone have one?Quote:
Originally Posted by roark
http://sellout.woot.com/Default.aspx...2eb0b1d1babf58
for 99$ it sounds like its a;
stainless boiler
dual t-stat
15bar pump
it does have a creama enahncer filter from what i can read, which sucks, but those are easy to hack up to make normal.
might be worth a shot (no pun intended)
ya, just bought it a few minutes ago, couldn't resist. what do you mean by crema enhanced filter and what's involved in "hacking it up"?Quote:
Originally Posted by pechelman
Ok, so purchased the Delonghi and wondering about grinders. Don't want to have to throw down for a super nice burr. I'm not religious about my espresso anymore so I can live without the shots I used to pull on the La Pavoni back when I worked at a shop. I can buy great beans a couple blocks away so I'm wondering if it's reasonable to have them grind them for me - probably wouldn't have the grounds more than a week or so at a time. Is the quality really diminished that much? I've never made a shot from anything but minutes old grind.Quote:
Originally Posted by Yonder_River
the bottom of your filter basket from the inside will have a ton of holes
on the outside, it will have usually just one tiny one
this is so that little tiny hole always builds your pressure rather than you having to perfect your grind and tamp.
all you gotta do is take a dremel tool to the bottom side with the single side
and yea, do not grind eeverything all at once
dont grind if you're not going to use it in 15mins
gotcha, thanks.
Well, I've become officially addicted to researching coffee stuff at work lately.
Woot has the Breville 800ESXL on sale right now for $185 shipped (normally retails for $400). I'm thinking of selling the Delonghi pump I just bought and getting this. Close to pulling the trigger...anyone own one and can comment? It sounds like if you replace the basket, it's decent. Wish I could justify the purchase of a Gaggia Classic or Sylvia right now, but maybe in the future.
Just purchased the Ascaso I mini grinder so am stoked about that.
i wouldnt get a breville since its a thermoblock machine
if you're really interested in a gaggia classic, I have a gaggia dose, which is very similar, Id sell you for around what that breville costs
havent used it in forever since getting my caravel and factory 106
i have made over 1500 doubles with it and i think its a great machine. got it for $100 and it was around $350 retail
if you use a turkish grind,you can clog the filter,but its reversible.
my lever machine is finally here and working but Ive got a problem
My espresso tastes like crap. If I had to guess Id say the off flavor is that it is very sour, but Im not really sure. Heres my process:
Ive got good beans(terroir beans roasted 5 days ago), grind right before pulling up to the level of the top of the basket. I stir the grinds with a needle to break up clumps, and level off the top, tamp lightly but evenly around the whole thing until it looks nice, flat and even. Let out some false steam through the wand, and pull a shot of water through the machine to heat things up, then put the basket into the portafilter. I lift up and wait ~5 seconds then pull down until a drop or 2 comes out, pull the lever back up all the way and wait for ~10 seconds, then pull down the lever all the way with firm but even pressure. My last shot dripped only out of the right spout of the portafilter and took about 20 seconds to pull. The puck looked ok except for a space on one side of it where water looks like it got between the puck and the metal and allowed it to flow unevenly.
Help me, these shots are terrible even drowned with milk.
Are you getting any crema in your shots? Also when you pull the leaver down wi0th no portafilter is the water coming out evenly disbursed or does it favor one location?
Quote:
Originally Posted by couloirman
i didnt even need to read what you wrote.
if its sour, you are either doing one of two things (or both)
a) using very lightly roasted beans from someplace like kenya or high altitude central americans...ie these are very bright\sour\acidic coffees
b) you are underextracting the coffee, generally speaking, too low a temp, too low a pressure, too coarse a grind, etc
your procedure sounds relatively good.
First off, id throw the time guidelines out the window. Theyre really not that important. Ive had some horrible shots at 20-30 seconds, and then some of the best of my life around 45-60 with my old caravel. it is what it is, and just focus on blonding to know when to stop the extraction.
Focus on temp, grind\tamp, and pull.
Things Id do right away;
Id let your machine preheat a bit longer.
Whats your pressure gauge reading btw when it cycles off??
Flush water through your group and empty PF handle until you can start to hear the water to begin to almost flash boil. In boston, this means the water is really freaking hot, which is a bit too hot, but once you learn where this point is, you can back off a tad. Luckily, in Denver, Flashboiling is about 202-204*F, which is damn near perfect for pulling a shot.
Second
It sounds like your grind is very close to being dialed. Id say leave it alone. It also sounds like you're tamping in a method that promotes consistency which is good. It sounds to me like you may be raising the lever a bit too quickly and breaking the puck. (hence the cracking around one side where water can sneak past the coffee)
What Id do, raise the lever 75%, THEN lock in PF with the coffee.
Continue the raise, let fill with water for 5-10 seconds.
Do your pull for a few drops. and then SLOWLY raise the lever to top.
When you hear the chamber is full, begin your pull. No reason to wait around after the preinfusion.
Third
Dose by weight, not by volume. This is way more consistent and easy to figure out. Buy a cheap gram scale ~15-25$ that measures down to .01g and up to 1-200grams. For my singles, depending on the roast\grind, my machine is happiest around 8.25-8.75g of coffee.
really though, it sounds like youre doing a great job.
vary one thing at a time, and make noticable changes so you can really know what affects what.
id bet you anything though that this is a simple problem solved by the first two things; low brewing temp and a broken puck caused by raising the lever too quick. Id also wager that you're raising the lever slowly, so your issue is very easy to fix, and probably just a temperature issue.
fwiw, Ill let my machine preheat 15-20mins, which brings it to pressure and then cycles it probably 5-8 times before I even touch it. When i get to it after this time, before I flush water through it, the group head and PF are just slightly luke warm.
Before I pull my first shot, my PF is pretty hot and my group is almost scalding and the water out my grouphead has JUST begun to flash boil at Denver's altitude.
LASTLY
If its still to sour, dont be afraid to Start Dump your brew.
The sour\acidic\bright chemicals and compounds in coffee all come in the beginning part of the extraction.
Also, by sour, you do mean acidic and bright as opposed to bitter right?
Bitterness means something entirely different.
Your process sounds fine, you are getting about right time wise on the pull (internet wisdom say shoot for 30 sec, but less on a lever - I aim for about 24-26) - the thing to watch for would be channeling which you definitely had on the puck you described, and may have had on other attempts. If you are using the WDT to break up the clumps, its hard to think of another way that may help. Are you using a full-width tamper, or something off your grinder? Since you said you tamp around the whole thing until it is nice and flat, it sounds like its maybe not the width of the basket? If that is the case you have two options (I didn't have a tamper for about a month with my first machine and almost every shot had channeling no matter how careful I was with the non full width tamper) - full width tamper (I had a machinist buddy carve one out of some scrap stainless bar stock he had) or the 'italian method.' Italian method is grinding much finer and then leveling off the grounds but never taking a tamper to it. The dispersion screen will push down on the grounds a little bit, and then the force of the water will hit the grounds and form a puck with no tamping on your end. I did this for a bit while waiting on the machinist to cut out the small piston for my lever tamper - it actually works remarkably well.Quote:
Originally Posted by couloirman
Also - what kind of grinder are you using?
and last but not least
the puck means bullshit
if it comes out dry and solid, thats easy cleanup, if its soupy, its a little messy, but beyond that, the proof is in the cup.
Puck consistency can be used however to give you a general guideline on your dose.
Wet and soupy = maybe underdosed
Dry and Hard = maybe proper dose maybe over dosed
the single puck on mine never comes out 100% clean but it is very dry.
I also tried the WDT crap, stir with a needle, etc.. Its hard to do any of that BS consistently and just adds complexity where its not needed.
Im sure there are benefits with these techniques if done consistently and repeatably, but in my experience they offer diminishing returns at the expense of much more risk.
My philosophy, and not just with coffee; Less is more. Keep it simple. Dont stress over the details.
I dump in my fluffy grind from my hand grinder using a metal funnel (removes static). I do a couple of knocks on my knockblock to settle the grounds from the funnel into the basket. I remove the funnel, knock the PF a couple more times to settle it a bit more from the funnel mountain.
Then I do a light leveling tamp.
Tap the sides gently to move loose grounds on the perimiter to the center.
Then lightly and quickly tamp a couple more times so that when I raise, any more loose grind is picked up by the vaccuum created by the tamper and it moves into the center. I dont bother twisting to polish. Seems to disturb the puck more if i do it.
My tamper is slightly Convex. I machined the stock plastic one down to fit perfect and it works amazingly.
doing everything ive said, ive only had 1 sink shot in the past 4-5 months, and thats because I was trying to snake a shot out of the 5.7grams of coffee I had left one morning.
I will somewhat agree with that - my pucks are always a little soupy. Can't remember the last "dry puck" I had...it would be back on one of my pump-driven machines.Quote:
Originally Posted by pechelman
BUT, if you have holes in the puck - that does tell you a lot about what went wrong. If you have holes there was a nice big channel for all the water to rush through which is why you ended up with a funky shot.
Beyond that - You and Pechelman both do way more than I do when I dose. Grind => PF => Stockfleths => VERY light tamp => Pull shot. Like him, very few sink shots and its usually when I am trying to do something or have a new coffee and am messing with the grind (but I can usually drink those if I really want to).
edit: Are you sure the shot is ending up sour? That is usually from underextraction, is your crema yellow/blonde on these shots? If the flavor is bitter or just kinda funky your machine may just not be clean. Run some hot water through it and then taste the water - does it taste normal?
one last thing
since its a new machine
have you done what the manual said about a diluted vinegar mix to get the "factory taste" out of the machine?
wow thanks for all the responses guys. Ill try and answer all the Q's.
I use an ascaso Imini grinder, its stepless and decent but clumps a little and leaves a lot of leftover grounds to be pounded out of the machine with a few good whacks.
The machine is a brand new Gaggia factory and I did the baking soda in the boiler and flush multiple times trick to clean it out.
Right when the machine comes up to pressure Ive been making my shots. This must be a problem as it sounds like that's rushing things so Ill let it heat up a lot more tomorrow and see how it does. Pressure seems to go from about .65 to .9 give or take a little over the course of pulling water through the machine.
Without grinds in the filter the water comes evenly out both spouts so its definitely finding the channel on the outside of the puck causing the uneven extraction.
The beans Im using are a slightly lighter roast ethiopian ademe bedain full flavor at the top of that page, not the espresso roast at the bottom of the page(maybe this is part of the problem?). It was the freshest coffee they had at whole foods so it was what I got. Ive got 5lbs of Black Cat on the way to me so hopefully Ill be able to pull something decent out of that.
I use the small end of the stock tamper which is about 1/4 the size of the basket cause the big end wont fit in, what is the correct size tamper to buy for the factory if I were to get a nicer metal one?
Im not 100% sure the taste im getting is 'sour', Im just starting out on my espresso journey so Ive got a long ways to go picking out different flavors, but Im damn sure its crap by anyone's standards.
Im getting a decent amount of crema on the shot but would like more of course.
I think tomorrow Ill definitely let it warm up more, but what pressure should I ideally be seeing right before I decide to pull the shot? Mine is usually hovering around .75 ish, near the low end of where it varies between but I was under the apparently faulty impression that that was a good thing, Ill definitely try pulling at the highest possible pressure tomorrow. Do you guys let the steam out of the knob before each pull or just the first one? When I let the steam out the pressure drops a bunch and I thought I was supposed to pull as it was regaining its pressure.
Oh and pech, does the boiler cap on your factory rust like mine does? what do you do about it? Whats the best product to remove rust from any part of an espresso machine?
You guys kick ass BTW.
ok
if you pull a shot immediately after it cycles off, it will taste horrible
You're water is probably around 240 in the boiler, but by the time it makes it through the machine, and looses heat to the group head, its probably down to 170-180. Waaaaaay too cold. This is definitely your problem.
Your pressure is good, dont bother changing it unless you want more steaming power. Pressure is honestly irrelevant to temeprature and is only there to let you know you have the minimum of ~.5bar to force the water into the cylinder and at least ~.75bar to steam milk. In other words, ignore pressure gauge, its got little to nothing to do with temperature coming out the group.
So you ask, what does affect temperature on this machine?
The temperature of the group head!
Again, you've got stupid hot water, flowing through a heavy mass, thats much colder, so it looses heat. In essence, you have a heat exchanger of sorts.
If the group heads gets too hot, where its really scalding, put a cold cloth on it.
It should be very very hot though. If you can touch it for more than a couple seconds, its too cold, and less than just a tap, too hot.
This sounds finicky and a pain, but its never really been an issue for me. So far its pretty forgiving and consistent.
You can also get a stick on thermometer like what the guy at orphanespresso sells.
as far as the roast on that ethiopian you have, honestly, i have no idea
maybe you can take a picture of the beans and I can tell you?
perhaps you can ask the roaster where he went to?
did it hit 2nd crack, does he have a temp reading, anything?
other than that, I think you're good.
as far as bleeding false pressure, Ive been doing it, but i never have had any. I still do it though because it heats up my glass nicely. (ie I bleed pressure into the cup i will be drinking from...i also flush my grouphead water into it as well...)
Always clear the steam wand before steaming milk to get the moisture out of the wand to keep your milk as dry as possible. Bleeding pressure\checking for a dry wand is really only necessary before the first pull and before every time you go steam.
I will also say that before you start steaming, you want to make sure that the heating element has cycled on so you get a continuous source of heat IN while you are letting it OUT. By the way, change the 3hole steam tip to a 1 hole by getting an M5? acorn nut from home depot and drilling a 1/16"? hole in the tip. Mine works excellently. Dbl Check the dimensions on those coffee message boards.
my boiler cap had some weird tarnish on it.
i pretty much ignored it after i tried to brush it off.
now it seems to be gone with repeated use.
If you're bugged by it, Id say to wire brush the threads and apply some DOW111 lubricant to it to stop the galvanic corrosion thats most likely going on between the Stainless Boiler threads and the Brass threads on the cap.
glad to help you, because i know how frustrating it can be to get a clear answer from those other message boards. Too much kool-aid.
I bleed false pressure as well, but mind does build up (~1975 Cremina) - I do like Pech though, and heat up the glass.
I like fairly light roasts - right a little after the first crack sometimes (though rarely - usually city - full city). Check here: http://www.sweetmarias.com/roasted.pict-guide.php which does it look like? Saying "Espresso Roast" is kinda meaningless - so it depends.
You may want to upgrade your tamper, but that is up to you - it will likely improve consistency. Not sure what the factory basket size is off hand - 51mm maybe? Pech may know.
And listen to what Pech said about temp - that sounds like your problem.
e: and black cat is some of my favorite espresso.
OH
about the tamper C-man
Take the big end and a panzer ski edge file (or other aggressive steel file)
Go around it methodically and firmly to file the big end down to 51mm.
Have a basket on hand to check it and make sure you're doing it round.
Thats what I did and its an amazing tamper.
Took me about 10 minutes, but i was anal about getting it perfect, including matching the taper angle of the baskets.
I also lightly polished off the molding seam that runs straight across the face of the tamper.
Using the small end will produce shitty results for sure.
Any body have/use/have an opinion on, the Starbucks Sirena machine?? I'm looking to get into espresso cheap and easy, but not crappy...
http://www.starbucks.com/flash/sirena/default.htm
Thanks for any feedback.
Yup. you are not going to get good espresso with a non-espresso roast. Plan on trying a few different roasts/companies before finding one that works well with your machine.Quote:
Originally Posted by couloirman
Also, playing with the grind and tap pressure will effect that shot quality.
Currently, I using BlueBottle's Retrofit espresso roast. It seems pretty tolerant with the group head temp not being perfect.
http://www.bluebottlecoffee.net/Cate...ategory=Coffee
(at bottom of page)
Also, 5 lbs is allot of coffee. Be careful about the beans going stale on you.
This is all kinds of wrong. There is no such thing as "espresso roast" (sorry Starbucks). Usually when people put espresso roast on coffee that means "Burnt so that there are no flavors of anything left beyond the flavor of char."Quote:
Originally Posted by StormDay
There are espresso blends, but not espresso roasts - I have had wonderful espresso from lightly roasted beans and from well past Full City. Coffee roasts should be tailored to each individual coffee, not roasted to a certain level because that is the "espresso roast" level.
I have no hands on experience with it, but for the same price you can get a lightly used Gaggia that is built like a truck and will last forever while still producing a decent (sometimes great) shot. Gaggia makes the best intro machines, IMO.Quote:
Originally Posted by Capatain
ok, blend is a better term than roast and what your are saying about Starbuck is definitely true. (It also applies to Peets)Quote:
Originally Posted by mattw
My personal experience is that coffee being sold for making espresso make better espresso than coffee designed for french press or a drip machine.
100% agreeQuote:
Originally Posted by mattw
I recently roasted a City+ batch of high altitude central americans (maybe even some kenyans in there?) that Im really digging as espresso. Its bright, but its been temepered with a lower altitude central american that roasted up a bit faster to give it body and depth.
99% of people out there would never consider a City roast in an espresso machine.
Your personal experience, I am afraid to say, has been tainted by the popular ignorance of today's coffee culture.Quote:
Originally Posted by StormDay
Quote:
Originally Posted by Core Shot
Self Quote to say I love my superauotmatic.
Espresso has never been easier (and better).
I don't have half the time you other purists have.
Pushbutton convenience is the best.
you guys are very right that "coffee roasted for espresso" is bullshit .. on the other hand, i would not really use a nice yirga (which i almost never bring even close to second crack) into my home gaggia machine. there is just not enough temperature stability to get that awesome shot with high acidity and lot of fruits without ending up with negative sour taste ... unless you have LM GS3 at home, I would stay with the "traditional" blends like Intellis Black Cat, or 49th Epic, Hairbender etc. They just work so much better on these machines for straight espressos ... (also usually lighter the roast, less amount of crema)
Pechelman: "Pressure is honestly irrelevant to temperature" ... i know you are talking home machines but on the standard HX commercial machine this is not correct. The only way to alter the temperature on the grouphead is to increase/decrease pressure/temperature on the boiler ... 1.2-1.5 bars on the boiler is roughly 120C and approx 93-94C on the grouphead (the usual factory setting) ... obviously its not the best thing to do because it affects the steam etc... thats why i sell only Dalla Corte which have small boilers on each group head and you can play with the temp up to .1 degree:)
We just replaced a broken Starbucks machine like this:
http://s2.thisnext.com/media/230x230...e_6150D9E7.jpg
With a Gaggia Pure and I've got to say I'm not impressed with it at all... steam wand seams weak and mostly cold no creama shots. At the moment I'm thinking I'm glad I kept he box.
Shouldn't I be delighted with this machine? Sure seems expensive for how flimsy and light it feels.
Been rocking our Saeco super auto for a couple of years now with 0 problems. I wake up, turn it on, push the button, and drink quality espresso a couple of moments later. Ain't nothing wrong with that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Core Shot
That said, I've been roasting at home for a month or so now and it has made a world of difference in the quality of the shots I'm getting. My typical roast (FC+ to light Vienna) is infinitely more complex than the conventional store bought "espresso" roast. Thank goodness Mrs. Cruiser loves me enough to ask Pechelman for B-Day present advice.
Word on that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cruiser
I cant roast my own, but am digging a sweet Vienna roast from a regional bean house. Before that I had supermarket beans, and then local shitty roaster beans, and they sucked ass in comparison.
Mmmmm sweet beans.
getting MUCH better results with the black cat blend, at least good enough to drink finally. Gotta tinker with my grind some more and wait for my convex tamper to come, but Im happy to no longer be pouring every shot down the drain :cool:
Lets say I wake up in the morning and have a full day to study at home. How long is too long to leave my machine on for? I doubt these home models were meant to be on all the time, but Im assuming I should turn off between my breakfast and lunch shots?
Quote:
Originally Posted by pechelman
:yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock::yourock::your ock::yourock:
This was the magic fix. On my first stroke when I pull down just until a few drops come out to coat the bottom of the glass and re-raise the lever, I then switch out shot glasses and throw away that first little bit, then pull again until the crema lightens and begins to blonde(at least what I think is blonding, not 100% sure I understand it but I just go until I begin to see a lighter blotch of crema starting to form and then stop pulling). Amazing how much better the shots taste, I tasted the first couple drops instead of throwing it away just now and those are exactly the flavors I was trying to get rid of.
the Black Cat kicks ass too BTW, cant wait to try the other bag of single origin espresso I got from them. How much variation in grind setting can you see between different espresso blends? Doesn't this really mess with you as a home espresso roaster since every roast is a little different?
EDIT: I just tried steaming milk for the first time on it today, damn that shit it tough! Put the milk in a metal pitcher in the freezer while I poured my shots, then gave it a go. Nothing but big uneven bubbles, not even a little bit of what you'd call microfoam. Oh well, I guess I just gotta stay caffeinated and keep on trying!
Got rid of the delonghi. Crap
Just got an Ascaso I-mini and have a Gaggia Classic on the way. Stoked. :yourock:
still not so stoked yet on my lever. It takes an exorbitant amount of force for me to get water to start flowing. Does that mean I should loosen the grind? I tightened it up cause i thought the sour meant I was underexctracting but I put maximum force onto the lever for 15ish seconds before the first few drops come out. Is that normal? Today I made a shot and it smelled like chemicals, I thought I was burning a gasket or something.
Also, my P stat has lowered itself and now runs at .6-.7. Is that too low?
i know what you're saying, and I know the relationship between Pressure and Temperature, but im sorry, you're still not really correct.Quote:
Originally Posted by 2-czech
Even with an HX machine, you can continuously flush the machine to get whatever temp you want, and as such, Pressure does not SOLELY determine temp at the group head.
honestly, if you're not going to use it, turn it offQuote:
Originally Posted by couloirman
If you leave it on for more than 30 minutes, especially after using it, it will be unusable until you cool off the group head. Also, if you leave it on for a while, and are low on water in the boiler, you risk boiling off water and running it with a dry element, or needing to bleed all pressure to refill it.
its a cool trickQuote:
Originally Posted by couloirman
same goes for the end dump or to just stop pulling when it blondes as you find out. Center Cutting, as its called, yeilds such a rich sweet shot its almost like espresso candy. I like the balance the start and end give though, so i never both with center cutting.
with this machine, ive found its pretty insensitive to grind. most anything within a quarter turn on my Zass grinder will pull something good. Greatness is a much smaller range tho from bean to bean and roast to roast and day to day.Quote:
the Black Cat kicks ass too BTW, cant wait to try the other bag of single origin espresso I got from them. How much variation in grind setting can you see between different espresso blends? Doesn't this really mess with you as a home espresso roaster since every roast is a little different?
I havent found this to be a big deal with home roasting as the window of adjustment to truly "dial" it in, is very small
Remember why I told you to get a stepless grinder? :)
Thats why.
steaming milk is another adventure it itselfQuote:
EDIT: I just tried steaming milk for the first time on it today, damn that shit it tough! Put the milk in a metal pitcher in the freezer while I poured my shots, then gave it a go. Nothing but big uneven bubbles, not even a little bit of what you'd call microfoam. Oh well, I guess I just gotta stay caffeinated and keep on trying!
First, you're getting big bubbles because you broke the surface of the milk with the tip of your wand. Be sure not to turn steam on until you have submerged the tip. THEN slowly lower the pitcher to surf the tip.
Rule No 1 for steaming milk; NEVER break the surface of the milk with the tip....ie leave the tip in ;)
Id reccomend ditching the 3 hole tip and making your own single hole using an M5x1 acorn nut and a 1/32"? drill bit. (search for it on homebarista forums)
The technique is to surf the tip of the wand on the surface of the milk so you hear a "tearing" sound. Sorta like a continuous tearing of news papers. This is called "Stretching" or what people refer to as "Frothing" or "Foaming" the milk. The idea here is to introduce a little air into the milk, but very evenly and consistently so the air bubbles are tiny...micro sized ;)
Be sure to do so with your pitcher vertical and the steam wand tangent to the edge so you create a whirlpool \ vortex. This helps collapse bigger bubbles.
Stretch the milk until you get to about 60-80F depending on what texture you're going for. I stop around 65 I think so I can pour latte art.
When you stretch, you will slowly need to lower the pitcher as the milk level will rise....remember you're trying to keep the top on the surface.
Once you want to stop stretching, you want to Steam or Heat the milk to raise the temperature to around 140-145. Around this temp itll become nicely sweet and hot. Again, keep the whirlpool going.
To steam, simply stop lowering the pitcher or slightly bury the tip.
No need to bury it all the way, just below the surface. Makes wand cleanup easier if you dont bury it.
Really thats it.
Lots of words, but fairly simple.
Too bad you're not local anymore or I could just show you.
Too much force is something from here or a combo;Quote:
Originally Posted by couloirman
Water too cold
Grind too tight
Tamp too hard
Most likely its your grind being too tight. Loosen up your grind to fix it.
Honestly, people pull too hard on levers. Its really not needed if you do the math to get 9bar. I forget the geometry, but iw ant to say the ratio is like 10:1, so if you pull with 50lbs, you get about 500 straight down on a piston that I think is about 3sqin, thats about 12bar.
For the first drops, I never time it, but here's my general timeline;
Raise lever and wait for chamber to fill: 5-10s
Slowly pull lever until I see first drops: 5-10s
Slowly Raise lever to refill chamber: 2-3s
Pull lever to complete shot: 20-30s? (really no idea)
Total time water is in contact with coffee: 30-50s?
So by that standards, my water is probably in contact way too long, but forget about time, its liberating, I promise. The proof is in the cup.
Tightening the grind will help if you are having trouble with underextraction, but it can also hurt when it comes time to overextracting aka early blonding. Its the happy middleground of grind, tamp, water temp, lever force, that makes this a bit tricky.
Not sure ive ever smelled burning chemicals before
just when it was new and it first was heating.
easy enough to see your gaskets are ok...ie no leaks
My only idea is to check at your filler cap gasket.
.7bar is fine, so is .6.
It is however on the low end of what Id want for steaming milk.
All you "need" is about .5bar to fill the chamber.
You can steam milk around .5bar too, but it might not be exactly what you want in terms of texture. Might have to stop stretching around 55F.
Stretching ive found is moreso about Time duration rather than Temp.
So if you have less powerful steam, itll take longer to reach your desired temp.
sorry im slow in responding
Its not a bad machine, its just finicky.Quote:
Originally Posted by PNWbrit
Make sure you let it warm up for at least 10-15 minutes with the portafilter in the grouphead. Your PF should be HOT.
If its not, keep flushing water in 10-15 second intervals until it is.
HOT.
Also, you must time your shots appropriately.
On my machine, I found my water was consistently 199-200F when and ONLY when the heating element shut off.
What does this mean to extracting your coffee?
It means you should only begin extract IMMEDIATELY after or IMMEDIATELY before the heating cycles shuts off. Like right away.
Ideally youd time it to 1-3seconds before, so the heater would continue to run throughout the beginning of the shot and maybe even into the center of it.
Simiarly, for the steam, you want to make sure the heater element is CONTINUOUSLY running while you have the steam knob valve open.
Otherwise it wont be strong.
Furthermore, take the plastic over cover thing off the other plastic part thats screwed onto the metal wand.
You will see one red o-ring
Move this o-ring UP one notch so it creates a seal between itself and the outer plastic sheath thing.
youll get infinitely better performance this way, but you will now no longer have a "Panarello" air injecting wand and will need to use proper technique (as i just typed out) in order to steam milk.
Good news though, is that I have done it with that machine, and that wand setup, and it works great. I can pour art with it as good as my skills allow.
oh, and with my machine, i could never really get a solid Normale out of it. I was always more on the ristretto side of things, which it did fantastically. Basically a very tight grind, light tamp, and a 25-35s pump. I also hardly ever used the double basket either.
99% singles which are generally way more finicky.
Also, bear in mind, with these machines, it takes about 5s to "prime" the space between the pump and the group head after a complete cycle. So those first 5s mean nothing usually. Listen to the machine and you can hear when it bears down and sees pump load.
the case is flimsy, but that means jack shit honestly
you're paying for a few things
-Removable water res
-Full size commercial 58mm grouphead
-Dual T-Stat Stainless steel boiler
-good vibe pump
really, just the things that matter
it takes a good 'nother 300$ to get something thats a "real" step up imo. at 200$, that line of machines is a great entry level bargain imo.
^^ Thanks
dont thank me till it actually works for you
:)
i searched this great thead and couldnt find anything about cleaning/decalcifying the machine.
i have used mine for 1 1/2 years at 3 doubles/day with no problems and no cleaning the guts. i do use filtered water.
should i clean it? with what?
i read that the decalcifier is basically weak hcl.(in a very expensively marketed form )will any weak acid do it? vinegar?
or vitamin c crystals?.....i already have those,and i can drink the outflow.