Have not tested water hardness entering the machine, however, water exiting machine is considerably harder and has a distinct mineral (stale?) taste when compared to water heated in a kettle or a pot on the stove. It's been a long time since I've been to Iowa city, but each time I remember it takes a few days before I'm used to the flavor of the water there. Quite a bit harder than the Vancouver rainwater reservoirs.

I loved hearing your story Brian - thanks for taking the time to post it! The only thing I would add to your set up is a scale if you don't already have one. It'll help to get the most out of your excellent set up.

Thanks, we do have a gram scale. It's probably buried with my backpacking stuff. Gotta dig that out and play with it tomorrow.

As for my question about the water, perhaps I worded it incorrectly. Is it normal for there to be a metallic or mineral taste for water running through the copper boiler?

Tech wrote:Thanks, we do have a gram scale. It's probably buried with my backpacking stuff. Gotta dig that out and play with it tomorrow.

0,1g precision scale would do better. 1g is not precise enough in espresso making.

You can get them f.ex. from eBay for about a fiver. Or you could go with the Brewista (with timer) or even Acaia (w/timer) scales. There also are some other good suggestions at the forum.

Thanks for posting your story, btw. It was a good read and brought back some memories.

Hmm, fine gram scale huh. Maybe I'll start measuring the dose too then

Draining the boiler!

Well, evidently the water has been sitting in the boiler for a long time, in spite of the fact that I steam milk daily. Thankfully the taste wasn't from milk fouling.

Whenever I tried drawing water from the hot water dispensing spout, I noticed that after 4-5 oz it would stop due to temperature drop from the auto-fill circuit. Today, I flipped the power switch off before drawing water, and was able to draw 550mL, draining the whole boiler. After two rinse and heat cycles with fresh tap water, the hot water tastes lots better.

Will continue to monitor the taste of the water over the next couple weeks to figure out the boiler drain schedule. Daily? Weekly? Monthly? Before pursuing the de-scale route.

I've been running the machine off a $15 timer for a while. Works great, running for 45 minutes before the alarm clock goes off, switches off when it's time for me to head to work. Has plenty of programming ability to set the times for all the days of the week, or several on/off programs per day even. One of the better $15 items I've purchased.



One nit pick with the timer is that in order to turn the machine on and off manually, I have to cycle through ON/OFF/AUTO and need to see the tiny letters on the display. Which is impossible with my old tired eyes, in low light, when the timer is tucked behind the machine on the wall. So if it's a long weekend, and I don't want to get up early on Monday, what's a guy to do? Or if I have guests on the weekend and want to play barista?

If I messed up the AUTO and left it OFF, it makes for a terrible start the next morning. I had exactly one of these incidents. To prevent future occurrences, I had resorted to unplugging the coffee machine from the timer and plugging it directly into the other outlet on the wall. What a pain.

Thinking about it, I searched for a timer with an easy to use bypass. Like the mechanical ones we used when I was a kid. But those weren't programmable for different times during different days of the week. One step forwards, two steps back. I couldn't find what I was looking for. It's like they don't exist!

What I need was a box that allowed me to switch the machine on without disturbing the program. But without unplugging the machine all the time. If I can't find one, I guess I'll have to build one?

So I got a box and did this, using the same lighted switch that's on the front of my coffee machine.



It's not perfect, but it works for now. I have to re-wire the internals for better safety at some point this week, so that the white plug isn't energized when the switch is flipped on.

The red switch is ON/AUTO which bypasses the timer entirely.

Of course, when I consulted with an electrician, he mentions that there are indeed timers with switches on them.

http://www.leviton.com/en/products/VPT24-1PZ

Leviton makes a light switch with a timer built in. And you can switch it on anytime. Might have to pick one up and try it. But my box on the countertop does work for now.