Thanks all. Appreciate your good words.

The Bianca has arrived today and I am thinking my game plan to test drive it. May I leverage this thread to get some beginner advice? In particular, as a manual lever user, I can control flow, preinfusion time, amount of pressure freely manually. I do not understand how I can work with these with the Bianca. Suppose I can achieve the same control via the flow control(?). At the moment, I imagine the workflow can be:

0/ wait for temp to buildup, usual puck prep. Any flushing needed for the group head?

1/ while keeping the flow control closed, the pressure will build up slowly after I press the button. Then preinfusion starts.

2/ when I see the first drip, I pull the flow control all the way to the right to start the extraction. (Note: so I think I have no control on preinfusion time at this stage? I can only affect the preinfusion time via grind size.)

3/ during the extraction phase, I can monitor the pressure. So I think I have no control on the amount of pressure at this stage (instead I should change the grind size to change the pressure)? Or I can play with it by controlling the flow control?

4/ once I have the desired amount of liquid, I close the flow control.

5/ Remove the PF and clean up. Any flushing on the group head needed?

    Knluk GL and we look forward to your setup, photos and first impressions. Sure, you are going to love it.

    You will get plenty of assistance from Dave, Jake and a lot of past and current Bianca users.

    Please do watch some of the YT from Dave! All of them are a few years old and I won’t know if anything has changed since then!

    Normalising Grind settings on Bianca

    Internal tour

    Lelit Control Centre

    Long PI Shot

    Dave has a YT video showing 8 types of shots on Bianca. I guess it’s a BB guide. I can’t find it on the YT.

        Knluk - I’ve only used the Bianca a few times (At Dave’s) so my advice here is limited, but:

        • You don’t need to flush the machine before hand; You can if you want, but I wouldn’t bother;
        • If this is your first E61 machine, I advise you to leave the flow control valve alone, fully open, and see how the machine behaves/works for the first week or two;
        • Once you understand how the machine works, start with the valve fully open and try reducing the flow gradually to reduce the pressure gradually as the shot goes. Aim to finish the shot at 7 bar, for example.

        There’s a lot of parameters with the Bianca. Don’t let all of those get in the way and frustrate you right at the start. It’s a lot to take in. Start simple, and progress gradually.

            just check the pid setting dave asks you to change,

            after that use it normally for a while flow control open, then you can start with the valve, its great for slowing shots if you grind wrong

            Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

              Cuprajake

              LMSC

              MediumRoastSteam

              Thanks all. Lots of useful info to study on. I also like the idea to start from simple and learn from there. Will keep everyone posted here 🙏

                    Just came to reply but everyone has already sent better tips than I could!

                    The BB guide in the box (written by @DavecUK) Is incredibly useful and had loads of great info.

                    Thanks again for a smooth transaction and enjoy many great coffees!

                      Knluk 1/ while keeping the flow control closed, the pressure will build up slowly after I press the button. Then preinfusion starts.

                      The paddle for the flow control can be adjusted so that in the closed position you can have no flow at all, or that you have some flow (e.g. a trickle). You can easily check by lifting the lever without a portafilter and seeing if any water is coming out of the group.

                      If in the fully closed position your valve is completely closed (no flow at all), then if the paddle is in the fully closed position there will be no water entering the group and no pressure will build up (so no pre-infusion).

                      As for changing the pressure with the flow control - once the group is under pressure during a shot there will be water going in to the group and water coming out (through the coffee). As long as the flow into the group is the same or higher than the flow out through the coffee, the pressure will be maintained. As soon as the flow in becomes slower than the flow out (by closing the paddle), the pressure will gradually reduce. This is how you can change the pressure by closing the valve to slow the flow of water into the group.

                        Knluk Welcome to the club, really enjoying using mine since getting hold of one last month

                        My favorite shots so far have been by bringing pressure up slowly to 2bar with paddle half open then maintaining at 2bar for about 5 sec, opening gently to about 9bar then gradually tapering off towards the end of the shot

                        Here is one I did earlier, I am sure someone more experienced can point out if I am doing anything wrong

                          Thanks all for the advice and tips. Always find helpful support here!

                          it is here now. With my previously injuries but recovered back, I had to ask my wife to help to lift out from the box. It also looks much much bigger in real life. I was kind of admiring the compact size but worried about it is not solid built before I saw the real thing.

                          I off to start reading and learning now.

                            Everyone must now know that I always have too many questions. So let me fire away:

                            1/ I used some stale bean to try a couple of shots. The first one I used same grind size as that for my Robot. Almost choke the machine and got 18g in and 35g out in 75s. For the second shot, I tried two dot coarser, similar result. Wet puck too. I will try to go coarser. But do you think the soupy puck is due to the choking?

                            2/ I dose 18g and mess up with coffee ground spilled around. Do I need a ring or the dose size is wrong or my technique is bad?

                            3/ between shots, I followed the instruction to remove the PF, left for 15sec, then flush the group head and clean it with cloth. Do I really need to use the brush every time?

                            4/ I found two scratch in the inner wall of the PF. Don’t think it is deep enough to cause channeling. Was it design like this or did I do anything wrong to scratch it?

                            5/ how do I know the machine is ready for the next shot?

                            6/ when standby, the pressure is 1.4 bar for the steam boiler but zero for both the group head and boiler pressure is it normal?

                              Single basket?

                              Yes you need a dosing ring. Get one that goes on the outside of the basket, and magnetic if you can.

                              Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                              Normcore 58mm Magnetic Dosing Funnel - Espresso Coffee Dosing Ring - 15mm Anodized Aluminum with 9 magnetized Steel Compatible with 58mm Portafilter https://amzn.eu/d/1z1ojTW

                              Or similar some are higher. But you get the idea

                              Steam boiler you can set I always drop mine to 125oc other gauges won’t do anything till you use the machine

                              My routine was after making my coffee’s I would back flush the group with the blind filter and just water.

                              Temp wise and shot wise by the time you have made the next shot you should be good to go

                              Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                              Don’t flush between shots

                              What water are you using?

                              Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -

                                During a batch of shots, knock out the PF and clean with a dry paintbrush. Don’t wash it until you finished your last shot of that run.

                                If you use the paddle to reduce pressure towards the end of a shot, pucks will usually be a bit wetter. After PF removal give it grinding time to drain and dry befor knocking then brushing out.

                                Contact me

                                  Knluk I dose 18g and mess up with coffee ground spilled around

                                  You either grind into the cup which comes with the Niche and then transfer the grinds, or you use a tall ring around the PF.

                                      Which basket are you using? It looks like a smaller one than I used regularly. I don’t think I ever used that one you have in the pic. The basket that was already in the spouted PF was the one I used. I’d dose 19g usually.

                                      The scratches were in the baskets when it was new, I think they’re just machine marks and won’t affect the performance.

                                      You shouldn’t need to wait any time between shots.

                                      The pressure should be at zero and then rise to 9-10 for pump pressure (or whatever you’ve set it at) and then the group will vary based on paddle position.

                                      Also Dave’s tip about letting the puck drain before knocking out was a game changer for me. I’d sometimes sit the PF on the drip tray while I steamed milk to let the puck dry out. 5-10 seconds and most wet pucks will be dry enough to knock out clean.