Manual lever espesso machine

[Night Guy]

I am interested in gettting into the full experiance of making the perfect espessoand the full art of it. On the manual lever machines I take it the one draw of the lever is one once or a bit better and I guess you would draw a full stroke at 20-25 seconds but to get the proper pressure what is a good way to judge this I know that the tamp would stay the same at approx 30 pounds but how would you be able to tell if you are pulling it at the right pressure or if your gring is too fine or too corse? :?

 

[303espresso]

LEVER UNIT

THE GRIND COARSENESS WILL WILL MOVE THAT DRAW TIME. FINER SLOWS THE TIME DOWN COARSER MAKES THE DRAW FASTER

 

[Parts Guru]

I am interested in gettting into the full experiance of making the perfect espessoand the full art of it. On the manual lever machines I take it the one draw of the lever is one once or a bit better and I guess you would draw a full stroke at 20-25 seconds but to get the proper pressure what is a good way to judge this I know that the tamp would stay the same at approx 30 pounds but how would you be able to tell if you are pulling it at the right pressure or if your gring is too fine or too corse? :?

You have to time the pulling of lever from the top position to the lowest.

If you hold the lever at the top position for 5 seconds, it will allow pre-infusion. The extraction time with pre-infusion should not exceed 14 seconds. Also with pre-infusion, the grind does not have to be powdery fine. Powdery coffee + pre-infusion + 20 seconds extraction will result in over extraction and you get bitter espresso.

With a little practice you will know how to time the pulling of the lever in specified time as you like.

 

[Night Guy]

I understand that the preinfusion is just as it starts to drip no longer is that rigt?

 

[Parts Guru]

I understand that the preinfusion is just as it starts to drip no longer is that rigt?

Pre-infusion is the time allowed for soaking coffee grounds before extraction. When the handle is pulled up and held for 5 seconds. water from the boiler will try to escape. It will find tamped coffee grounds in its way to escape. The coffee grounds will be soaked and in some cases have a few drops tricke through the tamped coffee.

When 5 seconds are over, pull the lever down slowly, timing it to bring down in 12 or 14 seconds. No second pull. If you need more quantity of espress, re-load the filter cup and make a second espresso.

Extraction of espresso is a balancing act that comes with practice and the type of espress maker used.

Classic espresso is made with close control on the fineness of grind, temperature of water, freshness of coffee, freshness of grind, pre-infusion and extraction time.

Good luck.

 

[Night Guy]

Thanks man all imformation is appreciated for striving for the perfect cup and lots of trial and error :-D

 

[MikeTheBike]

Lever machine

If you are looking at the Pavoni home machines (Europiccolo), here is what I have found in the 10 years I have owned one.

The boiler temp/pressure switch is set too low (you can adjust it by removing the baseplate, and using a screwdriver to adjust the pressure switch). Get it so the boiler switches of at the start of the red line (about 1.1bar) This most probably invalidates the warranty

Make sure the group head is nice and hot (I lift and drop the lever a couple of times with no coffee in the basket to warm everything up nicely).

Prepare your milk (if you are not having a straight espresso, and getting that right took a few attempts )

Only use the double filter basket.
Illy and Lavazza pre-ground are about the right grind (I use a Gaggia MDF grinder at setting 4-ish)
Fill the basket up to the brim, and tamp down to 3/4 full.


Lift the lever and wait for drops to appear.
Draw the level down, producing two continuous small streams of coffee.
Enjoy

MTB

 

[Night Guy]

Thanks it was a pavoni that I was looking at