Lever and 1st drip

NewBoyUK

Random one.

How essential is 1st drip on the lever machines?

Im told it is essential to make sure the chamber is full and no air is trapped.

Old wives tail?

If you dont get 1st drip - then it may not be a full shot

dfk41

NewBoyUK

NewBoyUK Im told it is essential to make sure the chamber is full and no air is trapped.

Old wives! The reason for first drip is actually to show that the puck is fully saturated. it is not really first drip but more when the actual flow starts. it is the same principle regardless of the make of lever

NewBoyUK

Random one.

How essential is 1st drip on the lever machines?

Im told it is essential to make sure the chamber is full and no air is trapped.

Old wives tail?

If you dont get 1st drip - then it may not be a full shot

Cuprajake

suppose it depends on the lever,

NewBoyUK

Londinium?

Cuprajake

NewBoyUK you have two threads haha

Cuprajake

ahhhh

so you will have seen infuse for 5 seconds or till first drip then release the lever, etc

basically you grind in a way that the bottom of the portafilter is sweating with coffee, then lift, depending on your model will depend on how long this is, the old l1 they said not to infuse for more than 20s as this can stall the thermosyphon, but who wants a 20s infusion haha

i found it best to give it 4-5s and then lift

Jony

Time dependent very

NewBoyUK

Other replies have gone?

DavecUK

Cuprajake you have two threads haha

Not now, I merged them. there are a few reasons, some historic and do do with a chamber full of air.

If there was a fault (blockage) and you couldn’t see drips, when you release the lever it might shoot up. This was for mains/steam fed machines
Pump machines, same can happen above, even if they have a pressure sensor in the fill circuit
Evo Lever with a gauge on the group, you can physically see the group is pressurised (safe)
of course it also ensures some puck perfusion prior to lever release…necessary because the initial high pressure phase is well resisted by puck hydraulics when full of water, so you get two desirable things, pressure AND good flow across the entire puck.

NewBoyUK

Following on from this….

When taking off the handle theres a pop.

Unsure if its a vacumn or pressure trapped in the handle.

Reasons on this? Not a Londinium so no thermo

MediumRoastSteam

NewBoyUK Not a Londinium so no thermo

Which machine?

Cuprajake

Leave it longer. Theres still pressure in the group

Google portafilter sneeze

It’s also messy

NewBoyUK

Retro

MediumRoastSteam

NewBoyUK - well… you can’t expect people to help you if you don’t tell anything about the machine, let alone which machine you are referring to.

A retro machine… spring lever? Direct lever? Open boiler? Anyway. Retro…

If I were you, whatever you are doing, if there’s pressure in the group you should figure out the best way to release it safely to avoid a sneeze, whether it’s a retro machine or not.

Good luck.

Cuprajake

Oh retro

Sounds cool

I wish you great luck in your coffee journey,

dfk41

Until you get to know your machine so that you can safely disengage the pf handle, if you raise the lever slightly then it releases whatever pressure there maybe in the group, meaning you can unlock the pf handle safely. I do not think we have any Fracino Retro owners on here. Maybe post a video or some pics for folks to see?