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Yes I think Greg has something here. I have been acting on his and 2mcms advice and have been positioning the wand more or less as he indicated. I have been getting the rolling action (with a bit of a whirlpool as well - but a lot slower than when I was tilting the jug) and the results have been quite good (oh and I have been stopping the stretching a bit earlier as well which means less foam sitting on top and seemingly therefore better integration at the end).
Ive certainly got acceptable results using whirlpooling in the past, but Ive found when the pressure starts to drop towards the end of the texturing cycle it can sometimes prevent the foam from continuing to get mixed in. Turn the tap half off and see how quickly the foam settles out - same effect. After all anything light (like foam) which sits on the top can sit there quite happily spinning around and around no matter how much activity is going on underneath. But rolling the milk makes it much easier to reincorporate any foam into the mix.
Its harder with a one-hole tip, but I find if you shoot about halfway between the centre and the side of the jug you get two rolls of differing size which has a similar effect to a two-hole tip. Trying to roll the whole jug would result in such a low steam entry point youd be breaking the surface too easily.
agree that once you get the whirling action, it doesnt take long to get the foaming going.
however, im not so sure about rolling the milk on the silvia as it comes with the one hole steam tip. rolling seems to suit a 3-4 hole tip as the steam gets pushed in multiple directions. you can get adequate foam, specifically microfoam, using the (horizontal) whirlpool action i think.
In my experience I find I only need to stretch to about 20 degrees on my Silvia to get enough foam for a nice latte; after that Im just rolling the milk to 65 keep it evenly textured and warmed. You may have too much foam in the milk if youre stretching all the way to 35, which will give a louder sound than less foamy milk, and it may not be obvious until the milk gets hot. Also make sure the wand isnt too deep in the milk as this tends to give a deeper sound.
The other thing to try is to roll the milk rather than whirlpool it. Until recently I was a proponent of whirlpooling the milk (i.e. milk rotates on a roughly horizontal axs (counterclockwise normally) in the jug while the steam is fired down at an angle as 2mcm suggested). Rolling the milk has the whirlpool going on a vertical axis; while its a trickier technique to get right and youre more likely to rupture the milk surface, it means the foam cant sit on the surface as it can sometimes do in a whirlpool so youre more likely to get an even texture.
I think you are right 2mcm - I just tried it without angling the jug and it went nicely. If I bend the wand should I avoid putting any pressure on the attachment point on the machine or can that point take a small amount of leverage?
Ron- might I suggest that you carefully bend the wand out and then forward by about 15 deg. Rest the back of the jug against the back of the tip and you should get an automatic whirlpool. You will no longer need to tilt the jug...Make sure that the wand tip is just under the surface of the milk.
Im looking for some advice on what I may be going wrong. Ive read all the threads about the correct procedure with frothing on the Silvia but quite often something happens to not exactly wreck things but make them less than optimal.
So, if you can imagine I start frothing with the machine about a minute into the steam producing cycle (after bleeding off any condensation) with the jug slightly angled towards me and the wand close to the spout - everything is going nicely with the stretching with a nice whirlpool and at round 35 degrees I lower the wand and keep the whirlpool going - nice microfoam at this point. Then at around 50-55 degrees a grumbling/gurgling like sound might start and gets louder the more I progress - with a corresponding degradation in the microfoam at 60-65 degrees. This doesnt happen all of the time so Im a bit frustrated - do you reckon I could be bleeding too much steam or should I wait for the boiler to get hotter (the further into the steam cycle I start the less this problem occurs) or is my technique just lacking?
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