Siliconslave's how to make espresso thread

jpaul said:
reverse osmosis is removing calcium carbonate ? forum search is broken so I can't see the earlier discussion on them, but Amazon reviews says
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They remove everything the re mineralise to add in a little calcium and magnesium as otherwise the water is too pure and isn't great for drinking / espresso. Not sure theres anyone/many people on here but allot on uk coffee forum, in-fact the keep doing group buys there.

Personally i'm using RO water from a local fishkeeper with some Sodium bicarbonate and Magnesium Sulphate added back in.
 
Some models remineralise, yes. Under-sink units can be had for a fraction of the price of the Osmio, too.

I'd be keen to try out straight RO vs remineralised myself just to see what difference I can taste, personally I don't expect I'll notice a difference.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
Some models remineralise, yes. Under-sink units can be had for a fraction of the price of the Osmio, too.

I'd be keen to try out straight RO vs remineralised myself just to see what difference I can taste, personally I don't expect I'll notice a difference.
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the osmio is tiny in comparison though, normal ro units have a pretty big tank to go with the filters, plus you get hot and warm (?) water from it - still i'd prefer an under sink system i think
 
Yeah I'm toying with the idea of something like an Aquafilter which you can get a RO + ioniser + remineraliser + pump + 3.2gallon tank for <£200 + fitting.
 
I use a Brita filter tap with a P1000 cartridge filter. Gets rid of the chlorine taste, and the limescale. Filters last 6-12 months, pretty good value option imo.
 
RobTi said:
Funny how we gaggia classic owners are going down the maraX route, had a classic with pir and jumped ship a couple of months back onto the maraX
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1 week on and I have my mara X upgrade ;) loving it so far, it's a nice stepup from my gaggia classic
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Siliconslave said:
looking good! How do you get your beans into the mazzer though :D and probably more importantly whats the mod on the side of it? Pie?
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I have to slide the grinder out every few days when it needs beans, not too hard. On it's side is a Arduino timer I made, uses potentiometer to set the time and button to start it off using a SSR.. I was hoping I would have a 3d printed custom case lid for it but unfortunately my friend is taking ages to finish making his printer so it's temporarily in a raspberry pi case I had spare
 
Dj_Jestar said:
ooo.. I could do with modding mine to fit under the cabinet. What's the hopper you're using?
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It's commonly known as the lens hood mod. I believe it's a 58mm camera lens hood used. I've used a lid off of a Cadbury s instant hot chocolate tub as the lid.

Can see more info and YouTube link on coffee forums

See https://coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/30379-mazzer-sj-lens-hood-mod/

It's good for clearing excess grinds out too. It holds around 100g of beans
 
New Specialita turned up too late for coffee yesterday so have started dialling it in this morning - a little way to go still but have run about 250g of old decaf through to start seasoning (as i had it sat around) and around four shots to dial it in, its not far off but not perfect and I have work to do :( still the last shot (40g in about 20seconds) is pretty drinkable :)

MunBnQ4l.jpg
 
after readiing osmio thread , it does work out pretty expensive https://coffeeforums.co.uk/topic/44691-reverse-osmosis-osmio-zero-review/page/2/#comments

they suggest 5K litres from a ~£25 filter, britta is 150litres/40Gal £3 filter, with a sub 250ppm tds (I actually have 350)
so water is 0.5p/l versus 2p, if you calculate based on 10litres a day, I, actually only use 2L in machine, then it would take 3 years, break even.
Someone in thread suggested 30months for them.
(I'd like a better explanation of the 'waste' water from the osimo, but wouldn't have a problem with using that on the garden/plants.)


Britta filters :- since they are ion exchange it's annoying you can't measure TDS as an indication of how effective it is, to decide when to retire filter.
 
RO can be very inefficient, if the pressure isn't at least 40psi it just won't even work and the water will just flush away. A system without a pump is probably somewhere between 4:1 and 5:1 depending on your water supply pressure. That's 4 or 5 units of waste for every filtered unit.

Pumped systems are much more efficient but you are unlikely to ever get better than 1:1.
 
There are many other lever machines that have various contraptions for tackling those issues. You don't have to have whatever Hoffmann has ya know, there are better things out there :p

Personally that's just too much work to balance all the variables. Consistency will be a real nightmare with that machine.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
There are many other lever machines that have various contraptions for tackling those issues. You don't have to have whatever Hoffmann has ya know.
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You don’t? Lol

Dj_Jestar said:
Personally that's just too much work to balance all the variables. Consistency will be a real nightmare with that machine.
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But this is under £500 :p
 
The Osmio and Mara turned up today. Only had a chance to make a single shot of espresso so far, but considering how rusty I am, and how new to the machine, it was surprisingly not absolutely terrible :p more through chance and gear quality than talent, I’m certain!

Quite impressed with the quality of the Mara, I must say. Even hulking it out of the box was an event. It’s about 1000x better made than the old Krups I had a few years back :o

Very much looking forward to having a play over the next few days.
 
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