Sorry, was a tad busy yesterday and didn't get to do an update.

WDT, WDT, WDT! Using the hand grinder that I am, WDT IN the grinder grounds holder FINALLY gives me a decent espresso (not great, BUT, not sour, not bitter, not ashy, not oily!) The beginnings of a good espresso. NOTE ONLY the BEGINNINGS! Still a bit blonde and weak but we're getting there!

I'd been doing the WDT in the basket, but apparently that wasn't good enough. WDT in the grounds container for the grinder and rotate the basket as you dispense into it and I'm getting a decent STARTING point! Dose was a tad short @ 11.5 grams (I'd been doing 12-12.5 grams but just ran out of ground coffee! ), crema was light (not QUITE blonde, but close!) and 'twas about 1.75oz total (1 stroke PLUS a fellini move!). This was with PT's coffee La Bella Vita espresso blend (arrived yesterday 3 days post roast!)...

Next trick will be to see if I can improve the crema and extract a bit more flavor!

No 30!

Tighter grind, just a tad possible.....?

ntwkgestapo wrote:WDT, WDT, WDT! Using the hand grinder that I am, WDT IN the grinder grounds holder FINALLY gives me a decent espresso (not great, BUT, not sour, not bitter, not ashy, not oily!) The beginnings of a good espresso. NOTE ONLY the BEGINNINGS! Still a bit blonde and weak but we're getting there!

I'd been doing the WDT in the basket, but apparently that wasn't good enough. WDT in the grounds container for the grinder and rotate the basket as you dispense into it and I'm getting a decent STARTING point! Dose was a tad short @ 11.5 grams (I'd been doing 12-12.5 grams but just ran out of ground coffee! ), crema was light (not QUITE blonde, but close!) and 'twas about 1.75oz total (1 stroke PLUS a fellini move!). This was with PT's coffee La Bella Vita espresso blend (arrived yesterday 3 days post roast!)...

Next trick will be to see if I can improve the crema and extract a bit more flavor!

No 30!

What hand grinder do you use? The Trossers I use give very fine grinds with no clumping. I use 14g and do the same 1 stroke PLUS a fellini move that you do.

With just the lightest of tamping (Thor must get angry that he can't use his full strength...) the puck still comes out solid and the coffee is somehow smoother to my (and the good wife's) taste buds.

Although I got better crema from the Sama Export, I get better flavor straight from the Factory.

Good luck in your search for better espresso. That's what makes it fun.

SLIGHTLY Tighter grind and a bit more intensity! BUT, consistency is the watchword now! Not there yet, but getting better! We'll just have to see. Had a very nice Americano today and a so-so cappa. I'm SURE the problem is on the handle end of the portafilter...

The journey continues!

prof_stack wrote:What hand grinder do you use? The Trossers I use give very fine grinds with no clumping. I use 14g and do the same 1 stroke PLUS a fellini move that you do.

Prof_Stack, sorry I didn't answer your question earlier (meant to, just forgot!)... I have the "Large Travel Grinder" that EPNW sells. Made by Clipper International, I believe. Bought it back last summer so I'd have some kind of grinder to use @ my "camper" (the travel trailer that I LEAVE in storage @ a campground down in Myrtle Beach, SC. Wife LOVES the beach there and, as long as I'm not bothered from work, I'm pretty much happy ANYWHERE! ). Not a bad little conical burr grinder but it DOES clump a bit.

BUT, I got my EPNW EP5 Tamper today! and it Definitely makes a difference! I'd given up on getting something consistent as the 49mm CURVED (not an "american" curve, not sure WHAT curve it is/was... more radical than what is presented as an "american" curve) tamper was allowing me to do very stupid stuff (heavy tamp HERE, light over there!, Medium over THERE!)... EP5 tamper measures 51mm exactly (as far as my equipment goes... checked with the dial calipers and it was SO exact that I got out the real micrometers, the ones that my grandfather bought back in the Great Depression when Dupont hired him as a millwright (yeah, they're GOOD!). Guess what? They measured it at exactly 51mm as well!

EP5 w/51mm base and the "black marble" Polyurethane handle measures 319.5 grams. The SBux 49mm tamper measures 115 grams.... SLIGHT difference!

51mm base is the right choice for MY basket(s) as, on the double, it goes about 70% of the way down with almost NO play (stops @ the 70% depth point). On the single, it's about half a mm of play down to the point where the basket tapers in...

So far, I've been able to loosen up the grind a bit and am getting MUCH better espresso out (first shot is, most of the time, a bit sour.... Gonna have to warm it up a bit more!)... I'm actually starting to be able to detect DIFFERENT tastes in the shot (can't tell you what they ARE yet, but... I CAN tell they're there!).

Starting to feel like I'm BEGINNING to, not master, but understand and LEARN the "Tin Man"!

More to come!

Well, today went to power the Gaggia up and no heat! Checked the over temp breaker, nope, it's just fine... checked the heating element and the sucker is open, no conductivity at all... CRAP! Well, I've contacted WLL and we'll see what happens.

Has anyone removed the sight glass cover on the Gaggia Factory? I have what looks to be a little scuz on the glass tube under the plastic cover, and want to remove that without messing up my machine. I can't find any instructions on removing the plastic cover in the operating manual, and was just wondering if anyone has done this before? Thanks.

Well, first, no word yet from WLL on the problem with the Factory, but, we'll see how it goes. I've been more than a bit "anal" on insuring that water is in the boiler so that can't be the issue. Even tho I change the water for each session with the machine, I leave the OLD water in it UNTIL I'm ready to flush and start a new session. ALWAYS at least 1/4 up the site glass with water. I usually fill to about 3/4-7/8 up the site glass to start a session. That gives me enough water to do 3 warming flushes (up until water flows, wait just a bit, down to shut it off, repeat two more times to warm the group).

I did a "look inside" on the boiler today to see if there was any visible signs of a problem. No broken element (but as I suspect it's a standard coil of nickel chrome wire INSIDE the stainless outer shell, I wouldn't expect to see any physical broken element unless it had REALLY gotten over temp!), no obvious discoloration of the stainless element shell... Just no current flow BETWEEN the ends of the element! While looking in I figured that the "over temp" breaker will only work IF the p-stat over does it, as there's no apparent physical connection between the over temp breaker and the heating element itself. The over temp breaker senses, in a properly filled boiler, the WATER temperature (air if there's no water!).

Oh well, let's continue with what I'd PLANNED on doing yesterday... My intent was to bump the p-stat up to 1 bar top and see what that did to the espresso. @ 0.9 bar top I've been getting obvious sour 1st shots even with the warm up, so I was going to see if pushing the p-stat up to 1 bar would help that a bit (at least soften the sour shots!).

I've been pulling 4 shots a day with the Factory (as that's pretty much what I would NORMALLY do) and have only had 2 shots that I would consider "sink shots" (I'm sure others on this site would consider some of the shots that I've considered acceptable sink shots, but hey...). Over all I've been quite impressed with the machine. Deeper, more intense, espresso than any I've made with any of the OTHER espresso machines I've had/used. I've been pulling 1.5 oz "doubles" with about 12 grams in the double basket. Had a couple at the start that were 14-15 grams, but the 12-12.5 gram doubles seem to be MUCH nicer, full bodied, and the second double of the session is VERY nice!

Steaming on this machine is VERY different from the SBux Barista, both good and bad (well, not really BAD, just DIFFERENT!). The steam wand has 3 holes in a pattern about (just a guess) 45 degrees off of the "center line" of the tip and spaced equally around the perimeter (120 degrees rotation, I'm guessing). With the fixed nature of the tip (there's no swivel on this baby!) that's caused a few problems for me (as one of the nozzles appears to be just about parallel to the counter top, which makes staying just under the surface a challenge). But the steam goes on and on (and on....). I've noticed that, while the Barista coasts up about 5 degrees after you've turned off the steam, this one coasts up about 8-10 degrees, so stopping @ 140 degrees F will result in your milk/foam being at about 150 when it finishes coasting. Still not decent microfoam, but we're getting closer (or we WERE ).

Well, that's it for now, but as soon as I hear from WLL I'll update.

Well, three unanswered e-mails and one unanswered (got v-mail) phone call later and I STILL don't have even the BEGINNINGS of getting my machine fixed! I was somewhat concerned as I'd heard other people having some of the same kinds of issues (obviously returned items sold as new, lack of customer support, etc) and it appears I'm yet another one in that vein... We'll see what happens, but I'm getting more than a bit discouraged...
Too bad, as I DO like the machine (when it works! )...

ntwkgestapo wrote:Well, three unanswered e-mails and one unanswered (got v-mail) phone call later and I STILL don't have even the BEGINNINGS of getting my machine fixed! I was somewhat concerned as I'd heard other people having some of the same kinds of issues (obviously returned items sold as new, lack of customer support, etc) and it appears I'm yet another one in that vein... We'll see what happens, but I'm getting more than a bit discouraged...

Hang in there... they will ultimately make good, but it can take some time. They may also be in a bit of post-holiday return madness. WLL made good on mine, and probably lost plenty of money in the process. I eBay purchased the 16-cup model, they sent me the 8-cup model. So they paid for three shipments (well, I paid for one of them when I bought it), the wrong machine to me, the return shipment, and finally the correct shipment. Response times were sometimes a bit longer than I wished they would have been.