Here’s a video of the machine pulling a lever style shot, using the profile you can see a few posts above this.
This is with my new 18g VST basket. It’s not perfect, as there is a small dead spot in the middle and it extracts as two streams, but there’s no spraying. I think it probably needs a slightly longer preinfusion.
This shows how the system works though. The shot is started and stopped using the rotary encoder by the screen. It can be set to stop after a defined dose, either using the flow meter or a suitable Bluetooth scale. As I don’t have a Bluetooth scale, I tend to do it manually as it’s the most accurate.
The flow meter approach works ok, but it’s not that accurate and requires adjusting as it measures all the liquid used not the espresso that comes out. It’s not terrible as you can set it to not start counting until it reaches 0.7 bar (I.e. until the headspace is full), but it will include the water that remains in the coffee grounds. This means you have a bit of trial and error to get the right number. I’ll probably only really use this is I have visitors and am making a lot of back to back drinks (so I don’t forget to hit stop), or if my in-laws want to use the machine, as it makes it easier, just press go and it does the rest.
At some point I might get a Bluetooth scale to add dosing.
