exidrion wrote:I thought brass was considered a really bad idea these days...

It's just a material, with pluses and minuses. It's how the material is used that matters.

In addition, brass is much more expensive (in both material and processing) than it used to be.

In this case the brass is being used to make a group which will hold the water you'll be drinking. With all the strict regulations concerning lead leaching & brass it seems an odd choice particularly since they are heating the group. Stainless seems to be the material of choice these days. Kees redesigned the Speedster in 2020 to eliminate all remaining brass in contact with the water.

Kees went with a stainless group & boilers in 2008 & I seriously doubt it was to save a few bucks. The recent redesign was to eliminate any water contact with brass.

Modern brass is lead free. What I also found on the marlin wire.com:

As noted in the FDA's Food Rule, "copper and copper alloys such as brass may not be used in contact with a FOOD that has a pH below 6 such as vinegar, fruit JUICE, or wine or for a fitting or tubing installed between a backflow prevention device and a carbonator."

Brass is a better heat conductor.

JohnB. wrote:In this case the brass is being used to make a group which will hold the water you'll be drinking. With all the strict regulations concerning lead leaching & brass it seems an odd choice particularly since they are heating the group. Stainless seems to be the material of choice these days. Kees redesigned the Speedster in 2020 to eliminate all remaining brass in contact with the water.

Perhaps they are drawing from their existing designs and parts? The thermal characteristics of brass are quite different from stainless steel. Designing a completely new group may not make economic sense at the volumes of ES-1's that Synesso is expecting to make.

Regardless, stainless steel - to be specific, 304 - is popular these days for some applications like boilers primarily because it is now less expensive than brass once machining costs, regulatory requirements, and (EU) reporting burden are included. (Some high-end machines use 316; a different situation.)

A Speedster is in a different price bracket - assuming that the ES-1 is priced competitively with the GS/3. If the ES-1 is eventually sold at Speedster prices, then that would be a different matter.

Brass is often plated with electroless nickle. The nickel seals the water from the brass. Probably Synesso does this plating too. I did it years ago with all copper and brass parts of my Lambro.

Just to update you lads on the ES1... got some definite news that it will be first released in the states then worldwide distribution should start in December.

The thing I didn't like is that it seems they upped the starting price from "GS3" range (which costs around 7700 USD locally) to 9k-10k USD.

Well it seems I am gonna stick a bit more with the bianca.

Seems like it moves further back every time it get somewhat close

I'm just glad I'm not remotely tempted by it - the lack of real time paddle control is a fatal flaw imho