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Silvia Espresso Difficulty

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  • BioBrian
    replied
    Well that's what happens when you go away on holiday and leave us all to sort out your problems! Great that you are getting satisfaction after all this, but what do the rest of us do now?

    I should correct what I said in Posts 35 and 40, about my Silvia's pressure and flow, because there's a big error somewhere.

    Yesterday I bought a pressure gauge (and 3/8" to 1/4" reducing socket), which I fitted to the portafilter instead of the spout. This showed that the pressure I'd arrived at after following somebody's graph was way too high.

    Assuming this gauge is reasonably accurate, with the OPV now set at 9 bar, the back flow, with a blind filter fitted, is 330 ml/min. This is not that far from its original setting, so maybe my pump's different from the one used to make the graph I found. My machine was new in 2011, so maybe that's of some help to somebody.

    By the way, it was a bit of an eye-opener to see how much black oily grunge was hiding in the secret corners of the spout! I'll be taking that off for cleaning a bit more often now.

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  • kyler
    replied
    See this thread has been taken over! Anyway, I've just got back from holiday and had time to play with everything. It's working great since replacing the burrs. Shots are coming out nice and slow, super creamy and delicious. Very happy. Not that it's really an issue for me but I can't seem to set the grinder at '0' and the 0 point is somewhere around 6.

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  • zarbs
    replied
    Thanks Mal. I've sent off the funds and will wait in line for the kit to arrive. I did have the machine serviced by JetBlack some four years ago but it always good to check these things. Cheers and thanks for the info...

    Zarbs

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  • Dimal
    replied
    G'day again Zarbs...

    It's not that difficult to do, to be honest, and once sorted can reap huge dividends re: quality in the cup.

    Greg Pullman has set up a roving Group Handle Pressure Gauge service, link here, which a lot of CSers have made good use of. Definitely worth a look in my opinion...

    Mal.

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  • zarbs
    replied
    Hi Mal,

    I was looking at that just this morning. The pour with the settings for my grinder is good and the grind is very fine and powdery. The initial tamp with the "out of the box" setting was much finer and a full PF dose would see no liquid coming through the PF at all. I am happy with the results so far and will investigate the setting of the PLV but from what I've read it is quite complicated working out what the current pressure settings is and how much it should be changed. The Silvia manual notes a maximum of one full turn in either direction so I am a little hesitant to fiddle at the moment. I suppose a service would get this sorted but I have just replaced worn parts and serviced with a blind filter myself. My descaling saw no result to speak of as I only use filtered water for the machine. Your input is welcome. Cheers...

    Zarbs

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  • Dimal
    replied
    Welcome "zarbs"...

    Out of interest mate, when you went for the PID Controller installation, did you also verify the Pressure Limiting Valve setting? If this is set too high, it can make it extremely difficult to 'dial-in' for a decent espresso pour, plus the resulting pour probably won't taste its best either...

    Mal.

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  • zarbs
    replied
    I have been a lurker on CS for many years and only just registered after all this time. Interesting to read this thread. I have had my Silvia for nearly 8 years and used an EM0480 grinder with it with little view to the specifics of coffee output. That all changed this week once I decided to pimp my Silvia with some new parts and an Auber PID kit direct from them in the USA. I didn't buy from my local at JetBlack Espresso as I wanted the blue LED. Anyway, I got it in three days from the USA and installed the PID kit only to find that the beans I was grinding in the EM0480 were too course when running with the 26 second pour set in the PID. Needless to say I pushed the grind level down and down testing the EM04080 each time with a new shot.

    Sadly, I couldn't get the beans fine enough to give me a good shot of espresso. It was far too watery at the 26 second mark. I had done the shots manually before the PID and stopped when the level in the cup was sufficient and the addition of the PID was to allow my partner to be able to use the Silvia when I was out. The PID showed up the quicker pour of my grinds. After fiddling with things and reading up on the threads here on the EM0480 I decided not to try to add shims/washers to raise the lower burr and went out and purchased the Lelit PL043MM step less grinder from JetBlack Espresso. It's small and carries enough beans for our daily use. The guys at JetBlack gave me 250g of beans to test it and I have to say I needed all of them to get it to the best spot. The install supplement says that the grinder should be set for a good espresso out of the box. Sadly this was not the case. Seemed to be dialled all the way down.

    Once I got the setting correct I then played with the tamping of the PF dose to get the best shots. This morning I finally got nirvana in a cup. The beans are local and I can't vouch for freshness as they have no date stamp but the pour was perfect at around 30g and both of us commented on how smooth and creamy the coffee tasted compared to yesterday. So, I can only concur with others here who have rightly suggested the grind is the cause of this issue. I now have it set for perfection for the current beans I am using and look forward to playing with the grind/dose/tamp once I change the beans. My only very minor gripe with the stepless grinder is it has no marking for reference on the dial do a white marker is my next purchase. The old EM0480 is still in good condition and will probably end up for sale here once I notch up enough posts. Now to re-master the milk steaming process with the PID to see if I can get any better microfoam...

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  • BioBrian
    replied
    Because the tamper doesn't fit snugly, I spend a bit of time using it to push down any grounds from the basket wall before the final polish. The curved knife I use in dosing is supposed to give me a tighter tamp around the edges than the middle, but I think it needs more curve.

    It was a question really, so I'm interested in how/when the switching of the solenoid can do the blasting up toward the seal. Do you mean when I turn off the brew switch?

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  • Dragunov21
    replied
    Originally posted by BioBrian View Post
    My concern with all these is that none fit the shower screen/group head of the Silvia well, it being 57.8 mm, and the closest basket is the double, at 58.6 mm. The puck shows that grounds get blasted up the sides towards the seal, which would to me indicate a likely weakness in the puck, ".
    Do you have any reason to believe that this is not due to residual grinds after tamping, nor disruption due to operation of the pressure-relief solenoid?

    Leave a comment:


  • BioBrian
    replied
    Well Yelta, I put my money where your mouth is, and bought a "Precision 58 mm" basket. I have to report that it is neither "Precision", nor 58 mm.

    The ID is actually 59mm, making a very sloppy fit with my Rancilio tamper, and varies from 58.8 to 59.2 mm, meaning it's actually oval.

    I put a piece of sandpaper on a flat table and rubbed the inverted basket on it, and inspection of the top showed flat abrasion in THREE points around the rim.

    However, the coffee it made tasted good, so maybe it should be re-named the "3-pointed oval 59 mm taste-nice" basket.

    In contrast, my double and double-and-a-half Rancilio baskets are both round, and flat-topped, and have smaller IDs.

    All 3 have very cleanly drilled/cleaned holes; the holes in the new one are smaller and fewer, possibly adding some resistance, but I can't be sure on that.

    My concern with all these is that none fit the shower screen/group head of the Silvia well, it being 57.8 mm, and the closest basket is the double, at 58.6 mm. The puck shows that grounds get blasted up the sides towards the seal, which would to me indicate a likely weakness in the puck, leading to channelling/weak, watery, bitter coffee.

    I agree that the Silvia is not suitable for milk drinks. Fortunately my primary school destroyed any desire to ever smell hot milk again, so I only enjoy short blacks. In the '60s, the Vic government gave every child a gill (quarter pint) of milk each day, and these bottles would sit in a tray of water on the wood heater of the class-room until recess, when all 45-50 (that was our class size) were handed out. On sunny days it was even worse.

    Cheers from "Junior Member".

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  • Dimal
    replied
    Rightio mate, sounds good...

    Mal.

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  • Yelta
    replied
    Double 14 to 18 gram Mal, dose 18 grams, does the job for me.

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  • Dimal
    replied
    Which Precision Basket do you use Yelta?

    Mal.

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  • Yelta
    replied
    Welcome to Coffee Snobs Brian, we're all learning.

    Are you using the baskets supplied with your Silvia? if so I suggest you throw the single in the bin, they're useless, and replace the double with a Precision double 14 to 18 gram Precision filter basket 58mm- Espresso parts will make a world of difference to the quality of your shots.

    I owned a Silvia/Rocky combo for almost 10 years, they make excellent coffee, however have limitations when making multiple milk drinks i.e. cappuccino etc

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  • BioBrian
    replied
    Yes, I was a bit daunted by the "post quick reply" button, and also had lost my entire post shortly before, so cut a lot out the 2nd time.

    Should have said that I have the same Silvia v3, and use the supplied 40-100-102 double basket. Compak K3T grinder.

    Not being a regular user, I thought everybody would have read the thread I was reading only yesterday, where they talked about the Ulka pumps, and printed the pressure/flow curve (more a straight line).

    I measured the back flow from the tube that flows from the OPV (over-pressure valve??) back to the reservoir. This gave inconsistent results from taking the tubes in and out, until I standardized the process: remove group and run the brew switch for at least 10 sec to get rid of any air in the tubes; then fit blind filter and hit brew switch for about 6 seconds, until back-flow appears from return pipe. Only then could I start the brew switch on the clock, with the little pipe sitting in a measuring jug.

    From the initial flow of 360 ml/min, the graph indicated to me that my machine had been set at about 6.25 bar, scandalously far from the proper 9 bar!

    Sorry, I haven't time to find the thread, but I'm sure it would be easy.

    Also, as you may have gathered, I'm still proudly wearing L-plates, even after 3 years of Silvia-smithing, and hope to keep learning lots more.

    Thanks for the helpful discussion, all.

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