Started my trip down the Espresso Rabbit Hole in June 2016. Making excellent repeatable Espresso, at least for my limited palate. Thanks for all the GREAT INFORMATION on this site. H-B brought me out of the darkness into the sunlight.

Gataros wrote:<image>

My setup, Rancilio Silvia with PID + Monolith Flat.

Talk about the odd couple. Hehehe. Queue the music.

All that matters is you're pulling great shots. Congrats!

My humble setup for now.



Learning the ropes, doing my research, experimenting with different beans, grinds, etc. Looking forward to upgrading to a DB, rotary pump setup (with a decent grinder to match) in a year or so... The choices available can drive anyone mad!

My neighbor has an 870Xl and one day we paired it with my Monolith flat. After that, I'd tend to say, worry about the grinder first as the machine is more than capable of pulling quite good shots, in his case, the built-in grinder not so much.

Ira

Thank you for that bit of knowledge. I am thinking about a grinder. Just as the first thing to get as I get ready for an upgrade to the machine.

I got a few accessories from OE for my portafilters in preparation to getting a decent grinder. I want to try and buy something that will be a one time buy... meaning, that will work for this machine and also carry over when I upgrade. I have been reading on alternatives in the Grinder section of this forum. Just needs to be able to fit under 18" (cabinet limitation). I also want to mention that I do not store the coffee beans in the grinder... I weight the dose, drop, and grind at the time I make the espresso.



Anyway... this is a topic for the grinder session... just wanted to thank you for the comment of what you tested with your neighbor's setup. Validates my approach. Cool!!

wachuko wrote:Thank you for that bit of knowledge. I am thinking about a grinder. Just as the first thing to get as I get ready for an upgrade to the machine.

I got a few accessories from OE for my portafilters in preparation to getting a decent grinder. I want to try and buy something that will be a one time buy... meaning, that will work for this machine and also carry over when I upgrade. I have been reading on alternatives in the Grinder section of this forum. Just needs to be able to fit under 18" (cabinet limitation). I also want to mention that I do not store the coffee beans in the grinder... I weight the dose, drop, and grind at the time I make the espresso.

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Anyway... this is a topic for the grinder session... just wanted to thank you for the comment of what you tested with your neighbor's setup. Validates my approach. Cool!!

As ira said, the 870 is HIGHLY capable! I would stretch out its use to 2-3 years before upgrading to a DB of some flavour, especially since tech seems to finally be catching up in the coffee world and we should see some fantastic advances in machines over that time period! Put the full budget into the grinder in the mean time and you won't regret t ... I paired my 870 with a used Major I picked up for $400 CDN and that combo easily allows me fantastic shots with profiles that easily match the descriptors.

So what you are saying is to get a KafaTek Monolith 68mm conical single-doser and call it a day?

YES!...if/when you are in the position to shop for a $2000+ prosumer machines, and the general large conical taste profile is your bag...do this and don't look back. There are many different ways to make tasty espresso. All of them rely on a good grinder that complements your workflow.

Just finished repairing an Elektra La Deliziosa, vintage 1998, that I picked up on eBay as a parts-only machine.


The major parts missing were the pipe from the heat exchanger to the group and the fitting to attach the pipe to the group. Thanks to Stefano for getting these from Elektra in Italy. All the screws that hold the sheet metal to the frame were missing but were easily replaced. Also, one of the rotary pump motor mounting straps was missing, and I was able to get one from a mounting frame on eBay.
I decided to insulate the boiler with Pyrogel XT-E Aerogel backed with aluminum foil to reduce heat loss (and electric usage).


To get the machine to work on a timed circuit, I used a Z-wave switch as an on/off timer controlled by my Z-wave controller. I installed a 60 amp solid state relay (on the machine's hot AC line); this is controlled by a 12 volt DC transformer plugged into the Z-wave switch. This was a lot cheaper than buying a higher power switch/timer. My Z-wave switch could only handle 1500 watts and the Elektra has 2200 watt heating elements. I have an available 20 amp outlet for the machine.
I've been pulling shots following a 4 second count after the steam subsides during the flush of the heat exchanger. I grind 18 grams in a VST basket to get 30 grams of espresso in ~30 seconds. I used a naked portafilter to verify no channeling or spritzing. The resultant espresso taste is comparable to that I get from my Salvatore Compact Lever.
The Elektra rotary pump produces ~9 bar with a blind portafilter basket so the grind for the Elektra is not as fine as needed for the SCL. The SCL produces ~11.5 bar with a blind portafilter basket.

Well that escalated rather quickly...