Coffee - do you and how do you consume it?

[ryanosaur]

Operation: Burr-fect Grindz
Well, the hardest part was in disassembling the chassis of the grinder.
It's a 3-piece chassis with one side being "just a side." The other side is also the bottom. The remainder of the housing is Front/Back/Top... and more BOTTOM!

Anyway, the biggest takeaway I can share from this experience is that the Grind Chamber was absolutely filled with crud. I extracted about 1.5 tablespoons of grind and compressed oils... (You know, CRUD! ) that built up around the burrs and in various nooks and crannies.

So yes, depending on your grinder and all, you don't need to change your burrs necessarily, but opening up and getting into that grind chamber to clean is absolutely an overlooked part of care and maintenance.

Re: the Burrs.
Mine showed no sign of obvious damage, so I will clean them up and reserve them for emergency replacement if these new ones ever get damaged or I make it roughly through 7 years of usage on this new set.

Swapping out the Burrs was pretty straight forward once I read a little bit about the process somebody else had shared on home-barista.com. The "outer Burr" which is held stationary in a plastic carrier just required me removing the Grind adjuster (2 screws and it's off), then marking the placement of the carrier (I used painters tape) to make re-alignment a snap, then unscrewing the Burr Carrier which took 3-1/2 turns. That outer Burr was much more simple to remove from it's carrier where it is held by friction... I just took a 1" PVC pipe that fit perfectly into the chute and tapped it out. (The home-barista description talked about putting the carrier in a vice and trying to work the burr out with a screwdriver!)
The inner Burr which is attached to the drive shaft had a reverse-thread "nut." Once that was off, the inner Burr came right off.

I was able to clean up the works of the grind chamber pretty easily with an old toothbrush, some Q-Tips, and a little rubbing alcohol.

I will add, the design is pretty impressive in that there was very little grind that had worked its way into the chassis over the 2-1/2 yrs of usage. Less than 1/8 tsp.

Anyway... there it is... one part done.

Next up will be the Pump and Pressure Adjustment in the Miss Sylvia.

 

[ryanosaur]

Just for kicks, here is the current version of the Lelit Fred (pl043):

Lelit PL043MMI Fred Espresso Coffee Grinder

www.1st-line.com

The grind chamber is outside of the chassis in this newer design.

My current version, the pl044:

DISCONTINUED Lelit PL044MM Fred Stepless Doserless Espresso Coffee Grinder

Lelit PL044MM-120 Fred Espresso Coffee Grinder with stepless grinding adjustment. A high performing home coffee grinder for espresso enthusiasts.

www.1st-line.com

 

[pseudoid]

Overall it is a very similar hobby to music listening when you can tinker with gear, read a ton of reviews, compare them, and at the same time think about the next upgrade of any kind

Not really... comparing oranges to limes; maybe.
At least, in my case: Music stays on in the house 24/7; where as our espresso shots complete our "Triple Ss"... only in the mornings and only once/day.

 

[pseudoid]

...I was able to clean up the works of the grind chamber pretty easily with an old toothbrush, some Q-Tips,...

Congrats,
My Sonny grinder states "We found there is only about this ~3 grams of retention in the chute." Does not state how many grams are ground for those 3gm...
No matter, since I be thinkin' you will be forced to periodically clean your LeLit, as I have.
*I also use a DIY bellows-like blower atop of the hopper.
*While grinding, I also continually keep tapping the porta-filter up-and-down (see red arrow in photo) to pack the yield, as well as to loosen the cling-ons.

*Every few days, I also tap the chute area with one of those rubberized spoons (wood spoon may work) and works well to elongate tear-down cleaning interval.
YMMV

 

[ryanosaur]

Congrats,
My Sonny grinder states "We found there is only about this ~3 grams of retention in the chute." Does not state how many grams are ground for those 3gm...
No matter, since I be thinkin' you will be forced to periodically clean your LeLit, as I have.
*I also use a DIY bellows-like blower atop of the hopper.
*While grinding, I also continually keep tapping the porta-filter up-and-down (see red arrow in photo) to pack the yield, as well as to loosen the cling-ons.
View attachment 235483
*Every few days, I also tap the chute area with one of those rubberized spoons (wood spoon may work) and works well to elongate tear-down cleaning interval.
YMMV

That’s the level of cleaning I had been doing, along with running Urnex Grindz through every 3-4 months.
This is a little different than straight retention, though.
As I continue my journey, it will be interesting to see how much of that crud builds up quarterly instead of waiting for 2.5 yrs to pass!

 

[pseudoid]

...to see how much of that crud builds up

Define "crud", please. I thought you were joking.

What are these things in your photos???... and those white dots???

 

[ryanosaur]

Define "crud", please. I thought you were joking.
View attachment 235487
What are these things in your photos???... and those white dots???

I ran a batch of Grindz through prior to taking it apart. Also blew some compressed air through to clear things out. (Ordinarily when running Grindz through, I would do a sacrificial batch of beans afterward to help flush through any remaining Grindz dust. I did not do a sacrificial grind prior to taking the grinder apart.

So that pile of what I described to be 1-1/2 Tbsp of Crud was Grindz, ground coffee, and compressed lumps of oils from the beans, all of which had accumulated between the Burr Carrier and the Sweeps, and in other little spaces in that chamber. I had never taken the grinder apart in 2.5 yrs for a deep cleaning.
For effect, I have weighed my dose into the grinder and out, and have found it to be consistent. So in a daily usage scenario... I am not losing any to retention, however it is clear the machine will still retain and accumulate over time. (If I remember tomorrow morning, I will weigh my first few doses post grind to see what might stay in the machine.)

Based on my reading about cleaning Grinders... Everybody will have some amount of this in their machine! Depending on usage, it would seem the ideal process is running Grindz (or similar) monthly, then opening up and deep cleaning the grind chamber every 2-6 months. I would say for most home usage, the 4-6 mos plan is probably appropriate.

Per some of my recent posts about maintenance, and now seeing this, my schedule is shaping up to be :
Daily backflush of espresso machine with plain water.
Monthly detergent backflush of espresso machine with Cafiza.
Monthly grinder cleaning with Grindz.
Descale espresso machine every 3 months.
Deep clean grind chamber every 4 months.

And The Lady already thought I was too anal about keeping my Espresso Station clean.

 

[ryanosaur]

Per some of my recent posts about maintenance, and now seeing this, my schedule is shaping up to be :
Daily backflush of espresso machine with plain water.
Monthly detergent backflush of espresso machine with Cafiza.
Monthly grinder cleaning with Grindz.
Descale espresso machine every 3 months.
Deep clean grind chamber every 4 months.

A friend asked over PM about this and asked to know about any other details for proper machine care.
At risk of being overly pedantic (is that possible on ASR?), I agreed to share to the thread.
For daily maintenance, along with the back flush, I use a standard espresso machine brush like this:
Number-One Coffee Machine Brush... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01AJV504U?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
…to brush out the shower screen and around the group head and gasket, as well as wiping down the inside of the group head with a damp paper towel.
I also wipe down the machine front of all coffee and water that may have splashed about.
I would suspect that most of this is fairly common for most of us, especially at the point where we have $1k+ tied up in this type of equipment. I’ve made no secret of lustfully eyeing a Lelit Bianca now tipping the scale at over $3k. Add in a Mazzer Mini and you’re over 4K. Or how about a lovely mini Linea at over 5K?
These machines are designed to work hard and last a very long time. Needless to say, lack of care can bring equipment like this, or a high end piece of audio gear to ruin in almost no time flat.

I’ll wrap by saying the crew at the cafe I supervised never lost sight of how fortunate they were to have a high end Linea on the counter and never once did I walk out the door at night, or in to open and find a spot anywhere on that thing. I didn’t have to tell them… they just did it. If it slowed down during a rush, the first thing was clean up the grounds and wipe down the counters… if they had an extra few minutes, out came the windex.

I’m done. Thank you for listening.

With luck, I’ll have time to play with that pump tomorrow.

 

[ryanosaur]

"We found there is only about this ~3 grams of retention in the chute." Does not state how many grams are ground for those 3gm...

The first grind through, I lost 2.3g to the grinder.
Second grind yielded my full dose back.

Even though I marked the position of the burr carrier, my dial is off and choked the Sylvia on the first shot. Hopefully I can get this adjusted and still get some shots before I run out of beans! More coming later today. No caffeine yet but I'm already anxious.

 

[ryanosaur]

Well, I burned about 5 shots (100g of beans) getting to my first actual shot of the day...
~6g in 40 seconds...
then, 11.1g in 35s...
and finally, 14g in 32s:

...which is pretty much right on profile!

The real test is to see how it behaves tomorrow... Too bad I don't have enough of this batch of beans for a proper comparison. Even though Lamill is pretty consistent from batch to batch, I do get some variance.

Better news is that some new work came in, so I get to earn some $$$ today. Further adventures in DIY Espresso Machine Maintenance and Repair will have to wait a few more days. Stay tuned!

Cheers!

 

[antcollinet]

I've had this for just over 6 years now. Averaged about 10 double shots/week for the first 5 of those, and at least 14 for the last 12 months (Post retirement). Still working as well as the day it was new, though I've had to replace the pump.

View attachment 161832


I have a Eurika Mignon grinder - slow but does a good job.

Repaired the control box on this today. Main relay for the heating element had failed (contact erosion). So that is the pump and heating element replacement, and control box repair in about 7 years.



This is the old relay opened up.

 

[dfuller]

Atom 75 showed up. It's great. 2 seconds and change for 18g at espresso size and whisper quiet. Tastes good too. The burrs are the same size and cutting face geometry as the Victoria Arduino/Nuova Simonelli Mythos One.

 

[ryanosaur]

I will say, the new Burrs on my Lelit Grinder do seem to be making a positive difference in Shot quality. It does not seem to be affecting the weird timing and yield inconsistencies I had brought up before. On the other hand, overall flavor has definitely increased.

Still hoping to get on that Pump Swap and OPV adjustment soon.

Anybody have a deeper understanding of the Solenoid Valve and if that could possibly cause inconsistent extraction time and yield? JC.

 

[dfuller]

Anybody have a deeper understanding of the Solenoid Valve and if that could possibly cause inconsistent extraction time and yield? JC.

It shouldn't.
A 3-way solenoid valve will either work or it won't - what it does is allow water from the boiler to the group, or from the group to the drain tray.

 

[ryanosaur]

It shouldn't.
A 3-way solenoid valve will either work or it won't - what it does is allow water from the boiler to the group, or from the group to the drain tray.

Right?. That's my understanding of it, too.

I'm just trying to figure out why the variation from shot to shot... I get day to day as many other variable exist, but within a 20 minute time span of using the machine in a single session... *shrugs

Edit... I guess my thought process is that if some part of the valve isn't fully opening on the first pull, but is loosening up over three-five shots... ???

 

[antcollinet]

It shouldn't.
A 3-way solenoid valve will either work or it won't - what it does is allow water from the boiler to the group, or from the group to the drain tray.

I think that depends on the machine. On mine it directs water from the tank, eihter to the heatexchanger, then onto tht group, or to refil the boiler.

 

[antcollinet]

Right?. That's my understanding of it, too.

I'm just trying to figure out why the variation from shot to shot... I get day to day as many other variable exist, but within a 20 minute time span of using the machine in a single session... *shrugs

Edit... I guess my thought process is that if some part of the valve isn't fully opening on the first pull, but is loosening up over three-five shots... ???

What type of machine is it?

 

[dfuller]

I think that depends on the machine. On mine it directs water from the tank, eihter to the heatexchanger, then onto tht group, or to refil the boiler.

That's a 2-way solenoid, similar but not identical. It only has two ports. On a lever operated E61 group the cam valve takes the place of the 3 way solenoid.

 

[antcollinet]

That's a 2-way solenoid, similar but not identical. It only has two ports. On a lever operated E61 group the cam valve takes the place of the 3 way solenoid.

I call it three port (one inlet, two outlets) but never mind - that is just semantics.

 

[ryanosaur]

What type of machine is it?

I'm on a 4-yr old Rancilio Sylvia... I think it was supposed to be a v.4, perhaps, it was their anniversary model (started insulating the Boiler. Single boiler, vibe pump.