Thanks for the reassurance. The Brew boiler is PIDed, and the Steam boiler I think is a pressure stat. It's been idling for over an hour new, and I keep testing the steam wand. The steam boiler element turns on at about 1.2 bar, and off at 1.5, so that seems to be working normally, and the brew boil...

I've had my Brewtus for a couple of years now and done any number of repairs to the brewing system, pump, group, etc, but I've never had any reason to touch the boilers. This morning my wife and I heard a sharp steam release followed by a slower hiss. My initial thought was something under pressure ...

I would think this too except that the OP "had no problems until recently" Unless something changed with the grinder, I'm not sure how regular burr wear could have changed things so drastically, but a stuck OPV might. Now if they said it happened AFTER they changed the burrs, then I would suspect th...

I dunno, in my experience, stale coffee does make a difference, but not THAT much of a difference. When people are having problems this extreme, not able to get the shot time longer than 10 seconds, the problem is not the coffee. If you can't grind stale coffee fine enough to get the shot time up to...

I'm not that familiar with that grinder, so I don't know if it should be able to choke the Silvia, but if the fineness looks similar to what you were using prior to the problem, that would be an indication that it's something else. Since you haven't tested the pressure, it seems possible to me that ...

I think you will probably be very happy. I'm ecstatic with the performance of my Zenith 65e which is very similar

Brio and Kestrel both roast too light for espresso for my tastes, but if you like brighter coffees you might enjoy Brio's Calypso Moka Java. I haven't actually found any truly local roasters that make a good classic espresso blend. My favorite blend currently is George Howell Alchemy. I pick up a ba...

Welcome to the board fellow Vermonter! Do you have any favorite local cafes or roasters?

I like my Eureka Zenith 65e quite a lot, and I expect it will last me quite a few years before I even need to change the burrs. It's built like a tank and grinds an 18 gram dose in about 5.4 seconds. Nice and fluffy. No wdt needed. I don't single dose though. I love the timed dosing

I would start with 14 grams in the stock basket. I have the Edpresso Parts ridgeless. It's my favorite basket, and I usually dose 18 grams in that basket