Coffee Appreciation

Can share AliExpress links and tell you how to wire up the Shelly if you're interested in that too @Light_EDDed

I had to figure out the right Shelly to buy and how to wire it in myself as I couldn't find anyone who'd done anything similar before, so I was quite proud when it worked first time and didn't blow up!

I forgot I added boiler insulation as well, you can see it in the second pic.

Londonium seem to have a cult following but aftersales seems very hit and miss and reviews seem to be 'cool but basic', especially the Vectis which seems super limited for 2024.

I've no experience with levers other than my Europiccola but I'd be looking at an ACS if I wanted a massive silver box or a Nurri if I wanted something that looked really fucking cool.

Wow you really pulled that apart!

I’ve not taken any of it apart yet. But will do. The guy I got it from seemed very very clued up and had been descaling regularly. I descaled it when I got it home just because.

There’s a gaggiaiuno not sure of the spelling mod I’m very intrigued about but I thinks it’s a bit beyond my capabilities.

Please very interested

They are a startup and you will have to wait a year but nothing but good news coming out from these guys.

That’s 21g

About 30 seconds

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The puck was quite wet

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It feels counter intuitive but try going coarser, I think it still looks incredibly fine and it’s channeling because of it
(Edit: it’s also recommended you weigh the yield, especially when you’re trying to dial it in)

Looking better. How did it taste?

If it’s bitter then you want go coarser. If it’s acidic, lacking body then go finer.

It was a nice shot. There was the tiniest hint of acidity right at the end.

Infinitely better than the shit from yesterday.

So the hive mind is saying slightly courser?

I would personally go quite a lot coarser, and then dial back from there – but that’s just based on my suspicion that it’s still much too fine. I’ve not used that grinder before but what grind setting is it reading?
21g in an 18g(?) basket should really be a big overflowing mound.

OK confession time. I’m a complete retard. I’ve been using the treble…

Lol, let us know how you get on with the double.

Also, from my personal experience, puck wetness/dryness tends to mainly be a function of headspace between the tamped puck and screen. So it's not something I'd use to gauge my grind setting on.

Yeah bit quicker when making one but by the time you’ve released the steam to get back down to temp it takes about that long as an average across the 4 cups.

Getting closer.

The taste is there. No harshness or acidity. The shot is possibly taking a little too long

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Go full lever, get a robot or flair.

I use a robot and can’t hear the boiler pump at all. But then that might be because it’s in a cupboard in another room. Also the central heating’s not on at the moment.

Yeah, if lever just get a Robot or Flair. Having owned both, Flair if you want to never have to worry about whether your portafilter is hot enough and want to use 58mm accessories. Robot cause its cute and I'd say better value for money. Think my Flair was $200 more than the Robot and differences in shots were very negligible.

Still looks like it’s pissing everywhere

It should be looking something like this

Was the machine second hand? Have you cleaned it and checked the shower screen? Etc

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It is second hand yes. He said he kept up with the maintenance and regular descaled.

What else could I be checking?

I’d undo it and check plus probably run a back flush at the very least if not a full descale.
If you’re not getting the results you want I’d just go through all the variables.

As @Tenderloin says give it a clean. You'll be surprised how much shit is in the shower screen if it hasn't been cleaned recently.

Do these machines run at a higher pressure like the Gaggia Classic?

I didn't have much success when I first got my machine, was a lot of trial and error, mostly error, but I got there in the end, and can normally get a pack of beans dialed-in in a couple of shots.

I’m out of citric acid, is there anything off the shelf I.e Tesco I can use to do a back flush?

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