# Just go my Rancilio Silva



## MsMochacino (Mar 7, 2011)

Had 3 goes-not much crema yet but the steam wand makes fantastic microfoam. I'm looking forward to Soya lattes, cappuccinos and mochas.

Looks like I'll have to adjust the grinder. practise, practice my tamping and when I get the hang of use a timer.

Must admit Ms Silvia looks really smart and my flat smells like a coffee shop. Really glad I bought Ms Silvia.

I bought Ms Silvia from Coffee Italia and can't complain. They answered my emails and I suppose I'll see what they're like if Ms Silvai goes wrong. Hopefully she won't.


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## MonkeyHarris (Dec 3, 2010)

Congratulations on your new purchase. You should try getting into the habit of temp surfing straight away for consistency. With Silvia I let her warm up for about 45-50 minutes. Then when I've got my grinds all tamped down in my PF I do a quick cooling flush. You need to run enough water to make the light come back on. Then attach your PF and wait for the light to go off again. This is the important bit you should time exactly 30 seconds from the light going out before hitting the brew switch. This will mean that your Silvia is pretty much at the optimum brew temp for a shot. Plus it will mean the temp is always the same when you pull a shot which can make a huge difference.

With regards to the crema. Make sure you're using freshly roasted beans, grind fine enough that it takes 25-30 seconds to pull 50-60ml, try and use 15g in the Silvia standard double basket and follow the instructions about temp surfing. I gurantee you will get plenty of crema plus close to perfect espresso.

One final thing. After steaming with the Silvia always turn off the steam switch and purge all the steam left in the boiler (by opening the valve up full) and then most importantly refill the boiler by hitting the brew button again until water runs again. This will ensure you don't burn out the boiler which is quite common.


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## MsMochacino (Mar 7, 2011)

Thanks MonkeyHarris.

I've been temperature surfing but I don't think I've got the grind of the coffee right yet. I'll have another go tomorrow.


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## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

Bear in mind that if you have locked in the portafilter with grinds in and not brewed within a few seconds you may be heating the grounds and burning them.

Enjoy your new machine


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## cjbailey1 (Jan 17, 2011)

Personally I weigh my beans into the hopper of the vario then when the light goes out I take off the portafilter, quick wipe to make sure it's dry, into the holder of the vario - grind, level, tamp then back into the silvia and I know it's at about the right temperature. I'll time that routine sometime but i suspect it's between 30 and 40 seconds. Still want to PID the Silvia though!


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## MsMochacino (Mar 7, 2011)

Just pulled a shot and it had some crema. Not that thick but much better than the Waitrose/Tesco beans (Happy Donkey included 250g of beans when I bought the MC2) Next next I'll time the shot and see if it's within 25 seconds.

Thanks everyone for the advice. It's really helped.


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## RolandG (Jul 25, 2010)

Glad you're enjoying yourself







Oh, and always remember that there are no absolutes - what matters is taste!


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## MonkeyHarris (Dec 3, 2010)

Yeah Roland's right. My advice with the Silvia is just a rough guide/starting point. Your taste buds will be your best guide and they will develop over the coming months. I now use various sized baskets and doses depending on the beans and sometimes I find 20 seconds for a double is perfect and for other beans nearer 30. It's all part of the fun/learning process. Definitely ditch the supermarket beans.. They are a million miles from the freshly roasted stuff.


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## Scotty (Mar 21, 2011)

Glenn said:


> Bear in mind that if you have locked in the portafilter with grinds in and not brewed within a few seconds you may be heating the grounds and burning them.
> 
> Enjoy your new machine


I got my silvia 2 weeks ago from hasbean. I never even considered that leaving the grinds in the portafilter attached to the group whilst waiting for the light to go out then 30 seconds can burn them. Thanks for this tip.

I get plenty crema but my shots can be slightly bitter and i never seem to taste the items (for example caramel or keylime pie) mentioned in the beans descriptions. I Can usually hit 24 seconds though after about 2 or 3 goes of a new bag of beans.


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## MonkeyHarris (Dec 3, 2010)

It takes a while for your taste buds to start picking out flavours but it will come. Try sticking to single origin beans for a little while. I found these were the easiest to distinguish the different flavours. With regards to the bitterness, Roland has put quite a bit of info on another thread here in the past few days to help you extract a perfect shot but without getting too technical I'll just say I found trying to get more like 45ml in 25 seconds reduced the bitterness for me (more of a ristretto). I now start off at that end of the scales and work my way back till I find something that works. Sometimes I find I'm nearly at the end of a bag of beans before I'll hit the sweet spot but I'm getting better at it.

I also found in the early days that the crema was bitter but the rest of the shot was nice (I'm now used to it) so I would just stir it in.


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## Scotty (Mar 21, 2011)

MonkeyHarris said:


> It takes a while for your taste buds to start picking out flavours but it will come. Try sticking to single origin beans for a little while. I found these were the easiest to distinguish the different flavours. With regards to the bitterness, Roland has put quite a bit of info on another thread here in the past few days to help you extract a perfect shot but without getting too technical I'll just say I found trying to get more like 45ml in 25 seconds reduced the bitterness for me (more of a ristretto). I now start off at that end of the scales and work my way back till I find something that works. Sometimes I find I'm nearly at the end of a bag of beans before I'll hit the sweet spot but I'm getting better at it.
> 
> I also found in the early days that the crema was bitter but the rest of the shot was nice (I'm now used to it) so I would just stir it in.


Thanks. I've found so far i prefer single origin to blends, Even when using my chemex.

Had a quick look but can't see that thread. Can you tell me what it's called?


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