Olympia Cremina SL and dialing in - Page 3

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LObin
Posts: 1793
Joined: 7 years ago

#21: Post by LObin »

walterP wrote:Yep you pointed out what I was seeing this am.
Preinfusion / Lever down will keep that gate open and you are letting in X amount of water based on time, grind dose ect... I did not account for that one. I had it in my head that with a spring lever I only had 2 big variables. (dose and grind)

I think I made better progress on my grind but looking at it now I think I need to figure out a bunch more. Got "better" tasting shots. Crema not so fantastic. the two big things I noticed that look off are my time and yield.

- I moved to 13 grams for the dose to try and simplify.
- I was pulling my cup out when the piston arbor returned to home position. (thinking that was my fixed yield)
- did a 5 sec preinfusion on all shots (forgot to note what ones dripped at or before 5 sec but some did not drip)

shot 1: 37g out 40 sec
shot 2: finer grind 37.5 out 40 sec
shot 3: Finer grind 32.5 out 45 sec
Shot 4: Went more coarse than #1 33.7 out 32 sec (best tasting of all of these)

Using these smaller portafilters makes gathering baseline info tough as not as much Youtube wind is blowing around on them... Everything is typically based on the 58mm stuff and they all talk about ~30 sec for shot time so I am guessing my times are a bit high? also thinking I should try and get the full 14 grams in the basket to work on the ratio.

This long weekend should allow time for me to dig in further and look at the mass balance process above. (Thank you!)

Fun indeed!
How much recovery time between each shots?
If they were pulled somewhat close to one another, I'm thinking the higher group temperature could also have affected the taste.

I also noticed the lesser amount of crema when using my Olympia Club or La Peppina. These smaller groups have springs that don't typically extract at the now standard 9 bar of pressure. I believe I read that the Cremina SL had a 6 bar capable spring. Mouthfeel, thickness and sweetness amongst others, will differ compare to a pump driven machine, for sure.

Another variable is the possibility to add extraction pressure by assisting the lever on this group.
Although, you may not be looking for extra variables at the moment...

Cheers!
LMWDP #592

walterP (original poster)
Posts: 14
Joined: 7 years ago

#22: Post by walterP (original poster) »

Yep,
Made some real progress. 3 day old dark espresso blend. 13.5 grams bit less fine on grind and Im getting happy.
Cerini does not have any baskets right now but they are working on that. They did advise just shorting the shot per my tastes and that was a good move. This thing is such a joy... And with this being my 12th post looks like its time to put the Rocket on the for sale section!
Thanks for all the tips!


spressomon wrote:Darker roasts take up more basket space...13.4 to 14.5 grams for me in the Mcal baskets. But mostly I like medium to light roasts so I typically dose 15 to sometimes 16 grams using the same baskets on my Cremina.

I do like a lower boiler pressure setting, for moderating the brew water temp, as it runs a bit hot (typical boiler fed lever really) especially on back-to-back shots without a cold wet rag trick to cool the group. But then steaming is paltry. But I have a few Bellman steamers to pitch hit so prefer getting the espresso right.

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LObin
Posts: 1793
Joined: 7 years ago

#23: Post by LObin »

https://www.espressocare.com/products/i ... ble-basket

This is a good start.

Like others said, the Strietman baskets are great when you wanna toy with larger doses for those lighter roasts.
LMWDP #592

walterP (original poster)
Posts: 14
Joined: 7 years ago

#24: Post by walterP (original poster) replying to LObin »

Strietman basket was a MASSIVE improvement. Went from 13.5 grams max to 15.5 grams and that has been yielding nice cups for sure.
Decided to make a new tamper that has a super nice fit and fixed depth (Did some measuring and figured out a nice good depth). Not as fancy as some of the adjustable units for sale (Well not for 49mm).... but hey.
Boxed up the Rocket and sent it to its new owner on Monday.

Im sold on spring levers now.








mikel
Posts: 150
Joined: 5 years ago

#25: Post by mikel »

Glad it is working for you!
walterP wrote:Strietman basket was a MASSIVE improvement.
I had a similar experience with the Strietman baskets on my Cremina. I couldn't get the consistency in pulls I was getting with my Strietman with either the original Cremina baskets or Elektra Micro Casa double baskets. Swapping a Strietman basket into the Cremina made a big difference (with my beans and grinder).

LObin
Posts: 1793
Joined: 7 years ago

#26: Post by LObin »

That's awesome!

What basket size did you get? Some of the larger dose ones will only fit a bottomless but it seems you're getting away with the stock portafilter.

Great job on the tamper btw!
LMWDP #592

walterP (original poster)
Posts: 14
Joined: 7 years ago

#27: Post by walterP (original poster) »

I got this one : https://www.espressocare.com/products/i ... ble-basket

And looking at it inside the stock portafilter it has tons of room to spare. At this point, I doubt it could be useful to be any bigger than say 1-1.5 more grams max? Prolly more than fine I'd guess. Like I said, I'm crazy happy compared to my last setup!

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LObin
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#28: Post by LObin »

I think you meant the Elektra MCAL basket and not the Strietman... ;)

Keep us posted. The SL is a special machine!

Cheers!
LMWDP #592

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StefanoB
Posts: 46
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#29: Post by StefanoB »

jwCrema wrote: I feel your two main variables are pre-infusion time and dose.
What about temperature?
Stefano

jwCrema
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#30: Post by jwCrema replying to StefanoB »

On the Cremina, Club and MCAL I set the temperature so the taste is not sour or bitter; I've found the .7-.9 range on the boiler cap manometer I use on Olympia machines to meet that goal.

After the pstat is set, I recheck it periodically - maybe every three months or more. Otherwise, it's not changed.