Buyer's Guide to the Quick Mill Alexia - Page 4
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jesawdy (original poster)
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Quick Mill Alexia - Internal Details
Here are some interior pictures of the Quick Mill Alexia.
To get to this point, 8 screws have been removed; 6 flat head screws on the outer shell, and 2 Phillips screws to remove the "Z"-panel shroud that covers the boiler and what the pour over tank rests on.
Quick Mill Alexia - interior
Quick Mill Alexia - Ulka vibe pump and power cord terminal (left); Low water relay (right)
Looking at the boiler now, on the lower left side is the overpressure valve (OPV) and incoming cold water. The OPV is adjusted by turning the barbed portion clockwise (decreasing spring tension) to lower brew pressure and counter-clockwise (increasing spring tension) to increase brew pressure. The silicon line on the barb is the OPV return back to the pour over tank. In both pictures below, you can see the upper and lower thermosyphon lines and where they connect to the 0.75 liter boiler.
Quick Mill Alexia - boiler, left and right sides
At the bottom of the boiler are the heater terminals for the 1,400 watt heating element. On the top of the boiler are the steam thermostat, the resettable hi-limit safety thermostat, and the steam/hot water outlet fitting with a connection for the pressure gauge capillary tube. In the left picture you can see the upper and lower thermosyphon line connections to the E61 grouphead.
Quick Mill Alexia - boiler bottom and heater connection (left); top of boiler (right), blue arrow is hi-limit safety reset, white arrow is pressure gauge capillary
Looking a bit closer at the adjustable brew temperature thermosat, we have a long coiled up copper capillary tube that enters the top of the boiler in a deep thermowell. The end of this capillary has a long bulb. Of note, on my review machine, the lower thermosyphon line interfered with removing the capillary and bulb from the thermowell. In order to remove them, I wrapped the boiler with a dish towel (to avoid oiling up the boiler) and gave it a counter-clockwise twist and a small push to the right side of the machine. The copper thermosyphon lines are flexible enough to allow this slight reposition. When you do this, make sure you did not short out the heater terminals to the frame or anything else. It didn't take much twisting to get the clearance needed to remove the thermostat bulb sensor. (NOTE - pay attention to the depth of the bulb if you want to return it to the same position.)
Quick Mill Alexia - thermostat and capillary (left); boiler thermowell (middle); capillary and bulb removed from thermowell (right)
Here are some interior pictures of the Quick Mill Alexia.
To get to this point, 8 screws have been removed; 6 flat head screws on the outer shell, and 2 Phillips screws to remove the "Z"-panel shroud that covers the boiler and what the pour over tank rests on.
Quick Mill Alexia - interior
- 1 - Water level magnetic float switch
2 - Incoming water line and vibratory pump
3 - Brew thermostat
4 - Steam thermostat
5 - OPV and return line
6 - Relay (to kill pump and heat on low water condition)
7 - Boiler
Quick Mill Alexia - Ulka vibe pump and power cord terminal (left); Low water relay (right)
Looking at the boiler now, on the lower left side is the overpressure valve (OPV) and incoming cold water. The OPV is adjusted by turning the barbed portion clockwise (decreasing spring tension) to lower brew pressure and counter-clockwise (increasing spring tension) to increase brew pressure. The silicon line on the barb is the OPV return back to the pour over tank. In both pictures below, you can see the upper and lower thermosyphon lines and where they connect to the 0.75 liter boiler.
Quick Mill Alexia - boiler, left and right sides
At the bottom of the boiler are the heater terminals for the 1,400 watt heating element. On the top of the boiler are the steam thermostat, the resettable hi-limit safety thermostat, and the steam/hot water outlet fitting with a connection for the pressure gauge capillary tube. In the left picture you can see the upper and lower thermosyphon line connections to the E61 grouphead.
Quick Mill Alexia - boiler bottom and heater connection (left); top of boiler (right), blue arrow is hi-limit safety reset, white arrow is pressure gauge capillary
Looking a bit closer at the adjustable brew temperature thermosat, we have a long coiled up copper capillary tube that enters the top of the boiler in a deep thermowell. The end of this capillary has a long bulb. Of note, on my review machine, the lower thermosyphon line interfered with removing the capillary and bulb from the thermowell. In order to remove them, I wrapped the boiler with a dish towel (to avoid oiling up the boiler) and gave it a counter-clockwise twist and a small push to the right side of the machine. The copper thermosyphon lines are flexible enough to allow this slight reposition. When you do this, make sure you did not short out the heater terminals to the frame or anything else. It didn't take much twisting to get the clearance needed to remove the thermostat bulb sensor. (NOTE - pay attention to the depth of the bulb if you want to return it to the same position.)
Quick Mill Alexia - thermostat and capillary (left); boiler thermowell (middle); capillary and bulb removed from thermowell (right)
Jeff Sawdy
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erics
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You have taken some beautiful pictures which is an invaluable resource for anyone considering the Alexia. They compliment the review process perfectly.
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jesawdy (original poster)
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- Joined: 18 years ago
Thanks Eric. I will have some more to share when the PID is installed.
Jeff Sawdy
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jesawdy (original poster)
- Posts: 1547
- Joined: 18 years ago
Quick Mill Alexia - Singles Session #1
Pulling Singles, a waste of time?
If you have spent any time on the coffee forums here on Home-Barista or on Coffeegeek, you will see time and time again the suggestion that you should only use a doubles basket. This is done to the point of suggesting alternative uses of the singles basket as a coin dish, or saying that the basket has been lost in the junk drawer for several years, etc. While I will concede that the doubles basket is easier to use, if you haven't played with trying to pull a good single shot, I think you are missing out on a very good thing.
It is my opinion that single shots have a very different taste profile than a double shot. I find them to be sweeter and very enjoyable. They may also be a bit fruitier in some cases. My only complaint is that they are so small and gone in a flash; the cup has barely graced your lips and then it is no more (except for that lingering taste). If time was not of importance to me, I think I would often prefer to pull back-to-back singles versus a double. Alas, time is in fact very important in my current life situation, so doubles are the norm.
In my experiences, singles pull a bit different, and determining the "blonding point" can be more difficult. You have a much smaller surface that you are watching with a bottomless portafilter and the amount of espresso that you are looking through is thinner. As a result, I find that the shot looks blond a bit early, but in fact it still has a bit of life left in it. This is something you will have to learn and adjust for when making singles.
Singles on the Alexia
For this first discussion of pulling singles on the Alexia, I want to share some of my early experiences. At this point in evaluating the Alexia, I was using the Rancilio Rocky doserless grinder. The stock Quick Mill Alexia singles basket is a "Faema-style" tapered design and looks like this:
Quick Mill Alexia - stock "Faema style" singles basket
For my dose/tamp style, I had to find the sweet spot for the dose such that I could still lock in the portafilter, yet still have enough coffee in the basket to use a proper 58mm tamper without bottoming out on the basket side walls. For this particular session, this turned out to be about a 2 click finer grind in comparison to the double and a dose of 9 grams. I performed the WDT, and the portafilter was shaken ("jostled") level then tamped. When dosed, the 9 grams finished well below the basket rim, so I relied on the WDT and my "jostle" level to distribute the coffee as evenly as I could. (TIP - If you have never played with a singles basket, I think you will find that you will have a tendency to overdose and you will have trouble getting the portafilter to lock in. The required dose is generally in the 7-9 gram range for most baskets.)
Keep your eyes on the prize, this what you'll be watching (left); Expanded 9 gram single puck (right)
After a failed attempt or two (mostly getting the dose down), I pulled a few good looking and more importantly good tasting 50-60% brew ratio singles. As I said, I generally find singles to be a touch sweeter and they have a slightly different mouthfeel that I enjoy.
Single shot - What? That's it?!, a 16 gram beverage (cup weight is 132.1g), 56% brew ratio. Small but yummy!
After the good results with the stock basket, I thought I might try my La Marzocco singles basket. This basket does not have a tapered side wall, but rather it is a "basket within a basket" style and has a small shelf surrounding the inner portion. Ideally, I would have a tamper to fit this "inner basket", but I do not have one yet. Previous attempts with this LM basket, a plastic tamp and a bit of futzing on a Silvia had met with good results. I tried a few attempts on the Alexia and never hit it... when you see the spent puck in the picture below, you'll see what I mean
.
Failed La Marzocco singles basket session (I need a properly-sized tamper
)
I am using the Cimbali MAX grinder with the Alexia now and my first attempts with this combination and a singles basket did not go too well. I seemed to have a smaller margin of error in my dose.... too much and I could not lock in, too little and I could not tamp well. I finally had to switch away from using a flat RB tamp and back to a convex tamp to get a good lock in. My coffee at the time was somewhat suspect, so I want to revisit pulling singles on the Alexia/MAX combo. I would also like to try a finer grind and little to no tamp and see what I can get.
Pulling Singles, a waste of time?
If you have spent any time on the coffee forums here on Home-Barista or on Coffeegeek, you will see time and time again the suggestion that you should only use a doubles basket. This is done to the point of suggesting alternative uses of the singles basket as a coin dish, or saying that the basket has been lost in the junk drawer for several years, etc. While I will concede that the doubles basket is easier to use, if you haven't played with trying to pull a good single shot, I think you are missing out on a very good thing.
It is my opinion that single shots have a very different taste profile than a double shot. I find them to be sweeter and very enjoyable. They may also be a bit fruitier in some cases. My only complaint is that they are so small and gone in a flash; the cup has barely graced your lips and then it is no more (except for that lingering taste). If time was not of importance to me, I think I would often prefer to pull back-to-back singles versus a double. Alas, time is in fact very important in my current life situation, so doubles are the norm.
In my experiences, singles pull a bit different, and determining the "blonding point" can be more difficult. You have a much smaller surface that you are watching with a bottomless portafilter and the amount of espresso that you are looking through is thinner. As a result, I find that the shot looks blond a bit early, but in fact it still has a bit of life left in it. This is something you will have to learn and adjust for when making singles.
Singles on the Alexia
For this first discussion of pulling singles on the Alexia, I want to share some of my early experiences. At this point in evaluating the Alexia, I was using the Rancilio Rocky doserless grinder. The stock Quick Mill Alexia singles basket is a "Faema-style" tapered design and looks like this:
Quick Mill Alexia - stock "Faema style" singles basket
For my dose/tamp style, I had to find the sweet spot for the dose such that I could still lock in the portafilter, yet still have enough coffee in the basket to use a proper 58mm tamper without bottoming out on the basket side walls. For this particular session, this turned out to be about a 2 click finer grind in comparison to the double and a dose of 9 grams. I performed the WDT, and the portafilter was shaken ("jostled") level then tamped. When dosed, the 9 grams finished well below the basket rim, so I relied on the WDT and my "jostle" level to distribute the coffee as evenly as I could. (TIP - If you have never played with a singles basket, I think you will find that you will have a tendency to overdose and you will have trouble getting the portafilter to lock in. The required dose is generally in the 7-9 gram range for most baskets.)
Keep your eyes on the prize, this what you'll be watching (left); Expanded 9 gram single puck (right)
After a failed attempt or two (mostly getting the dose down), I pulled a few good looking and more importantly good tasting 50-60% brew ratio singles. As I said, I generally find singles to be a touch sweeter and they have a slightly different mouthfeel that I enjoy.
Single shot - What? That's it?!, a 16 gram beverage (cup weight is 132.1g), 56% brew ratio. Small but yummy!
After the good results with the stock basket, I thought I might try my La Marzocco singles basket. This basket does not have a tapered side wall, but rather it is a "basket within a basket" style and has a small shelf surrounding the inner portion. Ideally, I would have a tamper to fit this "inner basket", but I do not have one yet. Previous attempts with this LM basket, a plastic tamp and a bit of futzing on a Silvia had met with good results. I tried a few attempts on the Alexia and never hit it... when you see the spent puck in the picture below, you'll see what I mean
.Failed La Marzocco singles basket session (I need a properly-sized tamper
)I am using the Cimbali MAX grinder with the Alexia now and my first attempts with this combination and a singles basket did not go too well. I seemed to have a smaller margin of error in my dose.... too much and I could not lock in, too little and I could not tamp well. I finally had to switch away from using a flat RB tamp and back to a convex tamp to get a good lock in. My coffee at the time was somewhat suspect, so I want to revisit pulling singles on the Alexia/MAX combo. I would also like to try a finer grind and little to no tamp and see what I can get.
Jeff Sawdy
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jesawdy (original poster)
- Posts: 1547
- Joined: 18 years ago
Temperature Surfing, do you have to?
After pondering some of Marshall's earlier comments in this Bench thread (see here and here) about my flushing, water usage and fussiness in details of using the Alexia, and then after some additional inspiration from reading things in the Lever forum like this...
).
For the past week, I have used the Quick Mill Alexia with the Cimbali MAX grinder, and PT's Coffee Roasters Bella Vita and Bella Vita #2 espresso blends. I paid no attention to the heater light, I flushed minimal amounts of water (no longer a 1 ounce warming shot, just a spritz). The only thing I did do was flush about 2 ounces of water into my espresso cup to warm it, and only if the machine had been idle for some time. While my cup warmed, I went about my business of building the shot.
I found that I got a decent shot nearly every time. I feel that I definitely got a better shot than I would get in most cafes. If you're going to make a milk drink, by all means save your time, you'll likely never know the difference. Unless you are a hard core aficionado or espresso elitist, I think there are plenty of coffee blends out there that are forgiving enough to forego the added steps of temperature surfing.
A week ago, I would've concluded that temperature surfing was a major PITA and uses too much water and I might have gone running for the PID upgrade. Today, I would conclude that for some (perhaps even many) people, they can likely forego the temperature surfing and be happy, depending on the espresso blend used and their personal fussiness. I'm certain some HB regulars would not concur, but brew temperature doesn't seem to be the all important variable it's frequently cracked up to be (at least with my recent coffees).
That said, if consistency is your desire and if you want to nail it every time, temperature surfing or the PID option may be the way to go. But sometimes, you might just want to have a cup of coffee, not wait 3 minutes and many ounces of water later to get there. Go ahead... I think you'll be OK.
(OK, Fire missiles! I can take it.
)
After pondering some of Marshall's earlier comments in this Bench thread (see here and here) about my flushing, water usage and fussiness in details of using the Alexia, and then after some additional inspiration from reading things in the Lever forum like this...
I decided I should devote a week of my time to NOT temperature surfing, and NOT using the thermofilter. Just walk up to the Alexia and pull some shots. After all, the average buyer is not going to have a thermofilter and I suspect many may not have any desire to temperature surf (and yes, Marshall, I was getting tired of filling the pourovermgwolf wrote:With pump machines, much fuss and energy is expended with the temp adjustment to get the best out of various coffees.
).For the past week, I have used the Quick Mill Alexia with the Cimbali MAX grinder, and PT's Coffee Roasters Bella Vita and Bella Vita #2 espresso blends. I paid no attention to the heater light, I flushed minimal amounts of water (no longer a 1 ounce warming shot, just a spritz). The only thing I did do was flush about 2 ounces of water into my espresso cup to warm it, and only if the machine had been idle for some time. While my cup warmed, I went about my business of building the shot.
I found that I got a decent shot nearly every time. I feel that I definitely got a better shot than I would get in most cafes. If you're going to make a milk drink, by all means save your time, you'll likely never know the difference. Unless you are a hard core aficionado or espresso elitist, I think there are plenty of coffee blends out there that are forgiving enough to forego the added steps of temperature surfing.
A week ago, I would've concluded that temperature surfing was a major PITA and uses too much water and I might have gone running for the PID upgrade. Today, I would conclude that for some (perhaps even many) people, they can likely forego the temperature surfing and be happy, depending on the espresso blend used and their personal fussiness. I'm certain some HB regulars would not concur, but brew temperature doesn't seem to be the all important variable it's frequently cracked up to be (at least with my recent coffees).
That said, if consistency is your desire and if you want to nail it every time, temperature surfing or the PID option may be the way to go. But sometimes, you might just want to have a cup of coffee, not wait 3 minutes and many ounces of water later to get there. Go ahead... I think you'll be OK.
(OK, Fire missiles! I can take it.
)Jeff Sawdy
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Marshall
- Posts: 3445
- Joined: 19 years ago
Thanks for your efforts, Jeff.
I hope I am not giving the impression that I have a devil-may-care attitude about brewing temperature. That's why I have a PID on my [edit] Zaffiro. This morning I am trying out Heather Perry's "U.S. Championship Blend," which includes a series of 1C boiler temperature adjustments (I think I like 104.5C best).
What I am against (with tiresome frequency, I confess) is encrusting the enjoyment of espresso with ever more elaborate grinding, distribution, tamping and flushing rituals. I think they make espresso brewing look much more intimidating than it needs to be and wind up turning coffee drinking into a kind of religious rite. If people want a coffee ceremony, the Ethiopians have already written the book on that.
Marshall
I hope I am not giving the impression that I have a devil-may-care attitude about brewing temperature. That's why I have a PID on my [edit] Zaffiro. This morning I am trying out Heather Perry's "U.S. Championship Blend," which includes a series of 1C boiler temperature adjustments (I think I like 104.5C best).
What I am against (with tiresome frequency, I confess) is encrusting the enjoyment of espresso with ever more elaborate grinding, distribution, tamping and flushing rituals. I think they make espresso brewing look much more intimidating than it needs to be and wind up turning coffee drinking into a kind of religious rite. If people want a coffee ceremony, the Ethiopians have already written the book on that.
Marshall
Marshall
Los Angeles
Los Angeles
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jesawdy (original poster)
- Posts: 1547
- Joined: 18 years ago
You are not giving that impression, and I think I will welcome the consistency and ease of adjustability found in the PID control.Marshall wrote:I hope I am not giving the impression that I have a devil-may-care attitude about brewing temperature. That's why I have a PID on my Silvia.
The purpose of the Home-Barista Buyer's Guides and this Bench thread is to attempt to give some impressions of the machines reviewed for a wide range of potential buyers. I think there are many more people who lurk on these forums, and they are not likely to "geek" as much as those that post here do.
For the Quick Mill Alexia, I am charged with reviewing both the stock version and the PID versions of the machine. With 4 weeks of review under my belt, I really just felt the need to give the stock machine a fair shake. I decided to step back a bit and, as you say, not overly complicate the whole process. I was happy with the results.
Jeff Sawdy
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atao
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Couple questions about warming up:
1. how loud is the Alexia as it warms up? if i got one, it'd prefer it to be quite quiet - it'd be close to my bedroom.
2. if, in the middle of the day, i'd like an espresso, but the machine is cold, i realistically need to wait 30 min or so before i get a fix, yes?
thanks,
Andrew
1. how loud is the Alexia as it warms up? if i got one, it'd prefer it to be quite quiet - it'd be close to my bedroom.
2. if, in the middle of the day, i'd like an espresso, but the machine is cold, i realistically need to wait 30 min or so before i get a fix, yes?
thanks,
Andrew
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jesawdy (original poster)
- Posts: 1547
- Joined: 18 years ago
Andrew-atao wrote:Couple questions about warming up:
1. how loud is the Alexia as it warms up? if i got one, it'd prefer it to be quite quiet - it'd be close to my bedroom.
2. if, in the middle of the day, i'd like an espresso, but the machine is cold, i realistically need to wait 30 min or so before i get a fix, yes?
The Alexia is quiet as it warms up. If you are standing right there, you generally know when the element is on as you get some sound as the water heats at startup, but I do not think you would find it disturbing.
As for the 30 minute warmup time, that's what I prescribe to as a minimum. I have the machine on a rather fancy digital wall timer that allows lots of programming options. I have the machine come on weekdays at 6AM and off at 8:15 AM, weekends at 6:30AM and off around 10PM. I can also manually override the timer on or off via a push button (I'd share the timer model info, but it is no longer available, I've had it for 12+ years).
You could probably "cheat" the warmup time with some work... switching back and forth to steam mode and flushing water/steam through the grouphead and wand to quickly bring the boiler up to temp and get the 7+ pounds of chrome-plated brass grouphead warmed up. See "Cheating Miss Silvia" for some ideas (keeping in mind that the Silvia does not have the same massive grouphead, although it does have a fairly heavy brass boiler).
(BTW - Welcome to HB!)
Jeff Sawdy
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HB
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While Jeff has been reporting on the stock Alexia, I've quietly gotten to know the PID'd version. For your viewing pleasure, below is a typical bottomless portafilter extraction using Intelligentsia Coffee's Black Cat:
«missing video»
Later this week I will post temperature profile data for the Alexia. From the quick check with the thermofilter, it's very consistent shot-to-shot, even if the extractions are closely spaced. It does not suffer the overshoot problems I reported for my PID'd Isomac Amica.
«missing video»
Later this week I will post temperature profile data for the Alexia. From the quick check with the thermofilter, it's very consistent shot-to-shot, even if the extractions are closely spaced. It does not suffer the overshoot problems I reported for my PID'd Isomac Amica.
Dan Kehn
