My steamed milk is never latte art worthy. Ive read and reread several tutorials, watched dozens of videos. Used many different milks. I can ch-ch-ch up to 100 degrees. At the end of this there are lots of bubbles that never go away during the heating phase. Swirling the milk after 100 degrees is pretty hard, usually try to fold it over instead. Always wind up with crappy dishwater milk on top. I can spoon this off and the rest is fine.

The stock tips on the Rocket R58 have 2 holes on the sides. There is a tip with smaller holes and a tip with larger holes. Either way I cant make good steamed milk. Bought the accessory tips, which consists of tips with 3 and 4 holes with and without a hole pointing straight down. The tips with a straight down hole seem to make vortexing easier, but also makes a fine milk spatter that goes all over the countertop.

What is your favorite Rocket steam tip?

I've been trying to order these tips for days and they're out of stock everywhere!

Chances are, the tip isn't the issue, technique is.

It took me months and months before I made good milk, and even longer to do it consistently. No matter how many youtube videos I watched or how many tutorials I read. I think the best way to learn is to have someone show you in person. Have any friendly neighborhood baristas you could ask?

If someone walked into my shop and asked for a tutorial I'd be happy to show them, provided they bought the milk!

stinkyonion wrote:My steamed milk is never latte art worthy. Ive read and reread several tutorials, watched dozens of videos. Used many different milks. I can ch-ch-ch up to 100 degrees. At the end of this there are lots of bubbles that never go away during the heating phase. Swirling the milk after 100 degrees is pretty hard, usually try to fold it over instead. Always wind up with crappy dishwater milk on top. I can spoon this off and the rest is fine.

The stock tips on the Rocket R58 have 2 holes on the sides. There is a tip with smaller holes and a tip with larger holes. Either way I cant make good steamed milk. Bought the accessory tips, which consists of tips with 3 and 4 holes with and without a hole pointing straight down. The tips with a straight down hole seem to make vortexing easier, but also makes a fine milk spatter that goes all over the countertop.

What is your favorite Rocket steam tip?

I think it's almost impossible to get great microfoam without the correct tip for the quantity of milk you are using. I have an Adreja Quickmill and I can get great microfoam (looks like white paint with no visible bubbles at all, and pours good latte art) with the supplied tip, but only if I have at least 6 oz of milk in my 12oz pitcher. The problem is that I like a much smaller latte than that. I like the "competition" latte size which requires about 4oz of milk. I can ONLY get good microfoam with the following tip that I've head many years. http://www.espressoparts.com/F_134_2?&search_id=2004433 It's a two-hold just like the factory tip that came with my Andreja, but the holes are much smaller. (careful, you may need an adapter as I did because the threads didn't match) I'm sure there are other tips that work well for smaller quantities of milk.

But try this. If your frothing seems to roll the milk too violently, use more milk and try. I start tilting the wand a bit, and the pitcher as well. I put the tip very close to the side and get a swirling action (slowly change where the tip it so get maximum swirling acton) while letting tiny tiny bit of air into the milk. If you don't do this correctly, you will get big bubble that you can't eat up later in the cycle. The trick is to introduce air in a way that makes a soft sifting noise and it will look like good microfoam right off. If there are bubbles everywhere you will probably not be able to get them out. I have had luck never moving the tip from the edge of the pitcher, just sinking it a bit when I feel it's expanded enough.

Ch-ch-ch doesn't sound like the correct noise while introducing air. It should be a very soft sifting sound.

I haven't looked at tips lately, but they should be listed with the hole size and the target milk volume.

... aaron

Sure enough, my tip was too high. I keep it lower now during the stretching phase, with a softer and less frequent ch-----ch------ch and the foam is better. Not great, but significantly better.

Also, it seems that keeping the wand much closer to the bottom (like an inch) and tilting pitcher more makes more of a vortex but there are usually bubbles that dont get sucked down by the vortex (not as much as before).

I have always put the tip in the exact center during the stretch, will move to the edge.

Thanx for the tips. Milk is already much better, but still not good enough for latte art. I have foamy but small bubbled milk at the top of pitcher that comes out at end of pour that prevents me from doing any art. I assume I need better vortexing

All it takes is just ONE big chunk of air getting in the mix and it will not work. Start with the tip submerged and slowly raise it at the edge so get that soft shhhh sound. Keep sinking the tip a hair then raise very slowly to get another short shhhh sound. I brace my hand on the portafilter to keep from making sudden movements that cause a big gulp of air.

You might be getting too much air in the mix. I gave up on how much the milk level rose with expansion, and think more about noting how much air I'm introducing. If you try to pour art and get a sort of wad of foam on top that means there is too much air in the mix. You can also see this when you swirl the picture just after frothing is done.

Experiment by adding less air until all the milk pours right through the crema, then add a little more air the next time.

I think you can get the best swirling action with the want close to the center, but the tip has so be very deep in the milk or you'll get one of the big sudden gulps of air. Expanding during the beginning of frothing I feel is hard to do in the center because the wave action is more apt to gulp air rather than sip air into the milk.

I get 100% latte art microfoam. But there is quality within reasonable microfoam. One out of 10-15 cups, I get a microfoam that lies super flat on the crema and makes the are just a little better. It's a black art that I haven't really mastered in the 10 years I've been doing this. Need to get a temp job as a barista I guess!

akiley

I use the stock tip. Tried Chris Coffee's 4 hole 9mm tip and didn't work out for me.

Latte art required a lot of fussing on prosumer machines in my opinion. You just have to keep at it and find the right combination of technique, brand of milk, quantity of milk and pitcher model and size. Not to many variables right

Plugging one of the holes on the original tip seems to have helped some in this forum when dealing with small quantities of milk. I myself am also a fan of the 6oz cappa but since my wife also drinks one i can steam up 8-10oz of milk and not waste much!

My biggest mistake in learning was to do too much stretching and not enough incorporating, resulting in lumpy and/or separated froth. Do less "pchh, pchh" and dunk the want earlier to swirl things up more. Just one of many possibilities.

One more thing. For reference, you can time your frothing. In my experience, it should take about 25-30 seconds of frothing from start to end bringing the milk to about 145 degrees f. If it only takes 20 seconds, you could add more milk, or maybe plug one of the holes in your tip with a tooth pick. (with my Quickmill Andrija, I'd like to be able to turn the steam pressure down with the valve, but it's no precise enough) If it takes 50 seconds, it's probably so weak that it would conditions the bubbles properly. 20 seconds works if you are a working barista, but I think very difficult for anyone else.

You can also put one drop of dish soap in water and froth that as practice so you don't waste milk. It works pretty well and looks like milk when frothed.

akiley