Sam,

Thinking a little outside the box, are you sure the inside of your steam wand is free from debris/crusty milk/etc?

One of the things that amazed me about the Cremina was how easy it was to get perfect microfoam, and trust me, I'm no microfoam majician. It just seems like there has to be something that is working against you, and I'm not referring to your technique.

Merle,
I am quite sure they're clean. The 2011 steamwand is a new one. For the old wand, I did use water from the tap to 'blow' into the steamwand's top, the water flow out of the 4 holes no problem. I do clean the steamwand immediately by wiping with a wet rag and then blast the steam for a few seconds. Unless there's something else that I miss?

I think..all these could be because of my technique that was learnt and adapted for 1 hole. But I couldn't figure out what was I doing wrong. Let's think out of the box like what you suggest: does the power that supplied to Cremina will make a difference? I suppose 1000 watts should be easily available from any outlet. I am just using it off a normal outlet that I wasn't sure how much waltage/power it supplies. Maybe I could try using a different outlet in another location tomorrow.The outlet was something like below. And I use the top alone for Cremina. The bottom one for modem, wireless router, Mazzer, and 2 fluorescence light bulbs.

Edit:After doing a little research on the net, it seems this *could* be my problem. The total wattage capacity seems to be grouped under one circuit and I might have other outlets and lights connected to the same circuit. Will verify it when I have a chance. Can't let any possibility get away without testing.

Sam, your power outlet is not a problem. If you see the pressure gauge reaching your target pressure for the steam boiler, then you have the pressure to steam milk.

120v x 15amp = 1800w. Your machine draws 1000w you say? You have enough power for a normal steam boiler recovery after water refill.

Of course you'd need to change your technique from the one hole. One hole sends the steam strait down. The axis angle of the wand in relation to the pitcher is not a factor since it is always the same. But with 4 or 2 holes you need to be mindful of the axis angle... Also, normally a 1 hole steam will hit the bottom of the pitcher. A 4 holes hits the walls of the pitcher. You definitely need to change your technique and use the walls to create the turbulence that you need. Theoretically, even if your wand is exactly where it's suppose to be, a turn of a 45 degrees on a 4 holes tip will create a completely different turbulence, and you have 0-90 degrees to play with until you repeat yourself. With a 2 holes tip you have a 0-180 degrees to play with to find the perfect angle.

Anyway, I still don't see from your videos that you are stretching. All I see is that you are texturizing right from the start, which is why I asked how many inches do you add before you sink the tip to start your texturizing. I may be wrong of course.

I like to create and churning motion in the pitcher. Whether your using a 1,2,3 or 4 hole will each produce a different spray pattern that should be considered in how to get the best action. A 4 hole near the center of a straight up and down position mostly just slams the flow into the pitcher sides. Tilt and angle to adjust.

Dear all,
Thank you for all your help/suggestions! I *think* I finally nailed it. It was probably due to lack of pressure. I cranked my pressurestat up to 1.15(heck, even close to 1.2). And then I steamed about 4oz of milk in 8.5 oz pitcher. It worked and I got pretty nice microfoam(quite effortlessly). The microfoam from single hole was probably still my best to-date result, but this was pretty darn close. I am good if I can crank this out every time with the 4 holes. Unfortunately, the grouphead get hot easily at this pressure setting. I guess that's a tradeoff I could take because I usually make 2 shots max at a time.

This was with the 2011 steam wand which has smaller holes(0.9mm 4 holes) by the way. I guess there is probably a threshold of steam velocity needed to create true microfoam. Previously I've tried 0.6/0.8 up to 0.8/1.0 bar. None that worked too well. I suddenly decided to go 1.0/1.2 yesterday and it's giving me a decent quality microfoam without much effort today!