Hello all!
This summer I worked as a barista and really got into making espresso. I just got a Isomac Venus machine and am very excited to use it to it's full capabilities! However, I'm really not familiar with this type of machine and don't quite understand how to use it. I get how to steam I'm pretty sure and I know how to get hot water, but I can't for the life of me figure out how to pull a simple shot! I feel very silly asking this, but if someone who owns one could give me a simple step by step it would save my life and I would be set from there! please help me! the sooner the better, In the meantime I am forced to suffer Starbucks.

- Roscoe

Its a single boiler machine.. Pretty simple.

turn on.. Let heat up for 30 minutes.

Grind coffee into Portafilter.

Distribute and tamp evenly.

Lock into group head. Hit Brew Button.

Looking for ~2ozs in ~25 seconds.

You MUST have a good grinder, and be using fresh roasted coffee. The bag of coffee needs to have a "roasted on:" date stamped on the bag, otherwise its safe to assume its stale.

This may help you out as well. Click here

Thank you so much, that was very helpful and I learned tons from the link you gave me, but for some reason I am not getting any Crema from the shot after doing exactly as you said! It's really really frustrating! any more wisdom concerning the Crema? Thanks!

- Roscoe

Fresh Coffee.

what kind of coffee are you using? Given the machine your using, which is certainly capable, zero crema on the coffee leads me to believe you are using stale coffee. So, Where do you get your coffee?

What kind of grinder are you using?

Gotcha, that's it then,
Before I left Seattle I ground up some good coffee beans and brought them to CA in fear of not being able to find my favorite kind of coffee down here, so they are most definitely stale by now, I didn't know that the grind it's self was responsible for the crema quality. My next step will be to get a good grinder and new beans. I feel silly, thank you for the help! also, does the tamper matter? because the only tamper I have is the plastic one that came with the Venus second hand, and it makes packing a bit uneven. Thank you once again,

- Roscoe

Hi. Could you, people with Isomac Venus advice me on steaming technique with the machine? I changed my Lelit PL041 to Venus and as the last has bigger boiler Lelit's temp surfing doesn't work.
Could you give me a your empiric manual please?

Thank you!

BTW, I see the Venus has a lot of steam. I do affraid if it is capable to steam small amount 4 oz. of milk for just one cappuccino or it will blow milk of the jug