ACS Vesuvius Evo Leva

MackOT

JWSG You are correct. I email Pablo and he told me that is the latest firmware for Vostok and Evo Leva h That light bulb is for LED in Vostok. Since I have Evo Leva, so it does not apply to my machine.

MackOT

After 80 days of no espresso machine in the house. Now life is back to normal again. DHL drop the machine 2 days ago. Here is my line up. @DavecUK, @CoyoteOldMan, @LMSC , @JWSG and @dfk41 Thank you everyone for helping me answer all the questions. Now it is time to buy beans. 😁 I mean a lot of beans.🤣

DavecUK

MackOT Well, you’re not short of grinders! machine looks excellent.

LMSC

MackOT What a line up! I can see you may be able to create some space 😂

MackOT

@DavecUK and @LMSC All the machines in the world cannot not help me, if I am the one who mess up the process. 🤣

LMSC

MackOT Such a glorious line up clearly underpins your passion. You can’t go wrong - of course not every time 🤣

Enjoy your espresso and your new found love! let’s know how you got on and post your impressions, reviews, what works and doesn’t! 👌

mathof2

DenisS If you have a south italian roast style, you will really want to slow down the brew shot time (40-60 sec total) and get out just a tiny bit of liquid, like 18g in -25 g out, around that.

Where do those parameters come from? In this short video made by the Turin-based newspaper La Stampa about the most famous coffee bar in Naples, Gambrinus, there is a demonstration of the southern Italian barista craft. At 1:50 the lever comes down to begin PI, at 1:54 it is lifted to initiate the shot, which continues until the flow is interrupted by a spoon at 2:14. That’s 20 seconds of shot time, not 40-60. The contents or the two demitasses look to me to total at least a fluid ounce, with creama, maybe 28g. The double basket contains 14-16 grams (1:01), not the 18 grams preferred outside of Italy these days. Calculating roughly the barista is pulling a brew ratio of 1:2, not particularly tight.

DenisS

mathof2

Do you think someone in the most busy/crowded bar setup in Italy will make you 40-60 sec shots? ahahahaha, never.

Time= money, specially for italians, try it if you dont believe me. 40-60 sec shot for short ratio, adjust temp for taste.

Espresso in italy is not a demonstration of quality, but something fast, easy that you drink standing up while on the run. It’s like having a short break while using the rest room you take 1 espresso and sip it in 1 or 2 sips, then move on.

You also mention dose, the best dose for dark stuff is a high dose, like 18-22 g and not 15-16 g. The higher dose will emphasis more body and more sweetness without extracting a lot of the burned notes. The reason why they use a low dose is because money, again. Dont take everything you see there as a quality report, they sell to tourist, coffee with sugar, in a fast forward scenery. A friend was recently at Terzi Bologna to get the good italian espresso (he lives in Italy for the last 12 years+) and he had a big disappointment in both espresso he got (this was this summer).

I also was in Italy last summer (Milano, Bologna, Forli, Siena, Pisa, Florence, Venice and some others) and I had much better espresso in some small mountain villages than in the big tourist traps at some “known” bars. For me, if there are tourists involved and the rating is given by tourists I simply dont go anymore.

My experience with coffee, comes from reading, trying, and engaging with people (in coffee meetings at my place or theirs) while using several machines, including the hated/loved decent espresso but also others. What I say it’s not just my findings, but some conclusions people came at after trying and posting stuff over the years.

NelisB

DenisS Can we state that SSP 98mm HU is suitable for light/filter roast only?

Cuprajake

@“mathof2”

tbf we know nothing of that machines settings, ive never seen a pull like that from my granted limited viewing

Cuprajake

I do need to see if changing temp can really alter beans.

I tend to stick to 90/98

LMSC

Cuprajake do need to see if changing temp can really alter beans.

I tend to stick to 90/98

IMO, it is grinder and burr size dependents. With my hand grinder, Kenyan Mikari was too acidic at 90-92 group. I had to take it to 94; it was sweet. Guys with bigger burr set find 88-89 as sweet spots for light roasts.

Two more examples are : CastIron Mandela is ok at 93 Group and not at 91-92 Group. Similarly, the underdeveloped Django Mexican Decaf requires at least 93C.

With your MM, you really want to pull light / medium light roasts - Kenyan for an example — as two back to back shots and see what works for you.

mathof2

DenisS I’ve had espresso at Gambrinus several times and liked it. To my taste, it’s among the better cafes and coffee bars that I’ve tried in Naples. Of course, YMMV.

DenisS

PS: I forgot this, do you know what happens with the temp of the brew water if you try to pull a long shot with a HX machine? specially a big 6-12 L boiler one (steam boiler). It will overheat the water by a lot, because you keep the water flowing inside the HX more there, so that is a good reason why you could not pull 40-60 sec shots on that type of machine, beside the time aspect.

Eiffel

Interesting, I’ve had a hard time with a recent discounted order of Jango Mbata. It’s fine at 87C/93C with a fast but ugly looking shot (25-28 sec), but poor (acidic ?) at higher temperatures or with longer shots… and frozen beans don’t work well either.

All the other beans I’ve used with my Evo have been much more tolerant in terms of temperature, shot duration or bean temperature.

LMSC

Django Ethiopian Kabira - cup score 87

First dial 91C/97C, 18g, 36.7g at a little above 7.5 bars lasting 30s

Second dial 89C/95C, 18g, 36.2g just under 8 bars lasting 44s - the same grind size. I prefer the second shot compared to the first. The first was somewhat unpleasant to drink. The second was a lot smoother and sweeter. I still need to loosen the grind a bit. Strawberry taste and mango acidity buffeting a bit of tartness at the end. Not sure, I can loose it. No blueberry. The beans were on the darker than expected. It is not medium light as described and too dark for me.

CoyoteOldMan

Quick question - well, actually 3:

For those that have tried IMS basket(s) vs. stock: is this worth doing?
The stock tamper (“new version” with wood handle) is OK-ish, but I still get a bit of a ring extraction which I suspect is due to the tamper being a bit too small. Is my diagnosis likely correct? If so, what diameter tamper are people using with the stock basket (and/or the IMS)?
What can I try - other than changing the tamper - to reduce the ring? I WDT the basket before tamping, and try to get the surface flat; the grounds are very fluffy as they come out of the grinder. I have tried grinding finer and while it changes extraction time it doesn’t seem to help with the ring.

I’ll video the next prep-and-extraction I make… apologies in advance for the torture; it’s going to be of a much lower standard than what you are seeing from Jake or LMSC (or the old videos by DaveC).

MediumRoastSteam

CoyoteOldMan I RDT the basket before tamping,

Do you mean WDT? 👍

Eiffel

My take :

The IMS baskets (especially the 32mm one) are not required (the 26mm works well with lower doses, but so does the stock basket)… the same applies to the IMS shower screens, by the way
With the stock basket, the MS M10 FLAT ø 54.4 mm tamper base works perfectly (it is a very significant improvement over the tamper which ACS shipped at first with the Evo).

I haven’t bought a suitable tamper for the IMS baskets, but some suggested sizes and suppliers are listed in the Unofficial Evo FAQ (see link below)

CoyoteOldMan

MediumRoastSteam I do - corrected. 😊

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