pcof Senior Member Joined: 26 Feb 2013 Posts: 25 Location: NJ
Espresso: on the hunt Grinder: Lelit pl53 Drip: Chemex Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Wed Mar 6, 2013, 6:40am Subject: simoneli oscar advice
Hey, Thanks for the advice on my prior post. I ended up purchasing an Oscar and I am very excited. Just wanted some advice on the machine. Any and all Oscar/hx machine advice welcome. Looking for Advise on use. Do I need to worry about temerature surfing? How many drinks can this baby make back to back? This is my first hx - so anything i need to know regarding use? Advice on cleaning? any particular steps i need to take?
Markarian Senior Member Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 475 Location: Seattle Area Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Modded Nuova Simonelli Oscar Grinder: Vario-W, Mazzer Super Jolly Drip: Moka, Aeropress, Melitta 102 Roaster: Wear-Ever Popcorn Pumper
Posted Wed Mar 6, 2013, 6:59am Subject: Re: simoneli oscar advice
Hey Pcof,
Welcome to CG and congrats on your new Oscar. Recently, Coffeenoobie and I had our machines modded by the awesome Plindy and filmed and photographed a large portion of the process. I recommend killing an hour and twenty minutes of your time to get intimately familiar with the machine:
Since the Oscar is a semi-commercial HX machine, you can theoretically pull as many drinks as you like, back to back, provided you leave about two minutes in between. I pulled six consecutive shots in a row tonight trying to dial in my new (very used) Super Jolly. On a Heat Exchange machine, one does not temperature surf, but rather does a cooling flush. Before you use the machine, make sure to run the pump until the water stops hissing and boiling against the screen. Kill the pump and when it stops dripping, go ahead and lock in and you're good to go.
Since you just got your machine, make sure you open it up and see if anything leaks while the machine is coming up to temperature. The stock Oscar lacks a vacuum breaker valve, so the steam knob needs to be turned open briefly (maybe five seconds) about five minutes after you power the unit on for you to get it going. Once you do that, it should take about 30-40 minutes before the machine reaches the optimum brewing temperature.
There's lots of enthusiastic Oscar owners on here and each machine has a story behind it. Did you purchase yours new? Do you have a naked Portafilter yet? What kind of grinder are you using?
pcof Senior Member Joined: 26 Feb 2013 Posts: 25 Location: NJ
Espresso: on the hunt Grinder: Lelit pl53 Drip: Chemex Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Wed Mar 6, 2013, 7:09am Subject: Re: simoneli oscar advice
thanks will def check out the youtube vid. I purchased it used off of ebay. Owner said it was only use maybe 6 times total out of the 2 years he's owned it. and it comes with 2 portafilters, not naked. he had it service prior to selling it. I have a lelit pl53 grinder.
Markarian Senior Member Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 475 Location: Seattle Area Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Modded Nuova Simonelli Oscar Grinder: Vario-W, Mazzer Super Jolly Drip: Moka, Aeropress, Melitta 102 Roaster: Wear-Ever Popcorn Pumper
Posted Wed Mar 6, 2013, 8:31am Subject: Re: simoneli oscar advice
How long does the flush last?
That's the million dollar question, and it varies dramatically based on when you're using it, how long since the last shot, the ambient temperature of the room, etc. Just flush until it's no longer boiling/bubbling against the screen, is the way I understand it.
Coffeenoobie Senior Member Joined: 11 Dec 2011 Posts: 2,371 Location: PNW Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: N S Oscar Grinder: Vario W
Posted Wed Mar 6, 2013, 8:31am Subject: Re: simoneli oscar advice
Good luck with Oscar. Make sure you doesn't have pod kit on it. Many do and replacing it will take about 70$ I believe.
Water dance Till the water stops hissing and spitting and settles down to a stream. Your will probably take 6 oz or so before this happens. Mine because it is modded takes about 2 oz you can see it only takes a few seconds on the video and I don't wait 2 min between shots. I believe the Oscar recovers much faster than that. I believe Oscar can crank out drinks as fast as you can pull them.
pcof Senior Member Joined: 26 Feb 2013 Posts: 25 Location: NJ
Espresso: on the hunt Grinder: Lelit pl53 Drip: Chemex Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Wed Mar 6, 2013, 8:44am Subject: Re: simoneli oscar advice
Water dance Till the water stops hissing and spitting and settles down to a stream. Your will probably take 6 oz or so before this happens. Mine because it is modded takes about 2 oz you can see it only takes a few seconds on the video and I don't wait 2 min between shots. I believe the Oscar recovers much faster than that. I believe Oscar can crank out drinks as fast as you can pull them.
Markarian Senior Member Joined: 27 Jun 2012 Posts: 475 Location: Seattle Area Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Modded Nuova Simonelli Oscar Grinder: Vario-W, Mazzer Super Jolly Drip: Moka, Aeropress, Melitta 102 Roaster: Wear-Ever Popcorn Pumper
Posted Wed Mar 6, 2013, 1:18pm Subject: Re: simoneli oscar advice
Our Oscars both got modded with gicleurs, which are flow-restricting brass plugs that fit into the inlet and outlet of the group head. The Heat Exchanger keeps the grouphead at a constant, burn-your-fingers temperature (hence the need for the cooling flush). These flow restricters help keep the temp stable and necessitate a shorter flush. We also got vacuum breakers, which eliminate the need to briefly crack the steam knob when the machine first comes on. This gives us the freedom to put our machines on programmable timers, so they don't have to be on 24/7. Finally, we got steam levers to replace the knobs. The levers come from the Aurelia and Appia, Simonelli's two commercial machines. All the mods are shown in the video. What is not shown in the video is that Peter spent literally 13 hours with very little in the way of breaks in modding both our machines that day. The mods aren't impossible, but they're time-consuming, expensive, and require access to some tools that most people won't have laying around the house.
In the end, our machines ended up with identical functionality to the Nuova Simonelli Musica, which is their more expensive (twice as much) home machine. The only thing ours doesn't have is the pretty case and the volumetric dosing. These mods are NOT necessary to get the most out of the Oscar, we're just a little obsessed, that's all ;-)
Coffeenoobie Senior Member Joined: 11 Dec 2011 Posts: 2,371 Location: PNW Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: N S Oscar Grinder: Vario W
Posted Wed Mar 6, 2013, 1:58pm Subject: Re: simoneli oscar advice
The mods were cheap, IMHO. The labor would have killed us if he billed us. The Vacuum breaker could probably be done for less than the $50 we paid for it getting NS parts, the steam mod if we bought all the parts was 86$ and the gicleurs are 10$ I think. That is less than $150 to mod it and most pids are $200 and people do that all the time. We got the function of a 2-3k machine. I think it was cheap for the amount of upgrades we got.
Coffeenoobie
Buying advice: GRINDER GRINDER GRINDER. Don't cheap out on the grinder. My coffee treasure map... Click Here (maps.google.com)
pcof Senior Member Joined: 26 Feb 2013 Posts: 25 Location: NJ
Espresso: on the hunt Grinder: Lelit pl53 Drip: Chemex Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Fri Mar 15, 2013, 8:26am Subject: Re: simoneli oscar advice
hey, just got my used oscar yeterday.
I only had a few minuted to look at it last night. the machine felt damp and wet. There was alot of black grit every where (not coffee grounds). i took the water tank out and the outside was wet and covered in the black grime. I didn't have a chance to take it appart yet, but it looks like everything is wet on the inside. I have not plugged it in. Waiting fot it to dry. is the machine a gonner? should i return it?
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