dont keep the flame too high, rule of thumb is as wide as the base of the pot, not lapping outside the edges

vit wrote: Latter I succeeded to make an espresso with another modification, attaching bike strut pump to 1 cup china made moka express so that I was achieving 9 bar. Was using it for about 2 years, before replacing it with Flair about a year ago - espresso made by both is also similar ...

Funny thing, cheap chinese moka express is holding 9 bar no problem, while original Bialetti 2 cup moka express that I bough later to do the same was leaking on the seal so I wasn't able to go above 3-4 bar. Ok, it wasn't made for it. Maybe it was actually an additional security feature

About 4-5 bar is minimum for espresso crema (depending on coffee of course)

Please provide photos of this enhanced moka pot -- super interested!

Here it is. I made it before Flair or Robot were available. Probably not worth experimenting now when they are

vit wrote:Here it is.

So how do you brew with that?

Amazing contraption I have to say. I never had the urge to modify any of my moka pots (for me brikka is just another moka pot), maybe because going to Italy frequently espresso was always easy to come by. But I do appreciate DIY nerdery a lot.

ojt wrote:I never had the urge to modify any of my moka pots (for me brikka is just another moka pot), maybe because going to Italy frequently espresso was always easy to come by.

It's not a modified moka pot. It's an espresso machine made from a moka pot. A moka pot is a good starting point for a quick and dirty air driven espresso machine. There have been other air pump style espresso makers on the market (e.g. Handpresso, Airspresso).

I did kind of the same thing as Vit, using a moka pot and a bicycle floor pump (the 2L soda bottle was a ballast). Mine was just to fool around for one afternoon.




For a long time I used a Brikka. I found it preferable to a moka pot because the temperature profile made it easier not to overextract. And it produced a shot that is in the lower end of the espresso range. I was getting 5-7% strength versus around 2% with my moka pot. That's not to say it's espresso; it's not.

The fake crema thing never really impressed me that much. A lot of the time there really wasn't much and it dissipated quickly. Good coffee though.

ojt wrote:So how do you brew with that?

Amazing contraption I have to say. I never had the urge to modify any of my moka pots (for me brikka is just another moka pot), maybe because going to Italy frequently espresso was always easy to come by. But I do appreciate DIY nerdery a lot.

Yeah, it's a bit tricky, though actually not more than with Flair

Procedure was as follows

- push thermometer through the tyre valve in the vessel (it fits nicely), pour the water into vessel like in normal moka pot, slightly above the valve level
- dose the basket and tamp like for espresso
- bring water to boil (ca 2min), then remove from stove, put the basket, screw the "upper part" together with plastic cup
- wait 30-60s checking the temperature in the vessel with thermometer (depending on the roast), then remove thermometer and mount the pump
- invert into position shown on the photo, put the espresso cup into plastic cup, then start pumping checking the pressure on the pressure meter
- when enough coffee in the cup, remove and let the remaining coffee flow into the plastic cup until no more water in the vessel and the puck is dry

Problematic things are

- dosing is tricky because you need considerably more coffee due to tamping, some kind of funnel would be needed
- when pumping, whole thing (together with the cup) moves a bit - a bigger pump would be needed
- pressure oscillating during extraction by something like 0.5 bar between individual strokes (higher on the begining, decreasing towards the end because of bigger air volume)
- didn't provide space for cappuccino cup, as I didn't have Bellman back then
- it is made of aluminum (higher temp. conductivity than steel) - there is a temperature drop 2-3°C during the pull, but all manual machines have this (some more, some less)

So it's not ideal of course ...