Completely concur with both of you. Hoos literature is for a roaster with foundational knowledge, not for a novice. His is much more sensory oriented than Rao who is methodical and data-driven. Rao will guide you on how to get a defect-free roast while Hoos will help you find the flavor within those guard rails. Great

Thanks to all for the great discussion and facts. Some of these points I knew, and some were new to me. Poison's comments were right on the nose for me. I am a hybrid. I like the experience, instinct, reliability, and feel, but I also want the data. I have tried both a grouphead thermometer and a flow control valve

Selling this Acaia dosing cup, like new. $25.00 plus shipping within the US. {image} {image}

The motor on this machine sits above the pump so I don't see how water would enter it. I mean it's not that hard to imagine that ~13 years of use could lead to the bearings wearing out eventually. I also just recently picked it up so have no idea how the previous owner worked it (that said it's

Hi All, Two hopefully quick questions. 1) I do daily Clearwater backflushes and monthly clean cycles with cafiza and then do the wiggle backflush afterwards. Any need to drop the shower screen and clean periodically? Or use a brush on the gasket? 2) I've been thinking of moving from the recommended .4g sodium bicarbonate/gallon to third wave

Still nothing. Do you have a picture of where it's placed on yours? {link}

Since the Kuma is a lighter roast, taste might be better if the temperature is increased slightly. My understanding is that, generally, people set temp lower within the range when using highly roasted beans &, to extract more from a lighter roast requires higher temps & a little bit longer time during the pull. What temp are you

Isn't that a nice feeling when it all works out?

Leak coming from the heating element. Cleaned and descaled as you can see in pics. I should add, the machine stopped working so I took it apart, cleaned most everything and then after putting back together, this leak started. So, I ordered 2 new gaskets from Stefano's. Both the stock and Teflon types. put heating element

Personally - I find that grinding finer and pushing the shot toward being slower flowing and what you might consider slightly overextracted (when straight) can be a good approach. My theory is that this will create more intensity in the shot, at a cost of some bitterness, which is well hidden and/or complemented by the milk. I find that