Vesuvius has landed

Need help with equipment usage or want to share your latest discovery?
User avatar
Compass Coffee
Posts: 2844
Joined: 19 years ago

#1: Post by Compass Coffee »

Landed early afternoon. Serious packing and easier to access than in a box! 4 screws to remove the 4 bottom retaining straps then lift off the top. Tilt and remove the 4 wing nuts underneath securing Vesuvius to the mini pallet. The wooden box with latch on top of the machine has dividers with the parts and accessories including a number of maintenance spare parts, nice touch.


Busy (very busy) day at the Roastery so didn't get more pics today. Did set it up of course! First goal was to emulate the Cyncra 5-15-5 (line pressure, 9bar, line pressure) shots of Delirium I've been pulling, grinder M7D. Didn't exactly emulate them and actually may have goofed up the profile already possibly getting bit sweeter shots. Quick brief play so far was without changing the grind dialed in for Cyncra. Barely scratched the surface of the iceberg and pretty sure it's going to be a great Journey.

More later...
Mike McGinness

User avatar
Compass Coffee (original poster)
Posts: 2844
Joined: 19 years ago

#2: Post by Compass Coffee (original poster) »

Went to bed about 10:30pm, woke up 3:00am for a nature call, went back to bed and couldn't stop thinking about dialing in Konga Natural and a breakfast cap' on the Vesuvius. Got up 3:15 alarm set for 6:30! (Which is why I quit using a timer instead 24/7 on my espresso machine at home a long time ago, V2B ready and waiting for a first cup of the morning short Americano of Kenya Chania Estate Full Natural) Took a shower and at the Roastery bit after 5am instead of bit before 8am. :lol:


Stuff in da box... Came with Oct2014 v6 manual, printed half size in black & white. I downloaded and printed the current Aug2014 v9 manual...


In some ways almost stark looking with no gauges, just the display tells you all you need to know and is your control interface. Time and day, brew boiler temp, steam boiler temp and pressure (in Eco mode in pic), profile it's set to...

By default Eco mode reduces steam boiler temperature only (how much you can configure). You can set how many minutes of inactivity before Eco mode kicks in of course. Nice feature. Can also enable to reduce brew boiler but not advised since coming it will require warming up not only the brew boiler but group. Touch of the pad or engaging motor automatically brings it out of Eco mode.

You can also configure it to turn off automatically after X minutes inactivity.

Or use the built in On/Off function which allows 2 on and 2 off settings per day.

When you start a shot the "clock" morphs into the shot timer.

Yada yada yada! Dan's doing a review not me!






Couple attempts/tweaks dialed in Ethiopia Konga Natural 10s 2bar, 8s 11br, 8s 9br, 5s 5br, 3s 2br for an excellent smooth creamy sweet shot (ground on Major) and then pulled another making my breakfast breve cap' steaming while pulling, steam time respectable ~20sec.

That's all for now. Been roasting coffee for 4.5 hours and have a bunch of bagging to do!
Mike McGinness

User avatar
Compass Coffee (original poster)
Posts: 2844
Joined: 19 years ago

#3: Post by Compass Coffee (original poster) »

The Vesuvius has been on the back counter at the Roastery for a day and a wake up. Bottom line so far shots are friggin' amazing.

Since the first afternoon been keeping the learning process with one coffee: City/425f roasted Natural Processed Ethiopia Konga. Normally/previously while made a fantastic cap' or mach' straight shots were almost always a bit edgy. A bid acrid I believe is the term, hair bitey on the back of the throat. When I got the Cyncra and started pulling it line pressure profiled 5sec line 15 sec 9 bar 5 sec straights shots much smoother and a tad sweeter with good fruit just the barest hint of a bite left. However with the Vesuvius it's taken it to a totally new level. Have been tweaking yesterday morning's V profile from an excellent 10s2br 8s11br 8s9br 5s5br 3s2br shot to now 12s2br 8s11br 9s11br 6s5br 6s2br. Absolutely stunning fruity creamy sweetness with no hint of acridity.

2 regulars who have been getting Konga shots from Linea for a long time, then Cyncra for a month just left. Wow it's so drinkable.

Yesterday Mr. Lever (aka Gary) stopped in had a Konga V shot. His comment tastes like a good lever shot.

My favorite customer reaction so far was Paul from across the street yesterday. (He pulls on a Oscar at home) He's been really appreciating the difference the Cyncra profile shots have made versus the Linea or his Oscar. Yesterday pulled him a V Konga and you should have seen the look on his face. His eyes lit up and a huge smile like a kid on Christmas morning! He's already been over for 2 V Konga shots this morning! (He knows it's going home Friday :lol: )

CONS: None in the cup so far. Highly suspect it'll have the ability to go head to head with any machine quite favorably. Look forward to setting up a Vesuvius versus Slayer shoot out some time in the future.

However as I'd read on Vesuvius Owner's forum steam arm kind of sucks and I have to agree it's fairly lame. Steam power fine for this class machine but wand rather short and weird angled equals even with a 12oz pitcher used for cap' have to come in from the side.

To be continued...
Mike McGinness

Mrboots2u
Posts: 645
Joined: 10 years ago

#4: Post by Mrboots2u »

Hi Fellow Vesuvius owner here , may i ask what grinder do you have it paired with currently ? Where do you have the pump acceleration set at ?

User avatar
Compass Coffee (original poster)
Posts: 2844
Joined: 19 years ago

#5: Post by Compass Coffee (original poster) replying to Mrboots2u »

The Konga grinding with a Mazzer Major (same as I currently use at home). Delirium Macap M7D. Later I'll be doing some same coffee Major vs M7D comparisons to decide if I need to augment Major with a HG1 at home for straight shots of some coffees.

Edit: oh yeah currently pump accel' at 500.
Mike McGinness

User avatar
Compass Coffee (original poster)
Posts: 2844
Joined: 19 years ago

#6: Post by Compass Coffee (original poster) »

Vesuvuius issues:

The first issue could become serious if not careful. My usual weekday coffee consumption is a ~6oz wake up double shot Americano. Then a double shot cappuccino for breakfast at the Roastery. Followed by 1 or 2 on rare occasions 3 double shots during the day. Day before yesterday, the first full day with V, had 8 or 9 double shots! Yesterday had a little restraint and only 5 or 6. This morning by 10am already at 2 double shots following the eariler Americano and Cappuccino...

Ok real issue.
Fit and Finish I give a B. Overall beautiful machine and customers have commented as such. However when I first uncrated, put on it's feet and unwrapped noticed the first finish issue. Then yesterday another one. Honestly in comparison my Quick Mill Vetrano 2B I'd give an A.

From barista side both back inside corners in cup warmer area have spot weld or heat tack dot marks.



Then yesterday noticed both front sides off the front angle appear not smoothed even properly before finish.



I expect better attention to fit and finish detail on a MSRP $6595 MAP $4495 machine and IF I'd purchased this locally instead of across the Country from NY I'd likely be taking it back for an exchange (if other machines don't exhibit the same manufacturing flaws.) I will be contacting Chris Coffee to talk about the finish flaws.
Mike McGinness

cmin
Posts: 1379
Joined: 12 years ago

#7: Post by cmin »

Compass Coffee wrote:I expect better attention to fit and finish detail on a MSRP $6595 MAP $4495 machine and IF I'd purchased this locally instead of across the Country from NY I'd likely be taking it back for an exchange (if other machines don't exhibit the same manufacturing flaws.) I will be contacting Chris Coffee to talk about the finish flaws.
Thats disappointing to see and yeah should not occur on a machine this expensive. Curious to know if this was just yours/random case or other machines have same fit and finish issues.

User avatar
Compass Coffee (original poster)
Posts: 2844
Joined: 19 years ago

#8: Post by Compass Coffee (original poster) replying to cmin »

I've asked Dan to check the machine he's reviewing and asked on the Vesuvius Owner's Forum. I received an email reply with an offer of a $100 account credit. Depending on what I find out will influence how I proceed. If the shots weren't so amazing it would likely be going back for sure...
Mike McGinness

User avatar
TomC
Team HB
Posts: 10534
Joined: 13 years ago

#9: Post by TomC »

Sorry to see your panel and weld issues. Hopefully it will all get straightened out. I'm actually curious about the display panel mainly. Does it show that much burn in already or is it just the photo?
Join us and support Artisan Roasting Software=https://artisan-scope.org/donate/

User avatar
Compass Coffee (original poster)
Posts: 2844
Joined: 19 years ago

#10: Post by Compass Coffee (original poster) »

Naw display fine, combination of cellphone photo and and profile line scrolling and unsteady hand from tasting too many shots!
Mike McGinness

Post Reply