Rocket Home Machines Work Flow and capacity

[payamtheatre]

hi and thank you for your time in advance

if you have a rocket machine like R58 or R60v ( or something in this range ) i want to know how much work flow can the machine take during a day , i'm fascinated by the look and brewing capability of rocket machines and am inclined to buy one , i have a choice to use it in one of these 3 places , so i want to know which is more in line with the machine's capacity and work flow , first place is my office which due to nature of the work there ( it is a writing/theater production office ) coffee is a necessity , we haven't had a espresso machine there yet , but i believe that at around 20 to 30 cups of espresso in a day will go on a busy day , but about 10 on a average day .
second place that i can use is for my low volume coffee shop , not so much as an commercial machine but rather than for a machine that is going to be used exclusively for espresso ( only bland espresso and not any espresso based drinks ) my reasoning is that other pressure profiling machines are way more expensive , and we won't have more then 5 or 6 costumer for espresso only ( and that's on a good day ) but i like to give them the best espresso experience that they can have , and as i think you'll agree too , pressure profiling is the way to go on that front .
and finally that i use them as are intended in my home , which is an option , but i got a Breville dual boiler , that my wife is used to using it, and i don't think the reasoning of " i liked the looks better" will go over as well as i like to
any way if there is anything about these machines work flow and capacity that suggest that i can use them for any or all these places , please let me know . also any other thoughts and suggestions that you might have will be appreciated too .
thank you

 

[Musicphan]

I have a first-gen Rocket 58 at my shop / Rocket Apartmento at home - both machines are great. The 58 is a big step up with the double boilers. Perfect extractions when paired with a nice grinder. I think the pressure profiling would be nice for the hobbyist/enthusiast but a waste of money on most people. In fact, it may cause more confusion to many that others. It really depends on if you're driving the espresso machine or the general 'office worker' is using it.

 

[payamtheatre]

thank you , that was on the back of my thought too . what kinda leaned me to r60v was that you can set it up with 3 different profiles and then let the machine do it's thing , which meant i can program a triditional nine bar for one of them so other can use it , and have 2 other to play with different coffees , but i have to agree that it doesn't make much financial sense
you mentioned you got r58 at your shop ?! so you use it in a commercial setting ?! if so , how is it and how many shots per day do you take out of it ?! can i support the heavy day work flow that i mentioned ( about 25cup per day ) ?

 

[Musicphan]

thank you , that was on the back of my thought too . what kinda leaned me to r60v was that you can set it up with 3 different profiles and then let the machine do it's thing , which meant i can program a triditional nine bar for one of them so other can use it , and have 2 other to play with different coffees , but i have to agree that it doesn't make much financial sense
you mentioned you got r58 at your shop ?! so you use it in a commercial setting ?! if so , how is it and how many shots per day do you take out of it ?! can i support the heavy day work flow that i mentioned ( about 25cup per day ) ?

Its in a commercial environment but no a cafe - its my 'lab' machine so it doesn't get a ton of duty cycles. Most espresso manufacturers will have a duty cycle / estimated for use..

 

[czcusco]

Sorry to bring this back but I’ve been saving up for a R58. Currently have a breville 870, while that is nice but I wanted something better that could up my game more in espresso. I like the plumb in water supply feature, but after seeing this post it may be too much machine for home use. Right?

 

[payamtheatre]

Its in a commercial environment but no a cafe - its my 'lab' machine so it doesn't get a ton of duty cycles. Most espresso manufacturers will have a duty cycle / estimated for use..

thank you very much for your comments , they were really helpful , btw what grinder did you pair it with ?

 

[payamtheatre]

it really depends on how serious are you about upping your espresso game , there is no doubt that r58 is a noticeable upgrade , going from breville's 54mm to rocket 58mm portafilter , a true and controllable pre-infusion capability if plumbed , e61 group-head , and a dedicated steam boiler all help you to get a shot comparable to most of specialty cafes , but you have to take a good grinder to pair it with into account too , but having a R58 as home machine ( which is it's intended manufacturer purpose ) dosent bug me as much as when people use GS3 for their home use , those are people who i don't mind beating the ... out of them and take their machine so i can use it in a more appropriate setting anyway that's my 2c about it

 

[czcusco]

Thanks for feedback. That’s what I noticed with my current machine. While it does have its own grinder but it doesn’t get it as fine as I like.

I’m currently using Ravens Brew Double Dead espresso beans. Even when using setting 1, at 18g whole bean, I get 1:1 ratio out for grind. Using a distribution and palm tampting tool, it’s tamped down as tight as possible. However, at 36g-38g output, my time is only 16-17 sec max.

So not sure if this would be grinder related?

 

[shadow745]

it really depends on how serious are you about upping your espresso game , there is no doubt that r58 is a noticeable upgrade , going from breville's 54mm to rocket 58mm portafilter , a true and controllable pre-infusion capability if plumbed , e61 group-head , and a dedicated steam boiler all help you to get a shot comparable to most of specialty cafes , but you have to take a good grinder to pair it with into account too , but having a R58 as home machine ( which is it's intended manufacturer purpose ) dosent bug me as much as when people use GS3 for their home use , those are people who i don't mind beating the ... out of them and take their machine so i can use it in a more appropriate setting anyway that's my 2c about it

I find a few things you mention to be a bit overrated by many people. The 58 mm portafilter/basket, being the do all/end all industry standard is no better in performance than smaller designs. For those that just have to buy bottomless portafilters, handfuls of tampers, levelers, then yeah 58 is much more popular. For a LONG time La Spaziale has been using 53 mm and the old school, but extremely awesome Cremina lever I had uses 49.5 mm. Smaller can be so much better as the puck is generally thicker and less susceptible to channeling, etc. Also, I don't see the pre-infusion fad. The only thing I'd see it being useful for is applying softer pressure to the puck to prevent channeling and many use it just for that. Better puck prep will take care of that and what bit of pre-infusion I've done on various machines over the years didn't impress me at all really. Now these days you have those that are all about super light roasted coffee, flow profiling and massive flat burr grinders to try to find something they feel like they've been missing all along. More power to them as I simply know what works for me and it's definitely not the overpriced gimmicks so many chase after. They should work on their technique, maybe get into home roasting to really fine tune things, which is what I did and I look fwd to every batch I roast and every double ristretto extracted.

 

[shadow745]

Thanks for feedback. That’s what I noticed with my current machine. While it does have its own grinder but it doesn’t get it as fine as I like.

I’m currently using Ravens Brew Double Dead espresso beans. Even when using setting 1, at 18g whole bean, I get 1:1 ratio out for grind. Using a distribution and palm tampting tool, it’s tamped down as tight as possible. However, at 36g-38g output, my time is only 16-17 sec max.

So not sure if this would be grinder related?

Tamp pressure is way overrated and more important is just simple/consistent technique. Realistically more pressure applied to the puck once it's compressed is wasted effort. For years I've been grinding finer than 'usual', updosing as that's how I roll and a light tamp, like 12-15 lbs at most. Sounds like you need either a finer grind or more fresh coffee as simple things as storage can cause it to degrade rather quickly. Once coffee stales beyond use for espresso no amount of fine grinding/tamping will really slow the flow down.