One more silly question that I couldn't get answered by googling...
The Lucca flow control and the Lelit flow control look identical. Are they?

Update... IT CAME! Quick Mill QM67

Obviously from my questions y'all could see the kind of soul searching and research I've done before making a final decision. I woke up on Tuesday and would have sworn I was going to order an ECM Classika PID. But I still has some questions. I ended up on the phone with Mark from Chris' coffee and he was straight forward, but somewhere in that conversation I decided that the QM67 was the way to go. There are perks and discounts available if you do your homework. WOULD I NEED STEAMING FOR MILK? That was something I hadn't done much of. But I think it was due to inconvenience and mediocre results on my Gaggia Classic.

I laid out a spread sheet with features, costs, SIZE and everything else I wanted to consider. I determined that from an overall standpoint the Profitec 600 was probably a "better" build, but also a tad larger. But when the dust cleared, the QM67, with Lelit flow control, bottomless portafilter, dual boiler, the QM67 ended up being $400 net cheaper than the Prof 600 and about $400 more than the ECM. What I was largely concerned about was the footprint, but the QM67 is only an inch wider than the ECM. I found a way to stow my soda stream in the pantry for easy access which opened up the space. The QM67 looks much smaller in photos. It's pretty ginormous for a "smaller" double boiler. I thought my wife was going to have a conniption when she came home but seems to love the look.

I had downloaded the QM67 user manual (the one I found was for the older model, but was good enough) so I'd be prepared for setup and brewing. So I set everything up last night as setting it up was enough for one day. The only thing I did last night was fill the reservoir, fill the boilers, refill the tank (it was still pretty full after boiler fills), left the power on and used my smart switch to get it turned on early in the morning. I think the hardest part was learning to programm the PID. The protocols to get from brew to steam settings are pretty particular.

First Shots
I did two shots this morning with La Colombe Nizza. 18g, 199°F with the bottomeless PF. The first one was with the FCD wide open. I tried the FCD wide open and did a 10 second pre-infusion followed by full open. Time of full open was 24 sec. A little bitter, but I was ok with the extraction time.
2nd shot I was going to try a "sweet bump" as best as I understood it. Actually it came out better than I anticipated. The flow from the bottomless PF was perfect. The extraction, including the intial throttling (10 secs, I think before opening it up) and a back-off toward the end gave me what I would consider to be more than decent... but very very different from every other shot I'd done with the Nizza. I was compelled to add milk to this.

I think what I learned was that I hadn't done much milk before, and I now think it's because it was such a bother. I'd use the Nespresso foamer, but rarely the steamer on the Gaggia, at least in recent months and even years. I actually had real steam and the milk turned out ok. I'll have to learn more and practice, but I think I can do this. There are some more adjustments that have to be made. I don't think the OPV presure is set quite right, but I'll do that another day. The bottom line is that had I not gotten the dual boiler I might have missed out doing milk drinks that I think could now become a regular thing.

I'd never used a bottomless PF before, so considering this is my first go at it I thought I'd share it. THANK YOU SO MUCH EVERONE FOR HELPING ME SORT THROUGH ALL THIS... but mostly for your patience. You guys were instrumental in helping me make an important decision.

Edit: P.S.... I finally got around to measuring the pressure with the blank disc and it was 12 bars. I dialed it back to 10 bars and will try another shot shortly. The only thing that is a little cumbersome is the warmup time which is recommended at 35 minutes or so. But I have a smart switch so can turn it on remotely ahead of time and have a daily "routine" now programmed to switch on at 6:40am.

Looks fun and congratulations. I've been following your adventure from the start and now it's nice to see it come together. Enjoy!

Welcome to the rabbit hole. Abandon all hope 'ye who enter here.

Congrats!
You'll love it for years to come.
Since you're getting into milk drinks, try a cortado, which is half espresso, half steamed milk. Still get the espresso taste, but cut a bit with the milk. I"m not an expert, so google is your friend, but I think the milk is simply steamed, and little to no foam. A small 5-6 oz steam picture is needed and they are available on the internet at very reasonable prices. I picked up a small Motta, and they are always nice, but a bit higher priced.
Enjoy, and feel free to post more pics on this thread:
Post a pic of your home espresso setup...

One week update....

It's been a week and I'm really loving this machine. My skill isn't what it needs to be yet and I think part of the issue is that my taste hasn't matured yet, so I've been surfing different recipes that the Gaggia didn't offer me.

The biggest reason I'm updating is to say that based on my previous experience I didn't do a lot of milk drinks. And when I did I used a Nespresso foamer. The QM67 changed that. I was *this* close to abandoning the dual boiler as I didn't expect to do a lot of milk. Having the steam at immediate disposal with good steam pressure seems to have changed that. Again, I was certain I was going to buy the ECM Classika PID and while the classika was well priced, expecially with Clive's special edition, I was offered a deal for the QM that I couldn't pass up, including a Lelit FCD, a bottomless portafilter and VST basket for only $400 more than the ECM. It ended up being about $400 less than the Profitec 600, so I think I did pretty well. I can see that the articulation of the arms on the QM have more range of movement than the Profitec, which seem clumsily installed on the side of the valves.

I've been trying some profiling and confess I have no idea what I'm doing yet and I don't have the milk steaming down (at all). Right now I get hot milk with a blob of foam which tastes pretty good, but it's pretty ugly. Included was a 4 hole tip, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to do. I'm told that the 4 hole is for experienced baristas. Should I try it?

One thing that I want to mention for those interested in the QM67 is that some of the new features aren't mentioned in the literature and photos are of the old model. Some of the photos I saw had huge garish "badges" on both sides of the machine. Those turned me off entirely and possibly had me eliminate the QM67 as a possibility. Those are gone and everything is beautiful chrome.

So that's the update. I'm glad that I bought for the future and not for the past. It was a surprise that I ended up with this one as I didn't even include it in my original post. I thought I'd just write the follow up review for folks that come in with the same quandaries as I had going in. Now I just have to learn how to brew like a professional so I don't shame my QM67 .

Vindibona1 wrote:One week update....
I've been trying some profiling and confess I have no idea what I'm doing yet and I don't have the milk steaming down (at all). Right now I get hot milk with a blob of foam which tastes pretty good, but it's pretty ugly. Included was a 4 hole tip, but I'm not sure what it's supposed to do. I'm told that the 4 hole is for experienced baristas. Should I try it?

One thing that I want to mention for those interested in the QM67 is that some of the new features aren't mentioned in the literature and photos are of the old model. Some of the photos I saw had huge garish "badges" on both sides of the machine. Those turned me off entirely and possibly had me eliminate the QM67 as a possibility. Those are gone and everything is beautiful chrome.

Thanks for the update. Keep working on the milk, it will come in time. I've gotten much better but still have work to do to be consistent.

About that beautiful chrome finish. Keep a few microfiber towels handy. I use my steam wand to dampen the towel and give my machine a wipedown after every session. If you value the reflective finish, do not put any unglazed ceramic where there is chrome without some
type of surface protection.

Enjoy your new machine

Vindibona1 wrote:One week update....

The biggest reason I'm updating is to say that based on my previous experience I didn't do a lot of milk drinks. And when I did I used a Nespresso foamer. The QM67 changed that. I was *this* close to abandoning the dual boiler as I didn't expect to do a lot of milk. Having the steam at immediate disposal with good steam pressure seems to have changed that.

Having easy access to steam is REALLY nice. Guests love milk drinks, including steamed hot chocolate. Also comes in handy for other things outside of drinks!