Breaking in/learning a new machine. How best to do it?

UNM

As I have just changed  espresso machines, I thought I'd start a thread for how best to adjust to a new machine.


I may well be doing some things wrong, so hopefully someone will correct me if I have made any  glaring errors.

Firstly, it seems sensible to minimise change where possible. I am using the same filter basket I used in the old machine, beans I know well, starting point for grind as I previously used. Starting with same tamp pressure as before.

The difference in group head and shower screen means dose needs to be slightly different so as to clear the shower screen. I typically use WDT (Weiss Distribution Technique) as I find this gives consistency in dose without weighing.
Once dose is set right, I will then tweak grind (and tamp only if necessary) to get an acceptable flow rate.

Coming to an HX (Heat Exchanger) system means a cooling flush may be required, but I am just worrying about ensuring consistent water flow from the group prior to locking in the portafilter and will work out a cooling flush routine later should it be required (as there are volumetric buttons, I can program one of these for a suitable cooling flush). I don't believe shot temperature will have much of an impact on flow rate, but will certainly affect results in the cup if coffee is getting burnt.

When I am comfortable with technique on one bean, I can then more confidently adjust to different beans as required.


Sensible approach?

What have I missed?

My previous machine was very tolerant of different dosing quantities and I could easily adjust flow rate by tweaking the dose slightly. The new machine so far seems a touch more finicky and I think grind will be the main adjustment I need to make.

Koffee_Kosmo

I think you are on the right path  :thumb: Not much I can add except to be patient and learn to drive the new machine as if its second nature KK

galumay

I dont think there is any one right answer to this question, we all have different approaches based on our coffee philosophy, hardware and experience. Personally I try to start at the same point each time, so I want 14g of beans, ground on the current setting for that particular bean in my Pharos which is the most sensitive and consistent of my grinders. Temperature wise I am aiming for ideally around 67-70 deg in the cup - very hard to achieve with modern machines as the boiler pressure will be too low for decent milk then, so one has to compromise. Then I will dial in the machine around that starting point, aiming for around 28g of extracted coffee in about 25-30 secs. Once I have got it in the ball park I will experiment to find the flavour profile i prefer around that point, so increase dose and grind coarser to bring out the acidic end of the spectrum and decrease dose and grind finer if I want more sweetness and caramel type flavours. I do think that the two essentials to even considering trying to dial a machine in is good, fresh coffee and a decent grinder. BTW regarding the cooling flush, with the last HX machine I had, the Bezzera BZ35, I would just give the cup a quick rinse with the cooling flush, you could hear when it was down to the right temp and see the 'dance' of the water had stopped.

conikal

on 1350730690:

My previous machine was very tolerant of different dosing quantities and I could easily adjust flow rate by tweaking the dose slightly. The new machine so far seems a touch more finicky and I think grind will be the main adjustment I need to make.

Yes, minimise the variables. Adjust flow by grind not dose..( Barista lesson #1 ?)

galumay

on 1350794043:

Adjust flow by grind not dose..( Barista lesson #1 ?)

Depends what you are trying to achieve in terms of the flavour profile.