Frankenstein Linea 1 Group - Page 3
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- Posts: 184
- Joined: 16 years ago
No, this is an EE model, so it is the much shorter path, but even so, brew water exits the group to go to the 3 way solenoid and back. Bill C is keeping an eye out for a Piero cap for me. I also saw an interesting conversion on a German site; basically a home-built Piero cap. When I get my energy back I may try that.
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- Posts: 1355
- Joined: 17 years ago
How long of a heating flush is required with a Linea? There's a shop in town with a three group Linea, and they do a quick flush before pulling each shot, but it may be too short to really heat the group. I think they're just flushing to clean the shower screen. Their shots are OK, but the crema is light and lacks some body. The flavor of their shots is a bit bland and lacks any interesting nuances. They're using Barefoot Boss beans, so it seems like they should be getting better results. Not sure if this is the result of temperature problems, of if they just need to grind finer or dose higher.Are you doing a heating flush before pulling the shot? If it's an AV model machine the water exits the saturated group to go through the flowmeter and back into the grouphead - even if you use it manually. When you pull multiple shots back to back the water doesn't stay in that little external copper tube path for long enough to cool off significantly but in a home environment or anytime an AV Linea has been inactive for more than several minutes - a heating flush is required.
Anyway, sorry about the thread drift. The Lineastein looks great.
Lock and load!
- Rosscopico0
- Posts: 70
- Joined: 14 years ago
I was considering the same thing Nick, before a pair of Pieros fell in my lap.NickA wrote: I also saw an interesting conversion on a German site; basically a home-built Piero cap. When I get my energy back I may try that.
If you find a source for the brass barbed fittings,
let me know, as I was having big problems trying to source them.
I think they still might be useful for me to connect a nylon/teflon drain line from the Pieros 3 way solenoid to the drain pipe connected to the drain box.
I was also considering possibly doing the German homemade Piero to the other machine.......
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- Posts: 184
- Joined: 16 years ago
Well, the homemade Piero cap is in place; I'm just letting the thread sealer set before trying it out. (Thanks to Chelonae on Kaffee-Netz for a great idea.)
I didn't have a side mount 3-way valve, so I had to improvise with the one I had and make a side-exit adaptor for it. it just sneaks in under the Linea cover.
I also battled to find the barbed brass connectors. The 4th supplier I tried had also told me they "Didn't have anything like that", and I was browsing their shelves on my way out when I spotted almost exactly the right fitting. The only thing it didn't have was the thread on the base, but fortunately it was 4.95mm in diameter, so I was able to cut a 5mm thread on the shaft. (rather ticklish cutting such a small diameter pipe; luckily nothign went wrong.)
Ross, you asked about a source: it is described as Rectus 20 coupler 1/8" FBSP; they are fairly expensive at about US$16 each.
Well now I've got one less excuse for making poor coffee.
I didn't have a side mount 3-way valve, so I had to improvise with the one I had and make a side-exit adaptor for it. it just sneaks in under the Linea cover.
I also battled to find the barbed brass connectors. The 4th supplier I tried had also told me they "Didn't have anything like that", and I was browsing their shelves on my way out when I spotted almost exactly the right fitting. The only thing it didn't have was the thread on the base, but fortunately it was 4.95mm in diameter, so I was able to cut a 5mm thread on the shaft. (rather ticklish cutting such a small diameter pipe; luckily nothign went wrong.)
Ross, you asked about a source: it is described as Rectus 20 coupler 1/8" FBSP; they are fairly expensive at about US$16 each.
Well now I've got one less excuse for making poor coffee.
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- Posts: 184
- Joined: 16 years ago
Well, you have to be pretty careful with tightening up those pipe junctions and the banjo bolt ... After having taken the head off for the #$%$# time it's all looking good, and the shot I made was certainly up there with the best I have made on this machine.
I'm certainly happy with the upgrade.
I'm certainly happy with the upgrade.
- Rosscopico0
- Posts: 70
- Joined: 14 years ago
Hey Nick,
Im curious if you have pondered some sort of preheating setup for you 1EE to further stabilise the water temp?
I have been thinking of a very simple one that is just a couple of turns of copper tube around the brew boiler.....
Im curious if you have pondered some sort of preheating setup for you 1EE to further stabilise the water temp?
I have been thinking of a very simple one that is just a couple of turns of copper tube around the brew boiler.....
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- Posts: 184
- Joined: 16 years ago
Hi Ross,
Yes, I have thought about preheating. I read various posts (e.g. one from Paul Pratt, I think) who said that tubing around the boiler didn't work very well. I thought about making some kind of HX unit to fit through the steam boiler (which is what the GS3 does as far as I know) but the mechanics of getting the right fittings to do this haven't presented themselves to me yet. Others have suggested an electric instant water heater.
What I noticed today when I was lowering the brew temp from say 208 to 206 by drawing a lot of water from the grouphead: the indicated temp drops quite rapidly corresponding to cold water flowing into the boiler. Because my thermowell is close to the water inlet, the thermocouple responds fairly rapidly, and the temp drops. It then rises again to about what it was as the cold mixes with the hot water, which is what one would expect with a high thermal mass. I had previously only noticed the rapid drop, not the fairly rapid climb again. In other words, I think the effect on the water temp in the grouphead is fairly low. Now I need to mount a thermocouple in the grouphead to see the temp there ... always something more to tinker with ...
Yes, I have thought about preheating. I read various posts (e.g. one from Paul Pratt, I think) who said that tubing around the boiler didn't work very well. I thought about making some kind of HX unit to fit through the steam boiler (which is what the GS3 does as far as I know) but the mechanics of getting the right fittings to do this haven't presented themselves to me yet. Others have suggested an electric instant water heater.
What I noticed today when I was lowering the brew temp from say 208 to 206 by drawing a lot of water from the grouphead: the indicated temp drops quite rapidly corresponding to cold water flowing into the boiler. Because my thermowell is close to the water inlet, the thermocouple responds fairly rapidly, and the temp drops. It then rises again to about what it was as the cold mixes with the hot water, which is what one would expect with a high thermal mass. I had previously only noticed the rapid drop, not the fairly rapid climb again. In other words, I think the effect on the water temp in the grouphead is fairly low. Now I need to mount a thermocouple in the grouphead to see the temp there ... always something more to tinker with ...
- Rosscopico0
- Posts: 70
- Joined: 14 years ago
Hey Nick,
Ive been looking at RTD PT1000's for a while now (thanks Bill!) as they are more accurate and suffer less initial drift for mounting in the group head. I figure a bridge feeding a diff amp and into the Arduino, then out to a LCD or LED display mounted on the front.
Ive been looking at RTD PT1000's for a while now (thanks Bill!) as they are more accurate and suffer less initial drift for mounting in the group head. I figure a bridge feeding a diff amp and into the Arduino, then out to a LCD or LED display mounted on the front.
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- Posts: 184
- Joined: 16 years ago
Hi Ross, yep, I've bought some PT1000s; I just haven't got around to fitting them yet. I see your profile now says FB70 for your machine; have you replaced the Lineas?
- Rosscopico0
- Posts: 70
- Joined: 14 years ago
Hey Nick,
The work machine was a FB70 EE, but my 2 at home are Lineas (AV's). The first Linea is now finished initial testing. It will be getting moved to a local roaster, where I will put a few pounds of coffee through it before selling it, so I will have some spending money to throw at the other machine.
The work machine was a FB70 EE, but my 2 at home are Lineas (AV's). The first Linea is now finished initial testing. It will be getting moved to a local roaster, where I will put a few pounds of coffee through it before selling it, so I will have some spending money to throw at the other machine.