Cafelat Robot User Experience - Page 332

January 24th, 2021, 7:08 pm

gilesw wrote:Hello robotiers I have a couple of questions:-

How do people feel about the hoff's method of weighing the water rather than the output?

What mug can fit inbetween the legs and still allow me to do latte art with enough volume?

What do people do for making 2 drinks? Is it possible to do a quadruple shot with a coarser grind?

Failed miserably for me!

For cups I like Nespresso cups. If I'm making a cappuccino I I use a Nespresso Pixie Aluminum cup. Fits perfectly and I then use that to transfer to my drink if I'm not drinking a shot.

I fill the water to the top. The higher the water, the more resistance and feedback you get.

I let it go to 1 - 1.5 / first drop.
Hold 10-15 secs
Ramp up to 6-8.

Less pre infusion the longer I find it takes to make a shot.

The more I let the water pre infuse the better and easier it is to Control

On a side not I tried Turkish coffee from the middle east and it ran almost immediately like syrup. I had to ramp that baby up fast.

Did a salami"ish" method and the first few seconds is syrup. The end of the shot is yum.

All together it was quite complex. Anyone ever try Turkish?

#3312: Post by **Jonk** » January 25th, 2021, 4:53 am

gilesw wrote:Down at the 10 range I could barely get it to run without absolutely hammering the pressure and very little crema so I assumed I was doing it wrong. Do you pre-infuse for a long time so the puck is wet enough to allow you to push through.

Specifics will vary heavily depending on the coffee used, but yes - at lower settings you can only add a low amount of pressure during pre-infusion if you want to be able to push anything through. Doesn't have to be for a long time, but say 15 seconds to hopefully saturate the whole puck evenly.

You get more crema with coarse grounds, no pre-infusion and excessive force. Try it for yourself though - do you think it tastes better?
I'm stirring the shot anyway and prefer smoother taste and an easier time over more crema.

#3313: Post by **gilesw** » January 25th, 2021, 8:41 am

I'm actually struggling a bit with the mugs. Most of them are too tall when combined with a set of scales or too small. I don't like having to angle the mug in there. The best thing I've found not actually is a 7.5cm high glass mug from habitat. My ideal would be a double sided mug of that height that has a decent capacity. May'be I'll just have to accept that I use one to get the coffee in and a different one to drink from. All ends up cold though.

#3314: Post by **gilesw** » January 25th, 2021, 10:53 am

Hmm I think I might have made the mistake here and thought that acidity is a bad thing. It might just be that these are the first expensive beans off the internet that I bought and they're just supposed to taste like this!

#3315: Post by **jpender** » January 25th, 2021, 11:57 am

Others have asked if preheating is necessary. Optimal temperature depends on the beans to a large extent. For a lot of comfort blends no preheat at all seems to work great.

I've been buying three coffees from a roaster recently, one that is dark/dark-medium, one that is medium/medium-dark, and one that is medium/medium-light. So a gradation of roast levels. And what I've found consistently is that the darkest one is best without any preheat (I actually cool the piston with a fan before pulling the second shot) and also pulled a little short, 1:1.7. The middle blend seems to taste best when I pull 1:2 combined with a double-pour preheat of the basket. And the lightest one, a natural processed bean, is just a little sour unless I preheat the piston too. I also pull it longer, 1:2.3 or so.

For whatever that's worth.

#3316: Post by K7 » January 25th, 2021, 3:07 pm

The little silicone nub on the new dispersion screen broke after 4 months of use.

Cafelat doesn't sell the nub alone (yet) and it costs $37 (including $27 shipping) to get the whole screen set. Too wasteful...

Any suggestion for a cheap DIY replacement option?

January 25th, 2021, 3:24 pm

As a temporary measure, I would just try to find a rubber band that tightly fits the hole doubled, tie a knot, then snip to the desired length. You might be able to find some silicon sheet material, like a hot pad or tubing, and fashion one with scissors. Just a thought.

#3318: Post by **jpender** » January 25th, 2021, 5:13 pm

A rubber band in hot water might just be something you could taste.

Silicone sheet and food grade silicone adhesive is what I'd use to create one. But I already have those things. They'd probably cost you $20.

Another option is to go rigid like the original screen. Buy a small stainless steel (or nylon) bolt and nut.

#3319: Post by K7 » January 25th, 2021, 6:09 pm

Yeah I'm not sure about rubber band due to potential taste and health hazard.

I wonder if a small amount of this silicone sealant shaped into a nub will do. Supposedly food contact safe and high temp resistant.

#3320: Post by **jpender** » January 25th, 2021, 6:26 pm

K7 wrote:I wonder if a small amount of this silicone sealant shaped into a nub will do. Supposedly food contact safe and high temp resistant.

That's the stuff I have. It's possible to do what you're talking about but the adhesive is sticky and takes quite a while to set. So making one in situ would be awkward at the very least. You could mold something elsewhere first and then install it; that might work better. But it would probably be really ugly.

I'm just curious how it broke. And also, if you still have the pieces, maybe you can just glue it back together with silicone.