If you were looking for a double boiler machine for home use a few years ago, there would have been pretty slim pickings. In late 2004, Whole Latte Love introduced the Expobar Brewtus and the double boiler home market took off. There have been several DB machines to hit the market since. How could you improve on an affordable double boiler machine with great temperature control - how about a rotary version? Enter the Brewtus III, a rotary version with a number of changes that reflect some of Abe Carmeli's suggestions in his review of the original Brewtus. Join me and Dan Kehn on our test drive of the new and improved Brewtus III.

Cheers

Ian

I picked up the new Brewtus III-R from Dan at our weekly geek session at Counter Culture Coffee. The folks at CCC were also kind enough to send me home with a pound of Aficionado to start testing with.

The Brewtus comes double boxed and nicely nestled in a formed foam split box. The guys at Whole Latte Love have done their best here to ensure an uneventful delivery from the UPS and Fedex people.

The machine itself is heavy. It weighs in at about 65 pounds. That said it didn't make it up to the studio upstairs just onto the counter.



I have to say I was impressed with the looks of the machine -a combination of traditional stainless with a touch of electronica - very nice. The Brewtus is 16.6"H x 10.5"W x 17.5" deep. My cabinets are a little low so it just slides underneath but no room for cups.

The Brewtus comes with a portafilter, single and double baskets a flushing disc and a plastic tamper and bean scoop. Still haven't figured out why vendors bother with the plastic tamper.



The portafilter has a rounded bottom and the baskets match that with a sloped side wall.



The Brewtus III-R is a rotary so it needs to be plumbed in. The machine comes with a nice long braided hose. The drip tray is huge (64oz) and can be plumbed or just emptied. There is a plastic well on the bottom of the unit if you plan on plumbing it for drainage:



The machine has solid feet with rubber pads and is nicely raised off of the counter.



The Brewtus comes with a no burn steam arm mounted on the left and a hot water faucet on the right.



More about steaming later. The group is the traditionally exposed E61. I must say, I still find all that chromed brass pretty to cool look at.



The Brewtus III is a double boiler, one boiler for steaming and one for brewing. Two gauges are installed to help guide you here - one for brew pressure and one for steam boiler pressure.



OK enough machine talk and onto some coffee.

I like to pull my Aficionado at between 198°F and 199°F. Setting up the temperature on the Brewtus is easy - just dial in the temperature on the PID and away you go.



I tried a couple of test loads in the basket to see where the coffee ended up. 17 grams seemed to give me a little headroom to lock in but still finish up snug against the screen. For Aficionado that was pretty much a level swipe across the basket.

Locked in a lifted the brew lever. The shot ran a bit fast so I tightened up the grind some.



I also got out the bottomless just to help me out with the pour. Second time around a lot better. Aficionado is an easy coffee to dial in temperature wise - it has a smooth creamy chocolate base and a nutty toasted almond note if you get the pour and temperature right.



I could have done a better job of distribution on this one as the shot still has some unevenness during its development. More careful when filling the basket next time and I think we're close.



All in all a good day in front of a sweet machine. I am looking forward to this review. Nathan - help! I need more coffee

Cheers

Ian

Great to see this. With the Vibiemme DD, Alex Duetto, and Vivaldi II there are some nice double boiler choices in the ~$2K price range. Anxiously awaiting the next chapter!

woodchuck wrote:In late 2004, Whole Latte Love introduced the Expobar Brewtus and the double boiler home market took off... How could you improve on an affordable double boiler machine with great temperature control - how about a rotary version? Enter the Brewtus III, a rotary version with a number of changes that reflect some of Abe Carmeli's suggestions in his review of the original Brewtus.

Abe Carmeli's FrankenBrewtus, a fully plumbed, rotary pump, PID'd version of the original Brewtus, prototyped many of these changes. (In Abe's case, even the steam boiler was PID'd!) I was very impressed with his machine, and I'm delighted to see that Expobar has finally released the Brewtus III. From your preliminary observations, it appears to be a very sweet upgrade. And it only took them four years...

Nice work. Looking forward to the next installment.

Nice photography Ian!

I have a question - On my vibe BII, I have had to learn the point at which during brewing it is ok to start to steam. If I'm not careful, the steam boiler refill can engage and zip my brew pressure down to 0 while brewing & steaming. So, if you simultaneously brew & steam on the BIII, is it possible to engage the steam boiler refill, and does that matter with a rotary pump?

Mark

Dogshot wrote:If I'm not careful, the steam boiler refill can engage and zip my brew pressure down to 0 while brewing & steaming.

On my vibe pump espresso machine, I would top off the steam boiler before starting and thereby assure the autofill would not occur unexpectedly. Not a big hassle, since I use the water tap to rinse the portafilter anyway.

Thanks for the suggestion Dan. I will give that method a try.


Mark

Mark, I haven't noticed it as an issue since you can steam away for a very long time before getting the boiler refill to kick in. That said it is easy enough to force by pulling some hot water when you pull a shot and sure enough brew pressure drops through the floor. As Dan said if it does become an issue then you can top off the steam boiler before starting a shot. Frankly I haven't run into it yet. One other thing related to prolonged steaming and brewing would be the impact on brew temperature since I believe the steam boiler is used to preheat water entering the brew boiler. Something I'll check out as the testing unfolds.

Cheers

Ian

Thanks Ian.

I tried Dan's suggestion yesterday, and it had no effect on the behaviour of my steam boiler refill.

After (purging and then) steaming for about 40 seconds, my steam boiler refill engages for about 1 second. This is consistent, and has always been the case. Perhaps there is something wrong with my sensor. I just work around that in my process.

Mark

Hi guys,

the PID controller looks very dodgy and LQ, any chance to check the accuracy of that unit (using a Scace device)? In addition I know that the previous versions of the Brewtus (especially the European 230V version) had problems with the PIDs overheating and failing quite frequently. Does Expobar say what the producer of the PID is and what it's normal working conditions are?

Regards,
dsc.

dsc wrote:...any chance to check the accuracy of that unit (using a Scace device)?

I tried out the Brewtus III for a week before delivering it to Ian; it was a breeze to dial in, just like the Brewtus II. A quick sanity check of the temperature readout with a Scace II confirmed it is accurate.

Just to add a little more information the PID is made by Gicar and it very similar if not the same as the PID on alex duetto.

Hi guys,

good to hear that it's accurate, because it looks a bit cheapish and plasticy (yeah like that's a word).

Regards,
dsc.

Michal wrote:Just to add a little more information the PID is made by Gicar and it very similar if not the same as the PID on alex duetto.

Michal, this is disinformation. While true the PID is made by Gicar, it is pure speculation that it is similar, much less the same. Even if it has the same physical hardware, the firmware could be quite different for Expobar relative to Izzo. Just the facts, ma'am

dsc wrote:good to hear that it's accurate, because it looks a bit cheapish and plasticy

Only the control bezel and display are shown in the photo. The same bezel and display can be connected to any number of control assemblies. The business end is inside the machine and I can assure you Gicar controllers are first rate assemblies. [ I have no affiliation with Gicar ]

Mark, not sure what is going on with your machine. I haven't had an issue at all with the steam boiler refill kicking in. I can steam up a goodly amount of milk before it kicks in. It may that the boiler refill sensor is not quite in the proper position or is defective. A call to tech support might be in order.

Cheers

Ian

The brew pressure seemed a little high for me - running pretty close to 10 bar from the dial. The pours were running OK, maybe just a hair too quick on the end, taste wise just fine. I decide to open her up anyways, have a look inside and dial the pressure back to 9 bar. Getting the covers off is very easy. Just three screws on each side, three on the top and one at the back and slide the stainless steel wrap around off. There is a lot going on in this small package:



The rotary is nicely cushioned with rubber standoffs on the motor - it does run very quiet. Both 1.7L boilers are insulated and mounted vertically on the chassis. You can see the pressure stat for the steam boiler on the bottom right. The PID is mounted midways up the front panel:



The steam boiler had both a vacuum breaker and a relief valve:



Getting to the pump to tweak the brew pressure is a little challenging but not something you would do every day. As with most rotaries you back off the inner lock nut then adjust the pressure by turning the outer screw. Once set tighten the lock nut and away you go. It took almost a full turn to back it off to 9 bar.



Here is a shot of the other side for completeness:



Put her back together and we got nine bar - sweet!

dsc wrote:the PID controller looks very dodgy and LQ, any chance to check the accuracy of that unit (using a Scace device)?

Maybe those pics don't show the controller properly. At least the one in Duetto looks and feel high quality in real life, better than the controller in Brewtus II.

In addition I know that the previous versions of the Brewtus (especially the European 230V version) had problems with the PIDs overheating and failing quite frequently. Does Expobar say what the producer of the PID is and what it's normal working conditions are?

There is no PID in Brewtus II, it's a digital thermostat. It's true that there have been problems with the thermostat. Some people said that it was a bad batch of thermostats and I tend to believe them. Those thingies started to die in large numbers something like 3 years ago, but I haven't heard about similar problems for some time. Mine also died after 1 year of use, but the replacement unit has functioned without hiccups since (maybe 2 years now).

Hi,

I think the problem was appearing mostly in Europe and I think it was caused by higher voltage over here. One forum member at the TMC forum (JonS) disassembled a failed unit and was able to say that it was the transformer that failed. In addition I think it was a bad idea to place the unit inside the case in that particular place as the temperatures inside can reach 45*C which is dangerously close to the unit's maximum operating temperature (50*C or so).

Oh and thanks for letting me know it's a thermostat, not a PID.

Regards,
dsc.

cafeIKE wrote:Only the control bezel and display are shown in the photo. The same bezel and display can be connected to any number of control assemblies. The business end is inside the machine and I can assure you Gicar controllers are first rate assemblies. [ I have no affiliation with Gicar ]

He was worried about the quality of the PID, although the firmware may be (Actually IS) different that doesn't effect the quality of the PID unit. Hypothetically lets say they are different models, Gicar still makes quality units. Also the Brewtus II did not include a PID, it came with a temperature controller, many people reported failures in the controller but so far I haven't come across anyone having issues with the PID (although the brewtus 3 is quite young so if you want to be sure wait a while).

Side note: My Brewtus also came with a boiler pressure that was set too high. Todd emailed me a guide on how to adjust the pressure (email me if you want a copy, unless it is possible to post PDFs?). On my particular unit there was NO WAY to turn that screw without some sort of 90 degree screwdriver (The adjustment screw was 1 inch out from the boiler and had about 1.5 inches around that were inaccessible). I ended up taking the pump off, adjusting, and put the pump back on.

Michal wrote:My Brewtus also came with a boiler pressure that was set too high.

Perhaps you mean the brew pressure was higher than you desired. One normally adjusts the boiler pressure with the pressure stat and the brew pressure with the OPV [vibe] or bypass [rotary] valve.