likeslattes Senior Member Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 5 Location: SF Bay Area Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia Grinder: Solis Maestro
Posted Tue Jun 24, 2008, 5:59pm Subject: Pod Hack for Rancilio Silvia
I occasionally need to use pods with my new Silvia and don't like the way the pod adapter from Rancilio works because it requires a screw driver to switch between pods and normal operation. I keep decaf pods for occasional use because they are vacuum packed and have a much longer shelf life than beans, and don't require separate grinding.
Although I was warned that it wouldn't work very well I purchased a $5 pod basket for the Silvia portafilter to see if it would work. When I tried the pod basket by itself with a 7g Starbucks decaf espresso pod it leaked over the top (as predicted by the salesman who sold me the basket), the 1oz extraction took about 10 seconds, and the shot was very thin with no crema. I then remembered that my old Starbucks Barista did the same thing the first time I tried to use the pod basket that came with it when I forgot to insert a rubber pressure device that was supplied with the Barista. Without the device inserted under the basket it produced the same result as the Silvia with water leaking over the top of the portafilter.
On a lark, I inserted the Barista's rubber device under the basket in the Silvia portafilter and tried it again with another pod. It worked perfectly. The extraction took 33 seconds for 1 oz and it produced a layer of crema that was fairly thick but light in color. The shot looked a lot like the ones produced using the same pod with the Starbucks Barista and the light color may be what that particular grind/roast of coffee produces. The portafilter fit into the Silvia is pretty tight with a pod in the pod basket (with or without the rubber adapter), but I was able to get it inserted. This setup is perfectly adequate for my purpose which is to produce a decaf cap now and then for guests who want it.
I suspect, on both machines, that the rubber device is needed to provide enough pressure against the basket to properly seat it in the head. The pod is pressed up against the shower plate and ends up with an indentation from the center screw so I suspect that most, if not all of the water is forced through the pod.
I don't know if these rubber devices are available separately, but if they are this is a great solution for the occasional pod user. It would be interesting to try it with pods from some other vendors to see if the results are different from the Starbucks pods.
Bott Senior Member Joined: 16 Apr 2007 Posts: 141 Location: USA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Expobar Athenea Lever
Posted Tue Jun 24, 2008, 9:45pm Subject: Re: Pod Hack for Rancilio Silvia
The pod portafilter that podmerchant had in the past also does the trick. Anyone know where you can still buy one? They way it's built I suspect mine will last forever.
those are just like your single and double baskets except shaped to better accommodate a pod. they go in a 58mm portafilter without any kind of modification (like the Rancilio pod adapter) to your machine. the problem i had with those is that they didn't hold the pod high enough to press against the screen firmly enough to seal the pod against the basket. as a result, water flowed around the pod producing horrible espresso. i have several supposed pod baskets that don't work.
likeslattes Senior Member Joined: 30 Mar 2004 Posts: 5 Location: SF Bay Area Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Rancilio Silvia Grinder: Solis Maestro
Posted Thu Jun 26, 2008, 12:09pm Subject: Re: Pod Hack for Rancilio Silvia
Bott Said:
those are just like your single and double baskets except shaped to better accommodate a pod. they go in a 58mm portafilter without any kind of modification (like the Rancilio pod adapter) to your machine. the problem i had with those is that they didn't hold the pod high enough to press against the screen firmly enough to seal the pod against the basket. as a result, water flowed around the pod producing horrible espresso. i have several supposed pod baskets that don't work.
That's what I found too until I placed the rubber pressure insert from the Starbucks Barista machine under the pod basket. It works well with the insert in place, although not as well as with ground coffee. I have not yet found anyone who sells the inserts separately, but they may be available from Saeco who makes the Starbucks Barista machines.
Symbols: = New Posts since your last visit = No New Posts since last visit = Newest post
Forum Rules: No profanity, illegal acts or personal attacks will be tolerated in these discussion boards. No commercial posting of any nature will be tolerated; only private sales by private individuals, in the "Buy and Sell" forum. No cross posting allowed - do not post your topic to more than one forum, nor repost a topic to the same forum. Who Can Read The Forum? Anyone can read posts in these discussion boards. Who Can Post New Topics? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post new topics. Who Can Post Replies? Any registered CoffeeGeek member can post replies. Can Photos be posted? Anyone can post photos in their new topics or replies. Who can change or delete posts? Any CoffeeGeek member can edit their own posts. Only moderators can delete posts. Probationary Period: If you are a new signup for CoffeeGeek, you cannot promote, endorse, criticise or otherwise post an unsolicited endorsement for any company, product or service in your first five postings.
![likeslattes: pod-1.jpg](javascript:ImagePopup("/images/39566/pod-1.jpg", 640, 480, "likeslattes: pod-1.jpg");)
= No New Posts since last visit 