Profitec Pro 500 PID: Initial results & questions - Page 2

Beginner and pro baristas share tips and tricks for making espresso.
vecchi della seattle
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#11: Post by vecchi della seattle »

Marc (WLL) does love his Kenya. In Seattle the Illy comment has the ring of truth; its the 12oz latte that rules the roost.

vecchi della seattle
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Posts: 124
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#12: Post by vecchi della seattle »

After pulling shots on this machine for two months I finally hit perfection this AM. Up to this point I was at best pulling OK shots. The problem is they all look great, hence the surfeit of fabulous youtube videos. The final piece to the puzzle was the basket. The supplied double is pretty good but the holes seem a little fine leading to a slightly coarse grind. I got a La Marzocco Double from Espressoparts.com in Lacy, WA for ~$10 which took a notch finer grind on my mini mazzer and that got me there. My PID is at 249F and I flush about 12oz of water in 3oz increments over about 5 minutes after the machine has warmed up (30 minutes). 19grams of beans for a 30 gram shot. Espresso cup starts at room temperature. I'm pouring the espresso blend from bluestarcoffeeroasters.com, Twisp, WA. I drink a straight shot with ~1/2 gram of organic cane sugar. Lots of chocolate in this pour and the finer grind got me to the sweetness I'm always looking for. Ciao.

95viper
Posts: 12
Joined: 5 years ago

#13: Post by 95viper »

I've had my Profitec 500 PID for a month as early Christmas present. Using with a Eureka Specialita grinding 18 grams into factory basket. Use a Tidaka funnel level out and tamp with Espro calibrated. Set at 253 and time shots at 32 seconds. Use beans roasted at local coffee shop so never more than 3 days old.

I don't know enough about this yet but I get perfection (to me) every time. Took two weeks to dial in grinder and have a small tweak when switching between regular and decaf. I single dose.

I got the Tidaka square tamper stand polished steel when I ordered the funnel but find now that I won't use it with my setup with rubber tamping pad. I've only pulled it out of the wrapper to look at it. I will put in marketplace when I get enough posts to qualify.

Bluenoser (original poster)
Posts: 1433
Joined: 6 years ago

#14: Post by Bluenoser (original poster) »

Since I am OP, I'll post a "6 mo" recap of my experience with the Pro 500 PID.

When I watched WLL videos on this machine, it appeared I could pull 5-6 shots back-to-back within 2 minutes and the brew water would be within 1.1F of 200.. An ideal choice..

My reality was been different. For me, I've had to crank my PID from the default of 248 to about 256. There is no flash steam at this point. Some others who have this unit report find they only need a 252-254 PID setting.

The biggest adjustment for me is that the rebound of my machine is what I'd consider 'slow'. I make a 250ml Latte and after this one drink my group was lowered about 5 degrees. I can pull a second shot within 2 minutes, but ideally I should wait between 5-10 minutes to fully rebound. If I'm impatient and do 3 shots in a short time, the rebound time is up to 20 minutes.

This is slow and the cost of a narrow restrictor in the thrermosyphon loop. This is not a good machine if you want to do the occasional party hosting and hope to provide, say, 5-10 drinks within 30 minutes.. It would likely take an hour.

Because rebound is an issue, getting the exact same brew water temp on each shot is challenging.. it will take some more experience on my part to learn how to do this. I think this is one cost of an HX over a DB.

On the good side, I do almost no flush.. In fact, if I do flushing, I'll use up my TS water and affect my recovery time. I don't find filling the water tank an issue. It is an extremely well built machine. I plan to keep it for a year or two.

I firmly believe it is impossible to really know what the brew water is doing on any HX machine without an external thermometer mounted in the group head. This costs about $100 in US and about $200 in Can. so this adds to the cost of the machine.

I am hoping on my next machine, that better brew water temp sensors will exist, but they still keep the aesthetics of the current design.

ballison78
Posts: 23
Joined: 5 years ago

#15: Post by ballison78 »

On my recently acquired 500, 252 seems to be too hot for the espresso I am brewing. I tend to prefer darker roasts. I started out at the stock 248 and the shots were OK, not sour but just kind of lackluster so I decided to crank the PID up to 252 as WLL seems to prefer. Bitter coffee face!! Tomorrow I will split the difference and see how 250 does. My shot timing is right on so I expect this is a temperature issue.

mikeTRON
Posts: 45
Joined: 5 years ago

#16: Post by mikeTRON replying to ballison78 »

Why would you adjust the brew temp up instead of adjusting the grind size? I'm not leading, I generally don't know the order of tweaking these variables.

Bluenoser (original poster)
Posts: 1433
Joined: 6 years ago

#17: Post by Bluenoser (original poster) »

A 14 mo. Update from OP..

The group thermometer is a must for this unit. I have found rebound is slow as mentioned previously. 2 shots can be pulled pretty quickly, but then I sometimes need to wait up to 15 minutes to pull that 3rd shot. (If I'm making lattes and steaming). Without the group thermometer you can't determine when successive shots can be pulled; or when the group is up to temp.

I had one system failure, and reading from posts here, another user from (likely) same lot, had identical issue. The SSR failed (that turns the boiler heater on/off). Appears it is either 2 close to steam boiler or cannot properly handle the current from the heater. Either way, it shows up as the unit mysteriously not heating. You'll see the steam pressure suddenly drop even though the heater element light is on. I had to send my unit back for repair. This appeared because I leave the unit on for about 3 hours in morning before use. If you just turn on, use within hour and turn off.. you may not see this issue.

Solutions might be to add a heat sink to the SSR, relocate it away from the steam boiler or get a heavier duty unit. I don't have mine back yet, but told the techs to try to relocate it if possible.

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