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My New Giotto

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  • My New Giotto

    Well I have finally updraded from my Sunbeam EM6910CoffeeMachine  and EM040 grinder.
    I was in Melbourne a couple of weeks ago and arranged to visit Chris at Talk Coffee. He was very informative and ran me through the features of the different machines he had on offer.
    I decided on the Giotto Premium Plus coupled with a Compak K3 Touch Grinder.

    It arrived at my Brisbane home securley strapped to a wooden skid all in good condition.

    Now comes the learning curve, I thought my 2 years experience with the Sunbeam would give me a fairly good start at being able to get a good espresso extraction out of my new toy. But not so easy, First unpack & setup up the new gear (easy fun part) All ready to go I grind & tamp just like I have been doing for so long, give the Giotto its first cooling flush and what do I get, lots of steam so much so that about a cupful of hot water came out before the steam & bubbles died down. Anyway ready to pour my fist shot - 30mil in 30seconds not bad I thought but the taste was woeful. Try again, make some changes to grind tamp dose etc but still extended cooling flushes required between shots. All up I used about a kilo of beans before I got to drink a cup of coffee that tasted OK. I am still experimenting and trying for better shots, the Giotto is behaving better now and not producing so much steam (from the group head).I guess it must have been the settling in period. Hopefully some photos soon.

    Regards to all


    Steve

  • #2
    Re: My New Giotto

    Hi Steve

    I too got a new Giotto last month. Im still learning as well, but I dont get steam at all out of the group head - I rarely do or need a cooling flush :-?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: My New Giotto

      Congratulations on your choice. One I endorse (unbiased opinion, of course )

      First thing, dont do a cooling flush unless its been sitting there idling for a long time. They are quite thermostable. I rarely do them on my GPP and if you cool it too much, you will get a sour shot. Try it without doing any cooling flush.

      also, I didnt have to worry about a settling-in period (mine came fro TalkCoffee/Cuppacofee as well)

      Whats your pressure gauge doing? It should move between 1.0 and 1.2 bar while idle (mine between 0.9 and 1.1). If it is going well above or below these limits while idling, give Chris a call to discuss (or Dennis at cuppacoffee while Chris is on hols)

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: My New Giotto

        I also bought a GPP off Chris this year - it was fine straight out of the box.

        I rarely do a cooling flush.

        It seems strange that you are having problems, as Chris bench tests them before shipping - have you purged all the air from the boiler? (refer to the manual).

        Comment


        • #5
          Re: My New Giotto

          Originally posted by 252F3A2D2D223630430 link=1256091541/2#2 date=1256093393
          Congratulations on your choice. One I endorse (unbiased opinion, of course  )

          First thing, dont do a cooling flush unless its been sitting there idling for a long time. They are quite thermostable. I rarely do them on my GPP and if you cool it too much, you will get a sour shot. Try it without doing any cooling flush.

          also, I didnt have to worry about a settling-in period (mine came fro TalkCoffee/Cuppacofee as well)

          Whats your pressure gauge doing? It should move between 1.0 and 1.2 bar while idle (mine between 0.9 and 1.1). If it is going well above or below these limits while idling, give Chris a call to discuss (or Dennis at cuppacoffee while Chris is on hols)  
          Thanks for your reply, I only do a cooling flush now before the first use after warmup (I let it warm up for about 1 hour)

          Pressure gauge Ok between 1.0 & 1.2

          I spoke to Chris on the phone before he went away he got me to make sure things were OK inside the machine. I must say again that it seems to have settled down now, just a mystery quirk.

          Steve

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: My New Giotto

            Originally posted by 0F343A3F5B0 link=1256091541/3#3 date=1256101902
            I also bought a GPP off Chris this year - it was fine straight out of the box.

            I rarely do a cooling flush.

            It seems strange that you are having problems, as Chris bench tests them before shipping - have you purged all the air from the boiler? (refer to the manual).
            Yep, followed instruction manual word for word.

            Steve

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: My New Giotto

              Just did a check on the guage, it sits on just a fraction above 1.0 rises to a fraction above 1.2 at which point I can hear the water boil in the tank then slowly drops back to 1.0 whereby it repeats the process.

              Also to the owners of the Giotto PP how hot do your non-burn steam and hot water wands get? No way could I touch mine after steaming
              (way too hot)

              Steve

              Comment


              • #8
                Re: My New Giotto

                Steve,
                my steam arm and water arm do get hot, but no hot enough that I cant touch em with a finger to move em back in, with out the cool touch you couldnt even do that, it makes quite a difference
                cheers

                Comment


                • #9
                  Re: My New Giotto

                  Originally posted by 5B5F796060657A6D620C0 link=1256091541/7#7 date=1256123719
                  Steve,
                  my steam arm and water arm do get hot, but no hot enough that I cant touch em with a finger to move em back in, with out the cool touch you couldnt even do that, it makes quite a difference
                  cheers
                  Thanks for that,
                  I will check it out tomorrow night

                  Steve

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: My New Giotto

                    Congrats on the new toy Steve and welcome to both "The Pointy End" and "The Giotto Owners Club"

                    Firstly, yep as per WSullys post, the arm still gets hot, but nowhere near as hot as an uninsulated wand. I came from a Silvia and after steaming, the wand was untouchable without a tea towel. So the difference was very noticable for me.

                    The very tip of the Giotto steam wand will still get extremely hot though, so take caution you dont accidentally brush your arm against it or something when cleaning up (Ive done that once or twice and its not fun  :).

                    Re the cooling flush, Like others have posted here, I too have rarely needed to do this. As you say, perhaps it was just being a bit quirky and if its settled down now, then thats great.

                    When I bought mine (also from TalkCoffee), Chris remarked on how little hes been needing to do to these new GPPs in terms of adjustments out of the factory. He gets them up on the bench straight from the box and theyre apparently hitting the mark pretty decently.

                    Ive certainly been pretty impressed with the consistency of my unit to date.

                    Cheers,

                    Caff

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: My New Giotto

                      Have to add that Ive had my GPP now for 3 weeks and Im just so impressed the teething problems have all been operator related!! But practice makes perfect and now I just cant wait to get home each day and turn that machine on and enjoy a good coffee. Its reassuring to read comments on this site re making the step up and having to get used to a new bigger and better machine, its not just me after all!

                      I havent noticed any problems as youve discussed here, I did find out that the steam wand still gets hot but not untouchable unlike the tip!!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: My New Giotto

                        Congratulations on your purchase sjn. Thats a nice combo you have there!

                        We are getting our demo Giotto Premium Plus into the showroom next week. So if your still having problems with the operation of the machine Id be happy to have you by and talk through any operational issues and barista techniques that will help improve your experience on the machine. Address is 2/5 Commerce Circuit, Yatala, QLD. (07) 3801 8989

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: My New Giotto

                          Originally posted by 4C7C6769667A6B7C5D676A6B0E0 link=1256091541/11#11 date=1256203894
                          Congratulations on your purchase sjn. Thats a nice combo you have there!

                          We are getting our demo Giotto Premium Plus into the showroom next week. So if your still having problems with the operation of the machine Id be happy to have you by and talk through any operational issues and barista techniques that will help improve your experience on the machine. Address is 2/5 Commerce Circuit, Yatala, QLD. (07) 3801 8989

                           
                          Thanks for that offer, I am certainly interested in improving my skills on this machine

                          steve

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: My New Giotto

                            Just an update, I spoke with a techie at Espresso Company Australia who is making  arrangements for a repair agent in Brisbane to look at my machine. He is pretty sure he knowes what the problem is and is sending up some parts. Hopefully the outcome will be good be because so far it has been all very dissapointing. Putting it back in its box today awaiting drop off instructions.

                            Steve

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: My New Giotto

                              Thanks to the ECA boys for helping sjn with this one in my absence.

                              Its really bizarre that it bench tested perfectly, has the usual thermosyphon restriction setup and yet behaves unusually after a road trip. I am out of ideas at present...

                              Ill be having a chat with Dave and George from ECA on my return to suss out what (if anything) I missed :-/.

                              Hope youre up and running pronto and we apologise profusely for the inconvenience.

                              Ill send some browns north for you when I get back into town...

                              Chris

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