My apologies, Yes, the right gauge (pump) sits at 2psi after pulling a shot and the machine is there on idle

So I have an update... After reading more threads, I decided to see what the pressure was with a blind, it was at 12. I did a quarter spin on the opv, and no change, I ended up doing a full turn to get the pressure at 10 with a blind.

I pulled a shot, pressure was a 10...dropped to 9 when the heating element came on. It was course so I have to dial in the coffee which I'll do tomorrow. But Im excited because the pressure is not jumping all over the place.

Regarding the boiler gauge... When the heating element turns on, I notice that the pressure builds to about 1.4... Then when the element turns off, it drops down to 1.1... But then the heating element turns on again. Is that fine, or should I drop the boiler pressure?

My boiler pressure originally switched off at 1.1 bar and turned on about .9 bar. I have lowered mine to track with a max of 1 bar and a turn on at .8. I like the espresso better at those settings. Your machine will likely vary a bit on indicated pressure as these are not precision gauges. They are relative to your machine and probably not calibrated to a precision standard on a dead weight tester. Even if calibrated with the small size of the gauge they will be marginal at best. With the readings you are getting though I would adjust to a lower set point with the pressure stat. These are done through the top under the plate warmer tray. The adjustment takes a fair amount of turning to see a change. I would start with one full turn and see where that leaves you on the gauge. I do a couple of flushes and then let it stabilize before making a second adjustment. Take your time as you are only using water and no coffee until you get it where you want to give it a try. Best of luck on this. My shots are much improved since dropping the boiler pressure but that is to my taste, yours may prove differently.

Thanks for the reply, I'll adjust the boiler this afternoon to see if I can lower it... I moved it a small amount (very minimal) and it did not move much last night. I'll try again.

I pulled a shot this morning, and I can already say that there's a HUGE difference in the taste of my coffee. I was still at 10 bars, so I have to continue to adjust the grind and grams to get to the point where I think will be good. I'm just happy that I finally getting the machine to work properly and that the additional adjustments just depends on my grind. This Forum is great ... I should have came here beforehand and maybe I would have solved this a long time ago. Thanks everyone. I'll report in later with the boiler adjustments.

FWIW, I use medium roast coffees and have my pump pressure presently set to 8 bar. I just got an order of Red Bird Espresso and will give it a try with my present settings but I have been considering to lower my brew pressure by another bar to 7, more in line with what many are doing following Matt Perger's guidance. As I have been progressively lowering temperature and brew pressures my shots have gotten more the way I want them to taste. Of course as in all things this is guided by the palate of the person doing the drinking of the coffee. This has been an interesting voyage for me to improve my espresso and I hope you can find the right settings also.

On average, when lowering your brewing pressure, how many turns do you have to make? Same question goes for boiler pressure?


I've ordered from red bird quiet a bit, I like blue jaguar.

For the VBM, I would adjust the OPV such that the maximum pressure you see on the brew pressure gage is 10.0 bar with a blind filter. Usually a quarter turn is sufficient.

The boiler pressure gage is a different story because these machines are TYPICALLY fitted with a Sirai pressurestat which takes a few whole turns to effect any change. Adjust this such that your heating element cuts off at a MAXIMUM pressure of 1.00 bar.

Flush a few ounces and brew away but please note that it takes the machine ABOUT 30 minutes or so to adjust internal temperatures to a change in boiler pressure, depending upon the severity of the change.

The boiler pressure adjustment takes quite a bit of adjustment to see a change, I would start with a full 360° turn and see what happens but it may take more. It has been so long ago that I adjusted brew pressure I do not remember how many turns were required and my machine has a rotary pump so it may be completely different. Getting old has some detriments memorywise.

I am a new customer at Red Bird and I ordered 5 lb. of RB Espresso and 1 lb. of Blue Jaguar. I had read so many good comments about the flavors of the RB Espresso I went for it first. Upon receiving my package of coffee today I was pleased to find they had also included smaller sample packages of Costa Rica and Sweet Blue for me to try. I had considered ordering a pound of Sweet Blue but decided to try it with the next order as it will take me a bit to work my way through this batch. With service like this I can see why so many are pleased with the Red Bird folks. If their coffee is as good as the reviews, which I expect it will be, they certainly deserve the accolades.

I see EricS has answered so I would follow his advice.

My boiler pressure . . . yours may prove differently.

Dead weight gage testers ? . . . that takes me back 50 years . . . many fond memories of testing gages and creating graphs (by hand, on paper). Nice write up, by the way.

You are most correct as regards pressure gages on espresso machines. Some certainly APPEAR better than others but who knows?

It appears my food industry maintenance background is peaking out. Lots of 4-20 and 3-15 huff and puff in my past. Some things just absolutely positively have to be right or your Cheerios look and taste funny. Working with Foxboro equipment over the years makes you just a little bit obsessive regarding precision calibrations.