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

Evgenibgr I have a friend with a Mara, and a DF64 grinder also with SSP HU burrs, whose coffees become much more aromatic. I wonder if the reason for his more flavorful coffee is the hardware or my espresso skills?

Nothing wrong with your hardware………

MediumRoastSteam

Evgenibgr

There are a few ways to figure out:

invite your mate over and ask him to make a coffee.
you go to his house and you make a coffee.
Then decide which one tastes better, I.e.: coffee from your friends hands or coffee from your friends machine.

Then you can narrow down to individuals: grinder, water quality, routine, etc.

Ps:

Evgenibgr I have also replaced the shower svreen with IMS nanoquartz which has increased the coffee taste

Aside from being an integrated shower screen and with a finer mesh so less fines go behind it and makes easier to clean, I very much doubt, based on my previous experience, that it makes any difference pertained to taste in the cup.

dutchy101

Are you both using the same water?

Evgenibgr

I use tap water, he uses a Brita jug. Our water is soft, without carbonates.

Doram

Evgenibgr I have a friend with a Mara, and a DF64 grinder also with SSP HU burrs, whose coffees become much more aromatic.

Sorry if that’s a daft question, but are you using the same coffee? Have you tried asking your friend to show you how to use the equipment?

Evgenibgr

Yes. I use his advice. My attempts continue.

Evgenibgr

I think I figured out where the difference in taste between my Minima and my friend’s Mara comes from. It has an E&B lab shower screen. I put one too. Now the taste of the coffee is much brighter. Now I can try different ways to prepare the puck and get the flavor I want.

MediumRoastSteam

Evgenibgr - I’d worry less about the shower screen and focus more in cleaning that gasket after every coffee (and the rest of the group, including the back of the screen every couple of days).

Evgenibgr

I no longer worry about the shower screen. 😉

I cleaned the screen sponge yesterday. She has 2 small holes that were almost plugged.

dimoutsa

Hello all, new to the forum, just jumped on the Minima bandwagon waiting for it to be shipped later in September. It’ll be replacing an ECM Mechanika profi iv, quite excited to see the difference between the two!!!

DavecUK

dimoutsa Welcome to the forum, hope you enjoy the Minima, it’s a great machine.

simonc

So I’ve started getting a repeatable drip off the left side of my portafilter where it appears the coffee is coming out of the holes on the basket and getting caught on the lip of the portafilter and then dripping.
I’ve had my spirit level out and it is very level. I’ve turned the basket in the portafilter and still happens at the same spot.
Is this still a level issue or a problem with basket and portafilter.
It’s a 20g VST basket. Not used it for 6 months as been on my 16g basket.
Any ideas?

MediumRoastSteam

simonc - Change the group gasket.

Doram

simonc It’s a 20g VST basket. Not used it for 6 months as been on my 16g basket.
Any ideas?

Longshot: are you using a bottomless PF? Does the 20g basket have straight sides? Is the inside of your PF tapered (get narrower towards the bottom?).

I once had a similar drip issue because the bottom of a straight-walled basket hit the sides of a tapered PF so the basked wasn’t seated completely in the PF (if I pressed one side of the basket into the PF, the other side would move up, like a seesaw, see video below). It almost fitted, so it took me a while to notice that this was the issue. Because you said it happened when you moved from a 16g to a 20g basket, I thought you might have a similar issue.

simonc

MediumRoastSteam I was wondering that. It doesn’t look the cleanest.

simonc

Doram not as extreme as your curved PF but yes the bottom tapers in so it’s a bit below the basket. I
’m using the lightest hardest (niche zero stalls and sage oracle on holiday couldn’t grind a single bean) beans I’ve ever had. A geisha from Django as their rare and unusual subscription. The pour does not look pretty and rarely comes together to a single cone. Often 2 or 3. I have messed with my prep so much but finally accepting it’s the beans. As the espresso doesn’t seem to come together in the middle it’s catching on the curved bottom of the PF.
I will get a more standard medium bean to test with.
Thanks

MediumRoastSteam

Sorry - I misunderstood I thought it was coming from the outside of the PF. If it’s on the inside, then Doram might be on the right track.

dutchy101

On the subject of gaskets, when do you know it’s time to change them? I’ve been using the same gasket I got with my Minima since I received it (January 22). I tend to do about 3- 4 coffees a day and it still feels pretty rick solid.

I’ve heard you should change them every 6 months or so and the machine came with a spare, but I’m not sure it needs to be changed.

MediumRoastSteam

dutchy101 On the subject of gaskets, when do you know it’s time to change them?

I’ve been using the same silicone gasket for almost 3 years. It’s as good as new. But saying that, silicone doesn’t perish or go hard like rubber ones. As long as you can remove for maintenance, it’s not leaking, and the portafilter is being locked properly, then the gasket is good and doing its job.

dutchy101

Thought as much - thanks @MediumRoastSteam . It’s a thick rubber one and seems perfectly fine

Waitforme

Yip, I’d agree with MRS , I’ve been using the original gasket for coming up 3 years, no leaks so will continue using until it needs changed.

I often wonder why people change the gaskets on newish machines 🤷

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