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ECM Classika II PID
My coffee style is 45 ml double ristretto, no milk, twice to three times a day.
This machine fits the capacity bill, seemed to cover off on quality, and also gave me confidence on temps with the PID.
The PID switching to a timer when the lever is moved, got it across the line.
Grinder is Breville BCG820.
Day one review.
Well packed and delivered from Jetblack Espresso. Box was well organised with accessories and was very well protected.
Moving from the Sunbeam EM3600, initial shock was at the weight of the portafilters and size of the baskets.
Turns out the doubles hold about 20grams of coffee (before tamping) and the Naked Portafilter basket is massive - I topped 24 grams before tamping - I have to assume its a triple.
Jetblack go to good lengths to make sure you do it, and it was easy to fill the boiler with the supplied instructions.
Pouring the shots once up and running was easy and did not take a lot of time. While I've briefly handled 58mm commercial portafilters before, these ones were so shiny and pretty it makes you cautious to bang them around too much.
I was seriously contemplating IMS Competition Filters' showers screens and baskets, but seeing the ECM shower screen in actrion, Im not sure I need one. While it can be a little inconsistent, generally the screens is dripping dozens of streams of water at many locations. Looks good.
Was a bit disappointing that the standard double portafilter does not sit straight in the grouphead and overshoots by a couple of degrees. I really expected this to be perfect.
The naked portafilter conversely stops short by a couple of degrees. The two portafilters actually seem to be different sizes - the ECM Naked was an accessory. Again, I kinda expected this to be perfect.
The PID controlled temperature out of the box was set to 94 degrees, and I assume Jetblack adjusted this from the 93 default from ECM. It was easy to adjust the temperature (which I did down to 92 immediately) and its simple to set.
I note the confirmation of the chosen temperature was a little bit up in the air though. Leaving the menu without going through the steam temperature setting doesn't seem possible. You press minus to get back, but minus is also the button for getting to steam temperature setting. Maybe its just me.
The timer is magic and I could not be more pleased. Moving the lever to full position kicks off the timer.
The shot below is at about 50mls in this image.
It's not the machine, but let me relay this experience, just to inform other noobs (like me).
I just cant seem to get the grind right for this first couple of days. I have been perfecting my techniques for my previous machine for few months. But I noted that these beans have been extremely problematic since I bought them last week. Took me about 12 failed double shots before I got the good flavours from my old Sunbeam EM3600. These beans are called Exotic 7 - a blend of 7 Arabica's that seem to be freshly roasted due to the huge amount of foamy crema, but have been a hassle to dial in.
My first two shots on the ECM with the naked portafilter were controlled with no spurts.
But dwell time was low at only 4 seconds, and then I had 4 or 5 streams of rushy liquid for about 6 or 7 seconds - before it became a single stream. The single stream seemed to be pouring fast. Looking at the footage its actually about 30ml in 10seconds...
But at 24 grams of coffee, on an adjusted (formerly known as Shimmed) Breville grinder on finest setting - that fast pour was a very worrying sign. The beans certainly have something to do with it, but I'll have to max out the Breville for this PF with this bean.
After 8 pours over two days, things are not looking great. All shots so far have been black swill, with only one yesterday showing the some flavour about halfway through the cup, but only about 5mls of Caramel flavour, if you catch my drift.
This is a worry because the sunbeam was able to produce 45ml of gold (with 5-10ml of crap foam on top) - the kind of viscous liquid that makes you want to tongue the glass after its finished. I can confirm no channelling - the tamps were level and grounds well distributed. Doesn't appear to be any issues there.
One other problem I noticed, was that the twin spout portafilter seems to hold water. No matter how much I shake it out, angle it and otherwise "let it dry", there seems to always be water trapped in there somewhere. Again, I expect better than this, but Ill play a bit more to make sure its not user error. I do a pressurised rinse as well as wipe etc.
The warm up time is fantastic. Claimed 300 seconds is close, and the recommended 600 seconds seems to be enough for the grouphead.
Time to steam is about 1 minute, which is totally fine for me. If I choose to experiment with steam, it wont be a rush job anyway.
My coffee style is 45 ml double ristretto, no milk, twice to three times a day.
This machine fits the capacity bill, seemed to cover off on quality, and also gave me confidence on temps with the PID.
The PID switching to a timer when the lever is moved, got it across the line.
Grinder is Breville BCG820.
Day one review.
Well packed and delivered from Jetblack Espresso. Box was well organised with accessories and was very well protected.
Moving from the Sunbeam EM3600, initial shock was at the weight of the portafilters and size of the baskets.
Turns out the doubles hold about 20grams of coffee (before tamping) and the Naked Portafilter basket is massive - I topped 24 grams before tamping - I have to assume its a triple.
Jetblack go to good lengths to make sure you do it, and it was easy to fill the boiler with the supplied instructions.
Pouring the shots once up and running was easy and did not take a lot of time. While I've briefly handled 58mm commercial portafilters before, these ones were so shiny and pretty it makes you cautious to bang them around too much.
I was seriously contemplating IMS Competition Filters' showers screens and baskets, but seeing the ECM shower screen in actrion, Im not sure I need one. While it can be a little inconsistent, generally the screens is dripping dozens of streams of water at many locations. Looks good.
Was a bit disappointing that the standard double portafilter does not sit straight in the grouphead and overshoots by a couple of degrees. I really expected this to be perfect.
The naked portafilter conversely stops short by a couple of degrees. The two portafilters actually seem to be different sizes - the ECM Naked was an accessory. Again, I kinda expected this to be perfect.
The PID controlled temperature out of the box was set to 94 degrees, and I assume Jetblack adjusted this from the 93 default from ECM. It was easy to adjust the temperature (which I did down to 92 immediately) and its simple to set.
I note the confirmation of the chosen temperature was a little bit up in the air though. Leaving the menu without going through the steam temperature setting doesn't seem possible. You press minus to get back, but minus is also the button for getting to steam temperature setting. Maybe its just me.
The timer is magic and I could not be more pleased. Moving the lever to full position kicks off the timer.
The shot below is at about 50mls in this image.
It's not the machine, but let me relay this experience, just to inform other noobs (like me).
I just cant seem to get the grind right for this first couple of days. I have been perfecting my techniques for my previous machine for few months. But I noted that these beans have been extremely problematic since I bought them last week. Took me about 12 failed double shots before I got the good flavours from my old Sunbeam EM3600. These beans are called Exotic 7 - a blend of 7 Arabica's that seem to be freshly roasted due to the huge amount of foamy crema, but have been a hassle to dial in.
My first two shots on the ECM with the naked portafilter were controlled with no spurts.
But dwell time was low at only 4 seconds, and then I had 4 or 5 streams of rushy liquid for about 6 or 7 seconds - before it became a single stream. The single stream seemed to be pouring fast. Looking at the footage its actually about 30ml in 10seconds...
But at 24 grams of coffee, on an adjusted (formerly known as Shimmed) Breville grinder on finest setting - that fast pour was a very worrying sign. The beans certainly have something to do with it, but I'll have to max out the Breville for this PF with this bean.
After 8 pours over two days, things are not looking great. All shots so far have been black swill, with only one yesterday showing the some flavour about halfway through the cup, but only about 5mls of Caramel flavour, if you catch my drift.
This is a worry because the sunbeam was able to produce 45ml of gold (with 5-10ml of crap foam on top) - the kind of viscous liquid that makes you want to tongue the glass after its finished. I can confirm no channelling - the tamps were level and grounds well distributed. Doesn't appear to be any issues there.
One other problem I noticed, was that the twin spout portafilter seems to hold water. No matter how much I shake it out, angle it and otherwise "let it dry", there seems to always be water trapped in there somewhere. Again, I expect better than this, but Ill play a bit more to make sure its not user error. I do a pressurised rinse as well as wipe etc.
The warm up time is fantastic. Claimed 300 seconds is close, and the recommended 600 seconds seems to be enough for the grouphead.
Time to steam is about 1 minute, which is totally fine for me. If I choose to experiment with steam, it wont be a rush job anyway.
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