One of my dream machines is the GS3 (like many others) and I was just curious what's the major difference b/w the original model and the paddle group model? What about it makes the paddle group so coveted as the dream machine?

If I remember correctly, the STD model only allow you to do preinfusion on shots if you program the dose buttons, which makes individual shot timing a bit hard. On the paddle model you just flick the lever into preinfusion and wait as long as you want, then you flick it into brew and brew as long as you like. So you get a more hands on experience, which should give you a little bit more control over the whole process, which could result in better espresso.

I could of course remember it totally wrong, so it could pay of to wait for the owners of actual GS/3 to chime in.

Stuggi,

That's how I understand it as well. Off, pre-infusion (line pressure), and brew pressure are the three stages of the paddle. Keep in mind we could both be way off. Waiting for owners to chime in.

As an aside, the big talk is pressure profiling, and I think Nick's (shadowfox's 'Pressure Profiling' With The Fluid-O-Tech TMFR Pump - Or, Wholesale Copying Greg Scace's Ideas) implementation is the way to go if one wanted to experiment, and as you said, it "could" result in better espresso. Wonder how long before machines come with a flow knob to control the pressure right from start to finish or with pre-programmed pressure profiles built in allowing the user to select the profile for the shot?...kind of like stereo equalizer presets.

uscfroadie wrote:Stuggi,

That's how I understand it as well. Off, pre-infusion (line pressure), and brew pressure are the three stages of the paddle. Keep in mind we could both be way off. Waiting for owners to chime in.

I've never used a GS/3, but that's how the paddle worked on the Slayer I tried out.

Stuggi wrote:If I remember correctly, the STD model only allow you to do preinfusion on shots if you program the dose buttons, which makes individual shot timing a bit hard.

You're correct that you can only do preinfusion with the dose buttons on the standard model, but this doesn't make it hard to do individual shot timing. All you have to do is pre-program a dose button with an extra-long shot time, say 40-50 seconds, enable preinfusion for that button, and set the preinfusion and soak times.

To brew, hit the pre-programmed dose button to start the shot. Preinfusion will take place as programmed and the pour will commence. Hit the dose button again to terminate the pour when the shot turns blond, runs for whatever time you believe is correct, produces whatever volume you desire, or all of the above (depending on how you like to pull shots.) It's not terribly different from using the continuous brew button. You just have to pre-program once (or whenever power is cut to the machine) and remember to use the dose button you programmed.

I should add that the standard GS/3 uses pump pressure for preinfusion, which may be another difference between the standard and paddle model. I believe this is because the standard GS/3 can optionally run from a reservoir, for which the pump is needed. Seems to me it would be a trivial firmware change to have an option to use line pressure if the machine is configured for plumb-in (i.e, "Tank not present".)

Two totally unrelated points.

1. Merle, while I like the bike I will miss the Pug.

2. Dick, What the heck is that machine?

-Cecil

Peppersass wrote:You're correct that you can only do preinfusion with the dose buttons on the standard model, but this doesn't make it hard to do individual shot timing. All you have to do is pre-program a dose button with an extra-long shot time, say 40-50 seconds, enable preinfusion for that button, and set the preinfusion and soak times.

No, I was aware of that, but it kinda defeats the idea with programmable buttons of volumetric doses, and then one might just as well get the paddle group and look just that tiny bit more awesome while pulling shots.

(I think the HUGE IMHO goes without saying)

uscfroadie wrote:Wonder how long before machines come with a flow knob to control the pressure right from start to finish or with pre-programmed pressure profiles built in allowing the user to select the profile for the shot?...kind of like stereo equalizer presets.

Wonder no longer. That is how the new LM Strada has been described to me. If that isn't the case with their new baby, it at least points to the fact that there are a lot of people thinking about it. There are also rumours about the new Slayer machines being variably adjustable. I'm not quite in the loop enough to know what 'variable' means at the moment, and still trying to wrap my head around the insufficient lexicon surrounding variations in brew pressure profiling.