So there's a lot of people buying Minimas on here at the moment and a few experienced users so I thought a thread dedicated to the Minima with questions / information on the machine would be useful to myself and the others who have recently purchased and are about to take the plunge (and to prevent myself from hijacking other people's threads). One question I have to kick us off is about the brew boiler and PID. For some reason my Minima does not seem to like bring set at 93 degrees. Despite me having it set at 93, the display shows it settling at 94. I'm not sure if this is indicative of an issue or standard behaviour. It occasionally will drop to 93 but then goes up to 94 again

Edit…I've just found the PID Values Explained section at the back of the manual where it explains this is normal.

Mine does the same and I confirmed with other Minima users when I bought the machine.

> @"dutchy101"#p6482 Edit…I’ve just found the PID Values Explained section atvthe back of the manual where it explains this is normal. Very good manual that one…, online version available as well. https://sway.office.com/xofz72xFBgYyiWqi?ref=Link

@"dutchy101"#56 @"HVL87"#57 How have you found the stock filter baskets? I'm already thinking of upgrading, but won't do unecessarily quickly - although that is also partly tamper dependent.

@"PortafilterProcrastinator"#p6679 they are fine. Easier to pull a nice looking bottomless shot - in my opinion that doesn’t mean much. I moved on to a 18g VST to optimise my shots as much as possible.

It's been a bit of a transition for me this week as I've changed from Sage 54mm baskets and didn't have a 58mm tamper until a few days after the machine arrived. I got a new distributor yesterday which has also helped so still finding my feet a bit with the stock baskets, but pretty happy with them so far

Thanks both, if they're a similar ID then I can get a tamper (thinking bravo ATM) first and upgrade the basket later when looking for refinement, rather than just trying to make something palatable!

Yeah - I've got a Nomcore 58.5mm tamper on order and coming this week so will get a better handle on things once that has arrived

@"dutchy101"#p6686 I'd be really interested and grateful to hear how you get on. How are you finding the Minima overall?

Absolutely loving it - so glad I went with it I'm really enjoying using it. How about you? Made my wife a tea using water from the service boiler to drain some water this morning and she commented how much better it looked and tasted (using the zero and remineralised water I've been making up).

The General ACS Minima Thread

DavecUK

Plastic with a printed grain….

PortafilterProcrastinator

DavecUK

PortafilterProcrastinator If they only paid £100 they got a very good deal indeed.

lets not shout about it and spoil everything eh……

Alexvs

DavecUK Agreed, edited my post 👍🏼

PortafilterProcrastinator

DavecUK Agreed, but equally people’s expectations shouldn’t be benchmarked at a level that isn’t always the standard/ guaranteed.

DavecUK

PortafilterProcrastinator agreed…always better to be pleasantly surprised.

pete4eyes

Prepare for the worst, hope for the best!

simonc

Any recommendations of what to grease the steam wand ball joint with?

Cuprajake

111 grease

simonc

Cuprajake assumed that was best? Anything in meantime could work before the moly can be delivered?

DavecUK

Touch of Vaseline, as long as you don’t use the same pot for haemorrhoids

simonc

DavecUK cheers. Tiniest bit helped as did realising I needed to tighten the steam wand onto the ball joint.

darkstefano

dutchy101 clean it with Puly Caff?

Java_avaJ

DavecUK Java_avaJ I wasn’t too sure, had some ideas to explore, if there were differences.

Sorry for the long delay, I’ve been timing shots and since we only tend to have 2 coffees in the morning it’s taken some time 🙂 It’s also taken some time because after several weeks of having the discrepancy I describe, the second shot taking up to 10 seconds longer, I pulled quite a number of shots where it was reversed, the first shot took longer, then it reversed again!

So, I’m now tending to think it has to be puck prep so I was thinking of going in for making one of those needle rake thingumajigs and perhaps even getting a tamper. Up to now I’ve found my leveller/distributor has worked fine in terms of tamping. But now I’m not so sure.

So do I want to spend all that dosh getting a Decent V4 or a Force Tamper…

PortafilterProcrastinator

Java_avaJ I am also rapidly coming to the conclusion that my prep is behind varying shot times/ quality. Proper WDT tool will be the first step.

For what it’s worth the Normcore tamper is very good. Well made, solid in the hand, feels quality and three spring strengths. Cheaper than a lot of other options, you just have to get over the rubbish name.

Cuprajake

Java_avaJ get the normcore off amazon £40 near identical to the decent

Alexvs

Java_avaJ it’s crazy the variations you can get from the smallest differences so key is to get as consistent as possible with prep. I watched this YT video the other day which I thought was good about different methods and tools, especially showing in a glass the effect of a wedge distributor. Not sure on the expense of some of those tools though.

As for tamper, I really like my Motta 58.4mm which comes in varying wood finishes as fits snuggly in the stock and VST baskets without creating suction and lifting the puck. I’m pretty happy that I’m consistent with my technique and pressure I’m applying and using the distributor first gives me a nice level base to work from. Hope you find what works best for you.

DavecUK

My own shots will vary by up to 3 or 4 seconds, which I would say is fairly normal, they will rarely be exactly the same. If you are consistent in your prep though, it should be the same. This is the key word “consistent”. I grind from the Niche, quick stir with a wooden chopstick (4s) in a 45 degree tilted grind cup, invert and shake level…then tamp with a 3 finger press on the edges of the tamper at rotating my hand to 3 equal points. That’s it….always the same

simonc

Cuprajake I 3rd, or4th? the normcore tamper. That a good wdt tool and you should be good and consistent

PortafilterProcrastinator

Alexvs I watched this with much interest too. A really good summary of the options available.

Was good he covered such a range of price options too.

Cuprajake

Yeah, goes to show the bits you can buy.

I used to use the super fine baskets and they take away some of the mouthfeel but bring out the clarity.

I may try a paper filter with the evo, just to see.

Id imagine that hole punch firm got a ‘hole’ lot busier 🤣

Having had the decent v3 tamper, a force tamper and now the normcore. Id place the force top of the group, with the normcore second and decnt last purely on price vs performance

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