Profitec Go + Niche Zero

Twotone2 Back flushing does nothing.

Why do you believe this and what do you believe backflushing is meant to do?

Each to their own and I’m not exactly Mr. Clean when it comes to espresso machines but back flushing with Cafiza/Pulycaff etc 100% does do something.

Have a look at a shower screen before and after back flushing and any oils are pretty quickly removed. Same as soaking baskets and spouted portafilters. You can literally see the difference.

Tal when you have been at the end of quote a few nasty tongues like I have in the past year I find it quicker and easier not to read what they write

I have no interest in what they have to say,

Saves me time and the hassle. It’s a coffee forum I visit for fun.

NespressotoEspresso Just to confirm, I should add 0.1g of sodium bicarbonate to 1L of the distilled water?

Yes. You can make life easier by making a concentrate. Like, make a small bottle with 200ml of water and 2g of sodium bicarbonate mixed in. This is the concentrate. Then add 10ml of that concentrate for every litre of ZeroWater going into your machine.

And yes, once the ZeroWater is filtered, just mix and add to your machine.

As for the rest, you are overthinking this re: steam wand. Make sure you read the manual, and after every use you wipe it clean and purge immediately after steaming.

Twotone2 The rats or whatever those animals are look nice

They look like capivaras (capybaras). Biggest living rodent, and native of South America.

I make a concentrate, as it’s easier to dose. And you can store in a cold place,

1g per 100ml of rodi/distilled water

10ml of concentration to 1l of rodi/distilled water

This is for potassium , when you use sodium you have to add more from memory.

Enjoy your journey

I would advice a good tamper one that self levels, and a cheap wdt tool you don’t need spinners or other gadgets, the normcore dosing funnels work well and are cheap, the tamper is ok but a bit wobbly. If you can find a used decent tamper they self level and are about £40 used.

Cuprajake This is for potassium , when you use sodium you have to add more from memory

I keep the same for both :) - works for me. 👍 - but… if I remember correctly, to get the same alkalinity, you’ll need to add slightly more of potassium bicarbonate… if I remember 20% more. So, from memory, I think it’s the opposite of what Jake’s said 😊

MediumRoastSteam I knew it was more one way 😂

NespressotoEspresso For example, can I just buy 5 litres of distilled water and add 0.5g/500mg of potassium or sodium bicarbonate to the 5 litres, then agitate it and after that a resting period of 5-10 minutes, add that mixture to the Go and use it?

You can. But I’d make sure that distilled/filtered/RO water you are buying is safe to drink first.

It also depends on your consumption. 5L for me would last 3 weeks, maybe longer. Whatever you do, make sure you keep the water in a suitable container, in a cool place and well sealed.

NespressotoEspresso - echoing a bit of what Jake is saying, I’ll put a list here of what you’ll need with your machine.

Essentials:

• PulyCaf or Cafiza for backflushing
• a milk jug if you drink milk based drinks
• good water, as above
• a good set of scales, capable to measure to 0.1g accuracy, compact so you can fit on the drip tray of your machine and slim so there’s enough clearance. Don’t go wild - if you have spent £20, you probably spent too much;
• an espresso cup, a flat white/latte art cup to your taste;
• a good tamper, as per Jake’s post above;

What you don’t need, ever:

• nonsense to clean milk residue (her a good standard of hygiene in the first place);
• citric acid for descaling your machine;

what you may consider in the near future:

• WDT tool and funnel;
• a bottomless portafilter;

Later on:

• silicone group gasket;
• better baskets;
• more paraphernalia;
• fancy cups;
• shot mirror;
• puck screen;
• filter papers;

Brainbox biggest challenge was to get the grinder in a somewhat reasonable setting, but as far as I know the Niche Zero has a better fineness setting indication

Not necessarily. The Mignon is perfectly fine grinder - providing you use it as intended. Removing the declumper, single dosing etc… it’s not what it is for. But if you use it as it tells you to - fill up the hopper, grind, keep the hopper topped up etc, it’s an incredible consistent grinder with an adjustment mechanism where you can make very minor tweaks very easily - profiling you stay in the espresso range - which is what it is for.

MediumRoastSteam

I can agree with that. I have a Eureka Mignon Facile, I tried to reduce retention by adding a hopper/bellows, I also tried removing the anti clumping etc.

The result was massively unpredictable, one shot would appear ok. The next one, the bellows might dislodge a load of coffee in the chute. Removing the anti clumping just make the result in the porta filter poor and caused the chute to clog.

I now use it with a days worth of beans in the hopper and just get on with life, works perfectly well.

My grinder is different to yours. I assume you have the larger adjustment dial, probably bigger burrs etc, but the chirp point on mine is between -0.5 and 0, and I spend most of my time grinding between 1.0 and 1.5 for espresso, bean dependant. Bag often needs a tweak as I go.

Back in the day when I had a Mignon, in 2011 or whenever that was… (it lives in Sydney now, with the Classic), the grinding point for espresso was about 1 full turn or 0.5 turn back from the burrs touching, depending on the coffee.

To find when the burrs touched, I used to unplug the grinder, remove the hopper, and spin the spindle on top of the burrs. Adjust to go finer and when there’s resistance, I then backed off by 1 turn.