Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Newbie Silvia Owner

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Newbie Silvia Owner

    Hi everybody, I have finally purchased a silvia & I have what may or may not be a stupid question. After using the machine I empty the drip tray but there always seem to be water or espresso run off under the tray & then under the machine. I have checked the drip tray & it is not leaking. Can anybody help me here I am sick of the mess over the benchtop????
    Thanks

  • #2
    Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

    is any water in the drip tray?

    Rich

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

      Rich,
      there is still water in the drip tray, its not not a huge ammount under the tray but enough to be a mess

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

        Are you refilling the water to the very top?
        I did that a couple of times when I first got mine and it overflows due to the top of the container having a cutout in the left side. Check that, I bet that is the cause

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

          check to see how fill you are fill the water tank also see if both the pump intake and the return clear silicon hoses are both in the water tank.

          if all looks ok take your Silvia back to where you got it from there is the occasional one that doesnt perform as well as expected. Kinda like a Rolls Royce not all perform to optimum efficiency

          Rich

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

            No I am not over filling the water tank as I fill it up to about 20mm below the cut out.
            Yes both hoses are submerged in the water.

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

              Gday Folks,
              I am also a newbie Silvia owner, like, since yesterday. Two questions while I wait for Mocopan to get back to me. Firstly, the two hoses in the water tank, one reaches the bottom, the other is about four inches shorter and does not. Does this matter, that is, is it an over flow/ return, or should it also touch the bottom?
              The second question is my coffee pucks arent pucks as such, more like a slurry, wet, no form. Recommended grind was set at the factory. Do I turn on the coffee switch on and leave it until no more water comes out, or do I stop when there is enough fluid in the cup?

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

                Boris,

                Youve answered your own question with the hose, it will be fine. You should always leave the water topped up at the end of each day anyway. From memory its a just a water return hose.

                Couple of ideas re; your wet puck. Are you using the crappy plastic tamper that come with the machine? If so get yourself a reasonable (58mm) metal one. When tamping apply roughly 30lbs of pressure.

                The factory setting on your grinder is most likely not going to be constantly right given the type/age and humidity of your beans.

                Adjust your grind so that you get a 25 sec pour from the double basket and 60mls of coffee. DO NOT keep the brew switch constantly running after this. When youve got your 60ml @ 25sec stop the pour!

                Keep all of your variables consistent. Grind to your basket, level off with a flat edge and tamp to the above-mentioned 30lbs.

                Most importantly make sure you are using fresh beans. :P Preferably home roasted. This will be more or less hedging all of your bets then.

                If you go to the Whole Latte Love website theres some short videos on the use of a Silva as well. Not overly detailed but helpful to a newbie;

                http://www.wholelattelove.com/showVideos.cfm?itemID=39



                Hope this helps -
                Warren

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

                  Boris,

                  Dont worry about the hoses. The one with the notched or angled end is the supply to the pump. As long as it reaches the bottom of the water container it is fine.

                  Sloppy pucks (really just slop) point to a grind that is too fine and probably not enough coffee in the basket.

                  You do not mention if you have a grinder, so I will assume you do. If you dont, better buy a good one now because that is a key element in getting good results with the Silvia. Rocky is a good friend to get for Silvia if she is not attached to someone else.

                  Next thing is the basket. The Rancilio single is a complete waste of time. Only use the double and then work out how you manage the extra coffee it produces.

                  Next is the scoop. If you are using the scoop that came with the machine and put just 2 level measures in the basket you will be underfilling it. The idea is to completely fill it (i.e. overfill it), tap it lightly on the bench and then scrape it off level with the top of the basket. Then you tamp it lightly (all you are trying to do is even out the surface rather than compressing it back into a solid mass) and put it in the machine. When you have this nailed the variables are coffee freshness and grind. Assuming the coffee is fresh (no older than 1 or 2 weeks max after roasting) you adjust the grind to get the flow right. You are looking for 60ml in 25 seconds. When you get this right you will almost certainly find you have a solid puck that is reasonably dry. It will also have a clear impression of the shower screen screw in the top of it.

                  Cheers,

                  Graeme

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

                    Originally posted by Fresh_Coffee link=1099296647/0#9 date=1101174368
                    If after dosing and tamping the grinds into the filter (and the level of the puck is above the circlip groove) and you apply the filter handle to the machine and do it up, then remove, and there is no IMPRINT at all on the top of the puck (from the group shower), you still dont have enough coffee in the filter - try again with a bit more grinds. If you then see a heavy imprint from the group shower on the puck, you have "overdosed" the filter -take some out.
                    FC, sounds like a complex solution. You would have to hope you were not desperate for a hit while all this was going on.

                    If you employ this "volumetric" method of dosing there is no reason why you should not use the single filter. It doesnt matter what size filters you use, the dose is volumetric up to a certain height in the filter for a certain make and model of machine.
                    In saying not to use the single basket I am referring specifically to the Rancilio single that comes with the machine. The issue is to do with crema production and is related to the basket design. Other single baskets are apparently much less of a concern. In my case I leave both Rancilio baskets in the cupboard and use the slightly larger and superior La Marzocca double.

                    Cheers,

                    Graeme

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

                      Originally posted by gwdcoffee link=1099296647/0#10 date=1101185788

                      In saying not to use the single basket I am referring specifically to the Rancilio single that comes with the machine. The issue is to do with crema production and is related to the basket design. Other single baskets are apparently much less of a concern. In my case I leave both Rancilio baskets in the cupboard and use the slightly larger and superior La Marzocca double.

                      Graeme
                      I ordered a slightly larger (8gr vs 7gr) single basket from moccopan which has improved shot quality. Still not as good as the double but a definite improvement over the original.
                      Both single baskets seems to be much fussier with dose level and tamping and generally are harder to use.

                      maurice

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

                        Hi there :
                        In my opinion single filter baskets are a waste of time and should only be used to rest your tamper in.
                        I always use a double basket for each shot. If drinking it black I use the first 20 or so ml. For my piccolo latte, again the first 20 ml. Then for any regular milk based drinks the first 30 or so ml from the double basket. From continual sampling and experimentation, I have found this to offer not only the best extraction but to also yield the "most flavoursome" extraction.
                        I often change my basket sizes to suit the blend of coffee I am using at the time. In my regular blend I pack about 16-17 grams. However, in a blend recently sent to me to try, I found that I needed to use 18-19 grams to achieve optimum flavour.
                        I have played with the so called tripple basket but gave up. Could not get any real benefit from its use. ;D

                        Generally speaking, when switching between a single and double basket you might need to adjust the grind to compensate for the differences in the ground coffee volume.
                        John

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

                          Folks,
                          Wow, what a response, thanks for the info/tips. Ive had a longer experimentation with the Silvia/Rocky doserless this afternoon. I definitely was not putting enough coffee in the filter. A 20-25 second run pumps out about 250ml without the filter fitted. Fitted and packed (double filter, grinder Rocky at 20 with Mocopan special blend) 20 seconds gave me 180 -200 ml. Then I changed the grind to 10 with out much difference. Pucks are still wet on top but they are firmer to tap out. I guess Ill keep at.
                          Cheers..

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

                            Thanks again FC, the words of wisdom are appreciated. I was doing the grinder adjustments with the beans in, so Ill stop that. And I NOW recognise the oily balls of ground coffee. Ill start from scratch this afternoon. Thanks again.

                            Cheers

                            Boris.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Newbie Silvia Owner

                              Boris

                              You said "20 seconds gave me 180 -200 ml. " Do you mean you ran 180-200 ml of water through your packed filter basket???

                              John

                              Comment

                              Working...
                              X