Starting with my new Expobar Lever and Macap M4 *joy*

[petje]

Today is the day i finally get my first high level home machine and grinder!

In 4 hours from now i go to the shop, and load the 2 boxes into my car.
At home we will unpack the babies and try to get some live in them.
It will be a expobar office leva/lever (HX, e61) and a macap M4 stepless doser grinder!

We are very curious how the experience will go, and i wil try to report some of it maybe here, but certainly at my own webpage: http://www.patrick-coenen.nl
so if you have spare time and are interested how these novices will explore the world of homemade espresso, check it!

and thanks for all the info this site (among others) already has given me, concerning all aspects of the trade.

[petje]

It was an evening with a lot of coffee, but first we had to unpack the boxes.



After that it was to cleaning the expobar, there was a lot of 'factory dirt' still on it. and the problem that there were two tubes hanging in the tank without a filter on one. so i didn't know witch one was the feeding, witch one is the backflush tube. Thank god there were two inline filters in the package so i put one on each tube, and today i have time to find out witch one is what.



The macap was another thing. After unpacking and enjoying the looks of the machine, we put it up on the place where we are gonna use it, and plugged in. We put in some beans and switched it on. The beans were jumping around, but nothing happened. The stepless adjustment let me turn the dial to coarse and to fine, but still nothing happened at first. I still don't know why it didn't grind right away. I even put the burrs to close/to fine but you notice that right away. But at one time spontaneously the beans were being grind and finally we got some grind coffee into the hopper!



Finally we could try to use the expobar. It was filled up with water and we let it warm up for 30 minutes. first time using the macap for filling the basket, and making a mess of course. It will needs some time to get used to the hopper and the way it shoots the coffee in the basket.

A pain in the ass was the standard tamper that comes with the machine, even something plastic that goes with the delivery should at least fit the basket! no way, even this shitty thing is to small for tamping on 58 mm. So first thing today is getting to a shop and buy a decent tamper (among other stuff)

We started with a roughly dialed in macap more ion the 'coarse' side, an immediately it was clear we need to get a better and more consistent sequence of grinding and especially tamping. within 10 seconds the cups were filled. So we kept dialing the macap on finer grinding, and noticed some improvements, but because we still have no tuned in tamping, no espresso that tasted good was experienced this night. (what to expect from totally starters!)

After to much espresso tasting i tried the steamwand for one last cappu and it was clear this also needs a bit getting used to. But it was fairly agreeable microfoam, shame i took the wand out too quickly at the end: bubbles party!



All in all a good evening with a lot of new experiences. Let's hope we will get better soon, because a lot of friends and family are jumping to taste the real coffee!

[gitano1]

I have had my Expobar Lever since January and still feel the same sense of excitement about it that you do. I have had other espresso machines, notably a Gaggia Classic, for many years, but it was not until I got this machine and a Mazzer Mini grinder that I had a feeling that I could really create consistently great coffee. The machine is wonderful. It is easy to keep clean and makes wonderful espresso. The steamer is superb.
When I got mine there was a cut in one of the high pressure hoses and a couple of fittings needed tightening. It was very easy to make the repairs. Once done and since the machine has operated faultlessly.
I love your setting. It is what I am moving towards. My granite countertops are being installed on Monday July 9. I made the final decision to get them after getting the Lever. It deserves a setting like that.
Congratulations and Good Luck.

[petje]

thanks for reacting. I find out what tube is the inlet. i am working now to make some decent espresso. You are right, the steam is perfect, i can make nice thick microfoam with no effort. But latte art foam should be more difficult. I get so much air incorporated it's not possible for me to draw something. That's for later, first i want to make decent espresso. and all i get the last days is sour stuff.

I am fairly satisfied with the setup, it's only the refilling of the tank that's "a pain in the ass". always taking the cups of, shifting the machine so i can get water in. It's even impossible to get the tank out. I was considering connecting it to direct water, but it seems it's hard to change the inner parts of the machine to make this possible. So i hope one day we find a space to place the machines where it will have nothing above it and it's easier accessible from above.

So now it's day after day of trying to get one decent shot, but i am still working on too many parts:
how much time/water is enough in the cooling flush? how long to wait for the pour after the flush?
why is the boiler pressure going down so fast when flushing? (is this the reason for sour coffee?)
how get a consistent tamp?
How to get distribution right?
What is the right dial-in for the macap?
What is the EXACT time of stopping the shot/pour?

I think i need to work with a scale to get a better feel with the tamp pressure and a stopwatch to get an idea for the pour time.
I still have a feeling that the pressure fall in the cooling flush could be a problem for the pour temperature. But i don't want to unscrew the machine and get inside, i was hoping the factory settings would be good for making good espresso.

So all in all we have fun at home, spending a LOT of money on a LOT of coffee beans, and one time we even got a pour that was not sour or bitter, but sweet, tasty and interesting. Let's hope that one was not only beginners luck!

[petje]

BTW: here is the setup 24 hours later. Tamper and knockbox in place. Even a pitcher available!

[jesawdy]

So now it's day after day of trying to get one decent shot, but i am still working on too many parts:
how much time/water is enough in the cooling flush? how long to wait for the pour after the flush?
why is the boiler pressure going down so fast when flushing? (is this the reason for sour coffee?)
how get a consistent tamp?
How to get distribution right?
What is the right dial-in for the macap?
What is the EXACT time of stopping the shot/pour?

I think i need to work with a scale to get a better feel with the tamp pressure and a stopwatch to get an idea for the pour time.
I still have a feeling that the pressure fall in the cooling flush could be a problem for the pour temperature. But i don't want to unscrew the machine and get inside, i was hoping the factory settings would be good for making good espresso.

Patrick,

A lot of these things just take time and practice, particularly distribution, tamp and grinder settings. Spend some time in the FAQ and Favorites section of the Barista Tips and Techniques forum as well as the Recommended Reading.

I'd forget living by the stopwatch and just watch the pour color, stop when it blonds.... anything from 23 secs to 45 secs is quite acceptable, so if it is short or long, adjust your grind finer/coarser (keeping all other things constant) or possibly even the dose up/down, respectively.

A 0.1g resolution scale is a good purchase in my opinion. You can tare and weigh the filled basket. Use this is as a tool to at first be consistent, and secondly play with different dose levels.

As to the boiler pressure drop, what is your current set point and what does it drop to? Are your warming up for 30 minutes to 1 hour? Also, posting video of your current procedures may prove very helpful to you.

(BTW - I've watched a good number of your climbing videos, awesome! I'm not a climber myself but I shared them with an officemate that does. Bouldering looks like it could be lots of fun.)

[petje]

Thanks, i will dive right into the section you linked.

I guess the first thing i could try is consistent dosing level. So get out the scale and get that consistent first. Like a barista said yesterday: "Don't blame the machine, most of the time that is working fine."

Considering the pressure drop in the boiler, i have a standard expobar lever, so i have a boiler pressure gauge visible. After 30 minutes of warming up, it's indicator is on the low part of the green area on the gauge (on the lower of the two purple lines on the pic below). As soon as i start flushing, the needle drops a few tenths on the scale (mostly to the red line of the pic). It recovers within a few seconds after stopping the flush, and when pulling a shot, it's on the low mark of the green area all the time (again on the lower purple line). Is this normal? should i not worry too much about it?
Could it be it's making the water of the shot a bit too cold? (the sourness)



I know there is still a lot of other parts in my sequence that can make the espresso sour. And also the kind of beans i am using could be a sour type.


Thanks for commenting the video's! And yes, bouldering is a lot of fun. and climbing takes you to the most amazing area's, as you can see.