Green Coffee Buying Club
Coffee Discussion boards => Hardware & Equipment => Topic started by: John F on May 17, 2019, 01:21:19 PM
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Over the years I have exhausted several coffee roads I was traveling on.
The example that brought me to do this is 2 such roads. Moka pots and espresso shots. Some might be thinking it's crazy talk something like giving up espresso but some of the more obsessive types of us have probably been there before where thousands upon thousands of hours and dollars bring you to a place where you have sort of done all there is to do on that trip so moving to a new adventure only makes sense.
I had made that change already when I moved from pump machines to leavers. It made sense..
Over some years I had done everything I wanted to do there and lost my desire to go further.
Anyhow I had also given up moka pots many years ago and last month started thinking I wanted to revisit a moka pot so I started researching to see what cool stuff might be out there these days..... didn't find anything that made me buy one. :/
Then I was reminiscing and remembered the wild times I had building huge chocolate bomb crema shots with my beloved modded up Carezza.
On a whim I googled "best cheap espresso machine" and the Delonghi e155 kept coming up.
I went on YouTube and searched "Delonghi e155 shots"
And immediately saw videos where people depressurized the portafilter, made it bottomless, and are pulling those Guinness 100% crema bomb shots.
Went to Amazon... They are $84.
I will get this thing tomorrow and update as soon as I figure out if I can pull a good shot out of an $80 machine or not.
It sounds crazy but 1) I'm crazy and 2) I don't mind too much if this doesn't work out because I'm only doing this as an experiment. I don't need this to work out any certain way but from what I saw on YouTube I think I can have more than $84 worth of fun with this project. ;D
Updates in a few days.
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I already orderd a tamper and a replacement steam tip from OE so the mods are already underway before I've even seen the thing hahaha.
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John's off his meds again. Look out Colorado!!!
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;D
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Following this, and your mods.....
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Following this, and your mods.....
I'm looking at La Pavoni baskets next. : :D
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So you will start with an 70 dollar machine, mood it, mod it, and hot rod it, so it's an 800 machine, then say hey Look at all the money I saved!~ LOL.
Have fun John that's all it's about here. Things don't have to turn out super but just being able to say, Hey, I did this and that once, is all that matters. and hat you have a coffee that YOU can drink too.
Cheers.
Aaron
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There is almost no doubt that I'll spend more on mods than the machine but I'm just goofing around.
I'm betting I will be able to get some good shots off this thing and have a fun project to document so it should work out pretty good.
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John's How To Channel.
and today boys and girls, we are going to build a Ferrari without using any Ferrari Parts, but first a word from our sponsors.... pan over to the GCBC home page... :)
Aaron
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Indeed.... I've done this before on a Carezza so I sort of have some ideas how this might go down.
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Can't wait to see how it goes down. Then, of course, you'll be sick of it and put it up for sale. I put in first dibs! ;)
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Can't wait to see how it goes down. Then, of course, you'll be sick of it and put it up for sale. I put in first dibs! ;)
Hahahahaha.... It's like you know me/are predicting the future.
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Can't wait to see how it goes down. Then, of course, you'll be sick of it and put it up for sale. I put in first dibs! ;)
Hahahahaha.... It's like you know me/are predicting the future.
I am frighteningly similar with my hobby addictions ......
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Quick update... I'm still ordering parts.
I just ordered a basket to make a bottomless portafilter with so soon I'll be posting some pics and video of how things are going.
Tomorrow I'll start using the machine with the depressurized basket but I'm not sure yet if that's going to be interesting enough to start posting results or if that will happen once I get the new basket... I'll know tomorrow.
Anyway I did pull 1 shot with this machine when I got it after gutting the pressurized portafilter and was shocked how good it looked off a random tamp/grind.
I steamed milk with the giant goofy plastic tip and....shocked again how decent the milk was.
Maybe I'll get something interesting tomorrow but for now I'll start a mods and accessory list.
Tamper - 51mm Blue Snail Amazon
Steam tip 6mm 1 hole from OE
Basket - La pavoni Milinium (mp68) basket from Espresso Parts
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I started off with one of these eons ago. I'm ashamed to say that the wife had me throw out the parts since it wasn't in use or I'd ship off the bottomless portafilter and spare parts! :-[
I could pull ~alright~ shots with it, but somehow I was always choking it out. I wasn't very good at dialing in a grind at that point though.
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I could pull ~alright~ shots with it, but somehow I was always choking it out. I wasn't very good at dialing in a grind at that point though.
Yeah... Things are going to get weird if I find myself upgrading the pump and building a new case on this thing Hahahaha!!
I think over the next few days I'll have a chance to actually pull a bunch of shots on it and I'll know if this project will continue or not.
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Espresso's are something I probably could get into but, well... I never really did. I mean I got the equipment, and do them occasionally but generally don't have enough occasion to really do a lot of them. Sometimes in colder weather I will bring rig into work and do shots for folks but otherwise, it's my one quart 'coffee cup' in the morning and that's all I need to carry me thru the day.
aaron
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I agree.
I love all the coffee forms but if they told me I could never have espresso again it would be sad but I would live.
If they told me I could never have coffee again I'd probably only last a few months.
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When I quit chewing tobacco, oh going on almost 20 years now. One of the thngs Id do is, take a finer grind coffee and stick that in my lip as sort of a placebo. It felt like chew.. ok a little grittier, gave me a bit of flavor from the sliva mix.. not bad and gave me a little bit of a buzz from the caffeine in it. Yes it was a crutch and yes it helped me wean off the tobacco once and for all. Ive been clean for 20 years now. When I started I was chewing a bag of red man a day and a can to a can and a half of copenhagen a day. They had to start me on 2 patches to start the program because of how high my nicotine values were and I kept hearing comments like, you really shouold be about dead with this dose in you. Well here I am. Coffee saved me from death. and I don't look back.
Aaron
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Here is the un pressurized chopped portafilter.
I'm concerned about this oddball basket setup so the La Pavoni basket is on order so eventually you will see only the bottom of a normal basket in here.
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Here is the un pressurized chopped portafilter.
I'm concerned about this oddball basket setup so the La Pavoni basket is on order so eventually you will see only the bottom of a normal basket in here.
It must've taken a heck of a drill to get through all that...... plastic, on the portafilter. Hahaha. >:D
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I used the Binford 9000 drill. ;D
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https://youtu.be/8t8qptPff8A
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That looks like a scene from Dr.Pimple Popper. Have you tried the topless / bottomless portafilter, I hear it gets rid of most the flow issues, the coffee goes right thru!
Aaron
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Hahaha... It's only the beginning. ;D
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Thanks for doing this John.
Seems like there is no reason not to gift these to the places I travel to frequently, like my mother in laws or my folks.
It'll be a lot easier than lugging my Livia or PVL with me which I do. That Super Jolly grinder is a lot more costly to replicate tho.
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Alright...this has nothing to do with the ability of the machine other than to prove capability.
This is VERY typical of my art skill hahahaha!
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Alright.... I just got the La Pavoni basket 15 min ago and pulled a shot. This is the first shot with this basket and I do have a few stray sprays here BUT.... This set up is under $150 at this point.
I'm pretty sure I'm stopping already.
I've pulled about 6 shots on this machine and what I can tell already is that I made a great choice in attempting this experiment.
The coffee is better than I expected faster than I expected.
I'm not sure who exactly this set up would be good for because it does help to have an idea of what exactly you are going for but I am prepared to say that it's pretty shocking what you can do with an $80 machine and a few simple mods.
Obviously with under 10 shots in I have a lot of dialing in to do but the potential is apparent to me and proven basically out of the box.
I'm happy with this little thing.
https://youtu.be/5BIpqMQkuNk
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Thanks for doing this John.
Seems like there is no reason not to gift these to the places I travel to frequently, like my mother in laws or my folks.
Great idea...look at the video I just posted of my 1st shot with the La Pavoni basket. Not that it's a perfect shot or anything but after dialing in and under $150???? It's almost unbelievable. ;D
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Someone mentioned a Super Jolly earlier in the thread; I'm assuming that's what this new machine is being paired with, yes?
That makes your experiment an anomaly - still fun and very interesting. Who else will buy one of these, and have a SJ laying around. That would make me ask Brian, what will you use for a grinder at your off-base location?
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I'm using a Vario.
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Yup, yup, I re-read Brian's post.
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I have a SJ laying around.
I used to use it to grind my coffee for sales until I got the professional bunn.
BTW it's still used for my espresso's or customers who want an espresso grind so laying around does not imply gathering dust :)
Aaron
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The grinder issue is certainly a consideration Peter.
A capable electric or hand grinder is at least the cost of the machine. A less good option is cheaper and, well, less good but maybe serviceable. That would probably be my first choice.
Espresso is undoubtedly extra.
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This is a great thread I'd forgotten about. Thanks John!
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This is a great thread I'd forgotten about. Thanks John!
Yeah...ya know, I still break this thing out once in a while. It surprises me what it can do. It does more than it should be able to.