# Rancilio Silvia problems



## Pellegrino (Aug 6, 2015)

With my last report (A Long and Rambling Introduction) I was having trouble removing the head gasket. I bought an awl of some kind that was recommended on a video, and that did it. I am making pretty good espresso with my Rancilio Silvia but occasionally it doesn't taste right. I bought a new Rancilio grinder because my old one (quite ancient and not properly maintained) was frozen. I couldn't change the grind settings, so I wasn't sure if the grind was my problem with the Silvia. I'm still not sure, but at least I can adjust the settings now. I am trying for a 25 sec pull but only with a single. I seem to run into problems with a double. (This Rancilio Silvia is my back-up machine for a more than 10 year old Wega Mininova which has been recently serviced but also isn't making tasty espresso, so I am going back and forth and so sometimes forget what my results are.) Re the Rancilio I'd say I'm not getting the nice tail of the mouse. Mostly drips. If I let it go too long it tastes pretty bad, so I'm getting really short espressos and I'd say a problem is that the PUCK is REALLY WET. Which is what I thought I should report next. I see in videos that it should be nice and dry. Is the solenoid the problem? I saw great instructions for removing it and I did that and it looks fine (?). I've just looked at the video about temperature surfing and wonder if that could be part of the problem, or is that is just a distraction. Perhaps there is not enough pressure behind the pull. It doesn't sound whimpy, but I don't know. f the grind is less fine the pour (or pull?) is faster and tastes worse. I'd appreciate any suggestions. I have signed up with the Home Barista which serves my part of the world, but it seems you have more activity on this topic, having a forum on the Rancilio Silvia. Thanks, Sara


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## oursus (Jun 5, 2015)

Hi Pellegrino,

I think most people here will say that they don't bother with the single basket, using only the double instead, you will need to adjust your grind to the double basket, it sounds like you are a little too fine at the moment, a larger dose will have the same effect.

The temperature stability on the Silvia is not like a professional machine, it does fluctuate, but you should be able to get very acceptable results if you "surf"

As far as the puck is concerned, I wouldn't worry about it, the only test in the end is what is in your cup. 

Congratulations on getting to grips with your machine, it sounds like you are well on the way to a consistent shot!


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## Pellegrino (Aug 6, 2015)

Thanks for the encouragement, Portafilter pro! I have made progress. The thing is I've made great espresso for years without breaking a sweat! And I always made doubles. Two of them, every morning. But true too, my husband was my barista, and when I'd ask him how it did it so well, because he did seem to do a better job than I did most of the time, he'd say, "Don't take my job away from me!" But basically, the equipment operated as it should. We never had any complaints. But I think my husband was more on top of things, though he really didn't do any maintenance at all. No back-flushing or descaling (though we were using reverse osmosis filters). So, I guess it's all coming back to bite me. Sigh.


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## jlarkin (Apr 26, 2015)

Hi Sara,

I think as suggested don't worry too much about the wetness of the puck as you can't always control that as easily as you can find out how to get a tasty drink.

A question do you weigh the amount of coffee or do it by eye? We typically recommend weighing it to get consistency.


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## Pellegrino (Aug 6, 2015)

Thank you, jlarkin, I haven't tried weighing more than once. I'm now reading Beginners Reading and I see that my scale doesn't go to .1 gram, so I'll need to get another. So I'm researching that. I've made 5 or 6 good single lattes today. I'm a little cautious about going for a double because my pour is already pretty restrained. I decided to coarsen the grind a bit however, now that I'm incorporating temperature surfing. I took the Rancilio grinder two notches higher. I also tested a 30-40 lb. tamp on the bathroom scale. Contrary to a post I read it feels quite forceful. The coffee flowed with the tail of the mouse for a few seconds but mostly dripped. I let it go well beyond 25 secs. I have no measured shot glass to gauge the amount, but the coffee was still very dark as it was coming out and filled the cup with the usual small amount. (I'd love to have the shot glass in the post for Beginners, which has a marking at 30 and 35ml. None of the ones I looked at were that precise.) My espresso tasted borderline too weak, or what I'd describe as not quite exquisite, but it was still pretty good. The one constant through our years of espresso-making is the coffee, and neither of these espresso machines are new. Old, in need of je ne sais quoi, but familiar.


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

But if your grind is right, and your tamp is right and you have the right amount of coffee in the basket, then the puck will not be wet. If it is, then you either have too much coffee nor the grind is too fine and the coffee is not able to extract evenly through the puck. It is being retained, so, you need to check. Weigh the amount of coffee into your pf basket. Whatever the input weight, add 60% to it and that is what you aim for as an output. Stick some small scales under the cup under the pf,zero them and again, aim for pus 60% over 25 to3o seconds from when you flip the switch


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## Mrboots2u (May 10, 2013)

Another viewpoint . One , unsurprisingly you may say , I agree with

http://www.baristahustle.com/for-a-good-puck/


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## Pellegrino (Aug 6, 2015)

Thanks for all the new input!

I bought a scale, even a good one, but it didn't work. Had to take it back and I lost some time. I also removed and clean the shower screen, which had gotten quite dirty. I get a lot of grounds in the shower screen, maybe less with temperature surfing (if I do that correctly). This morning I used the double basket for the first time since my coffee troubles began. I have a little trouble keeping track of all the numbers, but I am starting with an 8 on the Rancilio grinder. This is probably too fine (this depends on the coffee rather than the machine, right? Seems to me that one of the videos show the guy using no. 7 on the grinder.) I put only 14 g of coffee in the basket because the pour tends to be slow. (An I don't ever get crema with these slow "pours" with this machine. I have experimented with the setting at 10 and 12, but if the pour is too fast the taste isn't good.) I let today's pour run for about 30 secs. My output was below 60%. Using my heavy cup for latte, the resulting weight should have been 390.29g. It was 388.5g. Not too far off, but calculating the percentage difference is beyond me. And it tasted good. When I looked at the shower screen it was really overloaded with coffee, most likely because I'd forgotten to temperature surf.

A couple of hours later I made a 2nd double, this time with almost 15.5 g coffee and a grind of 10. I don't think 17g really fits in this Silvia basket, which I'm sticking with for consistency. With the fuller basket and temp surfing I got a dry puck. It looked to be almost thoroughly saturated, though I'm not a good judge. The taste wasn't as good as the first though, and I forgot to weigh the output. I ran the drip (pour) twice as long, closer to a minute but it was still coming out pretty dark. Maybe I need to back off on the tamper . . . .


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