My New Imperium: Home Barista

[Sweeney_]

That's right my friends. I have now attained the necessary equipment (if not yet the skills) to wield supreme power over my coffee/espresso/latte creations. I am determined that before all is said and done, these little beans will bestow to me the title of Imperator and may the gods grant me worthy.

Ok, enough of the silly stuff - I read way to many books about ancient Rome. Meanwhile, this showed up yesterday:

So I've decided to just start this thread as a way to document my journey along the way. As questions crop up and I get answers, guidance and advice then I can easily return here as a easily found reference.

No, I have not pulled a shot yet. Just turned on to test heat, PID, purged the group head a bit and played with the steamer. The hold-up is the wife has my grinder, scales, tamper, etc wrapped up for my Bday and I can't open until maybe tonight - even though my bday is actually Saturday

@APBinNCA suggested I should go ahead and invest in needed accessories which turned into an additional money pit. It sort of went like this... bottomless portafilter, tamper... that's all I need. Wait, I need scales... that's all I need, no wait, I need a basket funnel and maybe this thingy with the needles to stir out the clumps, maybe some test strips to double check my water. Ok, that's it... oh, a frothing cup - I need that. That's it. Oh, I need a couple expresso cups. I began to feel like Steve Martin from that scene in The Jerk. (from 1:30 in)

So hopefully, I can get down to grinding, testing and pulling shots tomorrow. I have some good (hopefully) beans for expresso - obtained from a good roaster and stored in the airscape canister, yes I needed that.

I'll update soon. Thanks for all the advice and I hope you lot will enjoy the journey with me.

BTW, keep me away from those roasting threads, I'm already getting tempted, haha.

 

[APBinNCA]

Oh gawd that clip! I was eating something spicy and you almost killed me. I hope you have had your revenge!

Beautiful! Chef's kiss.

I forgot, are you plumbing it in since your water is OK? Another thing!

Now get to posting the accessories, that's going to take some counter space!

Edit: have you watched "Told in Stone" on youbube? The guy has a book too.

 

[Leverspro]

Have you joined home-barista dot com? If not, don't. The rule of thumb there for grinders is to spend more on the coffee grinder than on the coffee machine. Sadly, it works. I can attest that all of the little extra thingies that help with basket prep actually make a difference.
As for roasting? Just walk away. Who wants complete control over the roast, region, profile and processing of their coffee?
Hope you have a blast.

 

[Sweeney_]

Oh gawd that clip! I was eating something spicy and you almost killed me. I hope you have had your revenge!

Beautiful! Chef's kiss.

I forgot, are you plumbing it in since your water is OK? Another thing!

Now get to posting the accessories, that's going to take some counter space!

Edit: have you watched "Told in Stone" on youbube? The guy has a book too.

My water seems ok. Yesterday I tested with the meter at 44 ppm and the test strip looked like a 50. Plumbing in is possible but not likely:

Filling is possible by just sliding the reservoir out about halfway and I'm about 2 ft away from the faucet. Talk about easypeazy.

I've never heard of Told in Stone but after investigating it appears I have quite a few interesting vids to watch.
Cheers

edit: as for The Jerk, I remember watching that movie in the theater with my girlfriend as a teenager. Dang I got old.

 

[Sweeney_]

Ok, just a quick progress update. First, this isn't quite as easy as it looks in youtube vids. At least trying to get a shot dialed in initially on the beans. This was my first pull yesterday morning but I had no scales and was a bit slack on eyeballing the timer. Not so great and had a bit of splatter.

Later after unwrapping presents I tried again with scales but went too coarse on the grind and ended up with a way too quick pull of around 10 sec. Finally, this morning after 3 more pulls, I got the grind dialed in on the K-Pro and ended up with 1:1.8 (I think )18g/32g on a 27 second pull. I'm not sure if I'm stating the ratio correctly but I ended up with a very tasty flat white. In fact, the wife took me out to eat yesterday afterwhich we stopped by the coffee shop. I ordered a single shot expresso, Italian blend and tbh, that very first double shot I pulled yesterday in the above video tasted just as good. I suppose we can chalk that one up to beginner's luck.

One thing that's bothering me... none of my pulls have evolved into that single center stream coming out of the basket. The last one was close, two streams toward the center with no splatter but I can't figure out what I'm getting wrong. The bottomless PF basket is a strict judge and tells no lies.

edit: One nice feature of this machine: if you'll notice in the vid just to the right of the PF there is a brass looking screw up inside the housing. You can use the blank/backflush basket and adjust the bar pressure externally with that screw if needed.

 

[APBinNCA]

Two things:

Have you counted time from pressing the button to first drips? If it’s too fast, you may not be getting a good pre-infusion because…

Tamping. I kept screwing it up myself and was chasing my tail with different grind settings thinking that had to be the problem. It’s very easy to accidentally disturb the puck somewhere between tamping and pressing the button in my case.

 

[Sweeney_]

Two things:

Have you counted time from pressing the button to first drips? If it’s too fast, you may not be getting a good pre-infusion because…

Tamping. I kept screwing it up myself and was chasing my tail with different grind settings thinking that had to be the problem. It’s very easy to accidentally disturb the puck somewhere between tamping and pressing the button in my case.

I've not counted but the last pull took a while to start dripping. I'll try to pay closer attention to both of those aspects on the next go. Thanks

 

[APBinNCA]

I've not counted but the last pull took a while to start dripping. I'll try to pay closer attention to both of those aspects on the next go. Thanks

I re-watched your video a couple of times. I don't know when you hit record, but that one looked kind of fast. But if you say it took a while to start dripping then that's good, every machine is different. That's why you need to know, if a pro is pulling a shot on a commercial in 27 seconds his pre-infusion might be 5 seconds for a 22 second shot. If yours is taking 7 seconds then your shots are coming up 2 seconds short. There is some debate about when to start counting, my scale auto starts at first drips. It's all about getting as much consistency as possible so you are only changing one variable, grind maybe, at a time. You know all this, I am just pulling it back out. You are probably tamping well and need just a hair finer grind, if it runs slow then you get a ristretto to try!

 

[Sweeney_]

I re-watched your video a couple of times. I don't know when you hit record, but that one looked kind of fast. But if you say it took a while to start dripping then that's good, every machine is different. That's why you need to know, if a pro is pulling a shot on a commercial in 27 seconds his pre-infusion might be 5 seconds for a 22 second shot. If yours is taking 7 seconds then your shots are coming up 2 seconds short. There is some debate about when to start counting, my scale auto starts at first drips. It's all about getting as much consistency as possible so you are only changing one variable, grind maybe, at a time. You know all this, I am just pulling it back out. You are probably tamping well and need just a hair finer grind, if it runs slow then you get a ristretto to try!

Yeah, actually I'd cut some off the beginning of that video to cut the size down as I was initially trying to upload it to my B&B Gallery. It took a while to start seeping through, maybe 4 or 5 seconds. I was under the impression from watching vids and reading that the count starts when hitting the brew/pump switch. My PID display switches to a timer as soon as I hit the switch and wouldn't the pre-infusion be part of the pull and need to be included in the 20-30 seconds? Of course, as you say it's just a means of repeatability so as long as we're consistent each pull, I guess it all pans out. cheers

 

[Leverspro]

Great fun. What @APBinNCA said about exploring a finer grind, but also consider dose. It takes a while to learn the exact weight of beans that fit your basket. You can try the coin test (dose until a coin sitting on the puck starts to disturb the puck when you lock on).
BTW, once you start brewing at home it's very rare to find a shop that will match what you can do at home. Have fun!

 

[Sweeney_]

Actually @APBinNCA , I can see what your getting at. I just watched another video where they were talking about differences in the length of time between switch on and drop time. Depending on the machine it can vary greatly. I think i'm going to take my cue from you and go with first drop and depend mainly on the scale.

 

[Dnallehekaj]

Congratulations on the rad machine, and happy birthday!

Tamping is the biggest barrier (to me) for making good espresso. I get frustrated because my girlfriend makes it look so dang easy, but I screw it up nearly everytime!!!

Once we get grind size dialed in, it's better, but she's easily the better espresso wizard.

The bottomless portafilter is great at showing tamping mistakes. I hate it for serving its purpose so perfectly!!!

Enjoy the journey, and see you in the roasting thread in a few months

 

[Merle]

Have you ever noticed; that all 'good' espresso machine manufacturers make mirror polish stainless steel? Mirror Polish! ...Perfect...Mirror...???

just sayin

 

[Sweeney_]

Have you ever noticed; that all 'good' espresso machine manufacturers make mirror polish stainless steel? Mirror Polish! ...Perfect...Mirror...???

just sayin

Haha, it's already a love/hate relationship. It's a massive fingerprint magnet and a lot easier to scratch than a brushed finish. It reminds me of the gloss piano black trunk panel on my mustang. But no doubt, gorgeous to look at.

 

[APBinNCA]

So, how's the steam pressure? I don't see a knob or a lever which seems odd. I am used to spinning down the knob as I near the end of steaming, kind of an enjoyable feedback thing.

 

[Merle]

Haha, it's already a love/hate relationship. It's a massive fingerprint magnet and a lot easier to scratch than a brushed finish. It reminds me of the gloss piano black trunk panel on my mustang. But no doubt, gorgeous to look at.

I have dedicated microfiber towels just to keep from scratching. They touch noting else and are washed seperate from all the other laundry. If they don't feel just the right kind of soft they get tossed into the general use pile and I pull a new one. (by the by, I keep 'falling' into your wood floor)

 

[Sweeney_]

So, how's the steam pressure? I don't see a knob or a lever which seems odd. I am used to spinning down the knob as I near the end of steaming, kind of an enjoyable feedback thing.

The pressure is fairly strong but not adjustable so I can't back off toward the end like that. Fortunately, since the steam runs from a thermo block heater I can steam and brew simultaneously or turn off steam heat entirely to conserve energy if just pulling espresso but full disclosure: milk frothing is the hardest part for me so far but I'm already seeing a bit of improvement. Anything other than a straight espresso and I'm still struggling with the workflow aspect.

 

[Sweeney_]

@Merle see there, just like my mustang. Dedicated microfibers, washed separately and always dried on low heat so the fiber ends won't stiffen up. If I accidentally drop one on the garage floor, it goes to the trash bin due to my unhealthy fear of micro-scratches. I like your style... now I have something else to detail.

 

[APBinNCA]

The pressure is fairly strong but not adjustable so I can't back off toward the end like that. Fortunately, since the steam runs from a thermo block heater I can steam and brew simultaneously or turn off steam heat entirely to conserve energy if just pulling espresso but full disclosure: milk frothing is the hardest part for me so far but I'm already seeing a bit of improvement. Anything other than a straight espresso and I'm still struggling with the workflow aspect.

This is why you didn't buy a cheap machine wisely. It isn't uncommon in a small cafe to steam the milk first then immediately pull the shot, the coffee part being the most important not to sit. With my first machine, you would steam the milk and then have to wait MINUTES for it to heat back up to pull a shot. You had to pull the shot first just to get a good extraction, so frustrating!