Rancilio Sylvia water temperature heating question?

[acid_rider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close acid_rider]

Hello everyone

Question for those with Rancilio Sylvia coffee machine who have connected digital thermometers to its internals to allow to monitor the brew temperature better (is that called 'gronk' ?).

So - this is after pre-heating the machine for 30 min and then purging some water to force the heating light to turn ON.

Question: How many seconds approx. does it take for water to reach ~ +94C so I can start the extraction ?

I don't have a thermometer attached to my Sylvia (I don't have the skills to do it correctly!) so a stopwatch guide would help me to time the extraction better while the heating light is ON and the temp has reached +94C, that being the high end of the optimal extraction temperature range.

Thanks in advance!

[whykickamoocow Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close whykickamoocow]

Hey there,
There is a few youtube videos that go through it all. My general way is to do the purge... light on... When light switches off... run the water for like a second the start put the handle in and hit go.
Thats what most youtube videos did when temp surfing the silvia.

[acid_rider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close acid_rider]

thanks.

A few days ago my friend with identical Sylvia machine had thermometer attached and we timed it all.
It seems to take ~25 seconds (give or take 1 sec) after the light turns ON for the temp to reach +94C.
Then I start my extraction, while the light is still ON.
The extraction takes about 30 seconds (give or take 2 seconds) and in 8 out of 10 cases the light still stays ON for the duration of the complete extraction.
The temp remains between +89C and +92C during this time i.e. well inside the desired optimum temp range of 88-94C.

I get better results this way compared to the Youtube methods that you mentioned which wait for light to go OFF and purge for 1-2-3 seconds to drop the temp into the 88-94C optimum zone.

This is likely because the temp drops too rapidly during the 30 sec extraction with the light OFF and it may go below 88C in the last 5-10 seconds of it, which may kick off another heating cycle.

Needless to say a PID would make this problem go away!! 8^)

I dont understand why Rancilio does not sell a Sylvia with a factory built-in PID after so many years on the market.

[Ricco Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Ricco]

^^ just curious, in your method above where are you measuring temperature, boiler or brew head?

[acid_rider Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close acid_rider]

^^ just curious, in your method above where are you measuring temperature, boiler or brew head?

Hi Ricco,

I am sorry to say this but I am a technical moron, so I dont have a clue!!
My friend did all the research on-line and he connected it, so I am just using his 'semi-scientific' results for my own selfish benefit given we own same model coffee machine!! 8^)

I do suspect these temp numbers that I quoted may be close to valid for all Silvia machines from V1 to V5.