I just purchased an Open Box V3 Silvia, and had some questions on Frothing Milk.

In the morning I let my Silvia warm up for about 30 min in steam mode. From there, I start frothing milk for my 2 lattes. I currently only have a 12oz milk pitcher, and fill it up a little less then half way with non-fat milk.

I am able to froth about 1 - 1 1/2 of the milk pitchers before I run out of steam.

My questions are:

1. Should the Silvia be able to froth more then this amount of milk back to back, or is this normal for the Silvia?

2. When I do start running out of steam for frothing milk, what is the most efficient way to finish my milk frothing?

3. Throughout the frothing process, I have to continually make slight increases to the steam knob for it to keep up, is this normal, or is something wrong with my Silvia?

You're marching towards burning out your heating element - here's hoping that the safety thermostat would kick in prior to that event. The rationale being that you are using up a good portion of the boiler water to create that steam for that quantity of milk.

While there exists pros and cons both ways, I would brew the shot(s) first and then steam. A 12 ounce pitcher filled to 5 ounces is just about right for two reasonably sized lattes/cappuccino's.

There exists a ton of info for Silvia on this site and here is a very good start: http://www.espressomyespresso.com/

The Silvia should be able to steam that much milk without any problems. Assuming the reservoir is full to start, and you open the steam full right at the start, you should be fine. I make my espresso first, then turn on the steam switch, and let it warm up a bit .. around 280 on my PID, then go.

I too brew the coffee first and then steam. I have never run out of steam when steaming even a 20oz pitcher half full of milk (10oz). In fact, I find that the Silvia is capable of producing a PRODIGIOUS amount of steam.

My technique, if it helps, is:

1. Warm the machine up.
2. Pre-heat latte cups and small glass pitcher
3. Make coffee into small glass pitcher, once each time for each latte cup
4. Flush group, engage steam switch.
5. Get pitcher out of freezer, fill ~halfway with 1% milk.
6. Wait till temperature (PID) is over 280F
7. Clear steam wand
8. Steam milk.
9. Clear (flush) steam wand, turn off steam switch.
10. Pour steamed milk into latte cups
11. Serve
12. Clean steam wand with bar rag, open steam wand valve and engage hot water switch until only water flows from wand, close valve, shut off hot water switch.
13. Repeat as necessary.

Now I have my PID to get the boiler temperature up a little higher than the stock thermostat. I think it's ~260F vs. 280F (where I have it set, and it often zooms to over 300F) and that may be giving me a little more steam "oomph." On the other hand, I've never heard of anyone complaining about even a stock Silvia's steam capacity.

Is it possible your boiler is either not full when you turn on the steam heat, or that you are somehow losing steam during your warmup?

It could be possible that my boiler isn't full when I start to steam. How do I tell it is full, or make sure it is full?

It is possible I am losing steam somewhere, but I am not sure where to check. I did notice sometimes that sometimes after I steam, I hear some bubbling from the 3-way valve, and a few drips come out. Does this mean my 3-way valve may be dirty?

erics wrote:You're marching towards burning out your heating element - here's hoping that the safety thermostat would kick in prior to that event. The rationale being that you are using up a good portion of the boiler water to create that steam for that quantity of milk.
http://www.espressomyespresso.com/

erics - are you saying this because running out of water in the boiler can burn out the heating element, or I am making too many drinks back to back, and the Silvia can't handle that?

I can try to brew first then steam, and see if that helps.

Certainly running the water level low in the boiler can endanger the heating element - fortunately that's something not worthy of a test. Warming up the machine in "steam" mode doesn't save much time - maybe 15 minutes - and ends up really overheating the grouphead for brewing purposes.

A lot depends on the size of these lattes you're making plus the fact that creating nice microfoam from skim milk is more challenging than 1% milk, is more challenging than 2%, etc. etc. I'm a 1% steamer so I sorta understand.

From an overall drink quality standpoint and machine health, I would brew into 2 cups (one for yourself & one for your SO) simultaneously and then steam 6 ounces of milk. After about 15 seconds into the brew process, flick the steam switch on. That should make two nice sized lattes.

I too struggle with V3 steaming. I am having slightly better luck with starting my steaming when the light goes off and there is maximum pressure built up. Several years ago I had a domobar super, and it had so much steam the machine was like the space shuttle lifting off.. it's been hard to get used to the silvia in that regard but I'll keep trying. I definitely have not been able to do any form of late art with my V3 (yet), I am sure there is a trick to steaming on this kit but I haven't found it yet. I get close but just not close enough :/

So yesterday I tried brewing first, then steaming. I brewed the shot for my drink, then ran water through the brewhead for about 10 sec while brushing it to clean it. I then switched on the Steaming Switch.

I filled the 20oz milk pitcher about 1/3 of the way full and started frothing once the heating light went out, and I had bled the water out of the want. It frothed like usual, and didn't seem to start running out as I finish first pitcher (Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't).

I then starting preparing for my wife's hot chocolate. I turned off the steam switch and turned on the Hot Water switch, and waited for a stream of water to come out. I then turned off the water switch and turned back on the Steam switch and waited for it to heat up. I filled the 20oz pitcher again to 1/3 full, waited for the boiler light to go out, and purged the wand again. This time it steamed amazingly! It was quick and quiet, I was able to froth the milk in about half of the time it took for the first one! I finished cleaning up, and filled the boiler by running hot water through the wand again until it started coming out as a stream.

Thinking that filling the boiler with the steam wand before steaming would reproduce the same great results as yesterday, this morning, I tried it again. I brewed my shot first, and then ran water through the brewhead for about 10s to clean it. I then ran some water through the wand to fill the boiler, and it came out in a stream after a few sec. I then flipped the steaming switch and waited for the boiler light to go off, and purged the wand of water. This time when I steamed its performance was poor. It started out to froth like normal, but started running out of steam in about 30 sec, before I was finished frothing.

I don't know if I am doing something wrong, or if something is wrong with the Silvia. I will keep experimenting, but this is starting to get frustrating!

Whiplash Willy wrote:I filled the 20oz pitcher again to 1/3 full, waited for the boiler light to go out, and purged the wand again. This time it steamed amazingly!

<snip>

I then flipped the steaming switch and waited for the boiler light to go off, and purged the wand of water. This time when I steamed its performance was poor. It started out to froth like normal, but started running out of steam in about 30 sec, before I was finished frothing.

This is Silvia's "hills and valleys" steam performance. See Steaming Performance in the flash review for suggestions.

Best steam performance on a single boiler dual use machine with thermostat heater control and their inherent wide dead band (like Silvia) is achieved by starting steaming just before the heating element turns off so the element stays on the entire time steaming.