Hi,

I recently moved onto the profitec pro 500 and i did a lot of reading here and on the internet including watching videos for the pro500 and the sister/brother ecm machine.

My machine came with a sirai thermostat and from factory the lower end of the deadband was set to 1bar (the deadband range is 0.2bar so it puts the top end at 1.2). The brewhead pressure was set to 9bar with the blindfilter running.

I am in toronto so about 85-95m above sea level.

I am wondering if i should adjust the boiler pressure or leave it at 1-1.2bar

A video from wholelattelove suggested i should set the brew pressure to be at the far right end/line of the green section of the brew pressure gauge (possibly about 10.5bar) as the comment was the machine loses about a bar of pressure within. I did set it to that and am wondering if its a bit too high and should go back to 9 with the blind disc in.

I am experimenting with various flushing times (until i get the erics thermometer) and going by taste. The extraction is great but I am wondering if I can improve by adjusting above variables and flushing routine.

I usually flush until flashing disappears and then i pull the shot right after.

Friendly bump...I'm noticing on my Pro 500 (at sea level) that I'm at about 9.5 bar when pulling a shot. I don't have a group thermometer to tell what the temp is there, but so far my shots have been what I would consider very good, so I'd think I'm relatively close in terms of temp. Steam pressure is very strong. I know this is all subjective but at least you get a bump out of it

Since not a lot of love here for profitec 500 i thought id update my settings and my flushing technique, as far as i know this machine is exactly same in terms of inner workings as the ecm technika.

- I readjusted the boiler pressure to 1bar, pstat goes from 1-1.2bar.
- I readjusted the brewhead pressure to 10.25bar (right end edge of the green area).

I usually leave the machine on for 45minutes, do a 4-6seconds flush until flashing disappears and then pull the shot.


I watched HB Admin/Dan's video and review on the ECM technika and after speaking to fellow member N6GQ altered my flushing technique.

I leave the machine on for 45 minutes, do a 4-6second flash until flashing disappears. Do my grinding and do another quick flush until flashing disappears and then pull the shot.

I find HB Admin/Dan and N6GQ's method produce a better quality shot for me.

Hey Guys, since there haven't been any responses I thought I'd jump in. I don't own the Profitec 500, but there are general practices you'd want to follow.

Here is the HX article Dan posted awhile back. Good read for HX users.
/hx-love.html

I think you're doing all the right things. I believe the most important process is to do the cooling flush which you are doing. You're machine should be well and stable at 45 mins, so you should be great there. I'd personally set the brew pressure to 9 bar and use that as your baseline.

Take a look at Dan's article and I believe that should answer most of your questions about the cooling flush. Let's start with all the basics and go from there. Report back how you make out with any changes and I'll be happy to help out.

Radio.YYZ wrote:Since not a lot of love here for profitec 500 i thought id update my settings and my flushing technique, as far as i know this machine is exactly same in terms of inner workings as the ecm technika.

I thought people like the 500 because of its performance, looks and build quality?!

Hi

1- I have a PP500 and I asked to the Chat Tech of WholeLatteLove which operation pressure is recommended:
He said 1.2 bar, now the value at my gauge variate between 1.1 to 1.3 bar.

2- For the flushing process I use a thermometer in the spout to help me to figure out how much water to flush before the brew shot, I remove the thermometer before the brew shot, it is not perfect, but it help (see the pictures).





Regards

Ben PB

Benoitpb, I like your thermometer placement, I will try that myself!

Radio.yyz, I checked my pump pressure with the blank (backflush) disk in the portafilter. It is right on the high point of the green range, around 10 bar I think if I remember right. I have not moved the pressurestat setting from factory.

BTW, not sure if it matters, but when I spoke to Clive during the buying process, he told me they burn in the machines there. I didn't think to ask if they move anything away from factory settings, but presumably they could "tune up" machines if they are out of spec at some point I imagine before shipping to the customer.

I also inquired about how often to backflush with Cafiza, they suggested (based on my usage) about every 5 weeks. Not too often because more often may dry out the lubricants in the o-rings, etc. They suggested though backflushing with just water would be a reasonable thing to do regularly.

I'm also going to do a weekly boiler dump for good measure (as suggested in WLL video).

Cheers!

stahlee wrote:Hey Guys, since there haven't been any responses I thought I'd jump in. I don't own the Profitec 500, but there are general practices you'd want to follow.

Here is the HX article Dan posted awhile back. Good read for HX users.
/hx-love.html

I think you're doing all the right things. I believe the most important process is to do the cooling flush which you are doing. You're machine should be well and stable at 45 mins, so you should be great there. I'd personally set the brew pressure to 9 bar and use that as your baseline.

Take a look at Dan's article and I believe that should answer most of your questions about the cooling flush. Let's start with all the basics and go from there. Report back how you make out with any changes and I'll be happy to help out.

Hi, thanks for the input - I have reading a lot of info including the link you suggested which i use to gauge my temp profile and flushing technique. I agree my machine is fairly stable at 45 mins, at 60 mins it gains just a couple of degrees at the exterior of the grouphead. At 30 minutes its about 20degrees lower at the exterior of grouphead.

The only issue i have and the reason i asked the questions about my machine is as many have stated it behaves very differently than the average hx machine so i am curious to others and how they are living with it and their experiences.

thecoffeefield wrote:I thought people like the 500 because of its performance, looks and build quality?!

I can attest to its performance looks and build quality. I am just trying to hone in and perfect my technique and no harm in absorbing other peoples skills and techniques.

Benoitpb wrote:Hi

1- I have a PP500 and I asked to the Chat Tech of WholeLatteLove which operation pressure is recommended:
He said 1.2 bar, now the value at my gauge variate between 1.1 to 1.3 bar.

2- For the flushing process I use a thermometer in the spout to help me to figure out how much water to flush before the brew shot, I remove the thermometer before the brew shot, it is not perfect, but it help (see the pictures).

<image>

Regards

Ben PB

Cheers Ben,

I am set to 1.0-1.2 bar, at frothing it trails 1bar and at brewing it trails at 1.2bar. I will change and see how i find it but instinctively based on flavour profile i was thinking of taking it down to 0.9 and 1.1 bar. I think the frothing will suffer at 0.9 a bit.

For your flushing what are your observations time and flashing wise?

I heat up for 45 mins do a cooling flush for 4-6 seconds until flashing stops, prep porta and grinds and log the weights - Do another flush (this one is a shorter flush) until flashing stops and pull the shot.

N6GQ wrote:Benoitpb, I like your thermometer placement, I will try that myself!

Radio.yyz, I checked my pump pressure with the blank (backflush) disk in the portafilter. It is right on the high point of the green range, around 10 bar I think if I remember right. I have not moved the pressurestat setting from factory.

BTW, not sure if it matters, but when I spoke to Clive during the buying process, he told me they burn in the machines there. I didn't think to ask if they move anything away from factory settings, but presumably they could "tune up" machines if they are out of spec at some point I imagine before shipping to the customer.

I also inquired about how often to backflush with Cafiza, they suggested (based on my usage) about every 5 weeks. Not too often because more often may dry out the lubricants in the o-rings, etc. They suggested though backflushing with just water would be a reasonable thing to do regularly.

I'm also going to do a weekly boiler dump for good measure (as suggested in WLL video).

Cheers!

Interesting, i am at similar settings as yours, mine did not come like that and i had to set it up like that.

That's my understanding about cafiza as well to do after 150 shots or so. I don't usually do back flushing with blind too often maybe will add that to my weekly routine.

Hoping to get more Profitec Pro 500 Love going.

When the machine is Already Hot.
If the machine is on idle during more than 10 min I flush during 30 sec to reach 93 C.
I grind my bean.
And I do my Brew Shot.

I think my pressure is little bit to high, I will decrease it to 1 bar (+/- 0.9 to 1.1 bar).

When you finish to flush after 4 to 6 sec, did read the temperature ?

Regards

Ben P B

Hi,

I will check temperature using same method as yours.

Yes your pressure is too high and i found that when pulling a shot it would stay at the higher end of limit as the pstat would come in, with steam i found it does not click very quickly and the pressure stays at 1 for me.

The 0.9-1.1bar range sounds like a good one, i feel anything lower maybe too hard to froth milk perhaps.