With a couple of additions, this thread could become a how-to for making a shot with a Europiccola pre Millennium.
So, let me summarize including Jack and John's innovations:

1. Warm-up the machine, in switch position II until a loud hissing sound is heard, about 7 minutes, release false pressure for a couple of seconds and then turn-off the machine when the hissing sound resumes.

2. Have the basket already filled or prepare it quickly using a good distribution technique, WDT, Stockfleth, etc. Stockfleth's Move for Dummies and WDT.

3. Do a cooling flush of about an ounce.

4. Raise the lever until you see a few drops of water and lower it a bit until the water stops, then insert the portafilter. Slowly raise the lever all the way up. No preinfusion with the lever held at the top—just take the lever to the top carefully, hear the group fill with water, and without delay draw down the shot. Shoot for 30 pounds of lever resistance during the shot pull.

5. Quickly remove the cup as soon as blonding starts.

I'd like some feedback on this. A reoccurring comment about this site, is how much reading it takes to learn certain aspects of espresso making, the things that aren't listed in the FAQ's. It would be helpful to have a consensus routine, considering how often we are asked about Europiccola techniques.

The procedure sounds great to me, but when I tried it the shot was a little hot, which could be due to slightly different pressures.

Evolving instructions with revisions in italics:

1. Warm-up the machine, in switch position II until a loud hissing sound is heard, about 7 minutes, release false pressure for a couple of seconds and then turn-off the machine when the hissing sound resumes.

1. Customized Example, By the Clock: From a cold start, my machine gets to a loud hiss at 7:15. So I stop thirty seconds short by the clock, turn off the machine.

2. Have the basket already filled or prepare it quickly using a good distribution technique, WDT, Stockfleth, Mr. Browns Basket Flip Distribution Technique etc.

3. Do a cooling flush of about an ounce.

4. Raise the lever until you see a few drops of water and lower it a bit until the water stops, then insert the portafilter. Slowly raise the lever all the way up. No preinfusion with the lever held at the top—just take the lever to the top carefully, hear the group fill with water, and without delay draw down the shot. Shoot for 30 pounds of lever resistance during the shot pull.

5. Quickly remove the cup as soon as blonding starts.



Now for shot two, the group is hot. Just turn on the high switch. Just when there is a low hissing of venting steam from the running valve and a cooling flush gets a healthy flow of water, turn off the switch, insert the portafilter and pull the shot, as above.

Mine this morning, was a little hot as well. This supports Jack's idea of turning off the machine as early as possible. Waiting for the loud hiss may not be ideal. The first shot I pulled, using the machine turn-off technique, was a 6:45 warm-up. It was definitely superior to the 7:00+ minute warm-up shot of this morning. The other difference between this morning's shot and the 6:45 warm-up shot, was the basket was already prepared, so the shot was pulled sooner, at about 7:30. The extra minute and a half shot prep time may have allowed the group to cool enough to produce a better shot temperature.

At 6:45 there was a little steam coming out of the pressure valve, but no loud hiss. Let's give shorter warm-up a try and compare notes tomorrow.

Today's shot was cooler, turned off the machine at 6:40, pulled the shot at 7:00. It was still hotter than the one pulled on 6/29. The 6/29 shot pulled faster because it was pulled with a more coarsely ground coffee. That may have contributed to its cooler temp.

Another super shot, and performance has been predictably excellent for days with the new pulling routine outlined above. The espresso is so tasty.

Today I turned the boiler from high to off at 6:45, quick flush, then pulled the shot at 7:45.

I think that this method is sufficiently reliable, making it easy to tune shots to here, cooler, or hotter, as desired.

Here's my "10 minutes" techniqe for the two switched (minimo/massimo) Europiccola:
Power up the machine at full power "massimo" and open the steam tap.
When the steam starts hissing from the steam wand (around 5 minutes) turn the switch to "minimo" and close the steam tap. Now watch the clock and wait another 5-6 minutes while the machine is warming up at the "minimo" switch position. This 5-6 minute is ideal to grind, dose, tamp and pull a cup and portafilter warming empty shot. After this 5-6 minutes you can pull your shot. For multiple shots I completely turn off the machine between the shots (while I grind, dose and tamp). This way you can save some extra minutes before the machine overheats. After months of practice you will feel if the machine is warm enough only by the feel of the resistance on lever (boiler pressure against the piston) when moving a bit upwards without the portafilter locked.

Thanks for the technique, SiD. It allows for a relaxed pace.

I tried it today, and my minimo/massimo Europiccola started steaming at 5 minutes on the dot.

But my low power might be a bit lower than on your machine. I closed down the steam valve, and judging by the pressure gauge I added to my machine I noted that switching to low power allows the group to heat slowly, such that it is plenty warm by 10 minutes, but slowly enough that there is only about .2 bar pressure. So I do need to wait longer, or bump on the high switch to get the pressure to where I get a good preinfusion. I find this occurs at around .5 bar or .6—probably when it feels the resistance feels right to you (I am using a single pull without further priming of the pump).

Mine is a European (240V) model, so the faster heat up time is quite possible...

In playing around with this routine, i've found my best shots, temp wise, tend to be pulled in a 20-30 second window that begins when steam first starts to come out of the safety valve, at around 6:40 and ends when the loud hissing noise occurs.

another_jim wrote:My own limited experience with levers attests to the conventional wisdom of selecting a grind so that an 8 to 10 second, 1 bar preinfusion results in a few drops, i.e. a saturated puck

You have to give a lot of weight to statements by another_jim, so if you're going to pre-infuse, start 10 seconds before you would normally see steam begin to come out of the safety valve, for me that would be 6:30 minutes after starting the machine. After the pre-infusion, kill the switch and start pulling the shot.