So finally after a couple months I'm using my L1. I've been trying to source volvic water in my area with no luck. Longos, metro, fortinos, Walmart don't carry this water.. Im using Brita filtered water for now.
The very first shot I pulled was creamy and had a nice color to it. I have the machine set up on a timer to come on at 4am and off at 5:25 am. Of course this morning seconds before I pull my shot the machine turns off, the shot still came thru but was a bit of a gusher- i noticed the barr pressure dropped dramatically. I think the L1 turned off minutes before and not seconds.
My current roast is daterra yellow- looking forward to trying different roasts.
Here's a few pics..

I usually buy Volvic water from Whole Foods. It is pretty expensive, so I alternate between Nestle Pure Life and Volvic as that seems to be a good mix and I have not had any issues so far (almost a year).

If you let your machine warm up without flushing any water, it is going to take around a hour to completely warm up. At what point are you pulling your shots in that time frame?

Make sure you purge the steam wand before you pull your shot (wait until it reaches full pressure again) and then commence the "standard routine." For me that is typically 5-7 seconds of pre-infusion, then gently raising the handle, and pulling my cup out when I reach my desired ratio ( I am about 16 grams dosed, 32 in the cup).

I pull my shot roughly after 1 hr warm up with no flush. Darn it, I pulled water from the boiler lever left side this morning to warm my cup but forgot to pull the steam wand, short of this routine may have messed my shot this morning. Not to mention the timer shut the machine off prior to pulling. gotta reset the timer. .

My current pre infusion is about 7-10 seconds with no drip, drip occurs roughly 2 seconds after spring takes over. . I too 16 grams dosed. One thing I haven't noticed yet is that thick cream on top, my shot has a thin layer.
I must say the flavor is outstanding! I am starting to taste the different notes in the roast I once dreamed about. Really looking forward to try different roasts.

I also need to complete my morning home barista experience- new motorized grinder, maybe ceado e37s, looking into the glass cellars by lyn weber, * even if I go halves with someone else in Toronto *
My morning today was nothing short of a disaster- i also make coffe for my wife- drip, before I leave for work-- not to mention feeding the dog, cat, stray cat that visits my front porch 5 days week, peanuts for the squirrels, 2 cute squirrels that visit my backyard - and then they go to my neighbour's to burry their peanuts, Grrr. . Yesterday morning while playing with my L1 a blue jay lands on my tree next to my kitchen window with a peanut in his mouth. That was nice to see anyways.. back to coffee.

If I continue to use Brita I'll just need to investigate how to descale this machine.

I forgot to mention that you should aim for a gram per second when the spro starts flowing...

I would try to find the right water mix ASAP, as Reiss has mentioned that descaling is not recommended on this machine. Google Nestle Pure Life, as it is fairly cheap and widely available.

-Michael

That would be great-
No descaling! Music to my ears.
thank you for the info..

Distilled + potassium bicarbonate = done thinking about water mix-up, taste and worrying about scale in my LI and PV-E alike. Credit goes to our own Robert Pavlis (rpavlis).

<FWIW/FYI snip from another post about same>

Mix up a master batch and keep in a container to quickly/easily make a gallon at a time (or 10 gallons as I do): 10% solution of potassium bicarbonate + distilled water (10g potassium bicarbonate into 100ml (100g) distilled water).

Then add 3.8ml/g into each gallon of pure distilled water for your final espresso machine water mixture. You, again per Robert, vary the solution if you find you like it a little stronger or weaker. But for me I'm super happy with adding 19ml/g into each of my 5-gallon containers of distilled.

Nice formula Dan, for those that do not have a good source of water.

spressomon wrote:Distilled + potassium bicarbonate = done thinking about water mix-up, taste and worrying about scale in my LI and PV-E alike. Credit goes to our own Robert Pavlis (rpavlis).

<FWIW/FYI snip from another post about same>

Mix up a master batch and keep in a container to quickly/easily make a gallon at a time (or 10 gallons as I do): 10% solution of potassium bicarbonate + distilled water (10g potassium bicarbonate into 100ml (100g) distilled water).

Then add 3.8ml/g into each gallon of pure distilled water for your final espresso machine water mixture. You, again per Robert, vary the solution if you find you like it a little stronger or weaker. But for me I'm super happy with adding 19ml/g into each of my 5-gallon containers of distilled.

If I've read this correct-
10g pb + 100 ml dw = concentrated solution.
Then add 3.8ml of above concentrate into 1 gallon distilled?
Thank you.

Edit; i will check with my local pharmacy, health food store- Noah's etc.. where to buy potassium bicarbonate.

Day 4,
I have reduced my pre infusion from 10 seconds to 5 seconds and i noticed there is no difference. I did pull 2 doubles this morning, both 16g dosed. First shot I tamped approx 15lbs- stream was 15 seconds. Second shot I tamped 30lbs, stream was 20 seconds. Flavor was different from my very first double shots..
I am having issues with my pharos- until this is rectified I won't be able to pull a consistent shot.

When you get your grinder back up and running, try not to tamp as hard. As [anonymized], Stephen, and Reiss have mentioned in the past, tamping with the pressure of only your thumbs should be the maximum pressure.

I am not sure why I didn't include this video yesterday, but is an awesome step by step procedure for the L-1 (Made by [anonymized]):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWwq4UFKLtM

If you are only getting 15 seconds with a light tamp, then you need to grind finer.


-Michael

IUespresso wrote:When you get your grinder back up and running, try not to tamp as hard. As [anonymized], Stephen, and Reiss have mentioned in the past, tamping with the pressure of only your thumbs should be the maximum pressure.

I am not sure why I didn't include this video yesterday, but is an awesome step by step procedure for the L-1 (Made by [anonymized]):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWwq4UFKLtM

If you are only getting 15 seconds with a light tamp, then you need to grind finer.


-Michael

Doug and Barb of Orphan Espresso have a video of tamping using this method and that was where I first saw it.