I picked up a Bellman steamer today as an alternative to our Nespresso Aeroccino frother. We drink 5 oz cappuccinos made with an Aeropress and I wanted to experiment with using steamed rather than whipped milk for our drinks.

The instructions said to fill it up with water to below the handle nut. That results in an awful lot of water to heat up. It took over 10 minutes on our gas stove before steam was useable. How little water can be used in a Bellman?

I didn't get very satisfactory results on my first try. The Bellman's "wand" is a bit short for the 12 oz Toroid pitcher that I picked up at the same time. It's difficult to probe near to the bottom with only 3 - 4 oz of milk in this container and the wand's fixed angle prevents me from holding the pitcher level. Has anyone mastered the art of steaming small servings with a Bellman and willing to share their secrets?

Patrick.

I only fill it up 1/3 of the way. It's a lot faster, and I've never had any problems.

Are you trying for latte art quality foam, or just usable micro-foam? I've found it's tricky to get the right amount of aeration for art, but I can still get nice, shiny foam every time. Make sure you get a good level of pressure before trying to steam. I usually wait until the release valve starts whistling. You also have to aerate pretty gently (keep the tip fairly well submerged most of the time), since it takes awhile to heat up the milk and it's easy to over-aerate. If all else fails, scoop the seafoam off the top, bang and swirl.

I've never had a problem with the length of the wand. It doesn't need to reach the bottom of the pitcher. I also generally steam with the pitcher angled towards me, but I've never used a Toroid.

Refer to Microfoam possible on Bellman stovetop steamer? notably the below:

kupe wrote:I see that others are thinking about the Bellmans as well, judging by the recent posts, so I went ahead and recorded a video. It's a little washed out due to my phone's light (oops), but I think you can observe the froth quality pretty well. I would say you can get quality just as good as anything I've used, including a La Cimbali M29 Selectron. It just takes time to heat up, and then time to heat the milk, which is why I don't use it often. If I didn't have an espresso machine with a steam wand though, I would have no qualms about using this. I think it would go great with a Mypressi. I think would rather pay the extra money for a machine that does everything faster and with less fuss, but I've never tried a Mypressi.

A few tips:

- max steam pressure is had with the Bellman filled about half way. You can use hot water from the tap or from a kettle to save time. Start the bellman before you do anything else so it will be ready when you are.

- wait for the steam to come out the release valves at full force before steaming. This will ensure plenty of power.

- use the hottest heat source possible. The hotter the burner, the better.

- keep the tip near the surface until the milk feels warm and the volume has increased a bit. Then submerge the tip a bit and let the milk heat. If you don't use a thermometer, stop when the milk pitcher is too hot to hold.

- whatever amount of milk you use, the pitcher should be about half way full. 3 oz of milk in a 12 oz pitcher is not easy and you you will stretch the milk too quickly. Use the smallest jug you can find or steam more milk. For single cappas, a 6-8 oz milk creamer pitcher will work.

In any case, practice makes perfect. It will take a number of tries but will click soon enough.

I am new to the HB Forums and I have to say that I am very impressed with the quality and quantity of helpful responses to my post. Thanks to everyone for these great suggestions. I am looking forward to incorporating your pointers into my next Bellman session.

I visited a number shops today in pursuit of a 6 or 8 oz pitcher: Granville Island Market Kitchen, Cookworks, Ming Wo, Williams Sonoma, Canadian Tire, Homesense and 49th Parallel Roasters. I brought home the only 8 oz unit that I saw however it features a tapered edge rather than a narrow spout unfortunately. I don't know yet how well it will pour but I'm keen to find out.

Once again, thanks very much! Your help is sincerely appreciated.

This is a cool video of using a mypressi TWIST and steaming on a vintage electric Columbia CXE30, which is pretty much like a Bellman but with a smaller boiler and electric. The attention to detail is impressive and as he also uses a Vario, this matches your setup well.
You can definitely do a much much simpler and cleaner routine than this, but it's nice to see such a thorough ritual. Everything is considered to perfection, though not all necessary.

Pitchers: for a narrow spout RSVP makes 8oz ones:

http://www.amazon.ca/RSVP-Endurance-Cre ... 013&sr=1-1

but alas it also comes with a sugar bowl.

There are smaller ones available on amazon.ca as well.

That mypressi Twist video is a great benchmark. Thanks Dom.

I picked my unit up yesterday and used it twice today with poor results unfortunately. Here is what I observed. With my Vario set to the values in this video and using 18g of 49th Parallel Epic Espresso, water first started dripping from the perimeter of the showerhead 15 - 20 seconds after pressing the trigger. There is coffee pouring evenly in the video after a few seconds time and the trigger's released around the 25 second mark. I had less than an ounce after 45 seconds. I preheated the water chamber twice as per their website blog.

I don't have a tamper measure or a good sense of 30 pounds. Could that be the problem or might there be something more involved?

The Bellman is a different story though. I'm very pleased with those results and look forward to using it every time. It's a great addition to our kitchen.

As Jed says, the grind is probably too tight. If you are using 18g, take it down 3-4 micro notches and see how that goes. Your grinder was probably calibrated a bit tighter than the one on the video. However, 18g will probably lend itself to a shot larger than 1oz, maybe closer to a 1.5oz normale. I enjoy those. If you want the traditional 1oz, leave your grind setting as is and use 15g, then take it from there.

Heating the mypressi: forget all the preheating rituals and just use the Bellman to heat your water. You wont need to spend any time or water filling and dumping. From a cold mypressi filled once with boiling water, you can steam it up to 93C in maybe 25 seconds. Use less than full steam power to avoid splashing.

Coarsening up the grind a bit and dropping to 15g made a big difference. Today's beverage was enjoyable. I'm in the ballpark now so thanks very much for those tips guys.

Until I can measure my tamping weight would you recommend erring on the side of too little or too much? In the video there is a very nice "crowning" action for lack of a better word. What's the idea there?

I picked up a digital thermometer today so I'll try using the Bellman to heat water next. Do you recommend heating the bowl with basket loaded and attached or freestanding?