(GPGT)Espresso machine hoot

[patryn33]

Hi guys,

Am looking to get a bean to cup machine with milk based drinks feature - have shortlisted the delonghi eletta cappuccino top (~1k). Does anyone have any experience with this?

Where to find for 1k? I am seeing 2k+. Eletta plus is ~1k, eletta top is double the price
https://www.harveynorman.com.sg/kit...puccino-top-ecam-45.760.w-coffee-machine.html
https://www.courts.com.sg/delonghi-...cino-top-coffee-m-achine-1450w-white-ip091778

my limited experience with those full auto tell me its a pain to clean up. The rubber tubes if you don't clear up may clog up. U spend less time making coffee but more time cleaning up. Its a trade out. If u don't do it well I don't know the side effects.

any reason why u not considering a Jura? the having sale now, cleaning stuff not cheap
https://www.tangs.com/productlist/brands/jura

 

[patryn33]

I'm using an Atago refractometer to dial in my shot based on TDS but I can't seem to pull shots that are above 8% despite grinding very fine. I'm using a 1:2 brew ratio.

wow that is a investment having a refractometer. Those things are like US$300+.

 

[lacazette]

Where to find for 1k? I am seeing 2k+. Eletta plus is ~1k, eletta top is double the price
https://www.harveynorman.com.sg/kit...puccino-top-ecam-45.760.w-coffee-machine.html
https://www.courts.com.sg/delonghi-...cino-top-coffee-m-achine-1450w-white-ip091778

my limited experience with those full auto tell me its a pain to clean up. The rubber tubes if you don't clear up may clog up. U spend less time making coffee but more time cleaning up. Its a trade out. If u don't do it well I don't know the side effects.

any reason why u not considering a Jura? the having sale now, cleaning stuff not cheap
https://www.tangs.com/productlist/brands/jura

Bought online as part of cyber Monday deal, bit the bullet and got the eletta cappuccino top (ECAM 45.760W) for 950 SGD with shipping.

Mainly want it for convenience, store milk in carafe and make flat whites in the morning before work.

Incidentally was considering the Jura E6, had been eyeing it but the cost was still too painful for me currently

 

[patryn33]

Bought online as part of cyber Monday deal, bit the bullet and got the eletta cappuccino top (ECAM 45.760W) for 950 SGD with shipping.

Mainly want it for convenience, store milk in carafe and make flat whites in the morning before work.

Incidentally was considering the Jura E6, had been eyeing it but the cost was still too painful for me currently

Milk not refrigerated keep overnight safe?
Make drink turn off, return next day my fear is dried milk clogging which makes cleaning a mess. I like super auto convenience for making coffee but really skeptical with the milk part

 

[Lazy_Tiger]

Bought online as part of cyber Monday deal, bit the bullet and got the eletta cappuccino top (ECAM 45.760W) for 950 SGD with shipping.

Mainly want it for convenience, store milk in carafe and make flat whites in the morning before work.

Incidentally was considering the Jura E6, had been eyeing it but the cost was still too painful for me currently

Since you already bought it (and at a good price) just enjoy it.

I have a Jura and find that super autos do not Grind as fine as traditional machines. U can try experimenting with beans of different roast levels to get the best taste but I would avoid super oily beans. My Jura always had stuck beans if it’s too oily and if I did not use in some time. Not sure if delibghi has this issue.

 

[lacazette]

Milk not refrigerated keep overnight safe?
Make drink turn off, return next day my fear is dried milk clogging which makes cleaning a mess. I like super auto convenience for making coffee but really skeptical with the milk part

will store the milk in carafe and put entire carafe in fridge i guess!
also have fear of clogging... will see how it plays out

 

[lacazette]

Since you already bought it (and at a good price) just enjoy it.

I have a Jura and find that super autos do not Grind as fine as traditional machines. U can try experimenting with beans of different roast levels to get the best taste but I would avoid super oily beans. My Jura always had stuck beans if it’s too oily and if I did not use in some time. Not sure if delibghi has this issue.

thanks! where do you usually get your beans from?

 

[Lazy_Tiger]

thanks! where do you usually get your beans from?

When I was still using the Jura I used Spinelli's which is oily. Beans got stuck very frequently if you don't use for some time because moisture from the brew unit will cause partially ground beans in the neck of the dosing chamber to swell up and clog up the neck of the dosing chamber. The problem will still occur even if i grind out everything because there will still be partially ground coffee in the neck of the dosing chamber.

Called Jura a few times to fix the problem and the repairman recommended to use highlander. not a light roast but then again not roasted so dark the beans end up with surface oil. Seems to work better but still need to grind beans at least every 2 days or so to purge out the stale grinds.

Not sure if delonghi has this same issues. good to ask the tech if there are any problems that should be anticipated.

also at the start of the day brew one shot and throw it away. this is because this 1st shot will be using last night's partially grinded coffee.

Single dosing does not work well with super autos. What will happen is that your shot will be thin and as there are not enough grounded coffee in the dose. The grinder requires the weight of beans on top push down the coffee beans into the burrs.

if you have family members drinking coffee throughout the day then just dump a hopper full of coffee and top up when it gets low.

 

[patryn33]

will store the milk in carafe and put entire carafe in fridge i guess!
also have fear of clogging... will see how it plays out

Most super auto suffer from oily beans, saeco, delonghi and Jura.
If u like milk drink make sure you clean it well, get those recommended solution if any to clean your machine.

 

[linusz]

which brand of pod coffee is nice?
i tried illy. any others?

 

[turboo]

1. Timing can start when you hit the switch since your machine does not have preinfusion. Depending on the machine the 1st drip may be anywhere between 1-20 secs. You can brew 25secs and then grind finer and brew something at 35secs achieving the same brew weight and see how it tastes.

2. It could be the coffee is preground or light roasted or you are using a pressurised portafilter and the grounds are not fine enough.

3. pressurised portafilter is the way to go if you are using preground. Preground will lose freshness rapidly and if you use nonpressurised portafilter with preground you will see your flow rate get faster and faster as the coffee continues to lose its freshness.

4. Yes. a finer grind will result in lower flow rate and hence a longer extraction time (Assuming you maintain the same brew weight).

5. Material only matters in its durability. 15kg is just a rough gauge. you can use a calibrated tamper or just tamp without overexerting yourself. tamping does affect the flow rate but not so much unless the barista is wildly inconsistent between using feather light tamps and gorilla tamps.

6. Not familiar with opv mod or steam wand mod. But a classic steam wand (and the necessary skills) will definitely get you better frothed milk than a pannarello.

Hi there,

When we say 30g of extraction from 15g of beans, the volume should be around 60ml in 30 seconds - correct?

For preground coffee (currently on Boncafe, trying to finish it before I open up my Santino beans), if the extraction turns light brown too fast, there is nothing we can do to improve the extraction right?

Without the portafilter, the water flow is not smooth. Is this normal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgU7RCCF0AU

I did a quick test on the flow rate and it measured 200ml in 30s. Is it that my pressure is extremely low?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqQbKPs3vzE

Lastly, a sample shot (using preground boncafe), for critique, if any:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aHY5q9hwLw

How do you guys clean up the portafilter for multiple shots easily? The grounds become very hard and I always have to use a fork to scrape everything out, and it gets messy.

I may eventually want to get an auto grinder to complement my Helor 101, as it is relatively tedious + time consuming when I'm trying to rush to work in the morning. Any good recommendations under $300?

For milk frothing, I removed the panarello wand as it produces too much froth. However, I notice sometimes it creates a loud screeching sound - is that normal?

Also, do we stop steaming once the "steam light" goes off?

 

[Lazy_Tiger]

Hi there,

When we say 30g of extraction from 15g of beans, the volume should be around 60ml in 30 seconds - correct?

For preground coffee (currently on Boncafe, trying to finish it before I open up my Santino beans), if the extraction turns light brown too fast, there is nothing we can do to improve the extraction right?

Without the portafilter, the water flow is not smooth. Is this normal?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wgU7RCCF0AU

I did a quick test on the flow rate and it measured 200ml in 30s. Is it that my pressure is extremely low?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqQbKPs3vzE

Lastly, a sample shot (using preground boncafe), for critique, if any:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aHY5q9hwLw

How do you guys clean up the portafilter for multiple shots easily? The grounds become very hard and I always have to use a fork to scrape everything out, and it gets messy.

I may eventually want to get an auto grinder to complement my Helor 101, as it is relatively tedious + time consuming when I'm trying to rush to work in the morning. Any good recommendations under $300?

For milk frothing, I removed the panarello wand as it produces too much froth. However, I notice sometimes it creates a loud screeching sound - is that normal?

Also, do we stop steaming once the "steam light" goes off?

1. Yes the volume can be between 30-60ml or even more for 30g brew weight

2. You can tamp harder or do nutation when u tamp. Google nutation. It helps u to get a very compact puck and to reduce your flow rate.

3. i don’t think this is a big issue. But if you are concerned you may get Teflon shower screens. Expensive hard to maintain dispersion is very even. You can google videos on it. Am still using mine.

4. Need to check the gaggia user group forums what is their water debit test procedure. See if yours is the same. By eyeballing, yours looks ok.

5. Hard to tell without a close up. Good if you can use a transparent shot glass. But in the end the proof is in the pudding. Some shots can look beautiful but is absolutely tasteless. Some shorts will spray everywhere and look thin but taste heavenly (light roasts). Anyway I’ve just had one of the best espressos in Japan today. LILO coffee roasters. Grinded using an ek43 so the flow rate was fast but it was amazing.

6. I just knock mine out using the bar of a knock box. After that just wipe off the remains if your are making b2b shots.

7. Not familiar with grinder prices but you can try something from Baratza. Should be able to get something pretty decent. Can your helor hook up to a electric screwdriver/drill? Viola you will have an electric grinder that is also portable.

8. Likely the wand tip is to close to the bottom or side of the jug.

 

[patryn33]

which brand of pod coffee is nice?
i tried illy. any others?

Which type from illy did you tried? Cannot go by brand alone need more info can’t read mind
https://www.illy.com/en-us/shop/coffee/ese-pods/

 

[turboo]

1. Yes the volume can be between 30-60ml or even more for 30g brew weight

2. You can tamp harder or do nutation when u tamp. Google nutation. It helps u to get a very compact puck and to reduce your flow rate.

3. i don’t think this is a big issue. But if you are concerned you may get Teflon shower screens. Expensive hard to maintain dispersion is very even. You can google videos on it. Am still using mine.

4. Need to check the gaggia user group forums what is their water debit test procedure. See if yours is the same. By eyeballing, yours looks ok.

5. Hard to tell without a close up. Good if you can use a transparent shot glass. But in the end the proof is in the pudding. Some shots can look beautiful but is absolutely tasteless. Some shorts will spray everywhere and look thin but taste heavenly (light roasts). Anyway I’ve just had one of the best espressos in Japan today. LILO coffee roasters. Grinded using an ek43 so the flow rate was fast but it was amazing.

6. I just knock mine out using the bar of a knock box. After that just wipe off the remains if your are making b2b shots.

7. Not familiar with grinder prices but you can try something from Baratza. Should be able to get something pretty decent. Can your helor hook up to a electric screwdriver/drill? Viola you will have an electric grinder that is also portable.

8. Likely the wand tip is to close to the bottom or side of the jug.

Super helpful as usual!

For shots "that spray all over the place", is it because of overly high temps too? I wanted to make my shots more bitter, so I turned on steam mode for 10s before making my shot,and there's quite some bubbling and spraying all over.

What's a "knock box"??

I noticed a severe flaw with the Gaggia - it doesn't have a "low water" warning light and it's super hard to tell whether there's still water until I pull the whole tank out. Is there any simple mod I can do for this?

Separately, the bottom of my portafilter looks rusty after only a few shots and cannot be washed off at all. Does it affect anything at all?

 

[Mason016]

Super helpful as usual!

For shots "that spray all over the place", is it because of overly high temps too? I wanted to make my shots more bitter, so I turned on steam mode for 10s before making my shot,and there's quite some bubbling and spraying all over.

What's a "knock box"??

I noticed a severe flaw with the Gaggia - it doesn't have a "low water" warning light and it's super hard to tell whether there's still water until I pull the whole tank out. Is there any simple mod I can do for this?

Separately, the bottom of my portafilter looks rusty after only a few shots and cannot be washed off at all. Does it affect anything at all?

Knock box

Coffee stains and not rust. Go grab an espresso machine cleaner from Cafetto or Cafiza. Fill up a bowl with about 0.5 litres of hot water. Put two spoonfuls of the espresso machine cleaner (the Cafetto one comes with a spoon) into it, dump your portafilter into it and let it soak for 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with soap and water. Voila.

 

[wook2000]

1) if possible weigh the output, ie: 15 g of coffee out 30 grams of liquid/coffee

2) U can increase the dosage to create more resistance, allowing for longer extraction

3) Its normal, don't worry about it.

4) The water flow is alright, don't be confused with flow rate and pressure. Pressure needs to be measured using scace device or a pressure meter. there is no way of knowing the pressure without such a device. If you machine is brand new i would not be worried about the pressure.

5) try to get a video of the whole preparation process, from weighting out beans, grinding, distributing, tamping, extraction. Helps to point out errors in the process.

6) U can get a small plastic ice cream tub and poke a wooden chopstick thru to create a tamp box. the trick is the bang the portafilter to remove the whole puck .

7) the helor allows a hand drill to be attached. unfortunately there is no good electric grinders for espresso below $300 brand new.

8) during steaming, its normal to hear loud screeching sound, depending on how you position the tip

For beginners its good to standardize the weight of grinds + output, only adjust the grind settings.

 

[Lazy_Tiger]

Super helpful as usual!

For shots "that spray all over the place", is it because of overly high temps too? I wanted to make my shots more bitter, so I turned on steam mode for 10s before making my shot,and there's quite some bubbling and spraying all over.

What's a "knock box"??

I noticed a severe flaw with the Gaggia - it doesn't have a "low water" warning light and it's super hard to tell whether there's still water until I pull the whole tank out. Is there any simple mod I can do for this?

Separately, the bottom of my portafilter looks rusty after only a few shots and cannot be washed off at all. Does it affect anything at all?

1) I’m guessing that the flash boiling may cause the puck to lose its integrity and hence cause the spraying. But you need to judge for yourself after getting more experience with different coffees and brewing parameters. To know your tools inside out and understand how different coffees behave.

2) Many machines don’t have a low water indicator. You can always do a check and top at the start of the day as part of your routine or once your get familiar with your coffee drinking patterns.

3) don’t think a little rust will affect the taste but over time it will get rustier unless your maintain it well. Portafilters are consumable items. Solid ones are from cafelat. High quality Stainless steel instead of chrome plated brass.

 

[turboo]

1) if possible weigh the output, ie: 15 g of coffee out 30 grams of liquid/coffee

2) U can increase the dosage to create more resistance, allowing for longer extraction

3) Its normal, don't worry about it.

4) The water flow is alright, don't be confused with flow rate and pressure. Pressure needs to be measured using scace device or a pressure meter. there is no way of knowing the pressure without such a device. If you machine is brand new i would not be worried about the pressure.

5) try to get a video of the whole preparation process, from weighting out beans, grinding, distributing, tamping, extraction. Helps to point out errors in the process.

6) U can get a small plastic ice cream tub and poke a wooden chopstick thru to create a tamp box. the trick is the bang the portafilter to remove the whole puck .

7) the helor allows a hand drill to be attached. unfortunately there is no good electric grinders for espresso below $300 brand new.

8) during steaming, its normal to hear loud screeching sound, depending on how you position the tip

For beginners its good to standardize the weight of grinds + output, only adjust the grind settings.

yup, will try to post up a video of the entire process when I have more time to experiment during the weekends.

Is there any trick for the entire puck to come out in 1 piece?

For the attachment to hand drill, can i just buy a cheap battery operated hand drill? and must it follow a certain RPM so that I don't spoil it? assume that I can just remove the wooden knob and attach the drill to "spin" the grinder??

 

[turboo]

1) I’m guessing that the flash boiling may cause the puck to lose its integrity and hence cause the spraying. But you need to judge for yourself after getting more experience with different coffees and brewing parameters. To know your tools inside out and understand how different coffees behave.

2) Many machines don’t have a low water indicator. You can always do a check and top at the start of the day as part of your routine or once your get familiar with your coffee drinking patterns.

3) don’t think a little rust will affect the taste but over time it will get rustier unless your maintain it well. Portafilters are consumable items. Solid ones are from cafelat. High quality Stainless steel instead of chrome plated brass.

2) I usually like to drain everything out, so that I don't mix "old" water with fresh water, but always have the fear that it will spoil if I hit Brew until the last drop.

3) How long does the Cafelat brand last before seeing any "rust"? Does the Gaggia Classic take the standard E61 or I must take the "Gaggia" model? is USD86 too much for this portafilter??
https://www.cafelatstore.com/collections/special-offer/products/gaggia-portafilter

My portafilter now looks like this:

 

[Lazy_Tiger]

2) I usually like to drain everything out, so that I don't mix "old" water with fresh water, but always have the fear that it will spoil if I hit Brew until the last drop.

3) How long does the Cafelat brand last before seeing any "rust"? Does the Gaggia Classic take the standard E61 or I must take the "Gaggia" model? is USD86 too much for this portafilter??
https://www.cafelatstore.com/collections/special-offer/products/gaggia-portafilter

My portafilter now looks like this:

1) Don’t think a vibe pump spoils so easily with there is no water. What is more of a concern is the boiler heating element burning up when there is no water.

2) u can try asking cafelat what model will fit the Gaggia classic. Mine is pristine after 2 years although I don’t use it as often. Only when I want to use it with spouts.