After about a year, I'm generally quite happy with my Silvano. Of course, I'm comparing it with my previous machine--an Ascaso Dream--from which this is a clear step up. Its consistency in enabling the production of quality shots is very good.

However, where I'm not so happy is with its milk-texturing capabilities. I'd say I get very good microfoam about 40% of the time, with the rest of the time it being just average. I fully admit that this can very well be my skill, or lack thereof, to blame. But I've been doing this for a few years now, and a good friend who has the same machine has a similar experience. We've actually found the Dream, with the froth aid removed, to be more consistent than the Silvano. Just when I think I've finally gotten the right technique down, I get large bubbles and little to no vortex the next day. It's somewhat maddening.

Have others had more luck getting good foam every time on the Silvano?

Thought I'd try to resurrect this since I'm very close to snagging a Silvano...

May I ask if the inconsistency of the steaming is while pulling a shot at the same time or separately?

Also, has anyone done a replacement wand for the Silvano? Does the below no burn wand work?

http://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/no-burrs ... quick-mill

Tpol wrote:After about a year, I'm generally quite happy with my Silvano. Of course, I'm comparing it with my previous machine--an Ascaso Dream--from which this is a clear step up. Its consistency in enabling the production of quality shots is very good.

However, where I'm not so happy is with its milk-texturing capabilities. I'd say I get very good microfoam about 40% of the time, with the rest of the time it being just average. I fully admit that this can very well be my skill, or lack thereof, to blame. But I've been doing this for a few years now, and a good friend who has the same machine has a similar experience. We've actually found the Dream, with the froth aid removed, to be more consistent than the Silvano. Just when I think I've finally gotten the right technique down, I get large bubbles and little to no vortex the next day. It's somewhat maddening.

Have others had more luck getting good foam every time on the Silvano?

The newer Silvano's have a big improvement in steaming over the older units. If your machine has 4 switches on the front, you have an older model. These usually have 2-hole tips on them and swapping out with a single hole tip can be a huge improvement for the older model. Also, you might try to descale the thermoblock to see if you see an improvement.

sgmonkey wrote:Also, has anyone done a replacement wand for the Silvano? Does the below no burn wand work?

http://www.seattlecoffeegear.com/no-burrs ... quick-mill

Thermoblocks require back-pressure to operate properly, which is why they are generally only found with 1-2 holes on the tips. I think using this would not provide enough back-pressure and cause watery, sputtery steam to be produced.

So would it be possible to use the replacement no burn steam wand for the Silvano and replace the tip with a single hole? Do you think that would improve the performance?

I was checking out Dan's (HB's) review of the Silvano and it seems it was the newer version but still had some performance issues when doing larger volumes of milk.

I just don't think that you would see any benefit from a different wand. I would try a descale of the thermoblock before anything else.

anyone having better performance from the silvano?

I don't have a Silvano, but my ascaso duo has a thermoblock for steam, so I'll chime in. Pay attention to the heating cycle of the thermoblock. While heating, or soon after heating, I get great steam and am done with my milk before the shot is even done. If the thermoblock is at the lower end of its deadband, steaming is more of a challenge. It would be interesting to see if the Silvano has the same behaviour and if it does, a PiD controlled thermoblock may be required

I have a Silvano. For my usage, I find it works very well. My straight espresso to cappuccino ratio is about 70:30 and when I do froth milk, I am usually only frothing 3-4 oz. of milk at a time. For those small amounts, the Silvano works great. When texturing the milk, there is always a good whirlpool and the resulting microfoam is velvety smooth and predictable.

Not surprisingly, I have found Dan's review of the Silvano to correspond exactly with my experience: consistently good espresso and microfoam is no problem as long as you are frothing 8 oz or less milk at a time.

Again, I am steaming small amounts of milk in the pitcher. If you are interested in steaming large pitchers, the Silvano is not ideal. If you are pulling straight shots and/or making a relatively small number of small volume milk drinks in a sitting, you are, in my opinion, in the Silvano's sweet spot.