Her mods are done and the grinder is in, so I'm going down to pick up my new Quick Mill Alexia PID and La Cimbali Max Hybrid tomorrow. I'm taking a couple o' pounds of fresh-roasted Lighthouse Espresso Blend with me, and the vendor is going to help me dial in the grinder. ...

I agree. Flushing doesn't bother me at all. I know to do it, and I tend to view it as more of an opportunity to add a level of control to my shots than a confusing variable. I don't think I would bother to try to make my own "automated" flush control, but it would be a nice feature at

I agree that HX espresso machines could be made more foolproof. Eric's E61 thermocouple adapter goes a long way towards that goal; the next natural step, for those who want to use HX espresso machines with less hassle, would be automating the flush step. For example, an auto-flush sensor and interlo...

I need to go back and re-read this thread, I may have misunderstood where the conversation was going. As to the Silvia, in the interest of full disclosure, I have never used one. My information comes from those that do have them. If a person was looking at getting their first machine, I don't think ...

My experience too. And it can be the last. To develop your barista skills, read other people's experiences with the water dance, but be aware this preparatory process really depends on the settings of your machine. With some of the coffees in the market being not forgiving at all, I really needed a ...

I don't have very good taste buds nor can I define the different flavours in the cup. I can't really identify a cup of being acidic or bitter. Currently I have my PIDed silvia set to 220f which results at about 190f brewing temp (according to data from ""thermologging the new pod capable Silvia"" -t...

Have you tried a compromise, split the pressurestat settings so you still have acceptable steaming power for a drink or two while retaining a mellower cup from the lower setting? I had one machine that I would run at 0.85 bar. That lowered the flush but I still had plenty of steam power, but that wa...

I just rebuilt my La Pavoni Europiccola, and after removing the cover on the bottom, I noticed that there are a few very small rust spots inside of the base. I used some steel wool to remove the rust, and figured I should just paint the inside of the base to keep them from coming back. I was

"I'll yield to Ken of coarse but I don't know of anybody who knows how to reliably read the internal temperature of the beans themselves during a roast. Typically temperatures are taken inside the tumbling bean mass" tim, that is what i thought - reading the surface temperature of the beans, but yet...

... benefited. I got my x*$ 3grp Linea, completely field stripped down to the last nut and rebuilt, for less than half the cost of a new one including PID