craignielsen Senior Member Joined: 10 Jan 2003 Posts: 1 Expertise: Beginner
Posted Fri Jan 10, 2003, 2:06am Subject: Frothing with a La Pavoni
I have owned a La Pavoni Professional for several months. I'm a new comer to making cappuccino's but I have been trying to get a good froth with the my machine to no avail. I have watched and talked with the barrister at my local Peet's coffee and it has not helped. I finally had a friend come over who has been in the coffee buisness for years and also couldn't get good froth. Is my machine defective or is the La Pavoni just not that good at frothing milk? I like my Cappuccino's dry!
Posted Fri Jan 10, 2003, 2:20pm Subject: Re: Frothing with a La Pavoni
Hi Craig, I had the use of my brother in law's Ancient Europicola for about one year. I found that the boiler pressure (about 1 bar) was not sufficient to fill the cylinder or pre-infuse the grounds. With informatian I found on the web from someone in the UK, I changed the boiler pressure relief spring to raise the pressure to about 2 bar. That solved the problem and as an added benifit gave a lot more steam power.
I think that on the Professional the boiler pressure may be electrically regulated so you may have to go under the base to acomplish the same thing.
By the way he also described adding a blow torch air pump to the filler lid to get the two bar pressure with a boiler temp of 100 degrees C. Since it wasn't my machine I didn't want to do anything I couldn't undo. I put a valve and an air fitting under the pressure gauge. With that setup I pulled some good shots. Imagine my wife's surprise when she came downstairs an saw my Ingersal-Rand air compresser in the kitchen.
Phil
craignielsen Said:
I have owned a La Pavoni Professional for several months. I'm a new comer to making cappuccino's but I have been trying to get a good froth with the my machine to no avail. I have watched and talked with the barrister at my local Peet's coffee and it has not helped. I finally had a friend come over who has been in the coffee buisness for years and also couldn't get good froth. Is my machine defective or is the La Pavoni just not that good at frothing milk? I like my Cappuccino's dry!
Dane1234 Senior Member Joined: 19 Nov 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Sonoma, CA Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: La Pavoni PC16 Grinder: Mazzer Mini Jolly
Posted Sat Nov 26, 2005, 4:22am Subject: Mods to my La Pavoni PC16
November 26, 2005
Greetings. I am fairly new to this forum, but thought I would post my experience with two modifications to my recently purchased La Pavoni PC16.
It all started when a co-worker brought a La Pavoni PC16 into work, so he could have espressos at work as well as at home. This was an older La Pavoni that he picked up on Ebay; it came with a 220 volt element, and so first had to be converted to a 120 volt element, but that was the only "problem." My co-worker invited me to try his machine, and the delicous espressos it made, and I was hooked. But, after buying my own La Pavoni for home use, I couldn't get the same wonderful shots the "work" La Pavoni would generate with such ease.
I noticed that the "work" La Pavoni achieved a pressure of 1.1 BAR, whereas my new-out-of-the-box "home" La Pavoni wouldn't do more than 0.9 BAR, and I surmised that this was a critical difference. My co-worker explained that it was not particularly difficult to open up a PC16 and change the pressurestat setting. So, I tried doing so on my "home" machine. I first discovered that La Pavoni now uses a security head screw rather than a regular phillips head screw, but, no problem, I had a nice set of security screw fittings, and was able to open up my La Pavoni without difficultly. But, when I tried to carefully break loose the plastic pressurestat adjustment ring, the ring broke into three parts, releasing pressure on the spring-loaded adjustment "ears" of the pressurestat switch assembly. However, I came up with a nice fix that has worked perfectly. Photographs of the pressurestat switch repair, and a modification to the pressure gage viewing angle, are posted at http://community.webshots.com/user/dane1234 , in the "La Pavoni" folder.
Was it all worth it, in the end? Yes. I can now get the same great espressos, with lots of crema, from my "home" La Pavoni that the "work" La Pavoni provides. But it was a difficult learning curve, and I hope that this post helps others who might have received a La Pavoni PC16 with a too-low pressure setting.
Oh, I now have a brand-new, un-used pressurestat switch assembly for a La Pavoni PC16 that I would be happy to sell at a good price, if anyone is interested.
doctorsimon Senior Member Joined: 19 Jan 2005 Posts: 16 Location: London, England Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: Faema E98 S Compact (on... Grinder: Mazzer Mini EL, Russell...
Posted Mon Dec 5, 2005, 11:24am Subject: Re: Frothing with a La Pavoni
I get a pretty good foam of my Europicola with no mods. The machine was serviced a few weeks ago, and I would suggest that you get your machine serviced regularly (depending on use.)
I am not sure what sort of foam you expect, but mine is better than in most coffee shops that I have experienced in the US, UK, and France.
There is a knack to getting the wand at the right height, and I seem to find it better on some bottles of milk than others (all supplied by the same milkman, from the same dairy.)
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