Greetings Snobs!
I haven't been on here for a few years 'coz my coffee universe has been pretty stable really.
But....
I think I need to make some wholesale changes and I need your wise advice.
So current set up is:
Silvia (V1) - stock standard, no mods
Compak K3 touch.
Makes epic coffee, because I am a fussy/neurotic barista that knows my machines' behaviour intimately. I have honed my consistency over a long time.
So what's changed? What's the problem?
- We now have one more coffee drinker in the house than before, and my wife drinks coffee more often than she used to.
- My wife is not particularly confident with the grinder & silvia calibration....so when I am away working, for weeks at a time, she can't really dial-in a new bag of beans....or make small adjustments to current beans. She doesn't have time with two kids etc etc.
- If I make 5-6 cups a day.....I am spending a lot of time standing at the silvia, temp surfing, flushing, pre-heating, re-filling etc etc - Especially when I make three in a row. As everyone knows, the silvia is great for one or two cups.....but it's a pain for smashing out multiple cups (btw - almost all coffees in our house are made with milk too). Lately I feel like I am losing hours of my time making coffees every day.
So...
Upgrade?
I can throw some coin at the silvia?
PID kit + gauge + OPV adjust/upgrade and then maybe I'll have a better/more efficient set-up....?
Sure it's more precise....but I already like my coffee.
Would the PID just intimidate my wife even more?
How much faster would it be to make 3 coffees with milk?
You can throw more tech at a silvia.....but it still has the smallest boiler in the city....and it can't do double-duty like a heat exchange or DB machine.
I need a set-up that myself or my wife can just walk-up to and start brewing without mucking around with where the boiler temp cycle is.
And I want to prep more milk, faster. I gotta need for speed!
OR....
Side-grade?
I could buy a BES920....?
You get PID? (I think....)....or at least no need to temp surf.
You get espresso & milk prep at the same time.
BUT.....you get plastic retail reliability. They just ain't built like a steel/brass/copper machine y'know?
....and they use those dinky little porta-filters....so I can't use a Pullman or VST basket (??)
I guess they are VFM.....IF they don't fail after 12 months of use....
OR....
Buy used pro-sumer or small commercial on FleaBay / ScumTree / CoffeeSnobs.....?
OK, so this option opens Pandoras Box.
There is so many used machines out there!!
What size? What year? What model? Was it a dud? Was it legendary in it's day?
I do all my own maintenance on the silvia and I look after the Wega Atlas we have at work. I am a qualified engineer. I have a better-than-most workshop and a pretty comprehensive tool box.....so I don't mind fixing/servicing/upgrading a second hand machine. But which one??
The other downside to this strategy is cost. Even a second hand DB or Heat exchange machine is going to be a couple of grand or more. I was hoping to keep the change-over price to 500 to 900 bucks....but might be dreaming?
Would love your thoughts....particularly from anyone who has a PID silvia. I'd like to know how much time the upgrades might save me?
Gracias
I haven't been on here for a few years 'coz my coffee universe has been pretty stable really.
But....
I think I need to make some wholesale changes and I need your wise advice.
So current set up is:
Silvia (V1) - stock standard, no mods
Compak K3 touch.
Makes epic coffee, because I am a fussy/neurotic barista that knows my machines' behaviour intimately. I have honed my consistency over a long time.
So what's changed? What's the problem?
- We now have one more coffee drinker in the house than before, and my wife drinks coffee more often than she used to.
- My wife is not particularly confident with the grinder & silvia calibration....so when I am away working, for weeks at a time, she can't really dial-in a new bag of beans....or make small adjustments to current beans. She doesn't have time with two kids etc etc.
- If I make 5-6 cups a day.....I am spending a lot of time standing at the silvia, temp surfing, flushing, pre-heating, re-filling etc etc - Especially when I make three in a row. As everyone knows, the silvia is great for one or two cups.....but it's a pain for smashing out multiple cups (btw - almost all coffees in our house are made with milk too). Lately I feel like I am losing hours of my time making coffees every day.
So...
Upgrade?
I can throw some coin at the silvia?
PID kit + gauge + OPV adjust/upgrade and then maybe I'll have a better/more efficient set-up....?
Sure it's more precise....but I already like my coffee.
Would the PID just intimidate my wife even more?
How much faster would it be to make 3 coffees with milk?
You can throw more tech at a silvia.....but it still has the smallest boiler in the city....and it can't do double-duty like a heat exchange or DB machine.
I need a set-up that myself or my wife can just walk-up to and start brewing without mucking around with where the boiler temp cycle is.
And I want to prep more milk, faster. I gotta need for speed!
OR....
Side-grade?
I could buy a BES920....?
You get PID? (I think....)....or at least no need to temp surf.
You get espresso & milk prep at the same time.
BUT.....you get plastic retail reliability. They just ain't built like a steel/brass/copper machine y'know?
....and they use those dinky little porta-filters....so I can't use a Pullman or VST basket (??)
I guess they are VFM.....IF they don't fail after 12 months of use....
OR....
Buy used pro-sumer or small commercial on FleaBay / ScumTree / CoffeeSnobs.....?
OK, so this option opens Pandoras Box.
There is so many used machines out there!!
What size? What year? What model? Was it a dud? Was it legendary in it's day?
I do all my own maintenance on the silvia and I look after the Wega Atlas we have at work. I am a qualified engineer. I have a better-than-most workshop and a pretty comprehensive tool box.....so I don't mind fixing/servicing/upgrading a second hand machine. But which one??
The other downside to this strategy is cost. Even a second hand DB or Heat exchange machine is going to be a couple of grand or more. I was hoping to keep the change-over price to 500 to 900 bucks....but might be dreaming?
Would love your thoughts....particularly from anyone who has a PID silvia. I'd like to know how much time the upgrades might save me?
Gracias




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