IMAWriter wrote:Happy New Year, Jack, Hal, and all.

Jack, Do the veins in your forearms pop out?...That would be a clue
Though I'm ready for the onslaught of derision which is sure to follow this next treatise, here goes:
My experience with Doug and barb's loaner was not all it could have been, due, I believe to my lack of a proper tamper.

No derision here. However, I've found the Caravel to be pretty forgiving in terms of tamp. I have the beautiful Penny tamper and use it. But Doug and Barb included a measuring spoon with a flat bottom and I find that I'm often getting the best results with that. There are so many variables though, including different grinders and different roasts that what seems to work for me might well be different elsewhere. Have had nice recent results using Vivace's Dolce and CCC's Gizmo that way.

A Happy New Year to you too. Enjoy your posts.

Happy New Year to you guys too

Thanks for all the info guys, you lever heads sound like the fanatics of the coffee fanatics

Well I received the new seals yesterday and got them into the machine last night. I have made two coffee's with the new seals and while the coffee itself is coming out thick and syrupy I am not getting much in the way of crema. I have started out with a grind setting the same as what I am using for my Faema compact (which occasionally chokes when i get carried away with tamping)
I filled the double basket (I have both a double and a single) and tamped medium hard but got no crema the first time. Second time I tamped as hard as i could and still there was very little resistance on the lever and a little deep rust red crema but not a whole lot. Again the coffee itself was great tasting, I just wish I had a little more in the crema department. I guess I will have to grind a bit finer and see how that goes. The beans I used (sumatran blue lintong) which were roasted about four days ago and ground in a mazzer SJ a few minutes prior to pulling the shot, so its not a freshness problem.
Has everyone else found they had to significantly decrease their grind size with this machine?

Bluecold wrote:I think I've found the relation between Arrarex and VAM.
VAM made the heating element. http://www.applicazionivam.com/eng/home.htm

My Machine has the VAM sphinx and VAM drilled into the drip plate, but when you take the drip tray out it says Arrarex Milano.

If the flow is too fast try grinding finer. I dose very full, and grind to that I need to apply considerable pressure to the lever to obtain a slow stream of espresso, which, even with oldish beans, is usually very cremafull.

BTW Aaron, glad to have you aboard. Didn't you post a while ago about converting the Bezzera to 220? I did so recently with my PV Export.

Another method I've been experimenting with lately with the Caravel is a partial first, than full second lever pull. This yields a bit more espresso (1 oz?), which is not out of line with the 14-15g of beans I'm using.

My routine is as follows:

Bring water to >203 F. (measured in the kettle)
Pull a blank shot into the cup.
Wait until the kettle reads 203-201, then lock and pull the shot.
1. Raise the lever until the piston is full (can hear it)
2. Depress until before drips appear (with a fine grind they seldom do)
3. Lift and fill again (sometimes I repeat for a third time)
4. Begin the lever pull for the shot.
5. If I'm going for more volume I'll pull until the lever is approx. parallel to the desk then raise and take a full pull.
6. Otherwise I just take one full pull.

Another thing I like is to have the Caravel on my work desk, which is lower than a counter. At that height I can actually pull a shot with one hand without holding the machine (though I usually do for safety)

If the SO doesn't work out, try a good espresso blend.

PC

Yes that was me. Unfortunately I sold the Bezzera - I had it repaired and the guy totally butchered it. It had a few on going problems that I couldnt seem to solve so I decided to get a new Faema HX. I am totally happy with the Faema, but I really miss the old lever action so I started looking around at lever machines on the bay and wound up snagging this one.
I might add, that I ground finer this morning and got slightly more crema, but felt like the new seals in the piston were letting the water back through the cylinder, I got a bit of water leaking out the lever slots on the sides of the cylinder and after a fairly tight feeling pull I would have had about a table spoon of espresso in the cup with the rest of the water disappearing somewhere. I am pretty sure I am getting water flushing back into the boiler as it is always discoloured after the first pull.
My machine does not have the small O ring in the centre of the piston, just the two u cups on the piston head

One of the things you can do with the Caravel to increase shot volume as well as pressure is to give a generous preinfusion -- full lift, wait, partial pull, wait, lift slowly again, then complete the pull. This approach works best with a moderate to light tamp, and about 6mm headroom in the double basket.

Be sure to have run a couple of warming flushes through the group beforehand.

Regards
T

The O ring or cup seal on the upper end of the piston prevents water from coming out through the side slots when the lever is raised all the way. You can either fix or lube the seals, or don't quite raise it all the way. I had this problem when I installed a new O-ring that Doug sent me. It was too thick, and I could not re-insert the piston without damaging it. It leaked, so I put the old O-ring in and now its fine! I'll need to source these locally, which should be easy.

If you cannot stall the machine completely you must have some water passing back by the lower cup seal. Yesterday I almost COMPLETELY stalled my machine when I inched the PeDe an 1/8 turn tighter. I tell you, I can put as much force as I care to without the lever giving an inch, so the seal is tight.

BTW, the espresso that came from that basket was much better than I would expect. It probably took a minute or more to pull the shot.

Also, I've been pulling shots at around 197 F in the kettle the past two days, and the results are great.

PC

hperry wrote:No derision here. However, I've found the Caravel to be pretty forgiving in terms of tamp. I have the beautiful Penny tamper and use it. But Doug and Barb included a measuring spoon with a flat bottom and I find that I'm often getting the best results with that. There are so many variables though, including different grinders and different roasts that what seems to work for me might well be different elsewhere. Have had nice recent results using Vivace's Dolce and CCC's Gizmo that way.

A Happy New Year to you too. Enjoy your posts.

HAll

It so good to see your name in the postings..!! I have been off on other hobbies for a while..So when did you get a Caravel? Forgive me for not reading back posts to uncover this first hand.

Do you remember seeing Peacecup's Caravel when we met with Prof Stack near Queen Anne for espresso?

I do hope you are well!!

mogogear wrote:HAll

Do you remember seeing Peacecup's Caravel when we met with Prof Stack near Queen Anne for espresso?

I do hope you are well!!

I do remember now that you mention it, although I didn't make the connection until just now. The Caravel is my "go to" reference machine for straight shot quality. I picked it up several months ago from OrphanEspresso and it is in daily use. It is an amazing machine - with updated electronics and steam it should be revived.

I'm really glad to see you back here. Note from your other postings that you are in Seattle a fair bit - give me a call. I'd enjoy getting together.

Another of mogo's machines in action, Juneau Alaska. Ahh, the good old days:

I feel a little guilty. I don't log into HB very often, but I recently added yet another gem to my collection:



Yes, I am apparently the other owner of a yellow Caravel. Maybe peacecup and I can start a club.

I learned about it (and staked my claim) before it even arrived in Utah, so my apologies to anyone else who wanted a yellow one. We thought it would be cream-colored, but it is definitely yellow, something of an off-canary yellow. Cream white would be an attractive color for the Arrarex, but the yellow is very pleasant to live with. It has o-rings in the body, not on the piston, and the reservoir is similar to late-model orange ones. It has a funky twist-and-push switch at the lower bottom.

Something most folks might not be aware of about Caravels is that they are small. Really small. At first, I thought it was more like an espresso toy. Small portafilter, small basket, narrow, relatively light body, and very short and small footprint. I have since gained significant respect for its prowess. I can easily imagine how a typical Italian household might have had one of these sitting on a crowded kitchen counter, getting used for several shots over the course of a day. It lends itself well to multiple shots and easy maintenance.

I am still learning its quirks, but the shots are already very nearly as good as those made with my Cremina 2002. In fact, the shot this morning was possibly better: It possessed a new range of flavors that the Cremina does not reveal, but mouthfeel was not as nice a the larger shots the Olympia creates.

I do appreciate all the tips on pulling shots in this thread. Very helpful. Thanks.

And that's my waste of time, but at least you got to see a yellow Caravel!

You know, it did not even occur to us to take the Yellow Submarine in to the paint store to match that color. What were we thinking, or not thinking?!!! We have dealt in old relics and antiques for long enough to appreciate an original paint job though, and almost perfect. We have a few Caravel bodies (currently silver....ish) and are torn between duplicating the silver exactly, and I'm a good painter, or repainting some distinctive color that is obviously not original, but equally tight in the masking and details. to restore it exactly so it could pass as perfect original, or be obvious that it is a restoration. Danno, you could give a good input on this with your experience with motorcylces. what do you prefer? Original, restored to original, or custom?

By the way, I am leaning towards black, but don't let that influence your opinion.

OK RJ, you don't seem to like black. I think that was what you implied. So what color then? I dunno, our kitchen leans to stainless and it seems basic black goes with stainless......but I have the full palette to choose form since the macxhines need painting. any suggestion would be fine....but no puce or fancy exotic colors, and no taupe since I got prety tired of that on an old car I restored. Ferrari red...I have never seen a Ferrari let alone a red one so I couldn't say. RJ, do you have swatches?