Coffee Appreciation

Does anybody use one of those Stanley pourover things?

Is it good?

Wahey! Thank you very much to the gracious host and seller @rhb (soup, coffee, put the world to rights and went for a run together - I think that has be a record for customer service).
Definitely an upgrade. Annoying that my scales have died. Managed to wangle my hario filter scales in there but it was a pain. Fitted the IMS shower screen I had lying around and it’s working well. Realised that you‘ve upgraded the wand too @rhb - noice!

Upgrades to come:
PID, skinny and extended drip tray, is a brass dispersion head worth it?

Is there any interest in my old Gaggia Cubika and Iberital MC2? Nice and cheap espresso starter set. Although post might be about £20

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Might be interested in the Iberital MC2 depending on price. Could possibly collect depending on location.

Leeds!

That would work. I'm taking my daughter to University in a couple of weeks and passing by on my way there and back.

Will PM

is a brass dispersion head worth it?

Not unless it’s got the old-style zinc dispersion plate, and even then I wouldn’t bother changing it until the original one is too far gone to work properly. If you do change it, be 100% sure it’s identical to the OEM one or you’ll run into problems.

Is the 9 bar mod worth it? From my basic understanding it’s just a spring change.

If you’ve got it apart then why not, but it’s not a game changer, that’s getting the PID done, you can lower the temp and get things much for consistent.

Yeah, the plan is to do all the modding at the same time. Deffo not taking it apart more than once!
So PID, 9bar mod and drip tray are the ones to go for?

Also, here’s the Cubika if anyone’s interested.
£50+ post?

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That’s a bingo!

Is the 9 bar mod worth it? From my basic understanding it’s just a spring change.

It’s not even that. You just back off the adjuster on top of the spring on the OPV. You need a pressure gauge on your portafilter to do this, even if you buy another spring.

Stock is 13 bar or something. I’ve got mine set at 10.

No worries, glad it has gone to a good home and will get more upgrades by sound of it too. Enjoy!

Down in Cornwall and fired up the europiccola as soon as I got here, feel like it really needs a new set of seals but pretty much works and is going to make better coffee than anything else around here…

Annoyingly despite the portafilter being 51mm the basket is clearly a little bit smaller so I have no tamper, and no milk jug either so will have to sort that out on Amazon, but will be bringing it home with me, so don’t mind spending £7 on a tamper and don’t mind having a spare milk jug at home..

Need to watch a couple of service videos to see if I’m up for doing it myself but looks relatively simple to do!

I’ve done the seals myself and it really is super simple. Just remember to pull a few extra empty shots to really clear out the food grade grease they supply as it hangs around longer than you’d think.
I got the bits from here. https://www.ferrari-espresso.com/product-category/spare-parts/la-pavoni-leva-home-spares/
I didn’t need all the seals from the pro service kit so just ordered the parts I needed using this style exploded diagram. I sent a copy and asked for the bits by the numbers on it. They sent back a you want parts#————- and I a paid what they said. They were right and didn’t send any thing I didn’t need. Result.

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Don’t know if I’m being a doofus or not.
Struggling to steam milk on the Gaggia classic.
I switch the steam switch, wait for a bit until the espresso light comes on and then use the knob on the side to get my steam. This is correct, right? As I’m waiting for the steam to get ready the machine makes quite a big gurgling sound.
It just seems like I’m getting very little actual steam from the wand, like it runs out very quickly. Am I missing a step? Is there anything I can check?

If you're happy doing stuff on your bike then it'll be a breeze. The only tricky bit is if you want to do boiler gasket. And that's more just about generating enough leverage than 'difficult'.

Can confirm, did the boiler gasket for the first time since I got it around 5 years ago. Was basically baked on at that point (and was mostly removed via a blade). After having fitted a new one, and tightening everything up, needed a bit more tightening a few times (presuming the seals are getting compressed a bit). But aside from that it's all pretty simple.

It usually makes that gurgling sound if it has had the OPV pressure reduced and if you leave the steam switched on. The pressure in the boiler goes over the pressure set by the OPV and it dumps the excess into the water container. That will be normal behaviour.

So I think you’re leaving it too long between turning the steam on and drawing steam. Sweet spot on mine seems to be the time it takes to get the milk out the fridge and fill the jug, which is about 20-30 seconds after flicking the switch and no longer.

Ah, I’m definitely doing that wrong then - waiting too long. I’d incorrectly assumed I’d need to wait for it to build up like on my old machine. Will try again this afternoon.
Thanks.

Down in Cornwall

Same here. It's not great weather, is it.

I've also run out of coffee.

My cousin has done that thing were they ask you just tell them what espresso setup to buy.

I've tried explaining that even if they spend a lot it won't just make nice coffee out the box, but he's quite insistent on espresso.

His budget is £500-700. I suggested a DF64 and maybe a second hand Gaggia Classic (not 2015 model) or Rancilio Silvia.

It doesn't feel very satisfactory though. Anyone have a different suggestion?

I would suggest a flair or robot but he wants milk steamer.

I have a la pavoni europiccola in need of a clean up and service. I am also moving to Canada so wondered if it could be converted to use a North American power supply. Does anyone know a place that might do this?

More straightforward than I imagined:
https://www.home-barista.com/levers/modifying-la-pavoni-230v-heating-element-to-120v-t47095.html

It’s sounds like the espresso shop offer this kind of repair/mod. But the mod itself sound pretty straightforward.
https://www.theespressoshop.co.uk/Mobile/en/gb/La-Pavoni-Lever-Heating-Element-1000w-120v---331334/m-m-2194.aspx

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