Coffee Appreciation

The thoughts of going Gaggiuino have recently seeped into my weak mind once again as of late.

(Not) looking forward to hearing how good it is once you’ve installed it. Are you going with the latest, larger touchscreen (think it’s a 4.3”)?

Yes! Shout if you have any questions

Edit: know I’ve a load of little spare parts here (protoboard, screws, magnets) as the alix min pack sizes were far larger than I needed. Probably not that helpful unless you’re going for hardware scales

Can’t wait to see this progress!

Shout if you need any bits. Broke down a Gaggia baby recently which are the same inside as the classic.

Urgh, DF64 is really pissing me off. Grind setting changes when I feed beans. I’ve been emailing the supplier and their recommendation was to bend the wave washer to increase resistance. It helped a little but now it’s also pain to adjust.

I feel another forum Philos on the cards

I am delighted with the Philos

It hasn’t really affected workflow, there is just the knocker to use to help reduce retention, I don’t bother with the chute dildo.

When it arrived I had problems with puck prep, but they were caused by me having removed the end of my thumb on the mandolin making ‘slaw. And as such I was struggling to get even pressure when tamping. But now I am getting consistent shots, no spray (we only use a naked portafilter). After preinfusion shots extract at a really uniform speed. The Niche shots used to accelerate in speed and I assume this was water channelling through the less uniform bed of coffee grounds and the channels opening up longer into the shot.

Coffee tastes sweeter than the niche zero. Very happy with the purchase.

Thanks, feels like this may be an expensive weekend.

The Gaggiuino profile I use tries to hold a constant pressure, the line graph is brutally revealing when my tamp is poor (which it frequently is).

Recently bought a force tamper mainly for the alignment, helped me and my lack of skill

Are you using a wdt tool? It really helped reduce channelling and spraying. But the Philos has completely stabilised the flow rate.

Yeah, I wdt and agree, much improvement

Looks cool

I'm also absolutely amazed by mine. So much in fact that I don't have anything to write about.

Built quality is amazing, workflow a charm and coffee consistently lovely since I started doing consistent brews!

Yum!

"Atomo’s ingredients aren’t particularly high tech: date seeds, ramón seeds, sunflower seed extract, fructose, pea protein, millet, lemon, guava, fenugreek seeds, caffeine and baking soda."

Here's another roast of mine from this evening. I usually roast lighter for V60 but pushed the Gene Cafe a bit harder with a 70/30 blend of Ethiopian Illulabor and Honduras Honey I had kicking around.

Fairly happy with the results considering the Gene is a bit challenged when it comes to controlling a roast.

May have to give it a test tomorrow in the La Pav...

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Must catch up with you about Gagguino…

And share if possible

I'm not 100% settled on Gagguino, namely because it has gone closed source and I really want to modify the software as I go. I was also looking at hooking up a Raspberry Pi to a thermometer and solid state relay which means I can modify the software as I learn. I also have a load of RPi and other hardware lying around. Check this one out: https://www.home-barista.com/repairs/gaggia-classic-with-raspberry-pi-android-t37863.html

Thanks! If I come across any broken parts I'll be in touch.

By the way, my boiler has a layer of bright white oxide inside it. Is that OK to leave alone or should I scrape it off? Tempted to leave it.

@Sainsburys_Ed @Light_EDDed - My Gaggiuino thoughts after living with it for 6 months

TL;DR = zero regrets, a fun project that makes great coffee. I use very little of the profile functionality as I'm focusing on grind and puck consistency first.

Main build = straightforward (I was starting with a recommended machine version), the wiring can be a bit complex but take your time and triple check. Just remember, you will be playing with mains supply so don't get lazy.

Hardware scales = This was the game changer for me, originally I didn't bother but now I couldn't do without it, just press brew and walk away. Definitely more difficult given the fiddly soldering, aligning magnets and the annoying process to calibrate (flashing back and forth between brew and scales calibration builds).

I've a Gen 2 build (smaller screen) and I'm not planning to upgrade as I like the aesthetic with the smaller screen.

@Invent - Yeah, it's a shame to have gone closed source but I understand his viewpoint about focusing on on a quality product for specific hardware and avoiding the variant chaos on Discord. Have you considered implementing something yourself? I suppose a headless PID without any profiling complexity would effectively be the same as those PID boxes, but where's the fun in that ;) Other option could be to do both, there's a spare thermocouple point on the boiler and wouldn't be hard to fit another t-junction and pressure sensor

What would be peoples recommendation for sourcing service and upgrade parts for a Gaggia lever machine? I'm thinking specifically about things like the insulation spacer that I've seen people fit between the group head and the body, plus the pins and so on for the lever arm.

Thanks for the info. I am pretty certain the Gagguino is a superior setup out the box with a lot of the guesswork taken out of a custom implementation esp. with the hardware scales etc as you say. I think it's about what you want out of it isn't it. I want to hone my understanding of PID and how temp and pressure are related etc so I am thinking of going the fully custom route with a Pi.

These are apparently very similar to Gaggia Classics under the hood, with lots of identical Gaggia components. Bargain buy for someone: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/356047088412

Assuming you mean the Gaggia Factory, not the spring levers, I used The Espresso Shop for service parts and found them great, especially with the fiche diagrams.

Yes, and thanks.

I've used Coffee Sensor and Blue Star Coffee and been happy with both. Coffee Sensor has the best range but is only worth using if you buy a lot as the starting P&P is high.

I'd need postage to Singapore, which might make things interesting.