OK I'm very new to Coffee and Latte. I have an Aeropress, Hakia slim mill hand grinder and Bellman stovetop steamer.

I've attempted to make microfoam so that I can make simple latte art. But I think my foam is a bit too thick. I heatup the bellman until steam comes from the valve, take cold skim milk from fridge put wand just under surface until i hear a little hiss adding a bit of air, the milk is swirling around. Once it hits 100 i lower wand and wait till it reaches 140. It seems too thick though and does not push any brown up just white on top, so no contrast to make latte art.

If the resulting milk foam is too stiff try moving the steam wand deeper in the milk sooner...

Another factor is that there's not really much crema in a cup brewed from the Aeropress. The Aeropress makes a delicious cup of coffee, but despite what the box says, I wouldn't call it espresso. Without significant crema there's not much hope for latte art.

Skim is also slightly more challenging than whole or other milks. To texture milk with a proper latte-style ratio of foam to milk, only the tiniest bit of aeration is required on a professional machine; signifcantly less than other milks. I've never used a bellman, but as spressomon stated, it sounds like you're over-aerating. It helps to plunge the tip and get some swirling action first, then graze the surface with just one or two little "pfft!" of air, then re-plunge and let the swirling action incorporate that air into a velvetty texture as the temp comes up.

Better art also tends to be easier at the lower end of the temp range.

I'm only three weeks into the field of coffee and although I use a mypressi for the espresso, I use a Bellman steamer for the milk. It took about two weeks of coffees to get the milk and technique decent enough to get some sort of intentional art going.

What I've found is although the (relatively weak) Bellman requires a bit more aerating than the one or two pffts OC mentioned, it definitely is a lot less than you might be thinking (or it was than I thought). I'll try to measure how long I'm aerating for tomorrow and post a pick if I get something not too embarrassing. Until then you may try aerating less and taking it a bit higher, up to 150°F.

The other crucial thing I found was you really have to dump that milk into the cup at first so it sinks quickly to the bottom. No tentative pour, really get it go.

I'm using full fat milk (3.5%) btw. I wait until steam is coming out of the relief valve before starting, and keep the Bellman on the flame during. I use a flame bigger than the base of the Bellman but offset the Bellman on it, to try and gulp up as many MJ as possible.

Whether or not the Bellman is capable of high definition latte art I don't know. Theoretically I'm thinking not, with the extra time it takes to heat seeing the milk firming up and separating already, despite the twirling.

Sounds like you are taking the stretching phase of the steaming to long and need to plunge the steam tip earlier. Steaming skim milk can be difficult as well. The low fat content makes it very prone to dish soap foam and will take some time and practice to get the hang of.

I forgot to put some pictures up - here's one I just did. I have no artistic technique yet obviously, but you can see that the Bellman is quite capable of the job. It softened up a bit too until I took the shot.

This happened to be 2% milk that I picked up by mistake. I stretched pretty passively until 85°F and textured until 145°F, then twirled it occasionally in one hand whilst I was pulling a shot with the other. I poured the milk as soon as the shot was poured.

Compared to 3.5% milk that I usually use it marks about same, maybe a little worse so far. The 2% was sort of silky but no where near the pure heaven I've been getting with the 3.5%.

I calculated that my gas burner is only heating the Bellman at the rate of 300W. That's about a third of the power of the Silvia's heater, but it's only heating the equivalent of the Bellman filled to about 20%. From what I read the Silvia isn't known for its steaming ability.

So I feel that initial buildup of false steam is quite important to get some power out of the Bellman. I've actually ordered a little 1800W induction cooker to see how it goes with that. Unfortunately the Bellman won't work directly on induction so I'll have to put it on a plate that is, but I'm hoping I can at least triple its steam generation so it doesn't die as much after the false steam is gone.

Ok i just bought a toroid pitcher and it seems to move the milk around more. Pours much better, but i still think as many have said i'm stretching the milk too long. I switched to whole milk and it does seem better. Last night I started to pour. I pour a little higher up to mix in and get a brown base then i dropped the pitcher and it started to look like it was going to work, but then some thicker foam just sat on top.

Will try a gain tonight and either stretch until 85 or just stretch until it seems it has only stretched 1/3 then plunge tip. It moves the milk around very good with the tip plunged. I'm always worried it is still adding air since I seem to double the milk, or maybe it looks like it is doubled since the pitcher gets narrow at the top

Ok so I think i'm getting closer. I started just giving the milk a few psft psft.... is that the right terminilogy?

It's very scientific.

Anyhow I now look more to how much the milk has stretched. then sink nozzle and bring to 120 or 130 which seems to take some time with the Bellman.

So that last one i made i seemed to almost get some art, a heart. I will have to take a video sometime and see what people think I'm still doing wrong.

It is fun trying though. Man the latte's are good with a little Desaronno hmmmmm. I think the problem i have now is they are too small, go too quickly. using a 8-10 oz cup. Should use a larger Tim horton size mug.

Instead of diluting down your coffee, just make two or get a triple basket.

Hey jontyc (or anyone else!), any chance of a video perhaps relatively close up of your techniques with the Bellman steamer?