Coffee Appreciation

Dead easy. Trickiest bit I found was just wire colours not matching the diagram. Super simple to install PID otherwise and the springs are even easier.

they've now got approved sellers making presoldered pcb kits which make it a lot easier!

Can you do any of the Gaggia Classic mods to the Cubika? And possibly more importantly would any mods be worth doing?

I’ve found this pid video. Looks fairly simple:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAtsuS6B6xg&feature=youtu.be

All this talk of moding got me overexcited and encouraged me to replace the group gasket; a job I've been putting off for months. Well I replaced it but now the portafilter can't lock in to place 😭 This is the part: https://www.shadesofcoffee.co.uk/parts-and-accessories/silicone-group-gasket-8mm
Is it the wrong part for a Gaggia Cubika? Have I installed it wrong? SOS

Edit: looks like the Cubika uses thinner gaskets! (5 mm not 8 mm) Fuuuuuuck

Are the gaggiuno kits as straightforward as the shades of coffee PID kits? Last time I looked into it, it seemed like you needed a fairly wide skill set to get it to work. I’d love to get one if it’s preprogrammed etc.
controllable preinfusion in particular would be mega. And I love graphs.

If anyone is ever passing through/near Bath then the Bath City Farm Cafe sell Roundhill Circles (their new Brazilian house espresso) loose for £20/kg which is mental considering it’s £35/kg direct from RH. Very tasty coffee too mind.

You’ve seen this?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4pTFCGVlmQ

https://diy-efi.co.uk/product/gaggiuino-v3-gaggia-classic-kit

Having looked at this a second time it seems to be missing some bits for a classic pro and my research shows that the eco model adds extra complication…

eco model adds extra complication

As Lance states in the above vid

That’s research innit?

Shirley

Times I’ve been called a coffee ponce by our guests so far this morning?
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Would a real coffee ponce be using the unbleached chemex filters?

Only a coffee ponce with one eye on the environment would ;)

I've come to the conclusion I'm shit at pulling shots. Channelling every single fucking time. Can't even get the tamping level. No idea whether my grind size is right. Always seems to be way too much coffee in the basket. I'm almost at the stage where I need to look for the pressurised portafilters I filed away somewhere when I first got the machine to see if I can get a decent cup of coffee.

Admittedly the equipment I have isn't high level, particularly the scales (which are shit) and the grinder, which although good is incredibly fiddly to adjust and there's no gauge to see whether you're at least in the right ballpark. But I'm not blaming the tools; I think it's the manual dexterity I don't have that's the issue.

Anyone got any pointers? Or want to buy an Iberital MC2 so I can buy a fool-proof grinder instead?

How fresh is your coffee?
Did you buy the grinder new? - could the burrs be dull?
Are you getting a consistent dose of ground coffee?

That’s the dry side of things, then check the machine is in good order - correct pump pressure, dispersion block and screen not obstructed by scale or dirt. Maybe get a new basket in case the holes have gone wrong.

Tamping just takes diligence but you can get all that fiddly kit that takes the guesswork out of basket prep.

I don't make espresso that often (usually do french press) and i'm sightly ashamed to say that I only recently worked out how to get a fairly decent (to my taste) shot.

Turns out I was grinding too coarse. I just worked down the scale until I got about 10 bar on the gauge and 30 second shot time for a double espresso. Now I work to that and it seemed good enough - at least as good as a typical artisan coffee shop, probably not up there with the best but better than average.

The coffee is around 13 days after roasting, so not super-fresh but not too old either. The grinder is second hand so maybe it's the burrs, but not so long ago it was grinding OK until I decided to try and fine tune everything and therefore fucked it up.

It's a timer grinder, so dispenses as much as it does within a certain timeframe. And that isn't consistent, if I'm honest. But I grind into a dose cup and weigh it anyway, so the dose going into the portafilter is always the same.

The machine is pretty new (three months), so I'm assuming nothing's gone wrong with it yet. No pressure gauge, but it should all be working as the manufacturer intended. I clear the screen after every shot to make sure there are no grounds sticking to it, so that shouldn't be an issue either.

The basket is stock and probably shite, but I have an IMS Precision arriving tomorrow, which should sort that out. Also have one of those WDTs being delivered, so I can faff a bit more with the puck preparation. Hoping this will at least help stop the channelling so I can then move onto ruling out other stuff that's fouling my shots.

I'm really annoyed that I had it almost spot on and decided it wasn't quite good enough, so started fiddling with the settings and have now fucked it into the sun.

Coffee freshness is pretty much ideal then.
You’ve got all your variables under control, just pump pressure is unknown so I’d look at that. Some machines ship with the pump at max pressure. Check to see whether you have an adjustable OPV on your machine, then see if you can borrow a portafilter pressure gauge to see what you’re getting

What’s the actual problem, other than apparent channeling? Is it also running fast? Too much coffee in the basket, if it’s weighing correctly, could mean it’s much too coarse.
How does it taste?
How do you tamp? You want to just level it at the top, then give it a firm tamp, and pull it out slowly. Don’t do any turns, spins or tricks. Any loose powder at the top won’t make any difference under ~9 bars of pressure.
New basket will hopefully make a huge difference

It's a Sage Bambino, so pressure is 9 bar I think. Pretty sure there's no way of adjusting it, so finding out what pressure I'm getting probably won't help as I'll be unable to do anything about it anyway.

Plus, it was pulling pretty decent shots until I convinced myself I could do better.

Problem is mainly channelling, I think. It generally starts out pretty well from what I can see underneath the portafilter, goes reasonably for around 15 seconds or so, then I get thin spurts of coffee spraying all over the shop.

The grind size is pretty much there, I think. If I run it any finer, it doesn't allow any liquid through at all (or barely any), so I've backed it off from that point. I experimented with backing it off further this morning and it came through way too quickly (and also channelled), so I've adjusted it back to where it was (I think - like I said, it's an Iberital MC2, so you've no way of knowing for sure).

My tamping, as I've said, is not particularly adept. I think I probably need to get one of those leveller things.

Sounds like it could be grind too coarse and tamp too hard? I know tamping pressure is hard to quantify in words, but that could lead to channeling later in the shot..