@HBfencing: if you lift the lever all the way up you'll have boiler pressure in the chamber and at the gauge also.
@spressomon : Some LM gauges indicate 0 bar at boiler pressure. It's about recalibrating.

Some help for those of you who should make recalibrating with the NAKED gauge:

Thanks Gabor

So easy even a caveman can do it

spressomon wrote:I probably missed it along the way, but why remove the gauge face?

Sorry, gauge face! I offer two gauges. A stock LM Strada and a custom NAKED

HBfencing wrote:Well I was definitely not grinding as fine as I thought I was. I was only reaching about 6 bars with as much force as I could so I'm going to grind a little tighter - and see if I can get to 9 bars.

Dosing also plays a role in this. There is a tremendous impact on lever pressure with a 1g difference in dose. I am currently dosing Redbird at 16.5g. At my present grind setting, 18g would be almost a choke shot. At 15.2g the same dose will pull at 9 bar and take probably 1/4 the time to pull of the 18 g dose. I'm using taste to dictate what the dose should be - at this combination, the chocolate bomb is insanely good.

What's been curious to my wife and I is the affect of chilling to bring out the chocolate tone even more. She wants me to pull an 8oz latte and leave it in the refrigerator for a good 4 hours. It's better than chocolate milk - the chocolate flavor without any added sugar.

Thanks Jwcrema and so true. I don't vary my dose as much as I probably could. I'm using an elektra double basket which allows me to use 16 grams comfortably and I usually settle in at 15.5 grams. I might go up to 16.5 grams but I've never tried 17 grams but of course depends on the beans you are using as well.

Lately I've been using hairbender because my local bakery has it and I get it fresh. In addition for every 10 purchases I get one free so it works out for me.

I've been wanting to try redline but the shipping to me is a bit cost prohibitive so I'm going to try some Redbird - heard it's best 7 days rest and the refrigeration idea sounds great

Hi there,

I've shipped all 2,5mm spacers, spare o-rings and some pins to the owners of recent Cremina kits today. I hope it won't that long as shipping the kits and you'll be satisfied with the result.

The kit for the '67 Cremina is out of stock expecting the next small batch mid of February.

We launched the Pavoni version two weeks ago. Looking forward to more feedback to come.

Checking our options with the Strietman

naked-portfilter wrote:Checking our options with the Strietman

Looking forward to see the progress.

I received my pressure gauge yesterday, and after Gábor told me it was about a 10 minute job (if one is familiar with the group disassembly process), I decided to tackle it while I was cooking dinner

First, I must say what a pleasure it was doing business with Gábor. Despite the language difference and being on different continents, communications might as well have been with my next door neighbor. No auto reply emails like most online purchases, instead you receive personal email from Gábor himself, and quick replies to any questions. It is amazing that we have this community that spans the globe, and I'm tickled to be a part of it.

I tried to time myself, because I thought there's no way this will be a quick job. I had to stop and tend to the stove a few times, but I was in and out in around 30 minutes. And this includes the 6 or 7 minutes it took to view the instructional video

I was NOT familiar with group teardown, but it was straightforward enough that it did not matter. The video, coupled with this thread, made for an easy install.

I did not take pictures during the process, since my fingers were dirty & greasy and the process has been well documented, but I know that everyone likes pictures, so...

Here's what arrived:





...and the finished product:





Of course, I had to immediately try it out. I found that I likely had been pulling shots in the 4-6 bar range before. 9 took more effort than I thought it should.

Gauge reading during pre-infusion (boiler pressure only):



...and during the pull:



Despite my grind being set to accommodate my lower pressure pulls, I could immediately detect some new flavors, and can't wait to get everything dialed in and experience beans from a new perspective. It's nice being able to see the pressure for consistent results.

I highly recommend this kit!

Great pictures Cameron! I'm happy you managed assembling the kit even while cooking (I hope your dinner was just as fine - without silicon grease and popping c-clips - as your assembled Cremina).

Important announcement! If anybody needs to re-calibrate her/his gauge.

I received a very kind mail (in another topic) from watchmaker espressoenthusiast Dan (I think he is a HB member also) this is an excerpt from our mail exchange:

Dan:"I can show you the Watchmaker way to remove the hands much safer on pressure gauge "

Me - there are other mad souls out there . As I see your crazyness about watches ..... I think I'm a quite ordinary guy.
yes pls. I make it quite violently for your taste, right? Show me your way pls!-

Dan: "Haa haaa !! Violent yes very much..... Because you do not remove hand from post in concentric fashion with proper tools and practice under magnification more than likely every time bend the hand MALE post and the runout of the hand is now not precise as new anymore. Also the FEMALE hand tube on the hand itself ID once removed in this violent fashion enlarges it's internal diameter (ID) in an oblong fashion and a few things can happen over time, or immediate (maybe you have seen). The hand tube is friction fit to male post and pressed on with exact pressure at factory. Now you fitting female oblong hand tube to slightly bent male post with wrong tools. Remember Gabor we only see this under high magnification."

I hope he doesn't mind that I shared his advices.

A picture how to remove the hand carefully without special tools: