What did postman bring today ?

Shipment from Toscana. Their Hambela is one of my favourites.

3 Bags of some very nice coffee:

Just finished roasting the Sumatra and it smells godly.

LMSC

In my opinion, it’s more a reference book rather than a read once kind of book, if that makes any kind of sense!?

I read it through in full when I got it but often dip back in looking for something specific which I think is much easier with a physical book than on a kindle. There was also a deal on square mile where you could get a signed copy, if that’s your thing.

Mine was £16 from Amazon

Well it finally arrived after a month of issues with customs and DHL. Now the fun and learning begins.😀

Had a nice delivery toda

It’s my first time trying them, so really looking forward to trying it.

A new counter tidy from Motta. Dimensions are absolutely ideal for their distribution tool and should fit any tamper (mine is 58.55m). The portafilter in there is from my Mara X and it holds it safe and level allowing for an easy tamp. No good for my bottomless though.

mission701 that looks very nice

Doram Excellent, I have updated the blog article on the forum. I think there is a general lack of knowledge out there about the regular maintenance and O ring replacement requirements of these flow controls.

DavecUK Excellent, I have updated the blog article on the forum. I think there is a general lack of knowledge out there about the regular maintenance and O ring replacement requirements of these flow controls.

In the first picture it is easy to see that the O-ring (especially the bottom one) has degraded significantly. The device is exactly one year and one day old, but I noticed degradation (cuts and bruises) on the O-ring the first time I opened the device to lube it on your advice, and this was only a few days from new. I hope that after this first lube I have learned to avoid opening the valve beyond a certain point, giving the O-rings an easier life. Before that, in the first days, I experimented with opening the valve to see what’s the max flow I get. In doing this I think I pulled the O-rings too deep into the barrel, and that may have been the cause of cuts in the O-ring. As it’s not necessary to open the valve so much I have learned to not do it, and that seemed to work fine. I didn’t replace the original O-ring until today, and the device worked fine as far as I know. In any case, as you said in the FAQ, now I have supply for an annual change of the rings for the next 25 years (26 with the spare greens I still have).

Doram It’s great that they do free postage, it would be irritating to have to pay an extra £4 for P&P

DavecUK xcellent, I have updated the blog article on the forum. I think there is a general lack of knowledge out there about the regular maintenance and O ring replacement requirements of these flow controls.

DavecUK The following message would probably be more effective as a reply to your FAQ post (but there is no reply option), or as a new thread. I leave it up to you to move wherever if you see fit:

I just pulled the first shot after servicing the flow control device and replacing the O-rings and I was completely shocked by the result. Not only was the action of the valve so much smoother, I was actually able to control the flow completely, stop it, hold the pressure where I want it and get instant reaction from the manometer - all things that I was NEVER able to achieve before!

Until today, when I tried to almost close the device for pre-infusion a few seconds after lifting the lever, I could slow the ramp up a little, but that was about it. Then when I would tale off the pressure to end a shot, there was a delay in reaction and I would usually go down to about 6 bar to end the shot. I saw videos of people holding pressure for long periods (at 2-4 bar for example). In those videos, manometer reacted instantly to closing/opening of the valve. Mine didn’t do that, and I just assumed that my machine/flow control device are ‘different’. What a fool I was! I now realise that when I first got the device I damaged the O-rings by opening the valve too much. The valve probably never sealed completely since then, so I was only able to make small changes to the flow, but not control it completely. With the new O-rings and some lube, I finally get to play with the flow control device as it should be (I hope I am not getting carried away here - this was just one shot and I still have to play and confirm the above, but couldn’t resist sharing already). For anyone who is as stupid as me, your FAQ is priceless.

I added it, as the nature of the blog section (function), is to create a reference article. Something I intend to do more of as things get solved on the forum. As always the problem is time.

I’ve also enabled comments on blogs, we can see how it goes

BWT

And the Halo best espresso 2022 Helsinki coffee weekend by the Best Finnish coffee roaster 2022.

Makea ( Sweet in Finnish) Coffee

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A few bags of beans roasted in northern Sweden by Budha.