Sixty days with a QuickMill Alexia and Vario W...
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D'Laine
- Posts: 68
- Joined: 11 years ago
In February I started reading this forum about espresso machines. I want to thank you all for the good advice put forth. Now it's my turn to give back to you Barista folks.
I desired to upgrade from my antique Faema Erika. Don't laugh, with the new grinder, it still can make impressive espressos at the summer cottage. Think M-M-M and M.
So in June I bought the Baratza Vario W, and a QuickMill Alexia with, complete with store installed PID controls. With two months passed, here's my observations.
This morning I was looking forward to the weekend thick newspaper and espresso in our garden patio in the warm sunshine. The Alexia water tank looked low so I filled up a jug and started topping up the reservoir. My seven AM fog caused a mispour into the guts of the machine and the GFI tripped at it's rated 5 milliamps and I could not make coffee. Note: GFI outlets, espresso machines and water are a good match.
Start muttering the mantra 'What I would do for a good cup of coffee".
Haul the tools out of my service truck and open the machine and wipe up the water with paper towels and blow dry for 20 minutes. The mantra became 'gime a coffee!'
If you take the cover off, use those single and double baskets to keep the screws in place on the counter. Alexia comes with two sizes, the longer ones in the lower rear. The small slotted stainless steel screws want to make a mad dash to the bung hole in the sink, never to be retrieved, even with an extendable magnet.
De-hydrating with a hair dryer was a success, and while I was at it, I added an extra spacer washer to the lever micro switch so that the pump would not run upon locking the portafilter in place. Now the lever must be raised half way and I guess I can do some half-hearted pre-infusion in the process.
The first month, the machine filled my kitchen with the smell of burning black rubber insulation. Even the cups on top of the machine were stinky. 60 days later, it's gone. That Armaflex insulation is meant for cold, not for heat. But it's sticky, cheap and easy to install. My boiler techs gave me some real insulation which I'll get to one of these weekends, less stressful.
The PID brings the temperature up to working levels in about 30 to 40 minutes, but you can cheat and use the Alexia sooner. Once the PID output 'Poht' reads a nervous 5%, give or take, it will never get any hotter. I changed the display to °C and one decimal place for amusement. I suspect that with the heater shutting off when pulling a shot, I'm actually getting a humpt - humped? profile, like in Italy.
The lovely brass group head... The red-lettered plastic warning label comes off easily with a dull finger nail and Italian olive oil. Try that with the sun visor on your new vehicle.
The machine is rock solid. It does what I need it to do. Not too big, shiny as all get out. I may replace the pressure gauge with a white on black background for that authoritarian look.
The power cords on these two devices are made to Alaska pipeline standards. Hard and inflexible. I cut the Vario cord short because coiled below the grinder, the base wobbled too much, upsetting the weigh scale. The manufacturers take a bad short cut here. The Alexia base hides its monster cord OK.
Still getting bad gushers with the bottomless portafilter, some shots are great tasting, others not. I can't stand the thought of taking more than 10 seconds from dumping the grinds in the portafilter basket and locking into the group head. Then 'fire in the hole!. Pour. Each coffee bean has it's own personality, with the variables I now face, it may take a while but life is the journey and challenge. Yes?
Dave
I desired to upgrade from my antique Faema Erika. Don't laugh, with the new grinder, it still can make impressive espressos at the summer cottage. Think M-M-M and M.
So in June I bought the Baratza Vario W, and a QuickMill Alexia with, complete with store installed PID controls. With two months passed, here's my observations.
This morning I was looking forward to the weekend thick newspaper and espresso in our garden patio in the warm sunshine. The Alexia water tank looked low so I filled up a jug and started topping up the reservoir. My seven AM fog caused a mispour into the guts of the machine and the GFI tripped at it's rated 5 milliamps and I could not make coffee. Note: GFI outlets, espresso machines and water are a good match.
Start muttering the mantra 'What I would do for a good cup of coffee".
Haul the tools out of my service truck and open the machine and wipe up the water with paper towels and blow dry for 20 minutes. The mantra became 'gime a coffee!'
If you take the cover off, use those single and double baskets to keep the screws in place on the counter. Alexia comes with two sizes, the longer ones in the lower rear. The small slotted stainless steel screws want to make a mad dash to the bung hole in the sink, never to be retrieved, even with an extendable magnet.
De-hydrating with a hair dryer was a success, and while I was at it, I added an extra spacer washer to the lever micro switch so that the pump would not run upon locking the portafilter in place. Now the lever must be raised half way and I guess I can do some half-hearted pre-infusion in the process.
The first month, the machine filled my kitchen with the smell of burning black rubber insulation. Even the cups on top of the machine were stinky. 60 days later, it's gone. That Armaflex insulation is meant for cold, not for heat. But it's sticky, cheap and easy to install. My boiler techs gave me some real insulation which I'll get to one of these weekends, less stressful.
The PID brings the temperature up to working levels in about 30 to 40 minutes, but you can cheat and use the Alexia sooner. Once the PID output 'Poht' reads a nervous 5%, give or take, it will never get any hotter. I changed the display to °C and one decimal place for amusement. I suspect that with the heater shutting off when pulling a shot, I'm actually getting a humpt - humped? profile, like in Italy.
The lovely brass group head... The red-lettered plastic warning label comes off easily with a dull finger nail and Italian olive oil. Try that with the sun visor on your new vehicle.
The machine is rock solid. It does what I need it to do. Not too big, shiny as all get out. I may replace the pressure gauge with a white on black background for that authoritarian look.
The power cords on these two devices are made to Alaska pipeline standards. Hard and inflexible. I cut the Vario cord short because coiled below the grinder, the base wobbled too much, upsetting the weigh scale. The manufacturers take a bad short cut here. The Alexia base hides its monster cord OK.
Still getting bad gushers with the bottomless portafilter, some shots are great tasting, others not. I can't stand the thought of taking more than 10 seconds from dumping the grinds in the portafilter basket and locking into the group head. Then 'fire in the hole!. Pour. Each coffee bean has it's own personality, with the variables I now face, it may take a while but life is the journey and challenge. Yes?
Dave
