RapidCoffee wrote:Excellent suggestion! I've noticed the same phenomenon, thought I'd give it a try. About 12g (12ml) extra water was introduced by my Spaziale S1 double boiler. The S1 is a very powerful steamer, but the steam is on the wet side. Still, this amounts to only 10% of 4oz milk by weight, even less by volume after stretching, and doesn't fully account for the increased volume. I'm thinking white matter...*

Are you flushing the water that collects in the wand thoroughly before steaming? You are the first person I've heard complain about wet steam from the S1.



Note: Split from Gaggia steaming thread by moderator.

JohnB. wrote:Are you flushing the water that collects in the wand thoroughly before steaming? You are the first person I've heard complain about wet steam from the S1.

Yep. I'm not complaining, just observing. Have you tried this little experiment?

RapidCoffee wrote:Yep. I'm not complaining, just observing. Have you tried this little experiment?

No but I would expect the steamed milk to weigh more after injecting steam (water) into cold milk. Have you tried the same experiment with your Vetrano?

No, but I'll be glad to test the Vetrano, and rerun the S1 as well. Give it a try, and we can compare results. I'd suggest full bore steam for a fixed time period (maybe 15 sec?), then weigh. What's your (steam) boiler pressure setting? Do you have the original steam wand or the no-burn wand? How about the frothing tip?

RapidCoffee wrote:No, but I'll be glad to test the Vetrano, and rerun the S1 as well. Give it a try, and we can compare results. I'd suggest full bore steam for a fixed time period (maybe 15 sec?), then weigh. What's your (steam) boiler pressure setting? Do you have the original steam wand or the no-burn wand? How about the frothing tip?

SBP is 1.2; I have the stock S1V2 steam wand & the S5 wand (installed). The S5 was used as a replacement for the early S1 wand for awhile & then they went to the current shorter arm. Currently I'm using a custom tip I made by drilling out the .9mm (really 1mm+) to 1.29mm. I also have a stock .9mm & a stock 1.3mm (really 1.5mm). What's on your S1?

I believe I have the stock S1, original burn'em wand, three hole tip. Steam boiler is currently reading 1.7 bar. My Vetrano has the stock no-burn wand with three-hole tip. I'm running the boiler pressure at 1.3 bar.

Increase in mass following 15 seconds of steaming after a 5 second purge:
S1: 17.7g
Vetrano: 11.3g

This certainly bears out my impressions that the S1 produces wetter steam. However, the S1 steams much faster, so I'd expect it to introduce more water. An alternative design: measure the amount of water introduced when raising the temperature of a specified volume of milk, say, from 40F to 140F. That would take a bit more effort...

RapidCoffee wrote:I believe I have the stock S1, original burn'em wand, three hole tip. Steam boiler is currently reading 1.7 bar. My Vetrano has the stock no-burn wand with three-hole tip. I'm running the boiler pressure at 1.3 bar.

If your S1 steam boiler gauge is reading 1.7b I'd seriously consider adjusting the setting. Anything over 1.35 is in the red zone on the V2 gauge & I've never heard of one set as high as yours. It should cut off right around 1.2b. Possibly this has something to do with your wet steam??

Prolly a good idea. I bought this unit used, and haven't tried adjusting the steam pressure. I've read that it's not designed to be adjustable. It's also possible the pressure gauge is out of whack.

Any suggestions appreciated.

RapidCoffee wrote:Prolly a good idea. I bought this unit used, and haven't tried adjusting the steam pressure. I've read that it's not designed to be adjustable. It's also possible the pressure gauge is out of whack.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Forgot I'd posted that question on the S1 forum. Could be the gauge but only one way to find out. Rig up a pressure tester or: http://www.chriscoffee.com/produc...pazialepfwithgauge Of course for a few $$ more you could update to the V2 dual gauge set up.
http://s1cafe.com/viewtopic.php?f=35&t=971

I already rigged up a PF gauge to measure & adjust the brew pressure to ~9 bar. We're discussing steam pressure here.

This machine came set up for pods. I had to order a new dispersion block, shower screen, filter basket, other various items from Chris... and I did ask about the dual manometer. But it just didn't seem to be worth the time, expense, and effort. Has anyone (successfully) retrofitted an S1V1 with the dual pressure gauge? Got a dual manometer on the Vetrano, so yes, I know what I'm missing.