Hello folks,

Recently lured lever convert here, hoping someone can point me in the right direction. For the past year, I've been reading the lever forum posts, learning as much as I can without such a machine. Last week I took delivery of an Elektra Microcasa a Leva S1C. It's taken me this long to stop staring at it. Now it's time to stop staring and start pulling.

Dan was kind enough to tell me how to remove the baseplate, so I could peek underneath. It's much more fun when you know what's where.

I think I've learned enough to start experimenting with grinding, dosing and tamping without painting my kitchen Sherwin-Williams 6076 Turkish Coffee. Not that I mind brown.

Has anyone posted a video of a "start to finish" shot on an MCaL? I can find all sorts of Cremina videos, and Peacecup's Flying V posts have been hugely helpful, but I'd love to see a clip from someone that has more or less mastered the Elektra lever.

Any encouraging words would be most appreciated!

Malcolm

Welcome aboard - the Elektra comes highly recommended by karlschneider - if its as good as the Ponte Vecchio (its probably better) you'll be in for some great espresso.

Please remember my video "A little blonde" is stylized - during normal brewing I take a little more care loading the PF. I load the basket with it removed from the PF, on a level surface, and I tap it gentyl a few times to distribute the grinds. One of many advantages of the hand grinder is no clumping.

Here are the steps I suggest:

Beans, grind, dose, tamp, all effect extraction. I suggest keeping B, D, T as consistent as possible, and adjusting only grind. Once youve gotten some good extractions, you can start to manipulate the others one at a time. For example, I started with a very hard tamp at all times - it was easy to keep consistent. Now I can vary tamp to suit grind or dose level, but its difficult to do this at first. I also suggest a relatively full dose at first - the puck seems to perform better if there is not too much headroom. Don't dose so full as to touch the screen - I've heard of people testing this by putting a coin on top of the puck to see if it leaves an indentation (not duriing brewing!).

With the Ponte Vecchio fresh beans (<3 weeks post roast) seem to be best.

PC

I have to second Jacks encouragement- The similarities between the two machines,in technique at least, should be very close. Close enough for Jack 's video to get you to the gates of the Promised land at the very least. The techniques vary quite a bit more when comparing a spring lever and a manual lever. Just get in there, use some so-so whole beans to get the technique feeling a little more comfortable. And then some fresh beans to see how taste is progressing. Keep your expectations lowered for at least a little while. It takes a while to develop a routine and to see what your machine prefers( subtle grind adjustment +/ - etc)

Thanks Gentlemen,

I feel a bit as though I yelled for help and had Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen show up to see what's what! (I'll let you two sort out the hierarchy there)

PC, everything I've read indicates Miss Elektra enjoys her head space, as you had suggested. I'll try and dial in a grind that will let me dose to overfull, level off and tamp to achieve enough head space so that the coffee doesn't contact the shower head screen.

KarlSchneider's posting has me convinced to try my hand at singles first. Wondering if I'm making trouble for myself there...
maybe the sink will be drinking more shots than me in the near future!

Not missing the Ulka rattle and hum,

Malcolm

msmith wrote:Thanks Gentlemen,

I feel a bit as though I yelled for help and had Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen show up to see what's what! (I'll let you two sort out the hierarchy there)

PC, everything I've read indicates Miss Elektra enjoys her head space, as you had suggested. I'll try and dial in a grind that will let me dose to overfull, level off and tamp to achieve enough head space so that the coffee doesn't contact the shower head screen.

KarlSchneider's posting has me convinced to try my hand at singles first. Wondering if I'm making trouble for myself there...
maybe the sink will be drinking more shots than me in the near future!

Not missing the Ulka rattle and hum,

Malcolm

I would add this: remember that the spring does not produce 9 bar, and it is easier to stall a spring lever than a manual lever, or an electrical pump, where additional pressure can be brought to bear. I would advise dosing almost up to the basket rim (or you could dose overfull and sacrifice the excess to the espresso gods) and tamping gently. Can I be Paul Newman? Or at least Strother Martin?

Regards
Timo

peacecup wrote:Please remember my video "A little blonde" is stylized - during normal brewing I take a little more care loading the PF. I load the basket with it removed from the PF, on a level surface, and I tap it gentyl a few times to distribute the grinds. One of many advantages of the hand grinder is no clumping.

PC

where can i find your video ?
or any others for that matter ?
thanks

timo888 wrote:I would add this: remember that the spring does not produce 9 bar, and it is easier to stall a spring lever than a manual lever, or an electrical pump, where additional pressure can be brought to bear. I would advise dosing almost up to the basket rim (or you could dose overfull and sacrifice the excess to the espresso gods) and tamping gently. Can I be Paul Newman? Or at least Strother Martin?

Regards
Timo

I've seen you mention this many times and am wondering where you learned that the MCaL only produces 6 bars (that's what you've written). I grinder FINER, generally, than I do with my pump machine (a pretty able Brasilia Lady) and tamp just as hard, at least 30 lbs. I have never, ever choked my MCaL. Slowed it sometimes, yes, but never remotely choked it. Since I'm under the impression that 6 bars won't produce real espresso I actually find this claim a bit, well, insulting. I get superlative espresso from my elektra- best I've ever had. Ever.

OP- I have a vid but it's more to highlight the milk foaming and latte art- but I don't like how it turned out... maybe another is in order. If you haven't discovered the steaming capabilities of your MCaL you're in for a delirious treat. It absolutely kicks ass. I had the pleasure of being allowed to make my own cappo on a Synesso Cyncra a couple of weeks ago and my experience on the MCaL saw me NOT make a complete fool of myself on the steam wand there.

frege wrote:I've seen you mention this many times and am wondering where you learned that the MCaL only produces 6 bars (that's what you've written). I grinder FINER, generally, than I do with my pump machine (a pretty able Brasilia Lady) and tamp just as hard, at least 30 lbs. I have never, ever choked my MCaL. Slowed it sometimes, yes, but never remotely choked it. Since I'm under the impression that 6 bars won't produce real espresso I actually find this claim a bit, well, insulting. I get superlative espresso from my elektra- best I've ever had. Ever.

You are mistaken that less that 6 bars of brew pressure "won't produce real espresso". I get excellent espresso from machines that produce 6 bars of brew pressure. But don't let that stop you from feeling, well, insulted, even though my statement about spring-levers had nothing whatsoever to do with you.

The resistance of the "puck" is a combination of several factors: dose, grind, tamp, as well as basket geometry and the total effective filter egress (among other things -- roast depth, type of bean, humidity, etc). I can use one single basket on my Cremina and get excellent flow and extraction timing; yet using the same grind, dose, and tamp with another single basket of a different shape can cause the flow to become very balky and even stall completely. If basket differences on the same machine can have this effect, then the conclusions you have drawn from inter-machine comparisons (i.e. grinding finer on your MCal than you do on your pump) are doubtful.

Regards
Timo

Timo, you still don't account for your claim about the MCaL and those purported "six bars." And if nine bars isn't a standard for espresso then, well, you really should re-write the book. I've been a student of coffee for twenty years now and have never read that six bars produces anything acceptable.

I own this machine and it represented a fairly large investment for me, and so what I see as backhanded commentary like this is, like any not-entirely-positive consumer review, a face-threatening matter to a purchaser. Whether you intend this to "have anything to do with" such an owner doesn't make it less face threatening. I don't want to read that I bought a piece of crap for C$1600- and yes, I overpaid, but that's another story. Well, actually it's THIS story but I'll leave it at that. I'm thin-skinned but thick-skinned enough to admit it.

frege wrote:Timo, you still don't account for your claim about the MCaL and those purported "six bars." And if nine bars isn't a standard for espresso then, well, you really should re-write the book. I've been a student of coffee for twenty years now and have never read that six bars produces anything accetable.

I am hardly one to rely exclusively on authorities, and judge instead by my own experience, but Illy, who is considered an authority, writes in The Chemistry of Quality that inlet water pressure should be 9 ±2 bars.

My claim that spring-levers produce less than 9 bars (typically around 6-7 bar) is based on calculations of spring-force using tools found at the efunda.com website. The force is then divided by the piston-cylinder area. Force divided by Area tells you the brew pressure.

frege wrote:I own this machine and it represented a fairly large investment for me, and so what I see as backhanded commentary like this is, like any not-entirely-positive consumer review, a face-threatening matter to a purchaser. Whether you intend this to "have anything to do with" such an owner doesn't make it less face threatening. I don't want to read that I bought a piece of crap for C$1600- and yes, I overpaid, but that's another story. Well, actually it's THIS story but I'll leave it at that. I'm thin-skinned but thick-skinned enough to admit it.

You are dead wrong when you infer that I intend anything at all derogatory with my statement that these machines operate at around 6 bars. I can assure you, it is not "backhanded commentary". I happen to think 6-7 bars can produce very good espresso, and I have said so quite often on this forum. If you look at the machines I use, there are two (soon to be three) spring-levers among them.

Regards
Timo