Who drinks espresso?
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I'm still signed up for Mint, but I haven't used it lately... There's a gap in the market for paycheck-to-paycheck money management for shlubs like me 
(and there are a TON of us). Something to get people to the point that they can effectively utilize the Mint-like services.
Something like a cross between Mint, Mvelopes, and my awesome spreadsheet that helped me through a really tough financial time a few years back... Input how much money comes in every week and when, along with your bills and when they're due, and it spits out how much to save from each check every week and what to put it towards, in order to make those bills on time. First one to put that online in a user friendly manner with tie-ins to your bank account will be a Mint killer.
(and there are a TON of us). Something to get people to the point that they can effectively utilize the Mint-like services.Something like a cross between Mint, Mvelopes, and my awesome spreadsheet that helped me through a really tough financial time a few years back... Input how much money comes in every week and when, along with your bills and when they're due, and it spits out how much to save from each check every week and what to put it towards, in order to make those bills on time. First one to put that online in a user friendly manner with tie-ins to your bank account will be a Mint killer.
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my grandfather always used envelopes
for example, if your rent is 400 a month
you put 100 a week into the envelope
do the same for all your bills
my grandfather always used envelopes
for example, if your rent is 400 a month
you put 100 a week into the envelope
do the same for all your bills
Gets tough if your bills take up 90-95% of your monthly income, and/or you're paid weekly or bi-weekly, bills that vary in amount, not starting the plan at the beginning of a month, bills that fall at odd times of the month, etc.
Manage those folks and help pull them out of a spiral like that, and you're golden.
Now back to espresso!
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I grabbed the work camera a little bit ago, to document the kind of shots this machine pulls. I messed up on the grind this time, but you get the idea.
Lots of crema, probably too much. Oh well.
Final product.
For the record, this shot tasted horrible. I never use the single shot button on the machine, so it's not calibrated for volume like the two-shot button, and because I was playing with a camera, I didn't think to stop it early.
Hope everyone enjoys the photos.
Lots of crema, probably too much. Oh well.
Final product.
For the record, this shot tasted horrible. I never use the single shot button on the machine, so it's not calibrated for volume like the two-shot button, and because I was playing with a camera, I didn't think to stop it early.
Hope everyone enjoys the photos.
Attachments
I have an old Gaggia espresso machine that I just rebuilt. Rebuilding helped it a lot, but it still refuses to pull proper shots. How do you "calibrate" your machine? Mine just has on/off, steam on/off, pump switch, and a knob to control the steamer. I think it's either the temperature or the pressure that's off, but there's no way to adjust that. Suggestions?
Either way, that is some killer looking crema.
Either way, that is some killer looking crema.
Mine has a programable system, that pulls a certain volume out of each puck. That's what I mean by calibrate. Everything besides volume is managed by the computer inside, which takes some of the fun/skill out of it, but at work I really don't have time to futz around with an espresso machine every time I want some.
I can't stand fully automatic machines, because I have to play with it, and I like to try different beans all the time. I like being able to control the four variables that I can control on this machine: beans, grind, tamp, and volume. Temperature really doesn't matter if it's correct, and the same with pressure. I enjoy the machine a whole lot, and I pull probably 6 shots a day on average. Sometimes coworkers ask for a shot, and if I have time and like them, I'll make one for them too.
I have a knob, but it's tricky to use. I really don't like milk-frothed drinks, so I haven't even used the steam function yet. I use the hot water setting to clean glasses.
Which gaggia? Inside most machines there's a regulator valve that sometimes drains excess pressure back to the tank. You can try to find a manometer to check for the proper (what's it, 9 BAR) at the grouphead, if it's not 9 BAR at full temperature, fiddle with it. It's a hugely time consuming process, but I feel it's worth it.
Take a moment to assume that it may not be the machine, and it could be the grind. The biggest thing that makes people think their machine is broken is the grind is either too coarse, or much too fine. Either is bad. What kind of grinder? You don't need a $4589 grinder, just something that will consistantly grind the same size every time. I recommend a whirly-blade grinder with a self-timer to start with. Mine was $22 at Target.
Keep in mind that you'll probably need to tamp it the same way each time, and this will take a while to get correct.
How long does it take to pull a full shot? How much crema do you get?
The crema you see is because I keep the beans in a vacuum sealed, water-absorbing container; and I grind enough for four shots (two double shot pulls) at a time. I rarely grind more than I need, and very rarely do I grind it, and wait more than 15 minutes before I pull the shots. Freshness is the key to good crema.
Do you have any pictures of your setup? Any pictures of a shot being pulled? I can try to help you out.
If you want, I can make a video of me pulling a couple shots this weekend. I'll go into work and use the my machine there, because I have no grinder at home anymore, lol.
I can't stand fully automatic machines, because I have to play with it, and I like to try different beans all the time. I like being able to control the four variables that I can control on this machine: beans, grind, tamp, and volume. Temperature really doesn't matter if it's correct, and the same with pressure. I enjoy the machine a whole lot, and I pull probably 6 shots a day on average. Sometimes coworkers ask for a shot, and if I have time and like them, I'll make one for them too.
I have a knob, but it's tricky to use. I really don't like milk-frothed drinks, so I haven't even used the steam function yet. I use the hot water setting to clean glasses.
Which gaggia? Inside most machines there's a regulator valve that sometimes drains excess pressure back to the tank. You can try to find a manometer to check for the proper (what's it, 9 BAR) at the grouphead, if it's not 9 BAR at full temperature, fiddle with it. It's a hugely time consuming process, but I feel it's worth it.
Take a moment to assume that it may not be the machine, and it could be the grind. The biggest thing that makes people think their machine is broken is the grind is either too coarse, or much too fine. Either is bad. What kind of grinder? You don't need a $4589 grinder, just something that will consistantly grind the same size every time. I recommend a whirly-blade grinder with a self-timer to start with. Mine was $22 at Target.
Keep in mind that you'll probably need to tamp it the same way each time, and this will take a while to get correct.
How long does it take to pull a full shot? How much crema do you get?
The crema you see is because I keep the beans in a vacuum sealed, water-absorbing container; and I grind enough for four shots (two double shot pulls) at a time. I rarely grind more than I need, and very rarely do I grind it, and wait more than 15 minutes before I pull the shots. Freshness is the key to good crema.
Do you have any pictures of your setup? Any pictures of a shot being pulled? I can try to help you out.
If you want, I can make a video of me pulling a couple shots this weekend. I'll go into work and use the my machine there, because I have no grinder at home anymore, lol.
When I dissassembled it, it was filthy and full of calcium buildup. I mean FULL. It took a full day of scraping and scrubbing to get it all out of the boiler. It's a very old machine and wasn't taken care of.
I found the valve which was a rubber stopper on a spring. It was in a threaded sleeve that could be adjusted, (I just thought of that now) but was tightened all the way, so that's how I rebuilt it. The rubber was old and hard, but I didn't have a replacement piece, so I just sanded it lightly to freshen the sealing surface. The pump is old and kind of loud, but makes enough pressure to push the valve open, maybe I just need to adjust that spring. How would too much pressure effect it?
I have a Cappresso burr grinder, I've heard that the blade grinders grind it unevenly, making too much dust by the time you get to the right size. I dunno, seems like you're doing better with your blade grinder
I've been experimenting with tamp pressure, it seems like the harder I tamp it, the better the shot. Could this be a symptom of too much pressure?
It takes about 18-22 seconds pulling a double shot. I think that's too fast, but I dunno.
If I tamp it as hard as I can, I can manage a ring of crema around the edge, but no more.
This is probably also one of the problems, I bought a fresh bag of beans and ground them 10 seconds before I pulled the shot, but it still ended up just really strong bold coffee, not espresso. The flavor was close, but the texture was all wrong.
I'm charging the camera now, I'll get some pics up later.
When I dissassembled it, it was filthy and full of calcium buildup. I mean FULL. It took a full day of scraping and scrubbing to get it all out of the boiler. It's a very old machine and wasn't taken care of.
Too much pressure, and it'll be bitter. It sounds like the valve you've got isn't diverting enough, try loosening it up a bit, then pull a shot, but be sure to keep everything else EXACTLY THE SAME. The name of the game here is to control all variables. When I slip up, like I did with the one in the pictures, it'll taste like ass.
I have a Cappresso burr grinder, I've heard that the blade grinders grind it unevenly, making too much dust by the time you get to the right size. I dunno, seems like you're doing better with your blade grinder
A burr grinder isn't needed, it just makes it easier to get the same results every single time. I tend to get dark crema, because the coffee dust comes through. I can't do anything about it with a blade grinder, it's just something I put up with.
Yes, or too light of a tamp. You should be tamping with about 30 pounds of force. Get your bathroom scale out, put the portafilter on it, fill it with coffee, and then press until you have put down 30lbs of pressure. Once you get the hang of how much to tamp, it becomes second nature. Question though, how do the pucks come out after you pull a shot? Soggy, damp, or dry?
That's a little short. Too high of pressure, or too coarse of grind. The coffee should be about half the size of a grain of salt, not quite powdery, but not like salt either. It's a happy medium that takes a while to get correct. Like I said, it's all about consistency once you get the right mixture.
I get good crema out of target's value-brand of fresh beans. The shot I pulled in the pictures is some Italian blend that my mother brought back for me.
Strong, bold coffee sounds like it's not finely ground enough. How bitter is it? Does it taste like a mouthful of pocket change? That could be that it's not ground finely enough.
Cool. I look forward to it.
My first espresso machine poured horrible shots for about the first 100 or so. It sucked so bad.I thought I was a failure, because I couldn't get a good shot to save my life. Then I bought a grinder, and used fresh beans. That made a huge difference. I then started tamping regularly, that made another huge difference. I finally realized that in order to get a good shot, you have to do the same exact thing, every single time.
If I tamp it good and hard (no idea how many pounds of pressure) it makes solid pucks with very little moisture. Less tamping tends to yield soggier pucks.
The seal between the boiler and grouphead had so much corrosion, the aluminum was pitted a few mm deep. I took a coarse file, fine file, then progressively sanded it to remove the pitting and make the surface smooth enough for the o-ring to seal.
When I first put it back together, just to test it and see if it works and to check for leaks, all I had was drip grind. The first few shots had a very metallic flavor, which I immediately assumed was metal shavings that I left behind while cleaning it. That didn't make sense at first because I know that I got ALL the various debris out of that thing. I was very thorough with the disassembly and cleaning. It makes sense that the grind was too coarse, since that flavor went away as soon as I started using espresso grind. I think the grind is good, the beans are good, my tamping may or may not be, the pressure definitely needs adjusted, and I need to check the temperature. I read optimal is 199°-201° F so I need to make sure it's close to that. I tried to check the temperature with a kitchen thermometer, but I don't know how accurate it was. Before cleaning it read 150° and after cleaning it jumped to 170° I suspected the heating element, but it makes steam, so it's gotta be hotter than 170°. I dunno, what's the best procedure to read the temp coming out of the grouphead?
Did you run any descaling sollution through the machine? Sometimes it takes some good strong descaler to get all the crap out.
I don't know if your pressure is proper. This should be your first worry, the thermostat is probably fine, because what you want is the temperature of the water inside the grouphead, not the temp of water coming out of the portafilter. Something you could do to check water temp is to somehow put a thermsistor/thermometer inside the portafilter basket.
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/coffeetime/userfiles/OPV_Valve.pdf
^^ There's some good infoz on pressure diverter valves.
I don't know if your pressure is proper. This should be your first worry, the thermostat is probably fine, because what you want is the temperature of the water inside the grouphead, not the temp of water coming out of the portafilter. Something you could do to check water temp is to somehow put a thermsistor/thermometer inside the portafilter basket.
http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/coffeetime/userfiles/OPV_Valve.pdf
^^ There's some good infoz on pressure diverter valves.
After scraping the hell out of it, I filled it with vinegar, ran it til vinegar came out, let it sit for a while, then flushed it thoroughly.
I guess it's time to take it apart again. I think I can disassemble/reassemble this whole machine in less than 15 minutes. Next up: hanging upside down blindfolded.
I guess it's time to take it apart again. I think I can disassemble/reassemble this whole machine in less than 15 minutes. Next up: hanging upside down blindfolded.
