I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.....

[gjws]

Hi all,

Well after around 2 months or trial and error, I give up. If you head over to the "for sale" forums you will see my Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale. I have tried everything suggested on the forums here and the results are far to o hit and miss for me to continue trying. On top of that, my wife is even worse with the combination than I am and she is sick and tired of offering poor coffee to guests. Ive been away for the last few weeks and havent had time to setup a lesson as I had planned but if my wife is still unhappy with the results she gets when Im not around everything still has to go anyway.

So, I am after advice on what to do from here? Both of us only drink milk based coffee and I really need something that will produce the best results for the least effort. I only wish I had asked this question prior to making my last purchase, it would have saved a lot of heartache! Should I be looking at another grinder / machine combination or would you recommend an all-in-one? Any brands I should be looking at? Recommended resellers in the Melbourne area I should visit?

All help much appreciated.

Cheers,

Greg.

[pie_in_ear]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

Greg, for the amount of $s you will probably loose in a sale why not spend it on barista lesson at home. You will be happy with the results after that. Where are you located?

[greenman]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

I agree with Pioneer Greg, go and have some barista training, once you sort out Silvia she makes great espresso and milk based drinks, its all in the technique!!

[mwatt]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

Give Chris (Talk Coffee) a call?

Dont give up

[gjws]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

Hi guys,

Do you really think lessons will solve the problem? In all seriousness my wife HATES this machine at the moment and if that doesnt change very soon things are going to get really frosty around here

Shes sick of playing with the grind, varying the tamp, preheat this, change that etc, is it even possible to get to a fairly simple, repeatable process? I dont mean to sound negative but its been a tough few weeks trying to convince her to persevere.

Cheers,

Greg.

[fatboy_1999]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

Greg,

We had the Silvia/Rocky combo prior to our current setup.
Whilst I agree it can be fiddly, it certainly is possible to get a repeatable process. especially for milk based drinks (as we drink all the time).

Personally, I found having the machine on a timer in the morning was a big bonus. It turned on about 30 minutes before we needed it and it took one of the variables out of the equation.

Having said all of that, my wife too found the Silvia finicky and frustrating and ended up mostly waiting for me to make her a coffee, which wasnt much good if she had visitors during the day.

We stepped up to the Expobar Minore II and have not regretted it for a moment. It is a lot more forgiving pulling shots and my wife is comfortable using it all the time.

If the budget allows, have a look at a step up because the results really are worth it IMO.

Certainly have a chat to a sponsor about your options though.

Brett.

[flynnaus]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

Do you really think lessons will solve the problem? In all seriousness my wife HATES this machine at the moment and if that doesnt change very soon things are going to get really frosty around here

Shes sick of playing with the grind, varying the tamp, preheat this, change that etc, is it even possible to get to a fairly simple, repeatable process? I dont mean to sound negative but its been a tough few weeks trying to convince her to persevere

Yes, training is the go. The sort of emotion that your wife is experiencing is simply due to her lack of success. No surprises there but it can be easily turned around by her having some success. The answer doesnt lie in upgrading to better equipment - its experiencing success that provides the catalyst and you can easily do that with your current equipment with a guiding hand.

From all reports the automatic (all-in-one) machines just make the coffee process easier. Ive yet to taste a coffee better than what I can make from my basic Gaggia Baby machine or even my old DeLonghi EC430.

Even just a couple of hours training at your home will be a better investment than spending more on a higher end machine and especially an automatic.

Having said that, getting a consistent result is very difficult until youve had probably years of experience, not weeks or months. I cant speak from years of experience but I can say that I made mediocre coffee with my old machine. With the help of CS I can now make better coffee but Im still learning. I know as a trainer that the best progress will be from someone guiding me through the process.

Talk to Chris and book yourself a couple of hours of at-home training. It will be money well-spent and your guests will be more impressed with your wifes barista skills than something made without skill from an auto machine.

[bennett]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

It all depends on how fussy you are about your coffee. There is no doubt when dialled in the Silvia is up to the task and can make great coffee but I can also imagine it can take a lot of fiddling which can be frustrating. However I dont think you will find any good quality grinder/machine combo which doesnt need some degree of fiddling from day to day. Even with my simple 6910/0480 combo I have to tweak it on a daily/twice daily basis and throw out occasional shots that dont pour right. So if you dont mind compromising on the end result then you might be better off with an auto just for simplicity sake. That wont go down too well on these forums - its not called Coffeesnobs for nothing - however some people just want a reasonable coffee that can be reproduced on mass if required. The other suggestions are also quite good. Maybe spend some money on home lessons and you never know what might happen !!

I will also say that I shirk when I have guests over at the thought of making more than 4 coffees with my sunbeam. I generally offer plunger unless Im having only 1-2 guests over. Its just too much work and too much pressure. So I understand where you are coming from.

[muppet_man67]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

silvia is really not an entertainers machine. Whilst Ive done it myself, making up to 10 coffees can take the best part of 1/2 an hour. and thats with a Super jolly which isnt a slouch of a grinder in a domestic setting. if your entertaining often then Id be looking at a machine that can texture milk and brew at the same time. The Sunbeam might be more suited.

one thing I would recommend if you want silvia to be a bit more forgiving would be to get yourself a deeper filter basket. it will help even out inconsistencies in dosing. That said its not a magical cure. The original filter basket is very easy to over fill, and when that happens you will get a very restricted pour. I can understand that to someone who is inexperienced it can be difficult to know what to adjust, ie was it grind/dose/tamp that was wrong. A lesson should teach you a repeatable dosing technique.

Silvia textures milk really well. I dont think a different machine will make up for poor technique in this department.

Keep the Rocky, even if you go back to plunger its a worthwhile investment.

[Koffee_Kosmo]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

What are you willing to pay gjws

I also started asking questions on the CS forum prior to buying
1st on list was a Silvia but heavy coffee making needs eliminated it
2nd on the list was VBM Levetta also eliminated for the same reasons above

The answer for me was to start with a HX machine even if it stretched the budget
So I ended up with a wife sanctioned purchase
Bezzera Galatea with a Macap M4D grinder

Initial cost is high by about 4 times the price point of the Silvia & Rocky but well worth it as the leap is 10 times greater

A used HX machine may be the answer for you

KK

[gjws]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

Thank you all for your replies.

I should start by saying that we are not huge entertainers, making 6 coffees at once is about as busy as it gets thanks to the tea drinkers The primary problems are this:

1. In the morning I like a coffee before heading out the door. At the moment this can take me 20 minutes as I am throwing away 3 shots that were not right, and usually accepting a shot that is only marginally passable.

2. As Fatboy mentioned, the biggest problem is when my wife has friends over during the day. When I come home that night I get blasted with abuse about how unusable the silvia is!

It is very frustrating when you read the manual that makes it sound so easy then wind up with nothing better than brown water. I mean that, sometimes it is THAT bad. Ive tried gringing everywhere from 2 through to 20 and the inconsistency, even using the same grind kills me.

Id be willing to shell out $2000 tops for a machine. Perhaps Ill give the in-home training a try, I guess even if I sell the silvia the training would be relevant to another machine. Were about to demolish and rebuild and I was thinking about one of the in-wall Miela units. Im not sure what to do at all now, I just know something has to change soon.

[askthecoffeeguy]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

definitely give the training a try and you may be surprised by the results

also, what coffee are you using and when was it roasted? the silvia rocky combo can be very fussy when it comes to tamp and grind, and fresh beans (say 5 to 10 days post-roast) are essential for a good result!

pat

[Ali]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

I agree with getting some training. I went to the (free) Sunbeam course and was surprised at what I learnt.

You may find it useful to try and "fix" some of the variables so youre only changing one thing at a time - eg keeping the amount of coffee and tamp consistent so that the only thing you play with is the grind.

I have the Sunbeam EM6910 and like the fact that I can use manual or can use the single or double pour buttons if I dont have time to watch the shot properly. I also liked the fact that it came with a free lesson and DVD on how to use it.

Good luck... I hope you find something that works for you both

[gjws]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

Im using Genovese coffee, its by far my favorite coffee, and its around 7 days old so Im assuming it should be fine. Even if it was not 100% it couldnt account for all of the troubles Ive had

[Thundergod]

Re: I give up, Rancilio Silvia and Rocky for sale.

Greg I did my training before buying my setup.
It was part of my research to help me understand what I wanted.
I can honestly say that my first shot was OK.

I was also leaning towards a Sivia/Rocky combo as by all accounts they do produce the goods.

My circumstances at the time though allowed me to aim a little higher, hence my Expobar Leva and Macap.

I also use a Sunbeam at work and found it easy to use because of my experience at home.

My home use experience also got me a job in a cafe.

As well as my original course Ive also benefited from some hints and tips from Hazel de los Reyes.

If you dont give some training a chance to sort out your lack of extracting the best out of the Silvia (pun intended) youll always wonder.

The small extra investment should be worth it.
Make sure you find someone that knows the Silvia and Rocky well.

Id be willing to teach you myself if I had the experience on those two machines.