# Latte start to finish



## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

Everyone has been crying out for more videos and I was off work today so I thought I'd try and film pulling a shot and steaming milk from start to finish to show my 'workflow'. The milk was slightly overfoamed and I went out of the view of the camera a few times but you get the gist!

[video=youtube;r9tu-hc2aRU]






Shame you don't see the WDT or tamp! Also I was getting some really pretty bottomless pours earlier today and it goes all wonky for the video - typical


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Splendid!!

Grinds looked fluffy in the basket, which I take it is aided by your doser mods. I like the wire thing you use to clean the chute - what is it? Bent paperclip stuck to the handle of an acid brush?

Shot time is good for a bottomless... often people seem to want to make a bottomless shot go really slow and drippy to the detriment of the shot but this shot looks bloody lovely. Golden. Tell us something about the beans please, Luke, and brew temperature... it says 92 on the PID but seems low for such a nice crema colour... are they low density/altitude beans??

Seriously. Love it. Thanks for this insight.


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

Presenting my WDT/chute cleaning device of my own design!










Or in another words, a bent paperclip sellotaped to an old bic biro with a pin protruding from the other end. It's a nice angle for clearing the chute and works well for WDT. I'm not sure the WDT makes it taste any better but with the VST basket it usually makes the pour look a bit prettier!

The beans are Lusty Glaze about 10 days post roast. I spent a little while dialling them in earlier today and 18g into 31ish g in 28 seconds was tasting really good. I set the PID offset based on when the water was flashing to steam from the grouphead so I would expect 92 to be ballpark. The Lusty seems a bit darker/not as dense compared to the Red Brick that I was using before at 94 so I set to 92 and haven't changed it since although I have 1kg to work through so I'll be trying different temps at some point!


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

92 makes sense. I'm quite (understatement!) familiar with Lusty Glaze and also a few variations of the blend (Paul did a version of it for my ukbc set) but tbh your shot looks far better than the ones I served up on comp day (so many unforced errors). Even now I'm still amazed by what is possible with a home setup and the right knowledge.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Nice video ....Tripod extraction! I get those occasionally. They taste pretty good most of the time despite the freakish appearance. They usually lead me to tightening the grind a fraction.

I think Luke you will love the speed increase of the Royal. One pulse and clear chute, be prepared for faster thwacking to keep up with the grind


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

Gary you could give 'thawck' training for those about to enter the world of the 'Titan'.

Nice video Luke, from that view you can really see how your exit chute mod doses beautifully evenly. I find my current schnozzer mod (or whatever its called) still fires off to the left slightly.

I may need to do that mod for myself. I still haven't got round to getting myself a naked PF and your video makes me want one in a big way. Its surprising how evenly the Classic can extract a shot.

Perhaps the Gaggia Classic is like an Alfa-Romeo in that all car owners should own one at some point.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Men are born to thwack, My right arm was trained with ninja precision when I was about 13 ; )

Mark try making the schnozzer more \ / or \ | rather than | |


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

I'm not sure how pleased the gf would be about 'thwacking training' - especially being taught it by a beast called Roy!

I really like the chute mod, I was finding with a schnozz that if I wanted to tap the grounds down on the forks it would sometimes get in the way because it protrudes out of the bottom. With the moulded chute it almost seems stock (probably what they should have done in the first place!) and it doesn't get in the way at all. I'll be making a new one for my Royal though as I've read that the dosers are slightly different sizes. This one fits so snug that I doubt it would even fit in another SJ! I would recommend it but its definitely more involved than the schnozz or schectermatic and you need some sort of dremel tool to shape it. Although the grounds come out looking nice and fluffy I think the classic/vst/SJ combo still benefits from some wdt.

The classic is a trooper, although I think having a PID makes a huge difference. I've said it before but regardless of the actual intra-shot temp profile, having a repeatable start point makes such a big difference with dialling in and consistency. My new machine fund is at £980 with a few things still to sell. If I can get to £1500 then its probably going to be a duetto but if things don't sell as expected then I'm sure an Expobar would be just lovely. For the moment I'm enjoying getting the most out of the Classic that I can.

@mike I was in Cornwall during the week and was thinking about popping into Hands-On but when I looked on a map I realised how far it is from Penzance! Maybe next time I'll schedule a pit stop there on my way down.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2


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## jimrobo (Aug 5, 2011)

Gary, I'm slightly concerned no one is going to believe you when you tell people your right bicep is twice as big as your left due to your coffee grinder!!!


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## repeat (Nov 14, 2009)

Great video and the end result looked very nice! My brush is now 50% shorter from cleaning the shute while the motor was running! Being a little more careful now 

You don't steam on the gaggia?


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

My Gaggia Factory (lever) is a much better steamer - the boiler is about 750ml compared to about 300ml on the Classic. Also it's nice not to wait for the classic to heat up.


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## repeat (Nov 14, 2009)

Makes sense. I had trouble getting consistent milk with the Silvia. Much easier with the duetto.


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## Jason1wood (Jun 1, 2012)

Great video. I make decent lattes with my Classic, and used to steam the milk, but was worth watching this even just to see the little mods and the cracking setup you have. Great bottomless PF shot, I keep getting squirting when I try mine.

:thumbsup:


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## RobD (May 2, 2012)

Good Vid, quite envious of your ability to produce micro foam & to pour latte art, plus i now know you have received the Silvia Steam wand


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Feel inspired to try and do a milk drink video and get some close up Roy and Brewtus action.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

jimrobo said:


> Gary, I'm slightly concerned no one is going to believe you when you tell people your right bicep is twice as big as your left due to your coffee grinder!!!


Very little bicep recruitment in thwacking, its more forearm and front-delt , with occasional whip-lash ; )


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## truecksuk (Sep 22, 2011)

Interesting video. Would have been good to see your WDT technique mind.

Also, your PF is twisted really tight on the Classic. I normally keep mine vertical. How come you do that?


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## lookseehear (Jul 16, 2010)

truecksuk said:


> Interesting video. Would have been good to see your WDT technique mind.
> 
> Also, your PF is twisted really tight on the Classic. I normally keep mine vertical... perhaps its because thats as far as it goes?!


The WDT is just little circles withy pen tool thing which takes about 5 seconds.

The portafilter isn't actually that tight, it's just that the gasket I bought from happy donkey is an 8mm rather than 8.5mm one.


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