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Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

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  • Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

    I FINALLY managed to score a Rocky/Silvia I could afford and think I got a pretty good deal. Bought them secondhand with 8 months use (4 months of warranty left) for $650 with a metal tamper and steaming jug.  ;D

    Took it home and took apart the showerscreen and cleaned it all. I have no idea how to use it... Haha. Its heating up now.

    Does anyone have any general tips they found helpful when they started? I hear Silvia/Rocky have pretty steep learning curve and I just need to practice.

    Does anyone have any recommendations of sponsors in Melbourne who do a class?

    Thanks!

  • #2
    Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

    Get a grouphead brush. Specifically, you want one with a bend in it -- itll look stupid, but its very necessary for cleaning. My machine came with TWO grouphead brushes, and both didnt have a bend in the handle. So whenever I went to scrub the gasket and such, water would trickle down and burn my hands!

    Temperature surfing is a good idea. After you preheat your cups (always do this) run water into the cup for a couple seconds, turn off for the same amount of time, and keep going until the boiler light turns on. Then take out the portafilter, dry the basket thoroughly! And fill it. I like to do this little operation, putting the water into the cup Im going to use and dumping it just before I brew, as the drip tray is pretty shallow.

    Avoid leaving the machine on for really long periods of time, just in case you end up running the boiler dry. So if you steam milk, dont forget to turn the steam switch off afterwards (after you purge (always purge!)).

    To steam milk, bleed the wand dry (what does this mean? To turn it on full blast into some kind of container (I use a large mug)) until the water stops spitting out, and the boiler light turns on). Then put milk in your (chilled! Store it in the freezer) pitcher ("steaming jug"), and a thermometer as well. Put the wand in the milk, right at the bottom, and turn on the steam full blast (the knob only turns so far, and then youre at full steam and further twisting does nothing). Quickly! Try to raise the tip of the wand close to the top, until you get a chk-chk-chk sound. You dont want this sound to happen too quickly, otherwise youll get big bubbles. Anyway, do this until you hit about 70F (~21C) to 80F (~26C),

    So, then you want to bury the wand deep into the milk again, and try to hold it at an angle such that you get a whirlpool action happening. Once the milk hits about 140F (~60C), turn the steam off and remove the wand. Rub the wand quickly with a moistened cloth, aim the wand at the drip tray, and turn the wand on for a second to purge the milk out. Then rub the wand until clean.

    Take out the thermometer, and bump the pitcher against a flat surface (I use my wood cutting board) a couple times. This is to knock out big air bubbles. Then swirl the milk, by moving the pitcher in circles until the milk looks pretty sexy.

    Pour it in according to videos and such online. Ive given you explicit instructions for this component because I really couldnt find this information for myself when I first tried, or it wasnt well explained (maybe mine isnt either!).

    Put a cloth on a set of bathroom scales, and tamp as level as you can to somewhere between 20 and 50 pounds. Youll want to vary this, according to the output of your machine.

    Do you have fresh beans? Please say yes. You want to match your grind and tamp to get about 60mL of liquid in 25 seconds or so, with the first drops coming out of your portafilter at roughly 4 seconds. How do you know when to stop? Thats a very good question.

    The liquid coming out should turn a much lighter colour ("blonding"). If once you stop your pull there are white(ish) dots on top of the crema, the shot has blonded. Try changing your variables (one at a time!) to alter this. Do a lot of experimenting -- I hope you can handle your caffeine!

    Always make sure you preheat your machine. If youre the kind of person who wakes up as late as possible, try to get a standard electrical timer that goes in the outlet, and set it for 45 minutes or so before you want to use it. The reason for this is that your machine has a LOT of brass in it, and even though the boiler light is out, that doesnt mean the machine is warm enough to brew!

    If when youre pulling your shot, the machine goes quiet...you ran out of water! Bad noise! Speaking of which, there is a "max" line indicated on the uh...thing that holds the water, the reservoir. This is not an engineers maximum, this is a mathematicians maximum. DONT go past this line, otherwise water will fall out the side and down the back of the machine! Nothing bad will go wrong, so dont rip your hair out over this... but it will mean youll have to wipe up the water (theres a way for it to fall out, it wont pool and rust away your electronics). It may go around the rubber feet, meaning the machine will slide when you put the portafilter in, etc.

    Once youre getting some consistency in your shots, try to track down a naked portafilter. This will help you see things that may be going wrong, but are hidden by the big chunk of metal at the bottom of your portafilter (extraction issues).

    Get a paperclip or similarly thin instrument, and when you grind into your basket, run it around in circles to declump and potential clumps! Then level off and tamp. This is called "Weiss Distribution Tsomething" (WDT). The purpose is that clumps are bad! You dont want them, they lead to channeling (water, like everyone in life, is lazy and follows the path of least resistance. This means part of your puck are underextracted, and others are overextracted!).

    Get a blind filter for cleaning (Im assuming youll read about what this means if you decide to do it (Im kidding, thats not an if, its a "do it do it DO IT")).

    Ill try to think of more things I wish people told me.

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

      Hehe, thanks. Am getting severely bitter and unattractive shots and starting to think Ive overestimated myself and overshot my capabilities. Pooo.

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

        This is to be expected. Its a learning curve. Honestly, Id say making espresso is so much easier and harder than it is made out to be. By this I mean that the aspects you think are difficult, arent. The ones that you think arent? ARE. ugh.

        Anyway, I hope you can handle your caffeine. Really, bite the bullet and go through a lot of beans until youre getting something out that is good. There will be bad shots, dont be afraid to sink them. Considering the steal that you got your machine for, surely you can afford it! ;D

        Read, read, read. www.espressomyespresso.com sounds great considering you have a rocky as well (I jumped straight to a Mazzer mini, but a lot of what he says is still applicable, and a good read to boot). No one was hurt from knowing too much about something (in general).

        Try to be consistent. Unless something is drastically wrong, only make a small adjustment, and only one variable at a time. Flow too fast? Depending on how it looks, change tamp to be a little harder, or the grind a little finer. Not both, and not big changes at once!

        More milk news: make sure, big time, that if you clean your wand by purging into a cloth, that your hand is sufficiently protected. I was used to the wand on my baby-Aldi machine, where I dont think Id be able to burn myself if I tried...I burnt my hand pretty hardcore when I first got the Silvia.

        If you preheat your cups (like I do) with liquid from the machine itself, during the temperature surfing ("time surfing" is more accurate term) phase of brewing, try to make sure the number of coffee particles you can see in your cup is a number you can count on (at best) both hands. Clean, clean, clean! This machine, upgraditis aside, should last you quite a long time. Look after it!

        Im sure theres a lot more I can think of specifically pertaining to the silvia. There are a lot of things to know, and its easy to get an inferiority complex and feel overwhelmed. Like I said, its easier and harder than you probably thought. Ill keep thinking.

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

          Hey tashie....
          Congrats on the purchase - what a steal!
          Jealousy starting to kick in now....lol


          Awsome help and support from ping too. Think Ill copy and paste for when I get my combo. Its quite scary sitting here reading on what to do and what not do. I guess it adds to the excitement of producing something from start to finish (with help from the machine of course) Im sure itll be satisfying after putting in the hard yards, beans and sleepless nights to sit down and take a sip of the first pull you have finally mastered and just sigh and say ahhh thats better!

          Im so anxious :-/

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

            Originally posted by 786D7F6465690C0 link=1243509448/0#0 date=1243509448
            Does anyone have any recommendations of sponsors in Melbourne who do a class?
            LOL tashie.... ;D

            Youre really spoiled for choice down there in Melbourne.... Send a query to all the Melbourne based Sponsors from the list over on the L/H side of the page. This will give you an idea of which course provider will suit your needs the best.

            This one from "The Espresso School" looks like a very good one for someone such as yourself... http://www.espressoschool.com.au/tra...presso-at-home

            Mal.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

              Mal...

              Just visited that link...sounds pefect! Wonder if they would charge extra to come west?

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

                Pingusam: thanks so much for all that advice. On a sadder note, I havent even touched the milk yet - still trying to get a decent espresso and my standards arent high - I came from a Cafe Roma.

                Am considering going back to my Roma now > * (dont laugh, its blasphemy I know but im not sure its attainable from here. i cant even figure out when the burrs touch *grr*


                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

                  Get some sleep tashie and start fresh tomorrow

                  Dont give up

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

                    Dont give up tashie, Im on my 2nd week with the Silvia / Rocky... and still cant get a decent shot going.. rofl..... will need to adjust my brew pressure in the weekend... (as soon as I get myself a proper spanner for the job :P). I think its at about 10-11bars at the moment, which is too high .  Ill report back on the change in taste once the adjustments are done.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

                      Hi tashie,

                      Congratulations on the purchase, at that price you were pretty much robbing the person you bought it off!

                      As an ex Silvia owner, I know first hand capabilities of this machine. It is a fine machine but requires a steeper learning curve than most machines. If you can master this machine, you can bet your bottom dollar youll feel right at home on any other machine.

                      As Mal said, you may benefit from an Espresso @ Home in-home class with us. Alternatively we are running an Espresso Basics class Saturday 27th June (10am to 1pm) in the CBD.

                      If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

                      Good luck,

                      David

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

                        Thank God I havent sold my Cafe Roma or Id be caffeineless tmrw morning.

                        ShortMac: Sleep is for people who havent drunk like 15 espressos trying to figure out why theyre all shi*te lol

                        Thanks SPLG: At least I know Im not just useless haha. let me know how it goew

                        Dave: Might take you up on that class if I can afford it lol. Alternatively will sell these for a profit and go back to buying coffee. If I didnt know they were good machines, Id be asking myself what rubbish I bought....

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

                          Tashie, with all the great advice- now just spend some time reading and practice ur new skills and u will keep getting better!! Practice males perfect. Enjoy the journey and trying new and different things!! now u have some great new toys have fun!! Some classes from one of our sponsors will help heaps too.

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

                            Just be careful of "upgradeitis" I have a Silvia and Rocky combo too pretty new machine- already thinking of new machines!! Have fun u have great tools!!

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Finally, a Silvia/Rocky. Now, what do I do?

                              How much coffee have you gone through?
                              Im a new Silvia owner and on the first day I went through about 3/4 of a kilo of fresh coffee before I was at a point where I considered myself to be pulling good tasting shots consistently. I think I only drank about 1 in 10 shots, the rest I just sipped to taste and then chucked.

                              Practice Practice Practice

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