# Teejay41 'Spro Setup - almost complete.



## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

My coffee setup ('spro only, as other brew methods don't really inspire me) has now more or less arrived at my 'wishlist' status... the most recent large-item addition being a fully overhauled Mazzer Royal with new TiN burrs and built-in Auber dose timer.

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Too tall for a worktop, the Royal sits on a small cabinet which I have equipped with locking castors as it stands in an alcove and needs to be moved for (infrequent) cupboard access. The grinder is deliberately angled for convenience, and for access to the Auber's display and control buttons at the lower RH part of the casing.

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So the equipment suite now comprises a QM Verona (with 0.5mm gicleur and IMS 200µm dispersion screen) which in the next week or two is due to be plumbed in via a Britac Quell 1200 filter. To the left of the Verona is an Omega vertical auger-type juicer (nothing to do with coffee). A Mazzer SJ is next in line. Bought from the administrators of a defunct West Midlands cafe, it was in a filthy condition but cleaned up to virtually 'as new' state. I also treated it to new set of burrs. My 'industrial-grade' Enpee blender sits between the SJ and a toaster to its left. Then there is a stainless-steel bread-bin with a stainless knockout box standing just in front of it, and finally, at the extreme left on the alcove cabinet, is the Mazzer Royal. Despite it having a brand new hopper, I use it without - to grind a measured dose of beans (usually 17-18g) via its 'clean-sweep' doser straight into an 18g VST basket in an open PF. An 'Orphan' stainless funnel discourages the Royal from scattering its grounds too far and wide, and a range of extra VST baskets (15g, 20g and 22g) completes the PF side of things. The Verona's double and single spouted PFs are rarely used.

Other items include a 58.5mm Pergtamp which resides on the worktop in a soft protective silicone cup, 58mm convex Motta tamp, stainless Business-Coffee Trapezio Tamping Station (visible in front of the SJ - to the left of the Verona) together with an Attento Click-mat, ice-hockey puck for settling the grounds into the basket (seen atop the tamping station), several scales of various capacities and resolutions, numerous timers of varying shapes and sizes, milk thermometers, backflush blind basket, cleaning brushes, barista cloth, microfibre cloths, PulyCaff, citric acid, etc. etc. I use a blunted dissection needle for WDT, should that occasionally prove necessary. Coffee cups in a range of sizes adorn the top of the Verona (on silicone padding to avoid scratching its stainless) with shot glasses kept in a handy cupboard nearby. Several little stainless preserve/chutney pots (from Poundland in packs of 6) serve many useful functions, from holding a measured dose of beans then becoming an anti-popcorn grinder lid, to supporting the open PF/VST basket combo on mid-sized digital scales.

At present I use a battery-powered pump and modified fishing float to fill the Verona's reservoir with Iceni bottled water. A year or so ago (long before my interest in coffee) I acquired over 600 litres of the stuff - about two cubic metres of 1.5 litre bottles in packs of six (completely legit and above-board, I hasten to add) - and have looked no further for brew water ever since. As the top of the Verona is close to the underside of the overhead cabinets and the machine is positioned well back beneath them, there isn't enough room to use a filler bottle or jug - hence the pump. Neither is there line-of-sight to the tank's water level so a fishing float, its weight replaced by a lighter one from a smaller float, is dropped in and rises well above the water surface. A known position on the float's multicoloured stem is sighted across the surface of the cup tray to provide an accurate indication of a full tank. Works very well. But it will be superseded by the system being plumbed in with freshly filtered water just as soon as my 'tame' plumber returns from holiday. The machine's drip-tray outlet will be piped conveniently into the collection reservoir of an automatic condensate drain-pump which serves a nearby wall-mounted CH boiler.

There is just one item still to arrive... a set of Brewista Smart scales, due to be shipped from Coffee Hit in a few days' time. Then, I believe, the suite will be complete and I can concentrate on extracting, drinking, enjoying, plying friends and family with superior coffee... and attempting to recover my ailing bank-balance.

Come quite a way pretty quickly I think, as I first expressed an interest in coffee only as recently as March this year!

Tony.









Edit Note: While writing this post, the four photos previewed perfectly as in-line attachments. As soon as it was submitted however, they all disappeared. Admin has been contacted for a remedy. Tony.

*Edit Edit Note: The missing pix can be viewed in the next-post-but-one, in the same order that they should have been on this post.*

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Tony.


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## Dylan (Dec 5, 2011)

Up there with some of re quicker journeys I've seen here !

I can't see your attachments, not sure if that's just me, can rarely see them if they are uploaded to the forum

Edit: just saw your edit, ignore the last bit of my post


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

The missing photos from the previous-but-one post in this thread (in the right order).


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## CamV6 (Feb 7, 2012)

I'd say you have a very accommodating partner.......or you're single. Either way up your domestic situation is as enviable as your coffee set up. Very nice.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Looks great, I love the fishing float and 600 litres of water part of the write up. Amazing the solutions people can come up with!


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## Kyle548 (Jan 24, 2013)

How consistent are the grinds from the hand grinder in the first pic?


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

jlarkin said:


> Looks great, I love the fishing float and 600 litres of water part of the write up. Amazing the solutions people can come up with!


This. ^

Nice kit TJ. That grinder is a beast!


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

CamV6 said:


> I'd say you have a very accommodating partner.......or you're single. Either way up your domestic situation is as enviable as your coffee set up. Very nice.


Single, despite being engaged nearly 40 years ago. Wouldn't have worked for we'd have squabbled all the time. Instead, we've remained good friends. I still live in the parental home (a large Victorian detached), so apart from eight years at boarding school (Southwell Minster, where I was a chorister) I've always had the same address. Not many 72 year-olds can say that! The downside is that with no partner to nag me, the place is cluttered and untidy (I'm a bit of a hoarder) and lacks a 'woman's touch'. But I'm a night-owl and choose to go to bed very late, say 4.00 or 5.00am, and get up around the crack of noon... doddle with no missus!

Tony.


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

Kyle548 said:


> How consistent are the grinds from the hand grinder in the first pic?


Not bad for a little 'un. Makes me look lopsided when I put it in me pocket though. Never get lost as I walk around in circles!

Tony.


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

jlarkin said:


> Looks great, I love the fishing float and 600 litres of water part of the write up. Amazing the solutions people can come up with!


I meant to post a more detailed write-up about the Verona's tank filling but never got round to it. Here's a shortened version.

Please refer refer to post no. 1, paragraph 5 of this thread for verbal details. No detailed info. on the pump though. It was bought from Lidl about 5 or 6 years ago for a purpose which never materialised, so was handily available. Takes two C-type batteries and has a rigid downward-facing pick-up spout of about 400mm with a flexible delivery tube about 700mm long. Easy to poke into the reservoir tank.

Photos of the modified fishing float follow (hopefully)!









A full tank.









'Sighted' across the cup-tray surface confirms a full tank.









Modified fishing float. The longer one now has the lighter weight from the short one (which can be scrapped as it will sink, or rather 'float below the surface'). As I'm no fisherman I can't give any more details about the floats except that they cost about three quid each. Handle carefully, for the narrow tops are easily snapped off.

Hope this help y'all.

Tony.


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## CamV6 (Feb 7, 2012)

Dude you do t know how fortunate you are! A little clutter is a sweet life choice compromise in my book!

I went to Aldenham boarding school (where I was an arse!) although I wasn't a boarder. Just up the road from Haberdashers. Did your school play either of those at various sports?


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

How does the spro taste from the finished set up then?


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

CamV6 said:


> Dude you do t know how fortunate you are! A little clutter is a sweet life choice compromise in my book!
> 
> I went to Aldedham boarding school (where I was an arse!) although I wasn't a boarder. Just up the road from Haberdashers. Did your school play either of those at various sports?


Not sure where Aldenham school is. Don't recognise its name.

Southwell is (was) a village in Nottinghamshire, famous for its cathedral. It's now grown to a town with highly sought-after des-res's. In my day - the 'fifties - the school (Southwell Minster Grammar School) had only 150 pupils all together, of which about 45 were boarders. It's no longer a Grammar but a massive mixed comprehensive with some 2000+ pupils and a fancy new £30m building/campus. The boarding has, alas, long since gone. It's still renowned for its excellence in music though.

During my days there, four of us tracked through our entire time at the school sharing a four-bed dormitory, and became close pals, even to this day with occasional meet-ups - the most recent being about six weeks ago where we enjoyed an excellent meal at a hotel near Kidderminster. Alas, we are only three now, for one was the late Alvin Stardust. We keep in touch with Julie, his widow, and are looking forward to her joining us at our next meeting. They're a bit few and far between now though, as one of the remaining three lives in Australia.

As I was into the music side of things (to the extent of taking GCE O-level Music a year early) I never really gelled into sports, so I never became familiar with sports competitors' names.

Tony.


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

Mrboots2u said:


> How does the spro taste from the finished set up then?


Mixed results so far, although I've had a few of the nicest shots I've ever tasted, but am not sure exactly why. As I'm not too struck on black coffee, most of my drinks are lattes, where the milk sweetness can mask a multitude of sins. I'm currently using Rave Italian Job (for a change) which works well with milk. I do find though that I'm now doing bigger shots - at least 18g but will be moving to 20 or 22 soon - with correspondingly less milk, for a stronger flavour. So maybe I'll make it to straight black in due course.

I also like Americanos (lungos?) where I put boiled water into a middling-size mug to begin with, allow it to cool to milk temp - 70C or so - then extract the shot into it, finally adding a generous dollop of double-cream. Mmmmn (smacks lips greedily).

Tony.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

You should branch out and try some different coffees now you have a great set up


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## teejay41 (Mar 9, 2015)

garydyke1 said:


> You should branch out and try some different coffees now you have a great set up


I already have.

I started with Rave Signature, then IJ, have had Finca El Bosque, another Nicaraguan (can't remember its name), Rave Fudge (not tried it yet), three from BB including Milk Buster and two others, three from Foundry Roasters, one from a place in Harrogate and a dark 'French Roast' from Coffee Emporium in York. The next I buy will be from Foundry, then from a recommended London roaster whose name escapes me at the mo.

Tony.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Cam, my mum used to teach at Habs Girls and I used to ride past Aldenham school when I lived in Watford. (On my way to the less salubrious local comp/tech high.)


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## CamV6 (Feb 7, 2012)

That's good to know. I like that sort of thing, although I don't know why as its just fortune/history/circumstance but it's kind of reassuring in a strange sort of way.


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

It's great you a re enjoying your set up and starting to branch out and vary your coffees. If you feel there is more to be gotten from it ( making spro you enjoy ) perhaps the next step is spending a small portion of money you have spent on fear on training ?

If you are a happy where you are and the set up is delivering all you need then sit back and enjoy what you make from now , happy in the thought that there is little in the way of physical equipment that could be added to that bench which you need ....


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

I'd like to see you come up with some other cool adaptation, like the floats though. So don't completely close your mind to new equipment .


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## PaulL (May 5, 2014)

In case it's of interest I put my own water solution in the Duetto forum herehttp://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?20469-Plumbing-in

Wife-friendly, hidden alternative that you don't know is within the kitchen cabinets etc. and equally relevant to other machines. If I switched from my Duetto to Verona or Vesuvius in the future I would continue with this approach.


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