La Peppina...

[yakster]

Perhaps we can get Warrior372 to chronicle his experiences with the La Peppina once it lands.

It's an odd duck, but very versatile. 

• Open Kettle Boiler
• No thermostat or pressurestat, just an on-off switch
• Top heavy
• Favorite of the PID lever crowd

Welcome to the club!

[Warrior372]

I can take / post pictures as I tinker with it! It should be a fun project.

[John F]

I'm setting this thread to notify.
 

[Warrior372]

John you might have to fight me for this one . I do not even have the hang of it yet and it is pulling wonderful shots! It is doing all of this while still having a slow leak down the side from what I am sure is an old bottom kettle o-ring. Here are two pictures:

[Warrior372]

Yakster,

What is the deal with having to do several pulls of the lever midway through the lever's travel? Also, have you ever gotten a decent looking puck from the La Peppina post shot? I assume the disheveled appearance is due to the unique dispersion screen. Have you or anyone else tried putting a PVL dispersion screen on the Peppina?

[John F]

John you might have to fight me for this one .

$#@#$!

I had my fingers crossed you would not like it. 

[Warrior372]

I plan on rebuilding the entire machine, cleaning and replacing everything on the way. Do you know of a place to get an original  power cord? My seems to be jimmy rigged with one form an old toaster and although it works I am not one to play tricks with electricity, plus I like to keep machines as original as possible.

Good news on the puck presentation post shot.

Even in it's current state it is producing wonderful shots! It makes me miss my MCaL. I can see why people like PIDing them, as they seem to just boil forever until you flick the switch to off.

I am sure Dave, Peter and Bill will have some input on all of the machines at my house after tomorrow evening!

[Warrior372]

The feedback on HB as of now is that the original power cords on / off is a little flimsy, so I might have ended up with a better cord in the toaster cord. The on / off is actually very sturdy and makes quite a solid 'clack' when turned on or off.

[BoldJava]

...

If you want to read about extreme La Peppina, check out this thread What Else Tastes Like Peppina on Home-Barista. . .

Those guys are so far down the lever hole that I can no longer see the soles of their shoes.  Head first to the center of leverdom.

[Warrior372]

I do not understand where he would have even attempted to place a pressure gauge on a La Peppina . . . . . That guy was pulling better shots with the lever because of the pressure ramp of the the spring / him pushing on the lever plus the temp control he had on that versus the other machines mentioned. I was looking at the Peppina original portafilter yesterday and thinking about making it bottomless, but the shape of the original I do not know if it would hold up. It is an odd shape and very light / fragile.

[Warrior372]

How exactly do you 'design a roast for a lever'. I have seen  many people talking about this over the past few months and can not help but know it is a bunch of marketing jargin. They saw a niche and 'created it' . That is not to say that it is not good, because it could very well be awesome.

[Warrior372]

I received the PID today. I am glad I did not try to put one together by myself in a project box . . . . This looks way better than anything I could personally produce myself! It also has everything I wanted: PID controller, SSR, heat sink for the SSR, power outlet for the espresso machine, thermocoupler hook-up and a timer. It took me all of 3 minutes to hook-up.

I could not resist the temptation to pull some shots (before auto-tuning it) and see if my girlfriend and I could tell the difference between shots at 198, 200, 202 and 204 . . . . . There was definitely a difference in taste profile between all of the shots pulled, but I have to say the most dramatic difference was between 198 and 204. The 204 brought out a smoky / roasted nut flavor, while the 198 was much more citrus and fruit. I used the same coffee, 14g weighed whole bean before and post grind, tamped just enough for dispersion screen clearance and only 1 full lever stroke after preinfusion.

What a fun toy! I am allowing it to auto-tune at the moment, so it should be even more efficient than it originally was. The thermocoupler cord is about 2.5-3 feet long, so you could either put it right next to the machine or a little ways away. There is a thermometer in the top too. I wanted to see how accurate / inaccurate it was since I had been monitoring water temps with it prior to PIDing . . . . . it was about 5 degrees fahrenheit off. Here is a picture of the PID unit next to the La Peppina as it heats up.

I received the o-rings, seals and gaskets from Orphan today too. Now all I need is time to break it down, clean it and rebuild it . . . .

[Warrior372]

Yes. And now it does not boil water all over the counter after heating up . . . . . Maybe that is why they stopped selling them . . . because people kept getting scalded.

[BoldJava]

... Browse this thread and you'll see my La Peppina set up next to the Conti Comocafe.

Sorry, I just saw Creminas dominating the landscape <grins>.   We will have to have a lever-get-together on the 42*30' marker before Warrior graduates.

B|Java

[Warrior372]

Although cool, I would say pass on the Comocafe if it had a 58mm portafilter basket. I have a few ideas rolling around in my head on how to properly / safely PID a commercial lever. Everyone is worried that too much heat would get sucked from the water as it pass through 50lb metal groupheads. I see the point, but if I flush enough 205 degree water through any piece of metal it will heat up to 205 .

Once I get all of my commercial levers (or more of them anyway) up and running we can have a lever throw down at my place . . . . . If the circuit at my old apartment can handle such a thing.