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Coming to terms with the witch: strega

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  • #31
    Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

    Originally posted by 323426282D342F410 link=1319882086/29#29 date=1324445419
    Ya!!! I have just joined the Strega club . I picked up the machine from Chris yesterday. I just set it up in the kitchen but still havent had a chance to make any coffee from it just yet. Hopefully, I can have a bit of time to play with it tonight.
    Congrats Tony on your new Bezzera Strega Lever

    Originally posted by 323426282D342F410 link=1319882086/29#29 date=1324445419
    Just wanna know,how much coffee does people use for the factory double basket ?

    Tony.
    Tamp to a depth of no less than 8mm no matter what basket you use
    Thats your level for life

    Also grind a little finer than you are used to

    KK

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    • #32
      Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

      Great to see another Strega owner Tony!

      Im dosing around 20g in a Synesso double. Like KK says a finer grind than usual HX, and a fairly light tamp seems to work well, but no doubt you will have a lot of fun experimenting with what your new machine can do. I must admit Im delighted how easy it is once you have the grind/dose dialled in, and my steam worries are behind me ... most of the time!

      One thing to watch is when you are doing a cooling flush (no puck) first thing in the morning still half asleep with wet hands ... :-[

      ... I now use both hands, in fact I often do a hand over hand thing generally, and may not raise the machine for a while at least as I find this works well.

      Welcome to the club!

      Comment


      • #33
        Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

        Finally, I spent 45mins with the machine. I had so much fun with it. It is certainly a new learning curve for me (A large one ). The coffees taste completely different from my CKX. In general, the coffee brewed by the strega has more front palate flavours while the CKX has more back palate flavours. Though, the coffees tonight didnt taste the best. Im sure it will improve from time to time

        The first impression is "Very lost". There are two many variables which can affect the result of the cup. Today, I just kind of dial in the setting and will do more testing tomorrow.

        Question:
        How long does people leave the pump on? I tried leaving the pump on for 4 secs initially and it didnt have enough water to finish a shot. I then left it on until the first drip came out before I let the lever did the work. It tasted ok, quite sweet but dirty at the finishing.

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        • #34
          Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

          Originally posted by 4B4D5F51544D56380 link=1319882086/32#32 date=1324469026
          Question:
          How long does people leave the pump on? I tried leaving the pump on for 4 secs initially and it didnt have enough water to finish a shot. I then left it on until the first drip came out before I let the lever did the work. It tasted ok, quite sweet but dirty at the finishing.
          Tony
          On my testing
          Once the grind, tamp & puck level is right it was 5 to 8 seconds of pump time
          (I did a video see post 4)

          Before you see blonding you pull the cup away manually

          KK

          Comment


          • #35
            Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

            Thx KK. Ill try it tomorrow. I tried 14, 15 16, 17 and 18 grams of coffee today and found out anything above 15 grams the puck ended up very firm, dry and had crack in the middle. Therefore, I assume the optimal doseage for my basket is 14 grams ish.

            Also, I wanna say thank you to Chris from Talk Coffee as the experience with talk coffee is great

            Comment


            • #36
              Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

              Intresting. After a massive day yesterday of coffee and , well wine and food too! - I had a closer look at what Im doing this morning. Dose is closer to 18g on my probably not super accurate scale. Pucks are good with no sign of cracking/channelling. Pump on for 7 - 8 seconds seems about right (although in the flurry of orders and silly questions yesterday I was horrified at one stage to realise Id just done a pump only shot! :-[ - but no complaints even then!! ;D)

              What baskets are you using Tony? The standard Bezzera ones? My Pullman tamper is a fraction big for those (least it was for my first Strega ... still here KK!!) so I havent used them at all. At 14g even with the lightest of tamps my Pullman would just about disappear!

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              • #37
                Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                On the tests I conducted - for real world
                All were on a stock standard machine 
                Using standard baskets & a not so fitting aluminum tamper

                Takes a little practice
                The 3 critical things were, fresh coffee, grind & tamp depth (min 8mm)
                (see my video up on post 4)

                KK

                Comment


                • #38
                  Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                  Originally posted by 3836263739203026550 link=1319882086/35#35 date=1324503110
                  Intresting. After a massive day yesterday of coffee and , well wine and food too! - I had a closer look at what Im doing this morning. Dose is closer to 18g on my probably not super accurate scale. Pucks are good with no sign of cracking/channelling. Pump on for 7 - 8 seconds seems about right (although in the flurry of orders and silly questions yesterday I was horrified at one stage to realise Id just done a pump only shot! :-[ - but no complaints even then!! ;D)

                  What baskets are you using Tony? The standard Bezzera ones? My Pullman tamper is a fraction big for those (least it was for my first Strega ... still here KK!!) so I havent used them at all. At 14g even with the lightest of tamps my Pullman would just about disappear!
                  Im using the bezzera double. I found out I need to grind a lot finer than the pump machine. Just wanna know, should I adjust the grind first or the dose when I adjust the setting (haha! back to the basic for me)? I think I still havent got the settings right yet.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                    Originally posted by 1D3930303333091D39253B39560 link=1319882086/36#36 date=1324511092
                    On the tests I conducted - for real world
                    All were on a stock standard machine 
                    Using standard baskets & a not so fitting aluminum tamper

                    Takes a little practice
                    The 3 critical things were, fresh coffee, grind & tamp depth (min 8mm)
                    (see my video up on post 4)

                    KK
                    Will take your advice KK. Will have another go tomorrow. my tamper fits very well with the bazzera basket.

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                      Ok Ive now done a test and some measurements ... isnt science wonderful? - and it transpires we need to be careful about making general rules, as baskets aint baskets ...



                      Synesso on the left, Bezzera on the right. The Synesso is 2.5mm deeper but probably in practice there is a greater difference because of the Bezzeras larger rounded rim and also because it is ridged and that ridge extends into the interior of the basket, so I imagine youd want to tamp below that? I must admit i dont like ridged baskets generally, so even though my tamper seems to fit this one ok, I much prefer the Synesso.

                      What I did find after making a shot with the Bezzera basket is that if I was using it, I would need to reduce the dose AND grind quite a bit finer - which I put down to the Synesso having more, but smaller holes.

                      HTH you a bit Tony, and before you ask, I am very much on the learning with a quality machine curve myself, so dont treat anything I say as gospel, ok?

                      BTW I think Jim did say somewhere that the Strega was more than usually basket sensitive (he didnt think it worked at all well with VSTs), so it may pay to experiment. I have both a Synesso triple and a bottomless pf on the way, so I may have more to report ... and show ... hopefully soon.

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                      • #41
                        Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                        It is good we can learn together JJ

                        I reckon what I did wrong was I adjusted the grind and dose too often. Therefore, I now decided to concentrate on the dose before I make any adjustment on the grind. May be I can post some photos of the puck tomorrow

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                          Originally posted by 737D6D7C726B7B6D1E0 link=1319882086/39#39 date=1324519716
                          I have both a Synesso triple and a bottomless pf on the way, so I may have more to report ... and show ... hopefully soon.
                          Speak of the devil ... I now have both, but part of that learning involves finding out despite the stellar service from Pedro and Cilinia at Coffee Parts the bottomless PF doesnt fit because although the lugs match the built up bit above the lugs on the Strega just may be unique.



                          I do have the Synesso triple to play with though (thanks Greg and Robin from Pullman) and as a guide it is about as much bigger compared to the Synesso double, as the Synesso double is to the Bezzera double ... if that makes sense.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                            I did remember reading KK or someone say the Stregas portafilters are unique.

                            When the shot finishes running through, how dry are the pucks at the end?

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                              Yes he did, and hes about to say I told you so but I did have Pedro poring over the Strega schematics but I suspect he was more looking at the lug position - ah well you live and learn.

                              The puck is clean and dry and pretty much falls out. One of the reasons I have the triple is not just about extra caffeine (as if I needed extra atm - that kilo I got from Andy is history! ) but more about something I think Chris and Galumay were talking about with the Pompeii - deep being an advantage, and after just one test with the double dose in the triple, I think its possible - more testing required (the sacrifices I make for science!) Certainly moving the puck that much further away from the shower screen makes the clean up even easier, and with no back flushing required the Strega is already a dream in that respect.

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Re: Coming to terms with the witch: strega

                                I made a few coffees this morning and found out I didnt have a clue what was I talking about in the last few threads. I found out my dosing technique was the major contributing factor causing confusion during dailing in the setup.

                                Anyway, back to square one for me. I took KKs advice to dose 8mm in the basket post tamp and found out it has around 18 grams in it. I then locked the pf into to group head and took it out and found the puck didnt touch the shower screen at all. So i think I under dosed a lot in the last two days. Also, I found out the crack in the puck maybe caused by either the grind is too fine or my distrubtion technique

                                Ill do more testing this arvo to get the setting dialed in.

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