pcrussell50 wrote:For those of you who have done this mod, and as far as I can tell, it's only a handful of us, Jim Schulman's review of the LeLit Bianca is a MUST read: Lelit Bianca Review. It's only a couple of pages, so dig in.

Takeaways:
1) this is cutting edge stuff, even for a guy like Jim, so there is a lot that Is not fully known about this kind of power and flexibility
2) the modded BDB behaves more or less exactly like the Bianca. Ironically making this thread title more of a misnomer. We have leapfrogged the Slayer in terms of extraction flexibility and capability and gone straight to full, on the fly, flow control, from start to finish.
3) pay particular attention to Dan/HB's words comparing it to his Strada, which was not so long ago, the last word in profiling capability.

You should also subscribe to and read the Bianca users thread. Not so much because of the oddities that apply only to the Bianca, but to fish out what you can about extraction techniques and what works on what coffees. As I said, this is cutting edge stuff, a flow profiling BDB is as cutting edge as it gets, so to get the most out of it, we have to search a little harder to learn what we can, when we can, from whatever source we can.

This 'scape is evolving rapidly, folks.

-Peter

If you're buying a machine right now and a quality lever like the Pro 800 / Londinium R is out of the equation, then there are 3 sub $3k machines to consider:

Bianca
DE1
BDB

It's a great time to be shopping for a machine. This kind of technology uses to start with a $7500 price tag.

Thought I'd share some thoughts on how you BDB'rs can get even more functionality out of your water valve flow profiling by using it in combination with your programmed preinfusion.

The thought came to me while working with some home roasted Sweet Maria's New Classic Espresso Blend that I was gifted by a certain BDB expert

My first attempts were the basic Slayer shot pre brew with a declining profile that resulted in a wonderful base for milk drinks, but it was a bit under-extracted for straight shots. No problem. Grind finer and try a Rao shot with declining preinfusion flow that ends in a zero flow soak, and then ramp back up to full pressure and then again taper. The results were very good but the sweetness of the shot was still a bit hidden behind the brighter acidic front end of the shot. But even if it was hiding, the sweetness was there, and it was good.

"Rao Shot"

Next shot, I tried following Jim's 4.5 bar preinfusion recipe:

another_jim wrote:Last few days, I've been experimenting with higher preinfusion pressures, around 4.5 bar for 20 seconds (ground and dosed so there's dripping after about 15 seconds). Seems to work well or getting rid of the light roast cutting/grassy taste without damping anything else, at least on the three or four coffees I've tried it on.

I'd like to hear from anyone giving it a try.

To do this in a lazy manner, and since I'm plumbed in, so I can , I did the following:

•I killed the pump with my kill switch and adjusted my water bed it to Slayer-zone by eye. This resulted in a valve position that would have been in the ~4ml/s range with the pump running. I.E. much further open than you would normally use for a slow and steady pre brew...
•I then started the shot, sans pump and let the shot progress.
•Once dripping, I opened the valve to "full flow" and let the flow develop at line pressure.
•After 25 seconds or so. (~10g in the cup) I turned the pump on and then started profiling the last 15g or so.

Net result was 43g out from an 18.3g dose. And Bingo. It was delicious! (sorry, no photo of this one!)

"What's all this have to do with a BDB?" You ask?

Well, plumbed with line pressure gets me, well, line pressure.

All y'all, on the other hand, have the ability to set your pump output to give you just about any "holding" preinfusion pressure you want, without the need to modulate the valve to hit a target. Just set you preinfusion target, and then set your water debit with your rerouted water valve and you have a Slayer style pre-brew that ramps to a Synesso-style stepped brew and finishes at full brew pressure when you release the manual button. You can then profile the tail of the shot however you like.

Try it.

You'll like it.

I promise.

Cheers!

- Jake

Thanks for sharing, Jake. Now that the method of re configuring the BDB's plumbing to through the needle is well known, I've been trying to steer this thread into the direction Jake has taken us in his last post... the direction of using our new capabilities to getting the most out of a bean.

In this case, I had sent Jake some Sweet Marias New Classic Espresso Blend, roasted on my Behmor (very seat of the pants, hard to duplicate roast profiles). I roasted one to just before second crack, and one a few snaps into second.

-Peter

Hi all,
I was doing some research on ULKA pumps and thought I should drop by here since you guys are running your pumps for a long time and I found out some interesting stuff that you can use.
I have been researching options to replace the pump in my BDB with a brass one and fit a brass OPV.

I came up with the following 3 pumps:
EFP5 - this is the one that came stock with my BDB
^ not readily available on amazon, cerinicoffee.com has it though, why do you want to know this? Read on!
EAX5
EX5
^ both of these are readily available on amazon.

Now I was having a bunch of trouble trying to figure out the differences between these pumps.
What I have been able to decipher is that they are all of the E5 flavor of pump - probably not a revelation to any of you.

Another thing about the naming convention for these pumps that probably is not news to many people is that:
"X" = brass outlet
"P" = plastic outlet

But I was stumped on what the "F" and the "A" mean in the names. Did it have something to do with the flow?

Here is what the name badges say:
EFP5 120v, 60hz, 52watts, 2/1 min, CL.F
EAX5 120v, 60hz, 52watts, 1/1.5 min CL.A
EX5 120v, 60hz, 41watts, 1/1min CL.A

OK, so after studying the spec sheets from CEME (maker of ULKA). I finally cracked the code. The "F" and the "A" is the insulation class.
After a quick search on solenoid insulation class specs (we call them vibe pumps but they are actually solenoid pumps), I figured out that the higher the letter, the higher the temperature rating of the insulation in the coils. SO "F" is better than "A".

Check the duty cycle to see what I mean. The EFP5 is specd to be on for 2 minutes and off for 1. While the other pumps can only be on for 1 minute before they must be rested. This is because the insulation in the coil of the "F" rated pump can take the higher temperatures of the longer duty cycle.

Soooo, it makes sense that those of you pulling these long-a$$ shots with vibe pumps want that EFP5. Or if you can find it and you care about brass, that EFX5.

It makes sense that Breville would have specd this pump as standard since this machine runs the pump rather long on the cleaning cycle and has a time-out for preinfusion and shots of 90 seconds.

I have been trying to figure out the differences between these pumps for the past few days. I just had this ah-ha moment, so there is a chance that this could be totally wrong, but I don't think it is.

Here's a chart:

Thanks for this information, sir!

I don't feel much 'pressure' now to change out my pump

I spent a few hours over the last few days playing with different configurations. I still have a hard time setting the g/s and then using the build in programming as I really enjoy playing with the profiling knob. If I can leave it alone my favorite shot recipe thus far:

Knob set to 1.8 g/s
Pd set to 14
PP set to 55

20g in / 20g yield / time 86s "shot time"

Beans were home roasted from Sweet Maria's (Guatemala Acatenango Gesha Lot #12) tasted amazing

Boy if that one tasted as good as it looks, my mouth is watering.

If anything could be an incremental step better, maybe a way to turn the pump off during a "Rao soak and bloom", instead of running the pump for 30s with the needle closed while the puck soaks and blooms.

-Peter

It tasted amazing. I was blown away by this roast. It was my first gesha. These long pre-infusion shots really bring out all the complex floral and tea notes. Not only was the taste amazing, the brisk acidity really highlighted the accompanying mouthfeel.

So for your shots you're running the needle closed all the way with zero water flow for 30s?

eltakeiteasy wrote: So for your shots you're running the needle closed all the way with zero water flow for 30s?

I have actually not done that. But we could. And it is a thing. Scott Rao is doing these things in his collaboration with DE. Jake has just finished modding his machine to where he can shut off his pump while the three way stays energized. Right now, we could do these Rao shots too. But it would require keeping the pump running during the zero flow soak and bloom stage. Having it off just seems more elegant.

-Peter

For those using the factory water knob, you should be able to re-purpose the stock hot water switch and run a couple wires from the pump to that switch such that when the valve is completely closed, the switch interrupts the power to the pump. Elegant, simple, effective and invisible . I'll retain this capability on your "Jake valve" adapter, Peter.

I've had my pump kill switch for the better part of a year, and used it for line pressure preinfusion before I got my valve installed. It seemed natural to kill the pump when doing a soak and bloom shot, so I use it for that as well.

Cheers!

- Jake