I just (finally) received my Mini-Gaggia from Paris, and it is in surprisingly good shape. Got her all cleaned up and am just awaiting a step-up voltage converter. Needless to say, I'm antsy and have been filling the boiler with water off the stove to play around... works with this unique open boiler design. Anyway, I've finally got a good shot going. The question I have is how to pull a double -- Does this require a second pull on the lever (this makes sense to me). Is there a good time to start the "second pull?" I've flushed the residual then pulled as well as pulled on top of the residual. Both techniques have been OK. The original manual http://www.orphanespresso.com/index.php?main_page=page&id=20&chapter=40 (poorly translated Italian I believe) states the push-button must be pressed twice for a double. I'm assuming this is the lever. Anyway, I've also been getting less crema than with my baby, though it is somewhat consistent with the Rancilio lever I pull on at work.

Any advice would be appreciated.

thanks, lucas

I'm reviving this old thread because it had an appropriate title. Don't know what ever happened with the OP's Mini, but I just came across one.

I've pulled three or four shots already, and I'm impressed. I like the 58-mm group as an alternative to my other machines (45, 43) so its new and exciting. The piston displacement is far greater, so I get closer to a full double. AND, the best part is that the spring lever is coupled, so I can assist it when the pour is too slow.

Outside it is a oddity, but the PC logo is cool, and the overall look is ok. The blue part is plastic, which has a small crack, and the metal is aluminum. The drip tray is nice steel, and large enough to hold some coffee. The PF is standard Gaggia 58 mm, heavy duty plated brass. The boiler is also SUPER heavy-duty plated brass, and it really holds the heat. It has a submerged heating element, and it heats a couple of liters of water fast.

The spring is also heavy duty, and it produces a lot of pressure, which as mentioned, can be assisted.

All-in-all a really great piece of home espresso equipment, capable of very nice shots, and easy temperature control (ie open boiler design). The dual-function spring-manual lever is a real unexpected bonus, and I look forward to some great shots!

Nice machine PC! The mini was a fun machine. Really serviceable too if you haven't yet pulled it apart. Incidentally, while the pf is 58mm, it is not Gaggia standard. I have an oldish commercial gaggia lever (which I'm trying to unload due to space constraints) and my baby on the counter now, and the mini had a different pf, plus the funny downspout.

Anyway, I, with much work, managed a grind where I could pull a great shot without any help.. but the little guy never quite did it for me and I passed it along. The blue is nice.. I've always been interested in the SAMA, but am putoff by the small pf and the apparent small volume per pull.

Well, back to a thread about a little (Mini) Gaggia that could...

I've had the machine for two months now, but have only just gotten to starting to use it. Work, and life, have been keeping me too busy to write a lot about espresso. But this AM's cappa, pulled on the Mini, was sooo good I just had to check in.

Why isn't there a Mini-Club, like the Caravel Club? G A G G I A, M I N I...

Despite its odd appearance, the Mini is another old design that works. It's taken me about 15 shots to figure it out - the main feature being that THERE IS NO GROUP. The PF basically sits under the kettle of water. So the brew temperature is very close to the kettle temp, much closer than on the Caravel, on which the brew water cools considerably in the piston chamber. I pulled a few shots at the same temp. as on the Caravel, and they were too hot, when it finally dawned on me that there wasn't any cooling going on. Now I'm getting them at the correct temp, and they're pouring thick and goopy, and really tasty.

I picked up a double basket at the local Gaggia store - its correct that the ears of the PF are different from other Gaggias, and I'm not sure if any other PF would fit without modification. The standard Gaggia double basket fits right in, however, and it has been happily swallowing up 15+ g doses (not weighed yet). Think it will hold closer to 20 g. The water volume per pull is rather greater than the PV or Caravel, but I haven't measured that either yet. Will get a little more detailed on that later.

The 58-mm PF is a different beast than the 43,45 on my other lever machines. Now I can see (as I always suspected) why there is so much to-do about distribution and dose. The broad, shallow design of the 58 makes it more sensitive to these things. Fortunately, piston-driven lever machines probably make the WATER distribution fairly laminar, so even with the 58 even extractions are relatively simple. But now I appreciate even more how simple it is to get consistent results on the smaller-group machines. Makes we wonder just why designers settled on a 58-mm group design in the first place?

I hope I'll be able to keep brewing with the Mini regularly now, so I'll check back in with some details as I gain more experience.

PC

Hmm, I had a nice red one for a few months- and found it very easy to use. I preferred a single pull- I was a little concerned that double pulls would draw coffee water back into the boiler.

made some really nice shots with it:

That's right, double pullls should be avoided, because it sucks coffee grounds back into the boiler and you don't want to pull the machine apart to clean the boiler, right?
Same thing goes for updosing (overfilling) the filter basket, be careful with that.
I suggest to use the LM single basket and fill + tamp only into the 41mm middle section.
Also sweep clean the shower screen after every shot.
If you take the machine apart for cleaning, it is a good idea then to adjust the thermostat to your taste.

Indeed.... for a larger shot I would hold the lever down for around 10-15 seconds so that more water could be absorbed into the puck. The shot pictured above was made like that and had a largish volume.

SiD- wrote:That's right, double pullls should be avoided, because it sucks coffee grounds back into the boiler and you don't want to pull the machine apart to clean the boiler, right?

First - I'm not sure if the piston seal arrangement could allow any coffee back into the boiler (I never had this problem even with 2 full pulls on one shot). Second, the boiler is OPEN on this machine...meaning you could just rinse it out and turn it upside down to drain if coffee ever did get in there.

SiD- wrote:Same thing goes for updosing (overfilling) the filter basket, be careful with that.
I suggest to use the LM single basket and fill + tamp only into the 41mm middle section.

Updosing was never an issue for me with the Mini Gaggia, I used standard double ridgeless baskets.

SiD- wrote:If you take the machine apart for cleaning, it is a good idea then to adjust the thermostat to your taste.

I believe the thermostat on the my Mini Gaggia was fixed (not adjustable). You might be able to replace it with an adjustable one or even better - bypass with a PID for perfect control.

timo888 wrote:http://www.home-barista.com/forums/userpix/915_mini_gaggia_inside_dirty_boiler_1.jpg

Peppina Marries MiniGaggia

Amazing, I guess that indicates that it is possible to draw coffee back in to the boiler.

But at the same time it looks like a VERY poorly maintained machine (used and abused is more like it). As I said, this problem just did not ever occur with my unit at all and I always used a "multi pull" technique.

EDIT - Timo, I just read through your linked thread. Have you had an opportunity to see a Mini gaggia for yourself yet? The thread indicates that you believe the piston spring is immersed in the boiler (this may be errant). IIRC, my boiler was a U-shape with the piston arrangement in the open area middle. There was an opening in the boiler wall (in the middle of the "U") that allowed the water to be communicated into the group when the piston is raised.

I don't know how the boiler in the linked image got so bad but could it have been from other causes (not necessarily from coffee being sucked up)? I ask because it seems very unlikely to me that coffee could be drawn backwards into the boiler given my recollection of the mini Gaggia's physical arrangement.

Also, it seems possible that either I remember wrong OR that the design changed over time...