LS,
After a couple of months (and daily use) I can say that the machine works flawless, but steaming milk is a real PITA (and getting a bit annoying).
The machine has a lot of steaming power and a very slim steam wand with a fixed four-hole steamtip (which cannot be unscrewed). I have considered shutting two (or three holes) with the disadvantage that it will be permanent...
Who can assist me with some advice?
Many thanks, TY

Toothpicks?
Powerful steam wand, small pitcher

PS. I loved following this thread

This is actually a very good suggestion. The wand of a Fiorenzato Ducale may be promising.
http://www.espressoxxl.de/shop/artikel/ ... etail.html

I will provide an update.
Cheers, TY

I have found that mine steams quite well with the stock tip. It's very powerful too. I don't try to swirl the milk but work to get a standing wave. What technique have you been using?

drgary wrote:I have found that mine steams quite well with the stock tip. It's very powerful too. I don't try to swirl the milk but work to get a standing wave. What technique have you been using?

My technique? I put the steam tip just below the surface of the (cold) milk. Try to generate a slurpy sound without creating big bubbles. Sometimes I get great microfoam, but most of the times I fail because of limited time.

Bluecold wrote:Toothpicks?

I tried this suggestion, but makes it even more difficult...
Cheers, TY

turboyeast wrote:My technique? I put the steam tip just below the surface of the (cold) milk. Try to generate a slurpy sound without creating big bubbles. Sometimes I get great microfoam, but most of the times I fail because of limited time.

This is a machine with commercial steaming power, so it should steam very fast without worries about running out of time. I think you're using technique for a home machine without that power. With mine I don't try to incorporate air. Instead I immerse the tip deeper so the steam wand does all the work of creating microfoam. I also don't try to swirl the milk. I let it set up a standing wave. This may solve your problem.

Please take some video of her running. Love to see a shot.

Beautiful

LS,
With some reluctance I closed three of the holes in the steamtip (with toothpicks) as advised by Bluecold. Steaming is now much much better...there is more time to slurp the milk and the microfoam is great. If -for some reason- I wanted to open the holes again, I would have to drill the toothpicks out and remove the steamwand accordingly to purge the remains. I hope this won't be necessary. Enjoying microfoam and thanks for the advice!
Cheers, TY

Espresso_Monkey wrote:Please take some video of her running. Love to see a shot.
Beautiful

At your service (sorry for my blabbering kids who are disrupting my video)...

LS,
Inspired by a "colleague" I have used an amprobe in combination with artisan, to thermo-characterize my Conti prestina in a bit more detail. The machine uses a 1200 watt element to heat up the boiler. The boiler is insulated with armaflex and the pstat is set at 0.8 bar. In my case ET stands for boiler temperature and BT stands for group temperature (measured just below the stainless steel box). The boiler is at pressure after 25 minutes and starts a nice cycle afterwards. Delta time is approx 2 minutes cooling and approx 35 secs heating. Delta temperature is approx 2 degrees Celsius.
It is obvious that it would take a long, long time before the group is heat-saturated. My guestimate at this time: at least an hour. I have attempted to ramp the temperature a bit with an open port flush. This is very doable and it greatly shortens warm-up time. Before doing these measurements it was an absolute shot in the dark how long to do an open port flush and at which flow. Under my conditions the group is at approx 73 degrees Celsius when heat-saturated. When pulling a shot the group temperature increases 3 degrees Celsius. It takes about 5 minutes to recover, which is a bit long?
These are just some crude experiments. I am aiming to do some finetuning. It would be nice to develop some kind of benchmark for machines. A cheap machine will definitely perform differently in temperature behavior as compared to a expensive machine. Final observation: although the boiler goes into a cycle, this cannot be observed for the group which is basically a flat-line under idle conditions.
Cheers, TY