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Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

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  • #16
    Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

    Whats rain water?

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    • #17
      Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

      I thought rain water was pretty dirty, as it falls from the sky and goes through the city air and contaminates it, then followed by landing on roof which probably is filled with bird droppings or mouldy leafs etc.

      Oh, have been having some rain here in Brisbane but still far from being enough

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      • #18
        Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

        Originally posted by herbie link=1173612090/0#14 date=1173780116
        Hi James,
        As a happy Via Venezia user for the past 4 years I may be able to impart a few helpful tips.
        Turn on the machine at least 15 minutes before use.
        Always use filtered water or even better rain water.
        Run 2 shots of hot water (until the green light goes out) which also heats your cups.  Run a final shot while you grind your beans.
        Wipe the filter basket with a paper towel then fill with ground coffee and level off.  Tap on the bench to settle the grinds and tamp. Add more coffee and tamp so that the tamped coffee is 7 mm below the top of the portafilter basket.
        Lock the portafilter into the group head.
        Press the brew button (top one) if the green light is on, for 3 seconds, wait 5 seconds and brew again for 20 to 30 seconds until 60 ml pours for a double basket.
        Remove portafilter and press brew button to flush shower screen clean.
        STEAMING MILK
        Press steam button and wait until green light is on.  I find 600 ml stainless jug a good size. Take off the outside of the steam wand tip (just pulls off) and just use the inner tip with its one small hole.
        Fill the milk jug to the bottom of the spout (about 1/3rd full) with COLD milk.
        Turn on the steam valve for a few seconds to get rid of most of the water out of the steam reservoir. Place steam wand tip just under the milk surface next to the side of the jug and at an angle so that a whirlpool occurs when the steam valve is turned fully on.
        As the milk level rises lower the jug so that the wand tip remains just under the surface and the steaming noise is moderate.
        A milk thermometer is a good idea. When the jug is too hot to hold (60-65 C) milk is ready to pour and jug should be nearly full of beautiful microfoam.
        Wipe steam wand immediately after and turn off steam button. Turn on steam valve  and leave on until clean water runs from the steam wand.
        This refills the boiler and when the green lights comes on you can start another brew cycle.
        I have found this process gives consistent good results once you get the grind/portafilter dose/tamp sorted.
        There are always variations in each shot but practice, practice makes it easier to get it right.
        Forgive me if I have been too elementary in my descriptions.
        Good Luck and cheers
        John
        No John not too elementary. Almost word for word what I did on my old VV (now my sons). Once we put in the non pressurised pf, I was amazed at the sweetness of the shots.
        A seriously underrated machine.
        Your point about taking the panarello off and just steaming with the single hole tip is a good one. I had been so impressed with it that thats what I substituted for the steam tip on our Quaha and the microfoam has been excellent.
        Brett

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        • #19
          Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

          Left myself wide open on the rainwater recommendation ,but out here in South Western NSW it,s that or carp flavoured murky channel water.

          p.s. At least our rainwater isnt full of city smog.

          Herbie

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          • #20
            Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

            Kopi Ikan?

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            • #21
              Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

              Originally posted by FourO link=1173612090/0#10 date=1173691056
              JamJar

              I have recently upgraded to Silvia after my via venezia bit the dust

              I have a non-pressur inised portafilter/handle/basket kit I bought from Seaco Sydney for $76.00 in October 2006 - pm me I would be willing to sell
              Hi there everyone- just a short query for my first time here, I have a Saeco Aroma and was wondering if the vv is basically the same machine and if so regarding the un-pressurized portafilter for sale here , would it be a great improvement for me and what are you asking for it $$ ?
              thanks for this great site too- Ive learnt lots in such a short time from many knowledgable cs

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              • #22
                Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                Gday snobette and welcome to CoffeeSnobs [smiley=thumbsup.gif],

                Which Saeco "Aroma" model do you have snobette? For some reason they have named two quite different machines with the same name.... Ones a pretty decent single group commercial and the other is a small consumer machine. Hear from you soon,

                Cheers,
                Mal.

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                • #23
                  Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                  I have confirmed with Saeco in melbourne, they have NON PF is $53.10 + GST, but is grey in colour.

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                  • #24
                    Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                    Herbie great post !

                    SOme qs;

                    WHy do you run 2 shots of watrer first? To heat uo all elements?
                    Why do you press the brew button if green light is on for 3 seconds then off wait 5 seconds?

                    Thanks

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                    • #25
                      Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                      Originally posted by Balattack link=1173612090/15#22 date=1174538636
                      I have confirmed with Saeco in melbourne, they have NON PF is $53.10 + GST, but is grey in colour.

                      At Caffe Bianchi in Leichhardt it is $45- black, uses same 53mm baskets as pressurised one- Greg Pullmans tampers do wonders for it.
                      Brett

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                      • #26
                        Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                        Hi there everyone Thanks on all the help re finding un pressurised pf for saeco vv (Aroma in my case, same size and fit as vv I HOPE :-/ ) I think Ill hang in there with my p/pf for a little while anyway - I modified it by taking out the inside spring a while back - I get the shots ok in the right times now but have compromised the crema but I think this will improve when my blade grinder( yeah I know! :-[ ) dies ? :-X you know how these thing JUST happen !? If anyone out there has any other tips on getting the best from a SAECO AROMA (sometimes aka classic) home machine lets know . I am finding that it drips quite a lot of water from steam valve now-even more since descaling recently, and has a lot of wet steam too that I have to dry out prior to steaming my milk than ever before-- anyone else have these probs or solutions too??
                        thanks again guys - ps was in Rio coffee Adelaide yesterday while someone picked up new ECM - where are you out there -you didnt put it in MY car like you said ;D Oh I need a coffee and a Lottery ticket win !!

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                        • #27
                          Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                          Snobette,
                          Go to Simply Coffee in Rundle street, Kent town and have a chat with Peter. He should be able to help you out.

                          As for the wet steam - I have a classic and I get a wee bit of this when I have my first coffee of the day. It is also a bit of condensation too. Before I do my extraction I open up the steam valve to bleed this off and then make my coffee.

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                          • #28
                            Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                            Originally posted by snobette link=1173612090/15#25 date=1174544957
                            Hi there everyone  Thanks on all the help re finding un pressurised pf for saeco vv (Aroma in my case, same size and fit as vv I HOPE  :-/ )  I think Ill hang in there with my p/pf for a little while anyway - I modified it by taking out the inside spring a while back  - I get the shots ok in the right times now but have compromised the crema but I think this will improve when my blade grinder( yeah I know! :-[ ) dies ? :-X you know how these thing JUST happen !?  If anyone out there has any other tips on getting the best from a SAECO AROMA (sometimes aka classic) home machine lets know .  I am finding that it drips quite a lot of water from steam valve now-even more since descaling recently, and has a lot of wet steam too that I have to dry out prior to steaming my milk than ever before-- anyone else have these probs or solutions too??
                            thanks again guys  - ps was in Rio coffee Adelaide yesterday while someone picked up new ECM - where are you out there -you didnt put it in MY car like you said    ;D   Oh I need a coffee and a Lottery ticket win !!    
                            Love my ECM, but then the Via Venezia was (and still is for my son) a great little machine
                            Brett

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                            • #29
                              Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                              Hi Balattack
                              Why do I run 2 shots of water .? To heat up the portafilter thoroughly.
                              The 3 second brew and 5 second pause simulates the pre-infusion that commercial machines perform automatically.
                              Green light just signifies that the boiler is up to temperature and element is no longer heating.
                              Thank you for your kind remarks.
                              Regards
                              Herbie

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                              • #30
                                Re: Novice seeking help for Saeco Via Venezia

                                Hi Snobbette,
                                With regards to leaking steam wand, I have had the same problem with my Via Venezia.
                                As far as I am aware most small semiauto Saecos are basically the same under the skin.
                                If you are able to get at the innards of your machine, the steam valve
                                knob shaft is locked onto the steam valve shaft with a tiny screw .
                                I found that one of my set Stanley precision screwdrivers fitted perfectly.
                                Loosen the screw , turn the knob a few millimetres anticlockwise and then tighten the screw again.
                                This should fix the problem.
                                I have to bleed off a fair bit of water from my steam too.
                                Regards
                                Herbie

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