Thanks to the advice of some nice folks of this site, I just took delivery of a Vivaldi II and a Vario grinder. I spent the day plumbing the machine into my water line. I had to get creative due to the placement of the machine nowhere near the sink. I had to sweat a tee into my water line behind my refrigerator, mount the charcoal filter, regulator and tubing in the stud space. Well that's over and now I'm trying to figure out how to make espresso. I should add that I've never done this before. I moved from a super automatic to this set up. I've read the very informative tutorial on pulling a shot and have the basic concept down.

I have a digital scale, digital timer, bottomless portafilter, some different coffee from Paradise Roasters coming (bought from them based on it being listed on this site's favorite roaster list), and a real tamper as well (I was sent a 58 MM tamper and they are sending me the right one, so I'm stuck using the plastic tamper for now).

I'm stuck using some not-so-fresh medium roast beans until my order arrives. I am guessing what 16-20 grams of ground coffee is by volume in the double portafilter and I am guessing tamping pressure as my smarter than I bathroom scale is digital and I can't gauge my pressure.

For the time being, until my other stuff arrives, can someone give me real general guidelines to get me started?? My double shots are taking darn near 90 seconds to get 2 ounces of coffee in the cup. There's quite a bit of water left on top of the puck. The shot doesn't taste bad, actually better than my super auto made, but I wasn't expecting this much water. What causes that??

I also have the Vario set one step down from the top towards the espresso grind and I have the fine setting in the middle. I am filling the double portafilter to a heaping level about the top, then I think I'm using about 20 pounds of pressure to tap it. My water pressure is set to 25 pounds, set with water flowing.

I know you guys are perfectionists and I really need fresh beans, I need to know my grounds weight and so forth, but I'd like to do my best for the time being until my other "stuff" shows up in the mail. It may be a week before this stuff shows up.

Thanks in advance for your patience.

You could start by slowly grinding coarser to bring down the shot time, till you are in the 25-30s range.

OK. I may have better luck in the morning too. My beans came in the mail this evening. Man that was fast.... I just placed the order last thursday.

mdrew wrote:For the time being, until my other stuff arrives, can someone give me real general guidelines to get me started??

If you haven't done so already, I recommend reading the Home Barista's Guide to Espresso. Also check out the forum search tips since the newer you are to espresso, the higher the likelihood the question you want to ask and those you haven't yet thought of have already been asked/answered. For example, Leo's suggestion is elaborated on in threads like Just starting out, grinder setting advice? linked from the FAQs and Favorites.

Congratulations Michael, you have a very nice set up. On a related note to fresh coffee, you may find that your best pours do not happen tomorrow if the coffee is too fresh (I don't know if Paradise always ships coffee roasted the same day, but there is probably information about the roast date on the bag or on your order). A thread about that is here: Why coffee needs to ''rest'' before making espresso.

Given that you are still dialing in grind, dose, temp, etc., it shouldn't be too much of a concern; but down the road, once you are able to determine how 'aged' you prefer your coffee, you can better plan for use. Extreme example - the last time I ordered Intelligentsia Black Cat, I didn't really like what I was getting until day 10 post roast. Prior to that I had a reduced amount of crema mostly because the coffee was outgassing a little too much during extraction. Many coffee roasters will provide guidelines regarding their preference for aging, temperature and dose, which can be a useful place to start experimenting.

Enjoy your experience, James

lfranchi wrote:You could start by slowly grinding coarser to bring down the shot time, till you are in the 25-30s range.

I have almost the same setup as you just purchased and I've got to say that lfranchi advice is spot on. I don't know if you've visited the S1 Vivaldi Cafe website http://www.s1cafe.com/ but when I first started using my Mini II I found that site to be extremely helpful with advice in dialing in my Mini.

Keith

Hello and the very warmest greetings!

mdrew wrote:Thanks to the advice of some nice folks of this site, I just took delivery of a Vivaldi II and a Vario grinder.

Welcome to the club!
For the time being, diminish your dose to maximum 15g for the double, adjust grind to get a normale volume in some 20 to 35 seconds. Have the grinds level in the basket and don't use heavy tamp or you'll spoil the puck with the plastic tamper. That's it for the beginning.

I had better success this morning. Grinder setting was way too fine. I figured I'd mess around with different grind settings, water temp and tamp pressure throughout the day today. I'll most likely be akin to two squirrels trapped in a cage by lunch, but I'll have this thing figured out before I'm done.

HB, I did read the guide. I printed it and refer to it. That was what I mentioned reading my initial post. I have also spent much time searching this sight and have read all the links you posted. Answers to very general 'for dummies' questions are far and few between on this sight. Generally, discussions on this sight are between a crowd of individuals who either have experience pulling shots, or have a LOT of experience pulling shots. Most are well over my head. That's why I asked the question.

Thanks for that tip James. Interesting reading. I had no idea there were so many rules to making coffee. It's almost like an art to itself. I have a lot to learn.

Why does the plastic tamper spoil the puck?

I registered at S1 cafe. Thanks.

I've been enjoying my new machine all week. I've gone through about two pounds of coffee experimenting with grind, tamping pressure, pre-infusion and temp. One thing I find particularly interesting, is just how much tamping pressure affects extraction time. It doesn't take much of a difference at all. I ordered one of those tamping mats that clicks when you hit a set pressure as I doubt I'll ever be able to be consistent with my tamping pressure.

I'm struggling with the milk though. I thought making micro foam would be the most simple part of this process, but I'm not having much luck. I must have watched two dozen videos on U-tube demonstrating techniques and I still can't seam to get it right. I am following Chris's instructions as closely as possible, but all I get is hot milk. No thick micro foam. I use fat free milk. Could this be part of my problem?

Fat free milk is more difficult to froth than whole milk (or 1% or 2%), but it's definitely still possible to get good results. My advice for foaming milk is to try to make one pitcher of really thick foam (chill the pitcher of milk in the freezer for a few minutes before hand, don't use full steaming power, and froth the whole time, keeping the tip right at the top of the milk - all things to increase the amount of time you have to introduce air) and then make another pitcher just heating the milk up as quickly as possible (bury the nozzle all the way at the bottom, and crank the steam). This will give you an idea of the range of possibilities and what the extremes look and feel like, then you can figure out where in the middle gives you the best results.

I force myself to do the same thing whenever I'm trying to figure out something new with espresso, like dialing in the grind with a new bean. Instead of making lots of little adjustments trying to hit the perfect shot the next time, I pull two shots, one that I know is going to be too fast, and one that's going to be too slow to get an idea of the range, and where I am in the middle, and then work from there to find the sweet spot. I don't have enough experience to guess the right range for a new bean at the begining, so this helps me from making a dozen 1/2 turn adjustments finer when I should be making a 6 turn adjustment.

I had the same problem when I was learning to froth milk, I tried to get it right the first time, making little adjustments, without realizing that I needed to make a couple big adjustments to get in the right range.

My only other advice is to keep notes, I've made the most improvement by keeping a notebook near my machine, and only focusing on making one change at a time.