ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva

Berryterry

DaveCAU thanks… I learned about these new fittings and it worked like charm… knowledge is power…

Hugonl37

The Oak wood handles and levers with the CNC milled steel ends where a special request from me, I asked them if they could make them exactly like that, they could and did a wonderful job. Really gives a premium feel, a nice balance in the hand and better grip. Not sure Oak is the best wood for such application, with its rough surface, but I needed it to match the Bentwood grinder in Oak, the bar and the floor.. Better wood for such handles is for sure Olive wood. The steel ends are very high quality and perfect finish.

Hugonl37

Trying to find the best PID settings, a bit confused by all the posts, what is the latest consensus regarding best PIDs for grouphead? And for boiler? Thanks!

Eiffel

Hugonl37

Here are the best settings I’ve found

Group : P=2 I=0.02 D=5 B=6

Brew Boiler : 1.0 0.00 5 150

Steam Boiler: 10 0.00 5.0 1

Cuprajake

Mine work well for me

Hugonl37

Cuprajake

Just tried these, works better than stock, thanks! Group was oscillating +- 1°C, now it’s more like +- 0.3°C

CoyoteOldMan

Hugonl37 I immediately got results far superior to anything I’ve ever managed to produce, even after perfecting my routine for 10 years

You are not raising expectations here. Not a bit. No, sirree, nothing at all. 🤣🤣🤣

Congratulations; it’s a very nice setup!

(I just paid the deposit on mine - spec like yours except that I’m going black handles at the moment. As and when I find a turner that can do olivewood…)

Cuprajake

My turned down tamper base came today. Fits perfectly.

Now I need a nice funnel to sit on top, not in the ims basket

Hugonl37

Followed the recommended 90/96°C for dark to medium and 92/98°C for medium to light roast, but was consistently getting under-extraction with a classic pressure and timing profile.. I need 91/98°C for dark to medium and 93/100°C for medium to light.. anyone else seeing such high temperatures? For dark to medium I’m using 10 seconds pre infusion and 25-30 seconds extraction with 9 bar for 1:2 and for medium to light I’m using 7-8 bar for 1:2.5-3

dark-medium: 10g in stock single, 18g in stock double
medium-light: 11g in stock single, 19g in stock double, but mostly depending on altitude grown.

IMS ordered.

What kind of profiles are you using? And is anyone also needing 100°C brew boiler?

DavecUK

Hugonl37 What kind of profiles are you using? And is anyone also needing 100°C brew boiler?

For 93 at the group, I’d expect anything from 98 to 100 for the brew boiler. (93 is not hot for a light roast)

pinky-and-me

Hugonl37 93/100°C for medium to light.. anyone else seeing such high temperatures?

Try finer grind and lower temp, I do 14.5 grams in a double basket at 84/92deg with 8s pre-infusion for 1:2 ratio and that’s for very light roast.

The lower temp will allow you to grind even finer without over-extracting but I suspect it would only work for your medium-light roasts.

Hugonl37

pinky-and-me

Wow that sounds pretty experimental! I will try. Never thought of going that cold. Funny how wildly different approaches are possible with this machine, guess that’s its strength.

To be clear: I’m very satisfied with the results I’m getting, and the consistency (coming from HX lever). Once I get the temp right, every shot has been 9-10/10 for me. Never had such a high hit score and every shot has been better than what I get served in any Cafe in my city.. I’ve unfortunately reached a new level of snobbery..

corichards

Hi, I’m about to pull the trigger on purchasing an ACS Evo Levo - after getting good and helpful advice from existing owners.

My one remaining (big) concern is that I can’t find anyone near where I live (Washington DC) who might service and repair it, if anything big does go wrong.

Just to add, I’m willing to give various smaller repair/service aspects a try (although admittedly have no experience at all here…), but I’m not super keen to have to ship the machine back to Italy given the time and cost that might entail.

So to my question that I’d really appreciate your collective views on- have any of you had repair/service problems that you could not deal with at home, and how did you solve them? (ie whether you had to ship the machine back to Italy, or found a local repairer somewhere). Also, was it a once off or a series of problems? (Just to get a clearer sense of what I could be about to let myself in for! While acknowledging that no one machine is likely to have the exact same problem(s) as another one due to use, wear etc)

Thanks in advance for any experiences and/or thoughts on this issue of the likelihood of a newbie being able to keep this machine running at home on an ongoing basis!

LMSC

corichards I neither had a very expensive machine nor serviced anything on my own. Servicing Evo ourselves isn’t a problem for us. I find it very easy to open the machine, remove the parts and refit. We have knowledgeable forum members, who are always ready to help.

If you want the comfort of a local dealer, you may look at alternatives. You need to be comfortable fixing her, should anything go wrong. Thx

CoyoteOldMan

corichards I’m (was - confirmed order a week ago) in a similar situation - what convinced me to order despite the potential maintenance issues (and vs. another ‘newer’ option that had not yet demonstrated the same, partly because they are newer):

ACS/Elcor clearly listen to their users and continue improving the product based on their feedback (feet/bottom strengthening, shower screen clip, lever scratching issues, drip tray design, brew boiler pipe length, …)
Based on feedback from this and other forums, they have been responsive in addressing faults/issues (other than ‘design’/spec), be they major or minor, and they have gone over-and-beyond in honouring the parts guarantee
The user community is helpful and knowledgeable - and very active
The machine is built mostly from tried-and-tested parts which are known to be reliable, coming from suppliers with which ACS have long-standing relationships
No issue so far - that I know of - has required shipping back to base, and there are no negative reviews, even from people that were highly sceptical and to-the-edge-of-disparaging of the machine prior to testing it.
All the repairs/maintenance that have been discussed/described on this and other forums are things that I am fully comfortable with - though this may well be different for others that are less inclined to tinker with their appliances (!)

All this is purely thoughts and “theory” - I think I’ll see how much of this translates into practice starting in a week or two.

DavecUK

corichards My one remaining (big) concern is that I can’t find anyone near where I live (Washington DC) who might service and repair it, if anything big does go wrong.

It doesn’t need an ACS dealer to service it, any competent espresso service centre/engineer should be able to service it. It’s parts are easily available, pressurestats, thermal probes, pump, vacuum breaker, group parts. The only ones that are generic, but with custom firmware is the orchestral commercial 4 group control board, which you would need to buy from ACS, the boilers and group heaters of course.

It’s a compartmentalised design, wet, hot and electronics bays, and plenty of room inside which makes servicing super easy. I would imagine airshipping to USA would be expensive…perhaps 250-350 USD?? Although the machine still wouldn’t be expensive for what you get.

Don’t forget to ask for any customisation options….I thought this machine looked fantastic.

https://coffeetime.freeflarum.com/d/10-acs-vesuvius-evo-leva/1587

Hugonl37

corichards

Looking at the internals it gives me confidence I’ll manage by myself. Very neatly organized and plenty of space. I had no experience with Espresso machines prior getting my Bezzera Strega, yet managed to service everything for 10 years, including refurbishing the Ulka pump.. I have no garage, just a tool box and kitchen floor.

These machines are pretty straightforward: some components, some pipes and some electronics, all clearly identifiable. Once you’ve got the case off, everything is visible and accessible. I never bothered to bring my Strega to a service station, even though there is one here within a mile, just because it’s so heavy to even get there, they ask so much money and the machine is gone for too long.. I managed everything myself within a day, so saved hundreds of euros and also down time. Just make pictures before you start unplugging things.

Cuprajake

Puck screen is here

And first use

Not sure of it on first use, esp the cleaning side of things

Hugonl37

Cuprajake
I had one of those with my Strega, did help with channeling (puck integrity, made it nicely packed), because the Strega applied the water unevenly on the bed, concentrating on one spot, which washed away the coffee. Would say it was a significant improvement. But stopped using after a while because it was so hard to clean. Needed to soak in boiling water with dishwasher soap, then rinse very thoroughly to not have soap taste.. it went rancid old coffee taste again very quickly. I preferred to use cut Aeropress paper filters, they could be replaced. But now I’m glad I don’t feel the need for this solution with the Evo Leva, getting very solid extractions without. Puck looks homogeneous, water seems to be applied evenly.

Cuprajake

It’s been on order a month haha

I’m trialing it, but if it becomes a chore then it will leave my puck prep routine

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