Mmmm... I had my first 4 lever pulls today. I obviously need some work on consistency, both in pressure and in temperature, as I'm still getting used to BOTH the lever AND the HX. (Not that I mind to be forced into both at once)

A few questions/concerns:

1. I was happy to see that I got the machine without any cracks in the sight glass. My shots didn't even make the machine leak from the HX near the group like some have reported! But somehow the top water reservoir has a crack in it. I don't understand how it happened as everything seemed fairly well packed. It doesn't leak though.

2. The lever has some side-to-side wiggle (about an inch left to right at the very edge of the handle). Is there a screw that I can tighten to prevent that? I see there are two pins where the lever connects to the piston and neither of those are secure enough to keep the lever perfectly straight and prevent the wiggling. I can still pull it down at shot pressure.

3. Can I assume that I will, at some point, find the fine balance between pulling so hard that I'm turning red (to quote an innocent bystander) and pulling with too little pressure?

4. The pre-infusion: it seemed like I could make it most of the way down with normal (no coffee) resistance on the lever, but once I got back up the resistance was there. Is this normal, or is it likely that I'm waiting too long between the "flush" and "go" parts of "flush and go?" (Yes, I know, it doesn't matter if it tastes good, but I haven't pulled enough shots to experiment with and without the pre-infusion.)

5. Steaming: I haven't found a wrench to replace the steam wand with the Silvia wand yet, but until then I moved the rubber O-ring on the plastic attachment down to the second position (second out of three, in the middle) and put back the plastic pannarello wand. I only tried steaming once, but I was able to get some very sweet, dense foam that took some sort of shape in the pour (think of a rosetta with more white foam than brown crema and an annihilating sweep through the middle at the end that dropped more heavy foam instead of pulling the petals together). It needs some work, but at least there's much more steam power than in my Gaggia Espresso, so it shouldn't be a problem with some practice.

Thanks in advance for any input you have on these points. Time to hop on the LMWDP bandwagon!

FWIW, I'm using the Coffee Emergency Ethiopia Misty Valley SO beans. Definitely blueberries and a healthy amount of crema, even with this big jump from entry-level pump to a lever. I think that means its not too difficult to get used to?

aindfan wrote:2. The lever has some side-to-side wiggle (about an inch left to right at the very edge of the handle). Is there a screw that I can tighten to prevent that? I see there are two pins where the lever connects to the piston and neither of those are secure enough to keep the lever perfectly straight and prevent the wiggling. I can still pull it down at shot pressure.

4. The pre-infusion: it seemed like I could make it most of the way down with normal (no coffee) resistance on the lever, but once I got back up the resistance was there. Is this normal, or is it likely that I'm waiting too long between the "flush" and "go" parts of "flush and go?" (Yes, I know, it doesn't matter if it tastes good, but I haven't pulled enough shots to experiment with and without the pre-infusion.)

That lever wiggle is normal. With clearance at the piston-top pivots, the movement is accentuated by the length of the lever.(Those screws tend to come loose with use. A little 'Loctite' on the threads stops it.)

Don't delay between the flush pull/s and the pre-infusion pull.
After the flush pull, lock in the portafilter and wait the few seconds for the green indicator light to show. Pull the lever down about 1/3rd and wait 6-8 secs.(pre-infusion). Lift the lever and pull the shot.
The pre-infusion pull will have little resistance as it is just filling the headspace above the puck with some penetration. No espresso usually emerges from the portafilter during the pre-infusion.

Craig, thanks for the tips. I was not waiting on the pre-infusion, but I'll give that a try next time. I'm not sure if I'm taking too much time between the flush and the shot, as I like to flush into the coffee's final destination (whichever cup that may be), then dump that water into the sink and dry the cup, shower screen, and drip tray cover. Maybe I'll skip that step to speed things along.

My low pressure "pre-infusion" seemed to just be a start of the infusion. I was getting some drops of coffee, but I was taking the lever as far as I could under the low pressure (until I hit the pressure buildup) so I'll try stopping the lever 1/3 of the way as you recommended.

Thanks again and I'd be happy to hear if any other Achille users have suggestions.

Well, our Gaggia Achille refurb. arrived last week. Rather than double-post here our experience with it, I'll simply include a link to the details in the other thread ( pulled-trigger-again-new-gaggia-achille-on-way-t7239.html ) and will note here that the defective Gaggia Achille refurb. we received is on its way back to WLL, to be replaced instead by a Gaggia Factory G106 refurb., which hopefully will be as satisfactory a machine as our other trusty Gaggia Factory G106...

Glad other Achille users are happy with theirs, but we just found the Achille's build-quality tradeoffs to be too great...

r-gordon-7

Dan, how are the pulls coming?

A couple comments on flushing and timing. I understand wanting to warm your cup, but I would not use the flush if you are dumping and drying your cup before the pull. That is WAY WAY WAY too much time IMO. When sophie says don't delay, that is exactly what she means. I use no more time than the time it takes me to lock the PF in place before I start my pre-infusion pull. I don't even have the flushing glass (I use a scotch tumbler) out or the pre-warmed cup under when I start my pull. I change those around during the 6-10 seconds of the 1/3 pull. I am not rushing, but I am not waiting any time either. I pre-warm my cup usually with a pre-flush or post flush water depending if it is the first shot of the session.

OMG, and I just re-read that you are drying everything before the shot. No wonder you had to pull the lever all the way down - the head empties out. Clean up after the shot - not during.

Finally, I have also found with the Achilles' very powerful boiler, I don't dare take any more than the 'standard' 30 seconds to pull the shot or it will be burned. No 45 second ristrettos without flipping off the machine right after the cooling flush.

Good luck.

Ciao Dan,

Congrats on the new macchina! Re the stock Gaggia steam wand, you may get better results by leaving off the panarello sleeve and steaming with just the plastic tip. That way you can see the exact depth of the tip, which is crucial for decent microfoam. For latte art (with the Sirena, anyway), I find that 10 sec. of stretching is plenty; more than that, and you can end up with "bubbly" foam that doesn't pour right.

Have fun!
Wayne

roastaroma wrote:Re the stock Gaggia steam wand, you may get better results by leaving off the panarello sleeve and steaming with just the plastic tip. That way you can see the exact depth of the tip, which is crucial for decent microfoam. For latte art (with the Sirena, anyway), I find that 10 sec. of stretching is plenty; more than that, and you can end up with "bubbly" foam that doesn't pour right.

Thanks Wayne, I'll be switching out the plastic thing for a Silvia wand tomorrow. I'll post the results (if it was helpful with the Gaggia Espresso's tiny boiler, I imagine this powerhouse will really take advantage of it).

Alchemist wrote:OMG, and I just re-read that you are drying everything before the shot. No wonder you had to pull the lever all the way down - the head empties out. Clean up after the shot - not during.

Wow, I didn't realize how this was hurting more than helping. I also recently saw a thread on drying the shower screen - seems like the conclusion was that it doesn't matter. Thanks for the tips, John. I'm back to using the machine tomorrow so I'll post back any progress I have.

Thanks again for your tips here!

Good morning,

I just finished a phone call with WLL to initiate a replacement of my Achille. Here are the issues that I mentioned:

1. Squeaky piston
2. Cracked reservoir
3. Leaking steam valve
4. Water in the base, right next to the 120V wires (this seemed to be an issue for others related to "Gasket 16" unseating and causing a flood while pulling a shot at full force, but I never experienced any leaks during a shot - but the water must have gotten there somehow!)

Ideally I'll be getting another machine this Friday, but that's simply an unrealistic expectation. Middle of next week is probably more likely. As you can imagine, I REALLY want to have this machine and see it working perfectly. There are just too many things that I like about it, and for the money I paid I feel like it should be perfect. It's too bad WLL is about 6 hours away!

That said, I'm giving the Achille one more chance. If the next one has the issues above, it'll be going back (unfortunately) and I'll be deciding between a Pavoni lever and the Bezzera BZ02/NS Oscar/Salvatore One Black (I'm too spoiled by the Achille design to move to an overheatable manual lever with little temperature control). Also, the spring levers are out because I need the full body of a higher pressure extraction. I've never tried the espresso from one of those, though, so I can't say for sure.

I'll post updates as the story unfolds.

aindfan wrote:I just finished a phone call with WLL to initiate a replacement of my Achille.

That is a shame Dan. I hope the replacement meets your expectations.
I'm still very happy with mine even though there had been some issues. It makes a superb cup. I wouldn't part with it.

I would love to know how many units WLL have sent out compared with returns. Surely there must be some successes or they wouldn't deal with them. I don't think you will find the steam valve will be any good, even with your next one. They are rubbish. Anybody out there still using the original valve?

Fingers crossed.
Keep us informed.

I got an email today from WLL's sales manager, Darren, who is having a new machine shipped via UPS 2-Day so I can have it by Friday as I requested. The technical manager, Don, will be inspecting and testing the replacement machine (with my permission) before they ship it out - this ensure that I won't see the issues that I was running into. Don was also kind enough to offer to install the Silvia wand before he ships the machine.

I'm happy to report that WLL is certainly backing this expensive purchase - really going all out to ensure customer satisfaction.

When I mentioned the water in the base issue to Don, he said that it can be caused by heating and cooling the machine on a (for example) marble counter: there can be some condensation that accumulates over time. He said that he has experienced this in the shop when the A/C is keeping the temperature low enough for some droplets to end up on the boiler the day after it has been used. He wasn't far off in saying marble, as I was using the machine on a granite counter. I might look into using an insulating rubber pad between the machine and the counter (if I can find such a thing). The amount of heat pulled out of the (bottomless) PF when tamping has concerned me in the past, and I didn't realize this can cause problems with condensation below the boiler.

A big thank you to WholeLatteLove for the excellent support and follow through with this. I'll be posting updates when the new Achille and a bag of Terroir's Northern Italian Daterra meet at my doorstep on Friday.