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"#p28346 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* https://youtu.be/dAvY8Om77-0 *Internal tour* https://youtu.be/XW72A1SmQZ4 *Lelit Control Centre* https://youtu.be/Fr8YvPD9ij4 *Long PI Shot* https://youtu.be/MDTGHr9lL8g 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"#p28346 - 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

@"Cuprajake"#p28350 @"LMSC"#p28348 @"MediumRoastSteam"#p28349 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"#1) Is incredibly useful and had loads of great info. Thanks again for a smooth transaction and enjoy many great coffees!

> @"Knluk"#p28346 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"#p28346 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 https://youtu.be/vMd3YtdfHyU

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. [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/qo0acxc.jpeg]

@"Knluk"#p28411 It's heavy enough to be solid….

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? [URL=https://i.imgur.com/tMmScgE.jpg][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/tMmScgE.jpg[/IMG][/URL] 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? [URL=https://i.imgur.com/v7YFQub.jpg][IMG]https://i.imgur.com/v7YFQub.jpg[/IMG][/URL] 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?

Lelit Bianca just arrived

Cuprajake

cjbailey1

Cuprajake thank you for the videos :) Incredibly helpful!

Cuprajake

Ernie1

cjbailey1

My understanding is the guide is exclusive to purchases from Bella Barista. I’m sure if the machine came from there they’ll gladly send a guide.

It’s 100% worth tracking down though, helped me a huge amount.

Penance

I didnt get any guide with mine just a very basic manual.
I might chase BB too.

cjbailey1

The machine did come from Bella Barista and the website states that one is included. I did email them and have had a response now stating the following:

“We aren’t including our guides with the bianca anymore as it’s too outdated. The machine you’ve received is V3 I believe and the guide is based on v1. There have been changes made between those models and so the guide wouldn’t be overly helpful unfortunately.”

A little frustrating that it’s still advertised on the website as included.

CoyoteOldMan

cjbailey1 Don’t know if this is any help (and/or you already have it): https://links.imagerelay.com/cdn/2615/ql/b7cbd65abfbe4b5e98ecb800a0a9c6e4/LELIT_BIANCA_USER_MANUAL.PDF

MediumRoastSteam

cjbailey1 A little frustrating that it’s still advertised on the website as included.

I wouldn’t worry about it too much. There’s now enough information on the internet and here, and lelit insider about the machine which is very helpful.

Bella Barista does a really bad job in keeping the content of their website up to date, fresh and relevant. Take a look at this for instance (picked at random):

https://bellabarista.co.uk/collections/heat-exchanger/products/ecm-mechanika-vi-slim-espresso-machine

It’s about the new ECM Mechanika VI.

Scroll down and read the “What’s included” Section.

If you go by that, you’d be getting the older model, the Mechanika V.

Ernie1

I wondered if that would be the case. I think a lot of it should still be relevant.

I passed mine on with the machine when I sold it but I remember there was a lot of great info around first setup, maintenance and some profiling shot types.

CoyoteOldMan

MediumRoastSteam t’s just that ther keyboard s a bt stcky!

Cuprajake

Bb website is worse since they changed it.

Del_UK

Sprometheus is a big fan of the V3, and Dave even has a mini cameo in the video!

DavecUK

Del_UK I had a cameo? I didn’t see it.

I have had the V3 Bianca for over a year now, so it’s interesting seeing the influencers take on it. It is a superb machine.

P.S. I spotted my avatar when I viewed it on a larger screen. Looks like he found the answer on our forum 😁

Cuprajake

Ah the new v3 are hitting the influencers now 😛

CoyoteOldMan

Cuprajake A V-2 would be better for hitting some influencers

(not Sprometheus - sorry, I can’t resist a pun)

V-2 rocket - Wikipedia

Ernie1

I get why they’ve done it but I think the chrome version looks much nicer on a fairly classically styled E61.

Cuprajake

The comments are the best, replied to one guy.

A lmlm would rip it apart, why

People can’t see past their noses

CoyoteOldMan

Cuprajake That same guy seems to be unable to read (or understand that Spro had an LMLM for years before buying the GS-3)

Cuprajake

Yeah and if you look at his comments on other vids he’s very lmlm is the best Giphy - season 1 friends GIF

Del_UK

DavecUK That’s the one!

I like Spros stuff, mainly because it’s not too over the top with dramatic YouTube face thumbnails and overuse of the word “killer”.

But back to the Bianca, I love mine. Had it a few months now and I’m a paddle all the time person, and have not yet touched the preinfusion, low flow modes or temp offset.

I may have a play over Christmas but not really sure where to start, so if anyone has played with it and has some go to settings I’m all ears.

DavecUK

Del_UK I intend to do a video over Christmas covering the non paddle stuff. Basically how to get shots without using the paddle.

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