lastcoyote Senior Member Joined: 11 Nov 2005 Posts: 17 Location: Brighton, United Kingdom Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia Grinder: Rancilio Rocky
Posted Wed May 17, 2006, 12:04pm Subject: Just got my Silvia and Rocky..umm help?
Ok....some questions:
As you've gathered from the subject i've just got a new silvia and rocky. I'm a complete newbie and think i need some guidance.
First of all the grinder; i've followed instructions to find the zero point where the grinders touch. Strange thing i first encountered..to start with i could feel the grinders getting stiff and then tight which i presumed they were fully touching. This point was actually showing as 2 place below 0. I then counted the 6/7 notches above this to set for espresso grind. Just to make sure i tryed this procedure again but this time when i went to find the zero point it kind of just turned loosely to a start position and not like the grinders were touching at all. I moved the dial up again and then down and this time it felt like they were tightening again. Why did it do that loose thing?
Ok Silvia next,
First I followed instructions on priming the machine of course. Next I get the machine heated up and then grind some beans and fill the double filter. Now as I say this is my first time so I'm not sure exactly how much ground coffee to put in the filter so I put in 2 scoops using the scooper that came with Silvia. ( I saw this on the whole latta love video). I then tamp. Have no idea what 30 pounds is so just press reasonably firmly and polish off to finish. Looks the business :) I then return the porta filter to the group head and tighten. Made sure the boiler light was off and then pressed the brew button. Now i expected the coffee to start pouring through after a few seconds....nothing...nothing...oh a little dribble...but just through one side of the porta filter....oh a little bit out of the other side now. WHAT HAVE I DONE!?
Took the porta filter out....wet looking puck.
Tried again with a bit less pressure when tamping.....this time it seemed a bit better and the resulting espresso had crema which is good..but again it seems to dribble out of one side of the porta filter more than the other and thus i end up with a full glass on the right and a half full one on the left after about 30 or so seconds. Third attempt yielded similar results.
Posted Wed May 17, 2006, 12:47pm Subject: Re: Just got my Silvia and Rocky..umm help?
You'll probably get more replies in the Espresso Machines and Grinders forum.
From what I hear the Silvia can take some practice but will put out great espresso once you master it.
Sounds like you're having either tamping or distribution problems. Do a search for "Weiss Distribution Technique" on google or here at CG. That might help. I pile the coffee up in the portafilter then use the Weiss technique and then scrape across the top to remove excess and then tamp. If you have a bathroom scale put it up on your counter and put a paper towel down on it and then tamp on top of that until it registers 30 lbs.
Also, what kind of volume are you getting after 25 to 30 seconds? If it's not around 2 oz give or take a few before the stream turns blonde and you're tamping at 30 lbs then grind coarser if it's too little and finer if it's too much.
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