Well the Botticelli has found its new home

[Shannon]

OK so its 2nd hand, but Im still as happy as a pig in mud

The ECM Botticelli that I bought from a fellow CSr arrived by post yesterday around lunchtime. It was so exciting to open her up and look upon the shininess that is the Bott (so much cleaning! but all worth it.)

I spent most of the arvo and evening cleaning/descaling/backflushing etc, so that I had a great baseline to start with, then it would be down to the bozo behind the machine to get the rest right.

So I hear you ask, what is she like? Well, there are a few differences between the Sunbeam Ristretto and this baby - did I say a few? Can you say chalk and cheese

The weight and size difference in PF handle is pretty big - 53 to 58mm, + overall weight is about double.
When dosing on the SB I had to dose and tamp to within about 1mm from the lip, on the Bott it is much lower because of the showerscreen position - dosing is going to take some getting used to.
This being far more professional in set up means that none of my cups fit under the PF properly as they are mostly mugs etc - when money starts growing from the trees again (or we use some credit card points for gift vouchers!) I will have to invest in some decent cap and espresso cups
OK so lets talk steam - on the SB it was not uncommon for me to take over a minute to steam a 300ml jug to temp. The Bott almost through me across the room on half strength ;D ;D Once I have this sorted life is going to be sooo much easier to make multiple cups, but again it is going to be a steep learning curve to get some nice microfome out of the tornado that is the steam wand!!

And finally how was the outcome of all this?? In a word - BBAAAAADDDDDD ;D ;D ;D

I am back to the start of my espresso making days. At best I have made 3 average coffees so far, all have that bitter tinge to them of over extraction, even using milk the bitterness cut through it.

All is not lost and I am by no means disheartened by this - in fact having spoken to quite a few of you here I am encouraged by the fact that once I get my bearings on this baby, I will have a lot of fun and time to spend drinking good coffee. I know that it is not the machines fault that the coffee is not right, so I have to ramp up my techniquesto match the capabilities of this shiny beast

On with the caffeine shakes that comes with drinking WAY too much coffee in WAY too short a space of time ;D

The quest will continue, stay tuned........

[Dennis]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

Youll have to take some pics of the Bott on the bench Shannon - Im sure wed all love to see it in place!

[yeeza]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

Shannon,
Its great to hear about stories of CSers with new machines cos we all know the exact feeling.
yeah get some photos up!

YeeZa

[Shannon]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

Ask and yea shall recieve

I have just made my first half decent cup and drinking as I type - YEA HAH

I turned the rocky a little finer and took a bit more time to work out the final tamped height for it to just indent on the shower. This time a little choked, but not too bad.

I got some more beans this morning from my local roaster, so a happy camper I shall be - if not wired to the hilt.

[Shannon]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

Not sure how to add 2nd picture to 1 post so here is the other

[Lizzie]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

gee whizz, Shannon, that looks just like mine ;D ;D

i made an error in my PM to you about the PF spouts... i have taken the single spout off the PF , so my tall cup can sit under it easily...
the double spout is still on the other PF, but i hardly use it, only for the blind filter  :-? ...i mostly make single coffees...


L

[Dimal]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

Top looking combo youve got there Shannon and that Bott is one beautiful looking machine. I can understand why youre so stoked. Happy brewing mate...... 8-)

Mal.

[Lizzie]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

and?? : how are the shots coming along??

L

[Shannon]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

I was going to post last night actually but Allison hogged the laptop most of the night - something about work - like thats more imortant than this

How is it going????
Slowly!!!!!!!

I am now able to get an OK cup about half the time, but Im finding that there is not much of a difference between a gusher and an almost choke. This is something I will just have to practice, practice, practice at.

I am loving though the fact that I can sometimes get that dripping honey look and feel though, showing me that with some more practice and better technique Ill get there.

OK so now for the questions

Lis, do the spouts just unscrew with a spanner? If so are they normal threads, or left handed threads? I ask because I tried the other day and it wouldnt budge for me - I didnt try too hard for fear that they were not screw in etc.

When I pull a shot (and I notice this more on the more restricted shots) there is some water returning to the resevoir - sort of like when you do a backflush.

When I hit the steam button it seems to take quite a long time to reach even 120c, like in the minutes, is this right and if not is there a technique or something I can do. When the steam is warming up I get water coming from the PF spouts, is this normal?

I think this is it for the moment - now Im hanging for 4:30 to get back home and start trying again Im going to have to start roasting my own soon to keep the bean cost down 8-)

Thanks for following along, I will be keeping this post going for a while - I will probably close it when I get my first god shot - somewhere around 2010 ;D ;D

[Lizzie]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

I was going to post last night actually but Allison hogged the laptop most of the night - something about work - like thats more imortant than this  

How is it going????
Slowly!!!!!!!

heheheheheh .... ;D

I am now able to get an OK cup about half the time, but Im finding that there is not much of a difference between a gusher and an almost choke. This is something I will just have to practice, practice, practice at.

try this: when you tamp, dont take the tamper off the puck straight away, but lean on the tamper for another 2 seconds, so you distribute the pressure all the way down the basket: it has made a lot of difference to my shots, as it has eliminated the "side channelling", the water which runs down the side of the puck.

I am loving though the fact that I can sometimes get that dripping honey look and feel though, showing me that with some more practice and better technique Ill get there.

OK so now for the questions  

Lis, do the spouts just unscrew with a spanner? If so are they normal threads, or left handed threads? I ask because I tried the other day and it wouldnt budge for me - I didnt try too hard for fear that they were not screw in etc.

they are a normal thread, Shannon: i took mine off when the PF was quite hot: i wrapped the spout in a tea-towel and stuck it in the vice, then very slowly turned the PF.

When I pull a shot (and I notice this more on the more restricted shots) there is some water returning to the resevoir - sort of like when you do a backflush.

that is normal: it is the OPV working properly

When I hit the steam button it seems to take quite a long time to reach even 120c, like in the minutes, is this right and if not is there a technique or something I can do.

i timed my Bott ad she takes 2.5 sec for every degree , so from 102 to 132C about 75 sec, and from 102 to 152c more than 2 minutes.

When the steam is warming up I get water coming from the PF spouts, is this normal?

i dont have tht happening on mine, i would PM Brett (Telemaster) about that one, if i were you: he knows a lot more about Botts than i do.... did Llama experience that too?

I think this is it for the moment - now Im hanging for 4:30 to get back home and start trying again Im going to have to start roasting my own soon to keep the bean cost down 8-)

Thanks for following along, I will be keeping this post going for a while - I will probably close it when I get my first god shot - somewhere around 2010  ;D ;D

keep us posted, Shannon, sounds like you are tantalisingly close to great shots!

L

[Dimal]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

they are a normal thread, Shannon: i took mine off when the PF was quite hot: i wrapped the spout in a tea-towel and stuck it in the vice, then very slowly turned the PF.

It may also have some Loctite "Thread-Lock" type of compound as well. Best way to deal with that is with the PF cold, play the flame from a small gas torch around the vertical section of the spout to melt the Loctite and while hot, unscrew the spout. Basically youre not trying to make the spout red-hot, just anything from 150-250C should be enough.

Cheers,
Mal.

[Shannon]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

Thanks guys, I am going to attack the spout tonight and see how I go.

Lis, thanks again, I will talk with Brett and see if he can give some opinions - Im also going to contact Llama and see if he had the leaking thing as well (I think he left for his trip this week though ) might have to wait until he returns for an answer.

As an aside, I almost got my 1st real microfome!! I have found that with the extra steam and the extra hole, I have to really watch the amount of air I give the milk as in no time at all it turns to massive cap fome. With the SB I had to add heaps of air to get anything other than warm milk.

This weekend looks as though its going to be a good one - rainy and miserable conditions, no real reason to go out of the house - alright so there is that little event that is my wifes birthday, but Uknow, we can work our way around that.

Question time - On the temp gauge I am finding that even once given an extended warm up it has never made it over the 90c mark. Should I be OK with that (it is just that I have read in 6910 threads, people upping their temp to 96)

Cheers
Shannon.

[Lizzie]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

hi Shannon...

i bought a 2 hole steam tip from coffeeparts, as i found the Botts tip a bit much, particularly for the 300ml jug... try plugging up a hole with a bit of toothpick and see how you go.

i remember that LLama said that the steam knob slipped... maybe that was the bit of leaking ??

my Bott is sitting on 100C on the gauge, but that is after she has been on for a number of hours.
in the beginning i also queried the Botts gauge accuracy and 2mcm s reply was that i should not pay too much attention to the gauge...
after having been switched "on for about 30 minutes, you can be sure the boiler is up to temp, and the GH is also warm enough.
i generally switch mine off for an hour or so, or even a couple of hours ,while i do other things which require 1000W+ power, and when i get around to making a coffee, the unit is still warm enough to come back to temp within a few minutes.
she is a solid block of metal!!
without the PID in, you will need to give her a bit of a flush before pulling a shot, just until the heater-light comes back on... when the light goes out, the boiler is at the right temp, so lock and hit the brew-button.
cheers,

L

[Shannon]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

Cheers again Lis
Llama must have also replaces the tri hole tip as this only has 2 holes - are you starting to realise how slow the SB was ;D ;D - Im not overly worried about any of these things, its just without having a manual, or having used a machine of this calabre before I wanted to make sure it was only owner inexperience and learning curve as opposed to something that I could tweak of fix on the machine.
In regards to the steam knob slipping - I havent experience this yet. I dont think this is the leak though as I feel the slip would be at the black "on" knob, but the leak I am experiencing is coming from the group itself.

There will be more questions, oh yes there will be more......... but not until I get home and crank her up again.

Shannon.

[Thundergod]

Re: Well the Botticelli has found its new home

Shannon,
My internet is on the blink atm so Ill make this quick.
If you can hang out til Im back online we can discuss my giving you some cap cups.