Hi Sam (and others),

I just caught up reading about your findings with the forge. Very, very interesting. I still haven't used a proper pre-heat routine since the blind basket took forever to get to my department mailbox but I'll try tomorrow. Or I might just try to not even pre-heat at all!

I've held back from posting since I'm not very happy with the coffee I've been using. It's a comfort food blend from a decent coffee shop around the corner from my school but they don't have a rosted by date (which is a red flag). Anyways, I am dragging my feet with this bag for now.

Anyways, I'd like to hear from others on their technique. Any updates or new tricks ya'll have picked up?

Hi Jorge,

I've been doing away without preheat for a while. I don't find preheat affect things that much, which can be a drag in itself. Because if I want to brew in the 200F range, I don't think it gets there easily (based on taste). Plus, with excessive preheat I may creep into the sour espresso zone (not good).

That being said, if I accept the way the Forge is, I'm very satisfied with the flavor output. So go ahead and do without preheat!

On top of what I have posted, I find that brewing below 9 bars (around 7-8 bar max with declining pressure) also help with the flavors amplification (somehow counterintuitive) that I mentioned in the previous post. I did cross check with the Rossa (brewing alternatively) and it seems to hold true.

I went around my local cafes to get some darker roast, but somehow being in Melbourne, most of the beans are on the lighter side. I did a few darker roast (full city-ish) but didn't like the outcome. Just can't find a properly dark roast like Red Bird here. Also, being used to lighter roast, not sure if I will still appreciate Red Bird like I did. Palate/experience is a huge variable itself..

Enough of me posting/rambling, I am curious as well:

beer&mathematics wrote:Anyways, I'd like to hear from others on their technique. Any updates or new tricks ya'll have picked up?

I really wish we could get some Scace readings to get objective evidence regarding preheating. Personally, as I have gotten to know the forge better, I have found that I prefer the thorough preheating schedule. Currently I am working with a natural Ethiopian Limu roasted to a city+, and have found that my most balanced shots have occurred when I do two preheating cycles (and extracting at around 7-8 bar as noted by sam). Without any preheat, I found that my light roasts taste underextracted and slightly sour (again so subjective and seemingly contradictory to the experience of others). However, I am on board with the no preheat when it comes to darker roasts. I am still really enjoying my Forge and the consistency of shot quality is pretty amazing

A simple basic question (maybe I missed the point somewhere at the beginning):
Is it possible to dismantle the legs of the tripod stand for portability?
Peter

From the EspressoForge website:

"This base is custom made by our machinist out of Nylon, it will have no-slip rubber feet added to fully threaded stainless legs."

The new EspressoForge stand sounds identical to the Portaspresso stand I have: The legs are threaded & easily removed for a very compact form for travel storage.

spressomon wrote:From the EspressoForge website:

"This base is custom made by our machinist out of Nylon, it will have no-slip rubber feet added to fully threaded stainless legs."

Just to note, this is a quote from the new custom stand page. But both the old stand and the custom one the legs are removable.

Looks interesting, but everything on the site is listed as out of stock. The only thing you can do is pay him $100 to preorder. But, there's no way to order anything else. Gaskets, baskets, stands, o-rings, etc. Impossible to order. That doesn't inspire any confidence from me. Otherwise, I would be inclined to order.

There's also no single or triple basket.

I'll stick with my Portaspresso.

He is between runs right now. Most of the accessories, gaskets / baskets etc are standard 58mm group parts. You can get those parts anywhere. My guess is that he found it simpler to put accessory orders on hold until the next run.

I don't worry about standart parts. Still have a lot from my sold e61-group Bezzerra. If he is focusing on getting the specific machine parts ready, I am fine. In about two weeks we will probably know more.
Then we can find out how "fast" international shipment and customs regulations are.

Hi Guys, would like to clarify how the process works right now.

dominico wrote:He is between runs right now. Most of the accessories, gaskets / baskets etc are standard 58mm group parts. You can get those parts anywhere. My guess is that he found it simpler to put accessory orders on hold until the next run.

This is correct. I'm only allowing pre-orders right now, to avoid holding money for a longer period of time without shipping out orders. I'm waiting on my machinist to finish the custom parts, but all other parts are here waiting assembly. Estimated time to receive the custom parts is still approximately 2 weeks. Pre-ordering basically just reserves your spot in production line. You're welcome to either pre-order now, or wait until Forges are all built and ready, and place your order then.

I'm not in the accessory or parts business, so to avoid people ordering accessories only, I closed these down while pre-orders are going on. Version 1 owners in need of parts are welcome to contact me to place an order. Alternatively, I get them direct from EspressoParts, as my website mentions, and you're welcome to order directly from them. In many cases, it would be cheaper as they offer free shipping on small parts, whereas I'm not able to do this.

beananimal wrote:I don't worry about standart parts. Still have a lot from my sold e61-group Bezzerra. If he is focusing on getting the specific machine parts ready, I am fine. In about two weeks we will probably know more.
Then we can find out how "fast" international shipment and customs regulations are.

International shipping should depend on the country, but USPS website rates 6-10 days depending. Shipping options on my website are there for USPS, FedEx and UPS, so you can choose between rated times and cost. This will be available once full orders are opened in about 2 weeks.

AllNight wrote:Impossible to order. That doesn't inspire any confidence from me. Otherwise, I would be inclined to order.

Sorry to hear that, you're welcome to contact me offline info@espressoforge.com if you'd like to place a full order up front. But no parts or accessories will ship until your Forge is built and ready to ship as well.

AllNight wrote:There's also no single or triple basket.

I haven't found single or triple baskets that work well enough for me to consider offering. I'll be evaluating the IMS single and have just gotten their double basket. These may be available on my website in the future, but in general I'd like to be certain they work well with the Forge with a wide variety of coffees and grinders before offering them. Again, either way I'm offering accessories like this at a convenience so you can order all at the same time, but it is an expense for me to stock parts, so I can't do so as cheaply as EspressoParts can. I'd suggest in any case to get from them if you're interested in E61 parts or baskets.

Just as a general info, anyone confused with my website or how the process works is more than welcome to email me directly. I'll try to update my site, as I thought the process was spelled out on the pre-order page, but it seems like it may still be confusing. Apologies for that.