La Marzocco Linea Micra owner reviews - Page 56

Need help with equipment usage or want to share your latest discovery?
Barriwhite
Posts: 26
Joined: 1 year ago

#551: Post by Barriwhite »

Jake_G wrote:
  • Pre-brewing is allowed with tank only setup. You have two timers that can each be programmed for up to 9.9 seconds: Pre-brewing on, and Pre-brewing off.

    Pre-brewing On is the timer of how long to apply pump pressure to the puck before the 3 way valve opens and allows the puck to soak. Pre-brew Off is how long the 3 way valve stays open before it pressurizes the puck again for the main extraction.

    Total shot duration is limited to 60s, including both Pre-brew timers.

    Preinfusion settings are limited to Plumb in. You can fool the machine into enabling preinfusion by telling it you are plumbed in. This will engage the 3-way valve and allow the preheating coil to "ooze" some water onto the puck for up to 24.9s before the pump kicks in. This is not supported by LM, but it does work. When plumbed in, it works the same, but you get mains pressure instead of just the preheat coil.
  • The shot timer on the app starts when the paddle is flipped.
  • I believe you can have multiple Micras connected to the app. I have my GS/3 and the Micra both connected and I'm able to edit their names for clarity and switch between them with no issue.

    Hope this helps.

    - Jake
For pre-brewing ON, is there a lower pressure being applied by the pump? Otherwise this is equivalent to stopping the shot after a set amount of time.

User avatar
Jake_G
Team HB
Posts: 4295
Joined: 6 years ago

#552: Post by Jake_G replying to Barriwhite »

There is no lower pressure unless you enable plumb in and use preinfusion. You are correct that Pre-brewing is essentially just an automated start-stop-start sequence. The trick is to turn it on just long enough to fill the headspace, and not long enough to build any pressure. Somewhere between 1.5 and 2.5 seconds seems to be the sweet spot for Pre-brew On time, but a large basket with a lower dose (higher headspace) will allow for a longer On time without building pressure.

Cheers!

- Jake
LMWDP #704

Barriwhite
Posts: 26
Joined: 1 year ago

#553: Post by Barriwhite »

Interesting, thanks for pointing out the relationship to headspace. It's certainly better than no pre-infusion at all.

And this makes me wonder how the Rancilio Silvia does its so-called « soft pre-infusion », and if the Micra could eventually gain a similar capability via a software update. Perhaps its achieved with quick repeated toggling of the valve while the pump runs?

User avatar
baldheadracing
Team HB
Posts: 6226
Joined: 9 years ago

#554: Post by baldheadracing »

I suspect that the difference is if the three-way valve gets opened after the initial pump on time. I suspect that the Micra opens the three-way and the Rancilio does not, but I am not sure.
-"Good quality brings happiness as you use it" - Nobuho Miya, Kamasada

NewCoffeeGuy1
Posts: 191
Joined: 1 year ago

#555: Post by NewCoffeeGuy1 »

Jake_G wrote:
  • Preinfusion settings are limited to Plumb in. You can fool the machine into enabling preinfusion by telling it you are plumbed in. This will engage the 3-way valve and allow the preheating coil to "ooze" some water onto the puck for up to 24.9s before the pump kicks in. This is not supported by LM, but it does work. When plumbed in, it works the same, but you get mains pressure instead of just the preheat coil.
One other note about doing this, IIRC, didn't it come out in the reviews that if you do this, the low-water warning light won't work? And more importantly, that running out of water mid-shot as a result is not a good idea?

User avatar
Jake_G
Team HB
Posts: 4295
Joined: 6 years ago

#556: Post by Jake_G »

There was never a clear consensus.

If you jumper the level probes, you're flying blind, but the machine still uses the level probes to allow a shot to begin, and still allows you to finish a shot if the level goes below the probes if you are in plumbed in mode.

The low water light is convenient, (and I believe disabled when plumbed), but it doesnt change the functionality. If the probe doesn't sense water, the machine won't heat up nor let you pull a shot. The only difference as far as I can tell is that you won't have a blue light to let you know why the machine won't warm up or pull a shot.

I suppose that would be annoying.
LMWDP #704

NewCoffeeGuy1
Posts: 191
Joined: 1 year ago

#557: Post by NewCoffeeGuy1 »

Gotcha. Thanks for clarifying.

CaliCoffee
Posts: 3
Joined: 1 year ago

#558: Post by CaliCoffee »

Shifting gears for a moment.
I'm anxiously awaiting my Stainless Micra. Reading the forums I was expecting long lead time for Delivery. Placed my order on March 11th and the tracking says the machine to arrive March 22nd. That's under two weeks!

For anyone in the market, this makes me think color will be a huge factor on shipment times.

Had to hurry up all my accessories this week, but that's a happy problem to have :)

Barriwhite
Posts: 26
Joined: 1 year ago

#559: Post by Barriwhite »

To folks in the US, consider ordering from a Canadian distributor. Canadians don't deal with LM directly. So you're able to see exactly which color is in stock and ready to ship. The CAD 5400 MSRP corresponds to USD 3950. I just grabbed the last white at CaffeTech :)

Silentsim
Posts: 101
Joined: 5 years ago

#560: Post by Silentsim replying to Barriwhite »

Your warranty may not stand