When only an afternoon affogato will do...

[dstr8]

What Stephen aka FotonDrv didn't mention:   He's a top shelf machinist and woodsmith ... fabricating the motor attachment for the HG-1 hand grinder, aluminum top cap for his Monolith Flat grinder, portafilter handles and so on.  

[FotonDrv]

1 minute ago, dstr8 said:

My Grandpa used to say:  "The best ... is what you like"!   Being happy with whatever ... is what its all about.   

Yeah, here we are grilling on the Rolls Royce of grills, with a commensurate price tag and worrying about a wee bit of coffee gear?!?  I have cooked food on C-4 explosives compound and I must say it was damn fast to cooking temp, but the Big KK is pretty sweet

 

[DennisLinkletter]

2 hours ago, dstr8 said:

My Grandpa used to say:  "The best ... is what you like"!   Being happy with whatever ... is what its all about.   

I really like that..  As corny as it sounds I actually start my day by taking 2 minutes to take inventory for all I have to be thankful for. I immediately realize how much I have and how fortunate I am.  Everything from family, our health, my business, my lifestyle, my possessions etc. This helps offset how the world tries to brainwash us into believing we need more and more and what we have is not enough and we will be happier with all these things.. sadly if happiness is tied to having things it will be elusive and we will never have enough. 

I truly believe I could stop today and live happily with much less than I have now.. but I would not be drinking kick ass espresso like I will be later this month!

[tony b]

The difference between chasing happiness and actually finding it. Dennis, sounds like you've found it. I'm envious. 

[DennisLinkletter]

31 minutes ago, tony b said:

The difference between chasing happiness and actually finding it. Dennis, sounds like you've found it. I'm envious. 

I tell my children as much as possible that happiness is a state of mind.. it's only a decision.  Sounds simplistic.. takes discipline
to believe it and live it.

[tinyfish]

14 hours ago, DennisLinkletter said:

I tell my children as much as possible that happiness is a state of mind.. it's only a decision.  Sounds simplistic.. takes discipline
to believe it and live it.

Well said!

[tony b]

[Syzygies]

Well, this thread sent many of us reeling into the internet cosmos. Hopefully most of us spent a mere few hours Googling, and returned home safe, without the radiation exposure inherent in, say, a trip to Mars.

I have a pre-Millenium La Pavoni Europiccola lever espresso machine, as do many people I know. We're not about to change machines; two of us learned recently to service these machines, and found that paid overhauls rarely clean the parts you can't see. What a difference, doing it yourself! We're sticking to this machine to conserve cognitive load for fourteen similar obsessions. Like devising smoke pots, steam pots for the Komodo Kamado, ...

Yet one review site realized they weren't reviewing the machine, they were reviewing the basket. My Pavoni portafilter takes a 49mm basket, and many (not all; buy a bottomless portafilter if necessary) portafilters from this era are deep enough to handle the 49mm Elektra double basket. This is a great price for this basket; we've bought eight so far to distribute in our circles.

Big difference! Using my Pharos grinder and dosing with a digital scale and the Lyn Weber Blind Tumbler, each basket takes 19g of grinds, up from 15g for the regulation Pavoni double basket. I don't fully understand why this makes as much of a difference as it does, but a "stuck lever" now seems virtually impossible; one is well into over-extraction territory long before the grind gets fine enough to freeze the lever. Take a few slow, easy pulls, and the result is more deeply flavored espresso than my Pavoni yielded before.

If one likes predictability, dosing each basket, rather than fiddling by eye with unpredictable results, the Lyn Weber Blind Tumbler is a very nice accessory. One can buy it without buying their grinder.

Edited December 3, 2016 by Syzygies

[Pequod]

On 10/29/2016 at 10:20 AM, dstr8 said:

After owning & using just about every portable espresso maker in existence I purchased an EspressoForge 2.0 a couple years ago from Andre (Andre is the owner and designer of the EspressoForge) to mainly use as my travel/mobile/camp espresso device.   I used it plenty but purchased the current 2.1 version when he intro'd them this year.   It is an incredible espresso tool and doesn't take a back seat to even my Slayer, former Londinium LI, etc. when using the right bean along with a "real" burr grinder.  

"Right bean" you ask?   Especially at higher elevation typical of some of our campsites in the western USA where the boiling point of water can be <200 degrees F I can't pull light roasts to satisfaction using any pour over style espresso press.   But light roasts are a RPITA to hand grind anyway so I am quite happy to use medium to medium-dark roasts that yield incredible espresso that hand grind easily (typically Full City and Full City+ are the general roast levels I prefer ...).   Using Black Canyon Blend from Buena Vista Roastery (Buena Vista Colorado) I can pull literally liquid Snickers Bar espresso.   Redbird's Wote Konga is another that will leave you smiling in all things natural processed Ethiopia SO beans.

If you are on the fence and Andre still has EspressoForges available I highly suggest buying one (order it with the optional pressure gauge & stand) as his life has gotten busy and unsure if there will be another production run.    Paired with a stove top steamer like the Bellman and a suitable burr grinder you can make fantastically delicious cappuccinos & lattes in addition to espresso at home or anywhere!

 

Just pulled my first shot of Wote Konga as espresso. Sublime!

Used my standard Redbird grind and PID settings with 17.1g in the basket and nailed it. Great shot!

[dstr8]

For the benefit of those that are not in the know:  Using the proper water chemistry inside a boiler type espresso machine is critical for avoiding or at least minimizing carbonate mineral deposits inside every interior surface of the espresso machine.    

[Pequod]

39 minutes ago, dstr8 said:

For the benefit of those that are not in the know:  Using the proper water chemistry inside a boiler type espresso machine is critical for avoiding or at least minimizing carbonate mineral deposits inside every interior surface of the espresso machine.    

Do tell. I descale with citric acid every 6 months. What should I be doing for the water in the tank?

[dstr8]

There are a number of different solutions; however I've been using Robert Pavlis' (rpavlis from HomeBarista.com) distilled + potassium bicarbonate recipe.   I've used filter media systems but disliked frequently checking the water chemistry.   Ditto for purchasing "spring" water as there is significant variance in TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), etc. depending upon which plant the water is sourced from.

Here are several links that provide additional information:

http://www.home-barista.com/knockbox/good-references-on-water-treatment-for-coffee-espresso-t41636.html

http://www.home-barista.com/espresso-machines/matt-pergers-water-recipe-for-coffee-is-it-ok-safe-for-espresso-machines-what-do-you-think-t42255.html?hilit=matt perger water

http://www.home-barista.com/levers/elektra-microcasa-leva-leak-t43570.html?hilit=potassium#p495029

http://www.home-barista.com/levers/real-brass-or-fake-brass-re-used-la-pavoni-europiccola-t43734.html?hilit=potassium#p497066

[dstr8]

FWIW I have been using the distilled + potassium bicarbonate:  Mix a master solution of distilled water + potassium bicarbonate in a 10g/100ml concentration in a clean glass container.   From this master solution I add 19ml (or 19g; same) per 5-gallon bottle of distilled water.   You can play with the concentration to see if you prefer harder or softer solution.   

 

[dstr8]

One more:  #5:Post

[FotonDrv]

6 hours ago, dstr8 said:

For the benefit of those that are not in the know:  Using the proper water chemistry inside a boiler type espresso machine is critical for avoiding or at least minimizing carbonate mineral deposits inside every interior surface of the espresso machine.    

The water Threads are voluminous but the point of getting the PH, Calcium Hardness all down to the Holy Grail of water specs, like the Calcium around 55ppm ( think thats the number) keeps scale from happening.  This photo was taken of the inside of my boiler after almost a year of use.  Do take care what water you use and/or how you filter it.  I use an Everpure ES07 w/aditional carbon block filter and additional 10micron sediment filter.