Quick Mill Achille 0996

Kelsey

Oooohhhh shiny. I'm gonna have to come around....

lemoo

oh wow grats!

conikal

..Jack didn't unpack this machine at all, it's straight from Italy, because he didn't want to disturb the packaging. Quick Mill made a fluff and didn't put AU plugs on these beasts! Sparky on his way over tomorrow!

The next time the forums flame up over the hiked up prices we pay here compared to Europe,..and one of our local retailers jumps on proclaiming how much work and modifications they have to do in order to render the European machines suitable for use in Oz,...... ...I shall remember the above statement ! I hope that sparky is being paid for by the importer !

hiphipharar

Nice looking machine. It looks the goods - I hope it delivers the goods. I notice that they still provide a crappy plastic tamper ...but stuck on the end of the dosing spoon. Guess this will be consigned to a dark corner of some drawer or cupboard. If they can't include something a bit more worthwhile, why bother.

Lacehim

hiphipharrar wrote:

Nice looking machine. It looks the goods - I hope it delivers the goods. I notice that they still provide a crappy plastic tamper ...but stuck on the end of the dosing spoon. Guess this will be consigned to a dark corner of some drawer or cupboard. If they can't include something a bit more worthwhile, why bother.

Me too. And don't slag off my tamper, it's all I have at the moment! 🙂 I need to sort out a better bench for it. This stand alone thing nearly falls over when you pull the lever! :doh: Back to trial and error with getting a shot! But that's normal with any new machine.

Beanz

Congratulations Lacehim it looks good! We will all be sitting on line tonight waiting for reports. Can the drip tray be lifted out to empty it or does it need to be plumbed in? The photo looks as if it drains out the bottom of the tray.

Lacehim

Beanz wrote:

Congratulations Lacehim it looks good! We will all be sitting on line tonight waiting for reports. Can the drip tray be lifted out to empty it or does it need to be plumbed in? The photo looks as if it drains out the bottom of the tray.

The machine can be plumbed or tank. At the moment it's just a tray, if you remove the screw it runs into a cup that you can attach a hose to. Yes it lifts out. 🙂 Won't be much happening until I get a tamper (got lost on the way). Grinding damn fine, the Vario won't go any lower without the burrs touching, and it's still too fast (I think). What should I be aiming for timewise inc prefusion? Anyone? I know on the lusso I was around 40-45 secs, with a 10 sec prefusion. I did a fresher coffee to demo with my wife, and that was the best pour yet, but with a plastic tamper, and the grind out the Vario is rather fluffy (not clumpy though). I'm sure it wil all fall into place in the next few weeks.

Seeya_Latte

Hi Lacehim AUGURI ! (Italian for congratulations)

galumay

Lacehim wrote:

\ What should I be aiming for timewise inc prefusion? Anyone? I know on the lusso I was around 40-45 secs, with a 10 sec prefusion.

I aim for about a 6 second pre infusion on the Izzo and then a 30 second pour, its pretty forgiving though.

Brett_H

Congratulations! It looks awesome mate. It's a shame that there are a few vibration and plug issues. These could have been solved by the retailer but then you'd have been without it for longer. I can't wait to see a video also. Ooo and just because we can, what was your ballpark price (actual price is unnecessarily indiscreet)?

Paolo5

With my Achille, using a reduced maximum pressure of 1.05 Bar and my favourite double basket from another machine, it has taken me almost 2 weeks of shot practice to arrive at the following procedure:- *16 gm grounds *levelled first and then tamped with just the weight of a tamper *8 second pre-infusion *Shot made when boiler reaches max. pressure (just open steam valve a tad to reduce pressure and turn the heater on....takes 30 seconds or so) If the grind is spot-on I get excellent shots, some of them are what I would consider Godshots. After getting a bit more used to the machine, I can get it to proper operating temperature 20 minutes after a cold start, not 30 minutes as I first reported.

Lacehim

Brett H wrote:

Congratulations! It looks awesome mate. It's a shame that there are a few vibration and plug issues. These could have been solved by the retailer but then you'd have been without it for longer. I can't wait to see a video also. Ooo and just because we can, what was your ballpark price (actual price is unnecessarily indiscreet)?

The plug issue I was aware of. Hasn't been a problem running it on an adapter for 24 hours. Jack was just concerned about the machine getting damaged in transit if he unpacked it and repacked it. The vibration bit, seems to be an issue for most machines, but all different. I really think it's because the safety valve is touching the top cover.

Paolo5 wrote:

With my Achille, using a reduced maximum pressure of 1.05 Bar and my favourite double basket from another machine, it has taken me almost 2 weeks of shot practice to arrive at the following procedure:- *16 gm grounds *levelled first and then tamped with just the weight of a tamper *8 second pre-infusion *Shot made when boiler reaches max. pressure (just open steam valve a tad to reduce pressure and turn the heater on....takes 30 seconds or so) If the grind is spot-on I get excellent shots, some of them are what I would consider Godshots. After getting a bit more used to the machine, I can get it to proper operating temperature 20 minutes after a cold start, not 30 minutes as I first reported.

Great tips, thanks. Haven't got my scales yet! 🙁 I'll just have to keep going until I get a decent shot. What grinder are you using? Are you grinding really fine? And what machine did your baskets come from? So what's your trick to get it up to temp so fast? Are you doing Reiss trick and giving the lever a pull after the boiler has got up to pressure? Today I built a stand for my cabinet, and it now sits 1050mm high (the bench that is). The difference in using the machine is amazing. I think perhaps even another 50mm wouldn't hurt. I'm 180cm tall or so just go give you an idea. For me it makes a big difference in that I also don't want to turn my hand to push down on the lever. It's just one continuous pull. 🙂 Pours are still way to fast, but improving. Might try a different coffee, this one is 20 days post roast, but the lusso was handling it fine.

Lacehim

Kelsey popped in to say hi, and we pulled a few shots! Kelsey pulled the best shots! :tearhair: He showed me his tamping tricks though, so things should improve. Must more positive today! I think yesterday I had "Oh my god what have I just done" going around in my head, and not helped by the bench being unstable and too low. I think my 58mm tamping skills need work. I think I got lazy with my 45mm baskets. Currently I'm dosing to just under the shower screen and grinding as fine as the Vario will go. It's powder. I've noticed that if I get a bit of a run of coffee during prefusion the shot will be crap, but if the 2 good shots we got there was nothing, and the pull was quite good. Kelsey did assist the lever back up rather than letter the full force of the spring take over. Mmmm, very worried about having to grind so fine on the Vario. Surely that can't be right. It's a good grinder, must be something wrong with dose/tamp. At least I hope so, I can't afford a new grinder after buying this beast. When there are no beans in the grinder it's one click away from when you hear a slight change in noise as the burrs get very close. The grind is like powder. 🙁 Drinking a nice latte to celebrate anyway. Did I mention the wands. Nice!

Paolo5

Hi Lacehim, I agree about the bed preparation/tamping. My biggest problem over the first week of use was under-extraction, no doubt caused by channeling. When I tamp firmly there seems to be more of a likelihood of under-extraction occurring. Overdose much over the 16gm and under-extraction likelihood is magnified also. I am waiting on my naked portafilter. Then I will know for sure. I haven't yet had any drops/pour happening whilst pre-infusing and I have pre-infused up to 14 seconds. I have swapped the QM basket for a basket of unremembered origin. This basket resembles the QM one, except it has a mirror finish ridge that contacts the machine's portafilter gasket....the QM one is a bit rough so have put it aside. I have a Robur and grind a 1-2 marks tighter than I do for my Linea...nothing extreme. To get my Achille up to speed it is the usual 16-17 minutes until the boiler reaches 1.05 Bar, lock in a grouphandle with basket....pull down for 3-5 seconds....wait a minute and then pull down for a further 3-5 seconds.....easy....and quick. Currently, using the procedure that I have worked out so far using trial and error (and if the grind is right) I get strings of a pour initially, developing into beaut mousetails. Keep at it, Lacehim...Does the Mrs approve? Cheers, Paolo

Kelsey

Lacehim's new machine is certainly a beauty - I enjoyed playing with it enormously! I'm surprised at how fine a grind is required at present and it seemed to make a difference to manually manage the pressure profile by retarding the return of the lever just a little. But it was definitely the N-S-E-W-the-swivel tamping technique that made the biggest difference I think. Next time I go around I'll take the smart grinder, my VST basket and pullman and we'll see if that makes much difference. I could certainly handle having one of these in the house tho!

galumay

As an experiment I just tried using the same grind setting as I have dialled in for the Izzo, and then tamped really gently with an upside down plastic beaker that was too small for the PF, basically just flattening the surface of the grinds, it did drip a bit in pre infusion and the shot was slightly fast, still very drinkable and flavoursome. Thats by comparison with my usual tamp with a 20lb tamp on my adjustable tamper which is a perfect fit. It reinforces my belief that the grind is far more important than the tamp.

Kelsey

All other things being equal, I'd say you're right. But each element is its own variable - mess with one and you can balance it out with another. Lacehim's vario is grinding extremely finely and the beans are bang on - 5 days post roast. But those shots were definitely gushers - I'm positive it was the dose and tamp that made the difference as there were no drops during pre-infusion on the good shots. Manual pressure profiling may have assisted, but in this case the tamp seemed to be the deciding factor!

Paolo5

I reckon that if you were getting gushers with a really fine grind then you were also getting channeling....

Kelsey

It's possible, but we couldn't detect it. It'll just come down to time practice, it's a stunning machine. That lever requires a bit of force until you're used to it enough to know what to expect.

GaryatGala

My mouth is salivating and my eyes are popping out like bugs bunny. 😛 In the grips of envy..looks really nice there in the pics and i'm sure it looks purrty in the flesh.

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