Two more questions. I have seen from a couple of posts that a counter-clockwise adjustment lowers the rotary pump pressure, but does anyone know/remember how much to turn the screw? Any reason I can't do this while the machine is running? I used it today for many (poor) shots at 11 bar before I realized my mistake.

Secondly, my machine came with two dfferent stainless cup warmers - one with three rows of ventilation "cuts", and the other has two rows of cuts. Is this the same with all T1/A3 machines? If so - do you just use one or the other? Using two would trap more heat in the machine, but that doesn't seem like a great idea.

-phillip

You use the 2 tray pieces together, with the smooth side of either one facing out. This I presume is to prevent drips from wet cups put on the machine from falling in places they shouldn't. I don't think trapped heat is much of a concern.

Ah! That's clever, thank you! Any idea of how many counter clockwise turns means how many lowered bars?

Not really. I put a shot in a puck and push go, and then adjust the pressure by hand as I watch the gauge. You can also use a blank disc, but you can't lower the pressure while "brewing" if you do this because there's no back flow in the system due to the check valve. In that case, you just kill the shot and back off the pressure and start over till you get it right. You also have to note that you'll brew half-a-bar-or-so lower than what you set against a blind filter. All pretty easy stuff. Remember not to get caught up with 9 bars—use a pressure that tastes good to you. Lower is less body, more soft and clear cup character, higher is more body, more intense, a bit more muddled, and less forgiving. If you have a lot of puck meltdowns while brewing, cranking the pressure can help mitigate this. It's no substitute for good technique, but it can definitely help a little if you're semi-solid on puck prep.

shadowfax wrote:Not really. I put a shot in a puck and push go, and then adjust the pressure by hand as I watch the gauge. You can also use a blank disc, but you can't lower the pressure while "brewing" if you do this because there's no back flow in the system due to the check valve. In that case, you just kill the shot and back off the pressure and start over till you get it right. You also have to note that you'll brew half-a-bar-or-so lower than what you set against a blind filter. All pretty easy stuff. Remember not to get caught up with 9 bars—use a pressure that tastes good to you. Lower is less body, more soft and clear cup character, higher is more body, more intense, a bit more muddled, and less forgiving. If you have a lot of puck meltdowns while brewing, cranking the pressure can help mitigate this. It's no substitute for good technique, but it can definitely help a little if you're semi-solid on puck prep.

Great, and thank you. I just wanted to be sure that I didn't royally screw something up by adjusting on the fly - or any other way. However, as what you tell me about higher pressure, better body - that throws a wrench into my plans. I love viscous-gloopy-thickly shots that are on the cool side, so maybe I should stick with the higher pressure. I was getting some off shots today, and perhaps I prematurely blamed the pump pressure. I'm accustomed to the pump pressure being me (levers), so this pump business is a new learning curve. I have a new bag of coffee and more time tomorrow, so back to it. I wish it was morning.

I've had the T1 up and running for a couple of weeks, and I thought I would post a few thoughts about it. My work is not completely finished on it - even after a new spring was put in place, the steam, wand still leaks - rather annoying. Polishing the panels took a leap forward this morning as I received a reasonable estimate to have a professional do it. I'll keep you posted on that result later in the week.

It is important to note that my espresso machine experience prior to this is owning a couple of Pavoni E.P., and a Gaggia Achille. My lever Z9 is slowing making electrical progress, but the pace should pick up over the holidays.

I've been playing a lot with the pstat, brew pressure, flushing, dose and grind (one variable at a time). I've gone from 1.2 down to 0.8, and a few places in between. Doses have been from 13-17g, and many different grind sizes. Brew pressure has been from 8-11 bar. I have now settled on 9.5bar, 0.9-1.0 bar, and 14-15g (but I think this will drop to 14). Even at 15.5g, I receive a clear impression of the screen on the puck. Which brings me to my first impression: I'm very surprised by the large amount of swelling in the grounds. I don't know what this means, but I haven't noticed it on my EP or Achille.

2nd impression. I have yet to make a very good latte, and I've thrown away 1/2 dozen. I love the power when I'm steaming 1 liter of milk for hot chocolates to serve to the neighborhood kids, but when I'm steaming enough for one latte - I'm terrible. This is not a fault of the machine, just me.

3rd impression. Too much damn noise. My motor was touching the bracket that holds the pstat, but a mhoy-fix took care of that (crowbar) Elektra T1 - #771 built in 2000 is now mine The noise has been much less, but it's still no lever machine. Now, I should say, for reference, that I don't even like the pstat cycling, so I'm obvious a bit sensitive to my espresso machines machinations. Again, no fault of the T1.

4th impression. I love having a plumbed machine.

5th impression. I'm no fan of the 90 minutes-to-ready lead time. I can hear the T1 owners grumbling, and others that have long heating times, and I know there are work arounds (timers), but, in principle, I like the idea of turning on my machine and brewing something in less than an hour. I concede that when it is fully warmed and powered up then the lead time is zero - throughout the day (try that with a pavoni). However, it does nag at me that there have been times when the machine has been on for hours and hours, and I've managed to pull two shots. That's a lot of wasted energy. Again, no fault of the machine.

6th impression. This one will require more experimentation, but it sure seems like my levers are more forgiving of my pre-2nd crack, home roasted, single origin, El Salvadorian coffee. Thankfully, a friend gave me $50 worth of gift cards to Blue Bottle, so I've been dialing in the T1 with their Hayes Valley and Roman blends. I've been having much better espressos with the BB. I'll roast some more next week - taking it to 2nd crack, and let you know what happens. I really wish that I had my Z9 up and running to compare side by side. I probably won't be selling the T1 until the Z9 is ready, and when I do have it ready, I'll have the dedicated 30A line next to the dedicated 20A line for the Elektra, so I really will be able to do a side-by-side comparison.

7th impression. This comes from my wife - she thinks me pushing buttons on the T1 is a far less "manly" then powering down the lever on my Achille.

On a positive note, I've been enjoying the new learning curves, and I still have far to go. I've produced some really good shots, but with the exception of today, I have not produced consistently very good shots. A took a few of days off from espresso making, visited Blue Bottle in Oakland a couple of times and spent yesterday in MA'velous watching, talking and thinking. The result is that when I came back to my T1 today, I pulled some very good shots.

I've tried (successfully?) to avoid criticizing the T1, and by sensitive-extension, T1/A3 owners. It really is a marvel of a machine and tank-solid engineering. (I only wish the Achille was built so well). Indeed, I really can't say that I have one criticism of the machine, per se, well, except that a larger drain reservoir would be nice, and a convenient way to drain the boiler for descaling would be good. Otherwise, I can't point to a design flaw. In short, the Elektra T1 has been impressive, but I seem to be a lever man.

-phillip

It took me a long time to be able to steam milk for two lattes and I still have difficulty doing a smaller batch as there is so much steaming power. I too love having a plumbed machine.

If you are getting impressions on the puck from the screen you need to dose less coffee and grind finer.

My pstat (knock on wood) is virtually silent.

Mark

The machine should be very quiet. The solenoids clicking open make more noise than the pump running. If it is making racket, you have a problem somewhere. The T1/A3 is not a power off and on machine. Take my advice, turn it on and leave it. Insulating the boiler helps on the boiler cycle times.

All elektras use the same style group bell. They like head space, you have to leave lots of room. For a 18 gram dose, get a 21 gram triple basket. The stock double will get you 12-14 gram doses. I have a pile of baskets, all different sizes for different doses. If you overdose the machine, you will have problems with channeling.

Steaming is a breeze with the A3/T1, even small amounts. Just dont flop the valve all the way open. Those joystick valves are variable. Give it about 1/2 power for a single cappa. You can feather the steam power in and out with small adjustments.

With a big 6 lieter boiler, you dont need the pressurestat set real high. 0.9 is where I settled in at with 2.5 bars of mains pressure. Too much mains pressure will give you problems as well. I believe Elektra spec's 4 bar input max. I have my brew pressure at 128 PSI using a Scace, that is 8.8 bar. The gauge reads high on the machine