SILVIA PIDd vs. QUICKMILL ALEXIA non PIDd

[pravspresso]

Yello.

I"m moving on from a gaggia espresso pid either this year or next.

Ive done my research on both machines but i cant make a decision.

The Alexia chrome & beautiful E-61 group are blinding my reasoning im sure of it.

Please help.

cheers.

[luca]

Re: SILVIA PIDd vs. QUICKMILL ALEXIA non PIDd

There is a lot of stuff of varying value written on all things espresso all over the internet. This whole alexia thing is a nice case-in-point of things not necessarily being relevant to Australians; it isnt even available down here!

If its a straight one-vs-the-other comparison, the Alexia will probably make better espresso more easily by virtue of e61 preinfusion, but will take a lot longer to go from brew to steam. However, I dont think that a design with the group some distance away from the boiler is particularly well suited to the dual-boiler design. Even with the thermosyphon in the group, it is still only heating up the group with brew temperature water right at the back of it, so the group will run cold and the brew water is going to lose temperature to it. You will probably have to flush it to warm it up. A friend of mine has a brewtus, which also uses an e61 type head on a dedicated brew boiler and he was over for espresso yesterday. I have a HX machine and he commented that the warming flushes that he has to do on his machine makes using it almost the same as using my HX.

I was in a similar position to you last year and I upgraded my silvia to a HX, which makes far better espresso much more consistently than my silvia ever did. I dont know that upgrading your gaggia to a silvia would make that much of a difference in terms of shot quality ... although if your gaggia is one of the ones with a very small boiler, it might help. The biggest bang for your buck is probably buying a second-hand silvia steam wand and retrofitting it to your gaggia.

Cheers,

Luca

[Sparky]

Re: SILVIA PIDd vs. QUICKMILL ALEXIA non PIDd


FYI: While the Alexia isnt available in Australia, the equivalent machine is the Vibiemme Domobar (Nero model is about AUD$999).

Theres not much support for this machine, but it does look nice.

As for the Silvia vs Domobar arguement, Id go the Domobar becuase it does give you a few extras like a brew pressure gauge, E61 pre-infusion, adjustable brew temperature, really huge drip tray and it looks way better.

As for the E61 on a brew boiler, I agree with Luca. Its not the best design and definitely not what the E61 group was designed for. So you will need to flush it up to temp, which is not optimal. As I dont actually own one of these machines, this is only an opinion based on the specs and a few forum posts by other owners. So getting one would entail some risk due to the very small user base and lack of real first hand knowledge out there. Youd be a trail blazer...

If you want a machine for milk based drinks, then itd probably be best if you could try to get a HX machine. They do work well and this is the type of operation theyre designed for.

Cheers,

Mark.