nixter wrote:I still had a little bit of hard stuff on top though. Definitely leaps ahead of what I've been doing. More practice.
Hard stuff, as in cheese, means it's getting too hot. If the milk has any cheesey aroma, it's definitely too hot.
I'd recommend pulling out the plugs, purchasing a gallon of milk and practising 'til you get it right.
One of the big mistakes people make with both learning to make espresso and steam milk, is being too cheap. You're gonna waste a gallon of milk, one way or another, so do it all in one go. It's much easier to learn if you do one after the other than trying to remember what you did last time, a couple days ago.
Sound is a good indicator. Dunk the tip about 1.5cm, open the valve and lower the jug until it sounds like frying bacon. Keep that sound until you've about doubled the volume, then plunge the tip and get the milk turning over. Some like to use their hands to gauge, but a thermometer is always the same.