Hi Forum,

Longtime reader posting rarely. I just got a new Dalla Corte Mina and was hoping to get some information from the other (few) users out there since the manual is rather vague. My grinder is a Mahlkhoing K30. The machine is very well built but at the moment I am overwhelmed by the new variables and my shots have been lacking. I am using a fresh roast of about 5 days.

1) Is there any way to set the dose from the app. At the moment every time I set a profile I have to set the dose on the machine which makes the whole thing rather inconvenient.

2) I see to have to go to really fine grind on my K30 much finer than before and I am not sure how much finer I could go. Am I playing in the right ball park or should I try to up-dose and grind coarser?

3) Which basket are you using and with which weights?

4) Any tips for good profiles. I picked up a few here and a few on the Dalla Corte site, but very little in general.

Thanks in advance, Yariv

Really cool. Does Loveat import the Mina here?

I don't have a Mina so can't answer any usability questions - but generally, when profiling, it is very helpful to consider Shadowfax's (Nicholas') rule of thirds. Of special interest is the first 1/3rd we call pre-infusion. It purges compressible air from the puck and starts blooming the coffee.

Experience shows that the more dwell time we have for preinfusion - the faster the flow and the finer you need to go. Mina can do very slow PI so expect to need finer grinds... You can always updose (to some degree), but if the pours are too fast I'd hold back on grinding coarser.

If you can't go fine enough there may be one of two (or two) problems with the grinder - misaligned burrs or overtly big exit channels in the burrs both leading to too many boulders. But before blaming the grinder I'd make sure my distribution is good. Try good WDT/RDT technique to ensure you aren't having trouble there.

Thanks for the reply Assaf. Yes, I got the machine through Loveat.

I will play more before coming to final conclusions. I think my distribution techniques are ok but will try to improve.

Do you know how I could check for these problems in the grinder? Note that in my previous machine it worked like a charm.

So I don't know what the water debit on the Mina is - but if you shorten preinfusion considerably (try to go to full flow immediately) flow will slow down - probably slow more than your older machine (which would have PI of some sorts).

Outrun isn't easy to measure. Requires feeler gauges or lever/dial indicators. And you have to anchor them to the burr carriers which requires some adapters. Instead of measuring the grinder most usually just take time to figure out if there is a problem or not...

Personally, I give it at least a month after switching burrs and/or adding a new flow control feature or testing a new grooming device. It isn't always clear otherwise whether something is an improvement or not...

Many thanks Assaf. Indeed, I have harsh memories from the initial period of every new espresso machine I ever had.

Hope you're getting along better and better with the Mina. I've just seen the posts now.

If you're using the latest firmware, then you'll get a range from 1.5 ml/s (DFR 2) to 12ml / s (DFR 12). I tried using some recipes where I let some water flow, then set the DFR to 0, but I've seen that it decalibrates the DFR and you need to reset it and sometimes do a calibration.

1) you can't set the dose from the app. However, when you record a recipe, you can see how much water it uses, inside the app (maybe in a future app update).
2) dose / brew ratio depend on what taste you plan to achieve. If I use light roasts, I go for large doses (20-22g), something like 45g output and a long preinfusion (15+ s with 2ml/s).
3) 28.5mm for 18g and 32mm for larger doses. If I want a short preinfusion I use the smallest basket that can fit my dose (less headspace).
4) it really depends on the coffee you use. The preinfusion makes the biggest difference in taste (besides the temperature) so experiment different flowrates at the beginning of the shot.

Enjoy your machine!

Thanks a lot for the reply!

While I am still moving in my experiments I think I already drifted to many of your suggestions on my own. It really is an amazing machine once you get your head around how to use it. As you say the biggest impact is the long preinfusion - I have been able to get some amazing shots (some with coffees that in my initial dialing in I didn't think I would even like so much).

My firmware is 2.68 (I understand the latest one is 2.69) so my flow rate is between 2 ml/s and 12 ml/s. Do you upgrade the firmware on your own or through the service? If you do so alone did you get a cheap dongle? What I found was a few hundered dollars.

The vendor gave me a device with the 2.69 firmware and the instructions on how to install it. I returned the device to the vendor after the update.

I'm looking forward to the app update. A shot timer on top of the flow profile graph would be great. And turning off the steam boiler. Maybe now that they launched the XT, they'll have time to work on the Mina software.

Thanks again. I will look into it.

And yes there are quite a few mprovments that can be made to the app!

I would take into mind that your portafilter is 53mm so it's gonna take a finer grind and a lower dose to achieve good a cup.