DaveC wrote:I would expect this in 6 or 7 months if you never lubricate the valve. My recommendation is to regularly lube those O rings. Every 3-6 months depending on usage. I have recommended that change to a Viton ring, which will help somewhat (especially installation on HX machines), but they will still need regular lubrication.

oh if you do want to buy FKM/Viton O rings for it the size of the OEM O rings are ID 6.07 x 1.78mm thick. I would imagine any of the 150 piece O ring kits on Amazon or the bay will have something that fits....in a pinch you can use Nitrile, but it's temp resistance isn't quite as high as EDPM.

Thanks Dave

I had also thought of replacing with Viton for improved temperature resistance. I hadn't considered this seal a maintenance item but considering it is not in a static installation, it will be now. Hopefully this will help others if they haven't included the valve as part of a regular maintenance routine. Note that Viton orings can be quite stiff and may make the valve harder to turn. I would suggest choosing a 70 durometer (hardness) oring which is lower on the hardness level for Viton. The oring/s should also be FDA/NSF61 compliant (suitable for food contact).

Please post a URL if you find somebody selling the specific ones that you suggest.

I don't know how is your machine but I have no issues when going from standby mode. Even in standby everything is hot like hell, I can not even touch it and in 5 mins all is ready to pull the shot and froth the milk.

Read this post from another_jim earlier in this thread:

Lelit Bianca User Experience

kidloco wrote:should we maybe open a thread just with pulling profiles for Bianca and results, something like coffee/roast level/ temperature / pressure profile described and result?

I'd be interested. Haven't really got a handle on the pressure profiling side of the Bianca as yet

thm655321 wrote:Read this post from another_jim earlier in this thread:

Lelit Bianca User Experience

Yes I know what he wrote but for me heating from standby is very fast and consumes much less energy when in standby and I didn't encouter any issues with it. The grouphead and the whole machine is warmed pretty fine in my opinion but I didn't exactly meassure grouphead temperature. For me it just looks fine if that matters.

So...who does famous espresso 101 picture/diagram works with Bianca. For example, I am getting sour shots from Columbia coffee medium-light roast.

Tried higher temp (97 C), long preinfusion 25sec on 2 bar then Up To 9 and gradually lowering towards 6 at the end of the shot, tried to start at 9 bar no preinfusion and then lower gradually, both shots are sour (16gr in 40 out). Should I just grind coarser as I would do usually, or you will try something else? What would happen if I grind way coarser but keep pressure around for example 4 bar just to get espresso in "normal range" 25-40 seconds?

Too many options can be curse right? Just when you think you know something... ANd yes, why do I get the feeling that with Bianca nobody is pulling in standard espresso ratio anymore, it is all around 2.5

I may get trampled for this comment, but from LONG experience with both pour-over and espresso making, I can testify that SOME coffees just DON'T make great espresso. It can be due to the origin, roast degree, personal taste, etc. It's not the Bianca, I'd wager. Most likely you're working with a lighter roasted Colombian that was roasted specifically for drip/pour-over. You say "Colombia coffee." Whose? A specialty roaster? Whole foods, or (horrors) supermarket coffee? How old? If you're pulling shots 2-5 days post roast, you need to wait maybe 7 days post roast.
You see, a lot of factors, but again, I'll stick my sagging neck out and say SOME COFFEES JUST AREN'T SUITABLE FOR ESPRESSO PREPARATION. IMO. YMMV.

Oh it is one of the best roasters in Singapore , u7 days post roast, I am sure it is just my lack of experience...or maybe temperature...because I was setting pid offset by watching another_jim video, but I went to 104 degrees and I got the strong boiling sound but never crazy amount of bubbles like in his video, moved back to 100 no sound of boiling, so moved back to 103 got boiling sound and moved offset 3 degrees up. Did you all get that huge amount of bubbles like in video, practically foam? But I don think it is real that offset is 17 or something like that....I will experiment more.

Coffee is:

TASTING NOTES

Ripe cherry, mandarin orange with juicy and sweet finish.

COFFEE INFORMATION

Country Colombia
Producer Raw Material
Process Washed
Altitude 1400 - 1900 masl
Variety Caturra, Castillo, Colombia

When I was setting the offset on mine, the flash boil was not as pronounced as it was in the video and it did make it tough to judge when the temp was right. I did more or less the same as you did.