duna wrote:Could some Bianca user share some light about the available height left under the water tank when it is placed on the back of the machine? My furniture has a 70 mm wooden rim (something less than 3") all around and I would be delighted if the bottom of the tank on the Bianca could clear that height (although I fear it wouldn't). I already used the comprehensive Search function on this website and read every result, without success.

The powercord is under the reservoir carrier filling up that space. The bottom of the powercord's female plug end is maybe 31mm above the countertop.

Hoping someone can help out. Just got this machine from clive 3 days ago, upgrading from ECM Classika w/PID after a few years. Grinder is Eureka Mignon Specialita.

I've put 3lbs of beans down the drain because I can't seem to pull a decent shot. I'm using Verve Sermon which is a fairly dark chocolate and fruit forward medium roast that I know pretty well, all bags have the same roast date.

Process so far:

• Adjust pump to 9 bar
• Adjust flow control paddle to re-zero
• Set machine to 200F, all advanced features off
• Zero'd grinder and moved .5 from chirping
• Weigh dose according to basket size, starting with VST 20g at 21g (note: not a new basket)
• Use needle distributor, tamp
• Pull shot with flow consistent - result is sour
• Pull shot with slayer method - result is sour
• Adjust grind another .5 coarser
• (so on and so forth until the shot is bitter, up to 1.5 from zero on the grinder)
• Flow is fine, no channeling or spurting
• Adjust temp to 196, repeat, 197, repeat ... up to 205

I feel like I'm missing something here. At this point at 203F with the grind fine (barely above zero, any finer and the shot doesnt pull) I'm getting a watery shot with minimal notes besides coffee water.

Worth noting that my pucks are super soupy/wet. Ideas? Something obvious I'm missing?

another_jim wrote:Check the water temperature, the offset may be totally off.

Okay, went through this process. I see flash boiling with the 'brew offset' in the menu set to 0 C when I run the water thru at 96C. Does this mean I should set my brew offset to -4 C? I'm at 4800ft elevation, so local boiling is just a shade below 95C

another_jim wrote:Actually + 1C -- you read 96C when the actual temp was 95C.

Ah, so the offset is from the actual boil, not 100

another_jim wrote: This is close enough so that your shot temperatures aren't wildly off.

Am I wrong in assuming that if the offset is 10 by default that would mean anything over 193F would be flash boiling?

another_jim wrote: If it's a new bag of Verve, that may be the culprit. otherwise, turn the needle valve all the way to the right (open), and watch the pressure as the shot proceeds -- is it taking a nose dive? Or doing anything else that is weird?

Bags are three weeks old. I also tried a few ounces of what I had left from a local roaster and got the same characteristics.

(wrong quote)

JRising wrote:The powercord is under the reservoir carrier filling up that space. The bottom of the powercord's female plug end is maybe 31mm above the countertop.

Many thanks for your kind reply. It is possible to have also the height under the tank's bottom? I understand that there is the power cord there so that area is not fully "usable" but probably it will be possible (eventually drilling some horrible holes on my 1970 solid walnut furniture) to use a part of it, or not (depending on the plug type and position there). I can also totally remove the rim from the back of the furniture, so I will be left with a couple of options to choose from, each worse than the other. There are size problems with most machines anyway but Bianca is one of the most compact (not to mention that the water reservoir is movable).

There are two offsets. The machine offset, value Ec in the service menu. That is 10

The other is the brew offset, in the regular menu which is 0

What I'm unclear on is

1. If my local boil is 95C, should my offset be -5 (from 100 C) or +1 from 95 C to where flash boiling occurs at 96 C?

2. Does this value go into the service menu or the brew offset setting?