ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva - New User Questions - Page 6

A haven dedicated to manual espresso machine aficionados.
espressotime
Posts: 1751
Joined: 14 years ago

#51: Post by espressotime »

Cuprajake wrote:IF you can remove the nut, I did try as I was interested in seeing what a single spring did,, however the nut on my Evo is so tight I risked damaging the chrome group to undo.

I left it as a double spring.
If there' s locktight in the grooves you should be able to see it .
Make some led or copper vicecovers so you won' t scratch the nuts and clamp it in .

Ad-85
Posts: 548
Joined: 4 years ago

#52: Post by Ad-85 »

A car shop (which had a lathe) helped me unscrew that nut on the evo. There's another inner spring that @NelisB sourced which peaks at 8bars instead of the 10.5 OEM. I say go for it! Try everything you can with your machine and see for yourself if you like it or not (people told me not to do it but when I did it was a day and night difference! But taste is subjective). Keep pushing your machine's limits and I'd ask @NelisB about his pump mod too (which is interesting!). If there was a thing that I didn't like on the evo, it would be the massive pre infusion flow rate. I wonder if NelisB's mod would help with that.
LMWDB #691
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Cuprajake
Posts: 551
Joined: 2 years ago

#53: Post by Cuprajake »

i recently went to a water feed on my evo, same bar pressure 2.5bar, but the water came in much slower, the result very acidic coffee.

pump back in and the sweetness returned. this is with med light stuff, like above, depends what you drink and what settings you have,

for me personally i feel the temp adjustments are more important than the spring

espressotime
Posts: 1751
Joined: 14 years ago

#54: Post by espressotime replying to Cuprajake »

Temperature is most important to me too .
But next is pressureprofile.There's a reason I sold my Pompei when I finished my Lambro.

DenisSabou
Posts: 120
Joined: 1 year ago

#55: Post by DenisSabou »

People who did not enjoy higher pressure shots are mostly people who are running higher extraction grinders. The higher pressure springs ±11 bar extracts a lot more than 6 bar ones, the first week with the leva and the niche I was hitting 23-25% ey in 1-2 ratio on 11 bar profiles.

With the Decent I could never hit in a normal 25 sec shot 23% EY on the niche. Shots can be harsh if you use a 98mm flat grinder and use 11 bars, also those grinders and some others that grind much finer because they have a narrow distribution, will end up with bad taste under high pressure because the finer the grind and the higher the pressure then the harder for the water to flow in.

If you ever pulled a shot that was too fine, you see that when the pressure drops bellow a certain point (7 bar) the dead spots/dry in the puck on the naked portafilter start to open and coffee flows from there too. It's exactly the same principle with 98mm or unimodal flat grinders.

So what applies to those grinders wont apply to other grinders, and then coffee roasting degree comes into play.

For me I tried comparing shots on the same day with 2 springs vs 1 spring (yes I did up and down the temps and tried different things 1-2 to 1-4 ratio) and the low pressure shots on both Niche and Bentwood tasted flat, less lively, mellow, tamed down a few notches, did not have any spark in the cup, and a bit lacking sweetness more sour, like almost ripe fruits.

When I pulled shots on the Decent with flat 3-6-9 bar pressures, the 3 bar shots were the most sour, they flowed really nice in the cup but the sourness dominated the cup (not the good acidity of a ripe fruit but sour juice).

So I think that you should try for yourself and see what you like, depending on grinder, water, coffee beans roast degree and so on. Dont take anything from forums as the solution for you, question everything and try it. I did try it and I posted my conclusions.
I also believe someone if he tells me he likes 1 spring 7 bar peak shots.

PS: I used my evo leva with niche, bentwood c63, ek43 with ssp 98mm hu and turkish pre 2015 burrs, ultra levercraft with 98mm ssp hu, df64 with 64mm ssp brew burrs.
★ Helpful

NelisB
Posts: 969
Joined: 14 years ago

#56: Post by NelisB »

**POST #55 MOST IMPORTANT**
It's the combination of all factors that determines the result in your cup.

Fwiw:
At the moment, I again have a different inner spring installed, giving a max of 7 bar. I am experimenting with low pi pressure, low spring pressure, low temp, ssp 80mm-mp and filter roasts.

I am pumpless, taking pressure from the line, via a pressure regulator, but the conversion didn't decrease flow. Even if I reduce pressure to 1.5 bar, i still get a strong flow.

I experience that high PI pressure gives much bitter in the cup. Also with high pi pressure (3bar) the spring kicks in sooner (lever lower).

macaber8 (original poster)
Posts: 143
Joined: 1 year ago

#57: Post by macaber8 (original poster) »

Thanks for the spring removal advise.

I have been practicing the lever technique lately. On one hand, I did not expect that the OOTB spring pressure is at 11bar and I had to interrupt the spring motion to get 9 bar before I bought the machine. On the other hand, pulling the lever is fun, holding the pressure is like a meditation for me and I enjoy the process. Getting a spring that automatically goes to 9 bar is great but I thought keeping the original one would give me more flexibility. I just wish the pressure gauge is facing up instead of facing horizontal direction.

Another thing to note is the massive initial flow rate for pre-infusion: I thought this is very much desired for proper pre-infusion, and also a major key feature of lever machines comparing to non-lever machines. My understanding is this enforces consistent extraction every single time. This is why lever machines are so forgiving.

macaber8 (original poster)
Posts: 143
Joined: 1 year ago

#58: Post by macaber8 (original poster) »

boshk wrote:video

using the pressure gauge instead of a scale for the final shot
Thanks for sharing. I noticed that I didn't really need a scale and start using pressure gauge. I really wish there could be some sort of automatic shut off when pressure hit certain value then this process can be more consistent and less messy.

DaveC
Posts: 1743
Joined: 17 years ago

#59: Post by DaveC replying to macaber8 »

I gave ACS the idea/method to do this with the Vostok, based around a simple shot timer they were developing. That technology will come to the Evo in time. It may be an add on module as it's not easy to integrate it into the existing case and front panel. The Vostok has been tried with the technology and it works very well for consistent shot weights.

macaber8 (original poster)
Posts: 143
Joined: 1 year ago

#60: Post by macaber8 (original poster) »

DaveC wrote:I gave ACS the idea/method to do this with the Vostok, based around a simple shot timer they were developing. That technology will come to the Evo in time. It may be an add on module as it's not easy to integrate it into the existing case and front panel. The Vostok has been tried with the technology and it works very well for consistent shot weights.

video

video
Hi DaveC. This is exactly what I am talking about. It would be very nice if vesuvius can have this feature as well.