Hi Nicholas,

Yup I also think that the water at the shower screen is the coldest in the system and I want to check what's the difference between that spot and 1inch above it, on top of the group bell. Assuming that the difference is going to be 2*C it would seem that I'm brewing at 88*C which is highly unlikely as espresso from Los Luchadores brewed at 88*C would be rather unpleasant. So it looks like something isn't right.

I don't have a pressure gauge in the machine but I do have a PF mounted one which I used to set 8.5bar on the group. I might be getting a pressure transducer soon, which I bought of ebay, but I can't get a hold of the seller, so I'm not sure how it will go. The shots do look nice, tiger striping and all, the crema looks good and the shots don't really taste bad, it's just the smell that was a bit off. I will try and take a few photos of the shot to show you how it looks like.

I've just had a salt-filled water softener installed at my flat and everything is running from the softened water line, including my espresso machine. We will see how that affects the taste.

Regards,
dsc.

dsc wrote:I don't have a pressure gauge in the machine but I do have a PF mounted one which I used to set 8.5bar on the group. I might be getting a pressure transducer soon, which I bought of ebay, but I can't get a hold of the seller, so I'm not sure how it will go. The shots do look nice, tiger striping and all, the crema looks good and the shots don't really taste bad, it's just the smell that was a bit off. I will try and take a few photos of the shot to show you how it looks like.

Ah, OK. 8.5 bar on a blind filter may be a little low, but you're certainly in the ballpark. Rotary pumps (in particular, the one on the Elektra) have such high flow rate that they probably don't see a huge drop in pressure from 0 flow to shot-pulling flow, but it's likely something to keep in mind. Pictures would be great, as well as keeping us posted on how the changes affect the problem.

As to water quality, your water authority will know about it. You need a slight patina of (preferably fresh) coffee oils covering the group in order to avoid metallic tastes, but a few seasoning shots after a chemical backflush will do that (water backflushes do not remove the patina).

Try another coffee to see whether it's the coffee or something else. For all I know, the grinder may need a few more pounds. My Compak needed about 4 Kilos (6 to 7 weeks for me) to really get comfortable. On the other hand, it wasn't imparting off flavors before that.

If you are sending softened water to your water filter, you will be double-softening it, which may give you issues.

Also, how old is the brita filter cartridge? You are supposed to change them once a year or after a certain quantity of flow. I don't think you will pull enough water through it to exhaust it, so if it is bad, it will be due to age.

Hi Darren,

I'm not sure how old it is, but I'm guessing 2-3 years. I don't think it had a lot of water pushed through it, but if they age I should probably replace it. On the other hand when soft water in the pipes I don't really need a water softener anymore, so I guess I can unplug it (although that Brita also acts like a filter removing bad taste and other stuff so maybe I should leave it in).

I haven't got any pics (too busy with the ion generator for the grinder) as I didn't do any extractions yesterday, but I should upload something today.

Regards,
dsc.

Ideally, if you have softened water feeding the line, you should simply get a carbon filter and nothing else. Can you get such a filter for the Brita housing? If not, I'd source something else. Carbon filters are pretty inexpensive, so it might save you money in the long run, filter replacement-wise.

Hi Nicholas,

yeah I thought about that too, I think even a smaller inline carbon filter would be enough. I will try to find out if Brita makes any carbon cartridges to fit the tank. Btw here's how the ion exchange filter looks like:



And here's today's shot, which was a bit too fast (grinder was a bit too coarse):



Temp 92*C on the display and this time I could actually taste the too low temperature (although it wasn't too bad, sort of like lemon grass which is normal for this coffee). I'm switching to something else tomorrow so I will have point of reference.

Regards,
dsc.

dsc wrote:I'm not sure how old [the Brita cartridge] is, but I'm guessing 2-3 years. I don't think it had a lot of water pushed through it, but if they age I should probably replace it.

At that age you could quite easily have a bacterial build-up in the Brita cartridge, and that could easily account for the taste you're getting. As others have said, replace it with a simple carbon one, and while you're in there, clean the housing with a dilute bleach solution.

Best,
David

Hi David,

thanks for the tip I was actually planning to remove the whole Brita filter and install a smaller inline filter like this:

Granular activated coconut shell carbon

The description says it's better than normal carbon, but I don't know how true that is. You think it would be good enough?

I got me a TDS meter and a drop-based water hardness kit and apparently I have now very soft water which is around 220-230ppm TDS, but the water straight from the group head is 170ppm and it's hardness is somewhere around 50-60ppm (a bit low).

Regards,
dsc.

dsc wrote:yeah I thought about that too, I think even a smaller inline carbon filter would be enough. I will try to find out if Brita makes any carbon cartridges to fit the tank. Btw here's how the ion exchange filter looks like:

I am having the exact same installed in my house soon. I am really interested about what it will do to the shots. Fingers crossed

Cheers,

Bas