happytamper wrote:Very happy with my La Peppina, and I am getting great shots from it.
I was wondering how it is working out for other users. For me it seems I have to pump the lever all the way down a few times before I get the water to start infusing the coffee. It also takes about two pumps to realise an espresso the size you see in the picture. The spent coffee in the portafilter is loose after I make my coffee, very different from the hard puck I get after using my Pavoni. The body of the espresso is also a little lighter but still very good.
Anyone have any similar experiences with this machine.
Mitch,
When you depress the lever, the spring is compressed and so the piston retreats (lowers), causing water to flow down from the kettle through the ring of portholes into the space that has been created in the piston chamber. A little of the water will enter the canal that feeds the group but the water is not under any pressure (other than gravitational) at this point and so almost all of the water remains at the top of the piston chamber.
When you allow the lever to rise, the spring expands, forcing the piston up and forcing water into the group-- but only if the one-way washer is working correctly (doubled-up washer
s if you're using the ultra-thin striped black EPDM washers I sent you instead of the thicker gray silicone washer). The upward force of the water will cause the pliable washer(s) to cleave to the ceiling of the piston chamber, blocking the portholes, leaving the porthole that feeds the group as the only route of escape for the water. At this stage the water IS under pressure and the true preinfusion begins. Here you want to guide the lever up with your hand, to get the benefits of a gentle preinfusion.
A single-pull of the lever should draw a gross quantity of water sufficient to net a single shot. (The cylindrical filter basket is Peppina's double-basket; the single is conical.) And so for the double, after you have guided the lever upwards about two-thirds of the way on the first pull to cause the preinfusion -- you will see a few drops and then a syrupy flow for a couple of seconds--you would then depress the lever all the way down once again, allowing more hot water to fill the piston chamber. I keep the lever down so the preinfusion lasts a relatively generous ~17 seconds. The water is at the perfect temperature and so the danger of overextraction is small. Again, however, it all depends on bean, grind, dose, and tamp. At this point, the puck has been infused with water and there's more water at the ready inside the piston chamber. Now simply let the lever rise under its own power to finish the shot.
If you're NOT getting ANY drips or flow when the lever rises to approximately two-thirds of its ambit (when you first begin to feel the resistance of the tamped puck) then do one of the following, or a combination of them but with more finesse than if adjusting a single factor in isolation:
-- put less coffee in the basket
-- tamp not so heavily
-- don't grind so fine
Goopy pucks: if you use more coffee and/or tamp more heavily you end up with a well-formed rather than a goopy puck. If you under-dose and/or tamp lightly you end up with a wetter puck. If you do a double-pull you'll have water on top of the puck even if the puck beneath is well-defined and holds together on the rails of your knock-box.
Happy experimenting.
Regards
Timo
by happytamper on Fri May 19, 2006 8:00 pm 
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