# Doing more than one coffee at a time



## Slee (Jan 2, 2011)

I am getting used to using the Silvia but one thing I do wonder about is when I do more than one coffee.

I usually do the shots first then the milk but as I'm not used to doing a large jug of milk I end up doing 2 small ones is this good or bad?

It is either that or I do one coffee shot and milk then do another shot and milk which takes longer.

Love to hear your thoughts...


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## Awoogah (Nov 10, 2013)

Personally, and take my limited experience for what its worth, I always do the two shots first, and this isn't very often as I don't have friends over for coffee very often, they would prefer to sit in a chain, think its more the ambience than my coffee, or at least I hope, anyway tangent over.

Post steaming, I don't trust the water temperature to return to a stable and appropriate value post steaming quick enough. I have the auber PID, and even with this, the boiler temperature may be back down to an appropriate level, but that doesn't hold for the water.

So two shots, then the steaming, for what its worth


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

I've got a Classic with PID and I find that you're damned either way as it takes a while for temp to recover. If you pull 2 doubles you'll find that the machine recovers for the second one by the time you've prepped the basket for the second, but the crema might have subsided a bit by the time you've done the milk (depending on how much milk you're doing at once). OTOH it seems to take ages to do one double, steam the milk, flush to cool back to brew temp, repeat). Nevertheless I tend to do one complete coffee for the other person, then do mine. Not sure that is really any better though!


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## Slee (Jan 2, 2011)

think i might have a go at doing a larger jug of milk, probably just need to keep trying it i guess but as you say i usually end up doing one shot and milk then wait for mine


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## frandavi99 (Jun 8, 2014)

I've done it both ways in the last few weeks and found it best to do the shots and then the milk. Like others have said, getting back to the right temp after steaming milk takes ages and is a bit hit and miss.

Personally think the coffee is better off with the shot sitting for a minute than with gambling with the temps.


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## Wando64 (Feb 28, 2011)

frandavi99 said:


> I've done it both ways in the last few weeks and found it best to do the shots and then the milk. Like others have said, getting back to the right temp after steaming milk takes ages and is a bit hit and miss.
> 
> Personally think the coffee is better off with the shot sitting for a minute than with gambling with the temps.


The opposite approach works for me.

By the way I do have a PID

- pull 1st coffee,

- 5 seconds or so before stopping the pump I switch the steamer switch on,

- As soon as the temp reaches 125 I purge the steam wand and I start steaming,

- 5 seconds (or so) into the steaming I switch the steamer switch off,

- Continue steaming until done (By this time the boiler temp has dropped to approx 120)

- While I do some latte art on the first drink I release the steam pressure,

- before I take the drink to my wife I refill the boiler, (it takes 20 seconds or so)

- take the drink to my wife (earn bonus points),

- come back and weight and grind coffee for second drink,

- load the basket and tamp,

- by this time normally the temp has stabilised at 107, (Thanks to the Auber PID)

- prepare the second drink as normal,

- enjoy my first coffee of the day (every other one is an espresso).

The time elapsed from pulling the first drink to pulling the second is just over 5 minutes (I know because I leave the timer running)

The time to do both drinks entirely is approx 10 minutes. (It would be a pain if I had to do it more than once a day)

I used to do both at once but the quality (of the coffee AND of the milk) wasn't quite the same.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Ditto above. Only differences are that I haven't actually got married yet, and what I do with the milk may not actually qualify as latte "art".


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## johnealey (May 19, 2014)

With no PID on my v3 (yet) pull two triples then steam milk in a 500ml Motta jug which just fits.

If you go for a bigger jug just be careful not to run out of steam as can cause the boiler element to overheat if don't get onto the cooling / refill flush in a reasonable time (from memory the boiler is about 380ml so may be a limit of about 600-700ml jugs worth of steam). Once steaming complete, tend to immediately wrap a wet kitchen towel round the wand then run water through the grouphead whilst swirling / knocking the milk to get rid of any big bubbles which seems to co incide with the heating light coming back on, then attempt latte art. Once drinks done clean wand and enjoy coffee.

John


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## frandavi99 (Jun 8, 2014)

Think I'd be a lot more confident to try it your way Wando if I had a PID. Without one it's very difficult to know you've purged and waited long enough.

Maybe I'll give it a try in the future if the wife starts drinking more coffee again.


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## Wando64 (Feb 28, 2011)

frandavi99 said:


> Think I'd be a lot more confident to try it your way Wando if I had a PID. Without one it's very difficult to know you've purged and waited long enough.
> 
> Maybe I'll give it a try in the future if the wife starts drinking more coffee again.


Without a PID you would have to temp surf twice. Now that would be a royal pain.


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