Jake_G wrote:It does sound like TS stall. And unfortunately the trickle preinfusion is likely to blame.not that it's a bad thing always, but kicking the pump on to refil the HX during your warming routine is a good idea, even if it's just once. Do you refill the HX with the pump after your last trickle rinse? I saw that you backflush, but a quick full pump rinse after your last flush might tame the stall.

Yea, I did start turning on the pump for a quick burst here and there when trickling, for that reason, but I always end up with two full-pump backflushes to finish things off, and I don't have leaks that I know of, so I'm a little puzzled as to how I ended up with a little air in there, unless I did an inadvertent lever movement. Are you saying you think the air could stay in the system for the backflushes due to the blind basket? I will go ahead and do a pump flush for the last shower screen wipe.

Tonefish wrote:Are you saying you think the air could stay in the system for the backflushes due to the blind basket?

Bingo

BoulderGeek wrote:I would definitely recommend your next purchase with your reward points to be the Lelit Wooden Knob and Portafilter kit. https://www.1st-line.com/buy/lelit-bott ... ara-models At $75 or so, it is a bargain. I refinished mine in a quick paint of mahogany polyurethane, and everything looks very nice. Much, much better than the terrible round plastic donut knobs it comes with.

I'm curious to see how the machine looks with tho wooden knobs. Can you post a picture?

Thanks!

boren wrote:I'm curious to see how the machine looks with tho wooden knobs. Can you post a picture?

Sorry, I just saw this. Mine looks just like the higher-end PL62T. Only instead of solid black, there's a bit of depth to the coloring.

I used the same mahogany polyurethane to do the portafilter handle, activation lever knob and my knock box. Classy.

boren wrote:I'm curious to see how the machine looks with tho wooden knobs. Can you post a picture?

Thanks!

I'll post some pics later tonight as I've got my machine with the wooden handles kit right of the bat. I can definitely attest that It looks and feels light years ahead of the stock plastic "pucks". On the other hand however, the wood quality is very in-line with Jim's comment about "somebody's having too much vino"...
-The hole in the lever's handle was made quite a bit of-centered. You don't notice it once it's installed and tightened.
-The portafilter's handle has stripped the thread after a mere couple of morning of fiddling with the machine... Will have to epoxy-form a new thread.

I really like the machine, but I have been struggling so far at getting a shot that I'd like. Just this morning - I think - I made about half-dozen shots in a row (while looking for the right grind setting on my Sette 270) - all of which came out sour.

To put things in perspective, I'm coming from a machine very similar to Quick Mill's Silvano - with which I had no issues pulling nice, tasty shots (as in "god damn - that's good!!!" after making the first sip). With Mara S-T however, I haven't managed to make one drink I liked - so far. It's either sour or it's blunt and lifeless.

My main suspect - is the water temperature, so I've started going easy on the head flushing, but with the machine being only 2 days out of the box and me being able to only drink/feed to other family members so much coffee per day - I can only do that much experimenting...

Warm-ups were proper at 30mins and plus. Got similar results with 2 different kinds of beans - both are espresso-specific and both are less than a week from the roasting day and both of which worked perfectly with my previous machine(s).

Any tips?

I think you are on the right track thinking about water temperature. Have you been religious about the water dance to know when it is at the right temperature? I just installed the erics enhanced kit for temperature recording following my first few months of just using his thermometer. I want to use it to try to get great espresso (which hasn't been a problem) while minimizing water waste. I'm hoping to know at what temperature to start with during the warming to accomplish this. I will share the thermal wanderings, after collecting some data, with you if something interesting resolves. It may give insight on the likelihood of reaching the right temperature without a rigorous routine. Happy pulls!

Here are some shots of the Mara S-T with wood handles. Sorry, kinda forgot to do the lever - but it should give the the idea.







Jim, really appreciate your input. I've got pretty skilled at temperature surfing on single boilers, but E61 with an HX is a new beast for me to tame and she's been pretty stubborn so far. I've already came across a couple of threads about addition of a thermometer and it is something I'll probably do in a long run, but right now I was only able to stretch my budget for the set of decent handles and a better shower screen. Really looking forward to more experimentation tomorrow... )))

Thanks alexeyga for posting the pictures. The wooden parts make a world of difference and the Lelit looks really beautiful with them.

In any case, both me and my friend, who were considering the Lelit, eventually chose other machines. I bought the single-boiler Quick Mill Alexia Evo and my friend bought the dual-boiler VBM Domobar Junior. I'm sure we would have been happy with the Lelit too, especially with the upgraded looks.

Guys, what's your boiler pressure? Mine peaks at about 1.2 - 1.23



This morning's experience was a little better.
- I've minimized cooling flushes coming from the premise that the machine is running a tad on the cool side.
- I've re-adjusted my dozing and tamping towards finer grind and lighter tamping
- I was purging the steam right before starting the whole dozing thing, in order to kick the heating element in and give it some time to worm things up.

All in all, espresso shots are still sour-ish, but the breakfast flat white was pretty good. Flat-ish tasting though vs my previous machine. I might need to play with the choice of beans and degree of roasting in the long run.

And I'm really puzzled regarding how to tech my g/f to use this machine without hearing all the complaints about how the old one was so much easier to operate....

alexeyga wrote:
And I'm really puzzled regarding how to tech my g/f to use this machine without hearing all the complaints about how the old one was so much easier to operate....

Send her to the Rockies and tell her Jim will teach her.