So after 6+ years of owning my machine, I have wondered for about 4 of those why my espresso never tastes same as the coffee shop. I even buy the same bean as what they use and never tasted as “sweet” as theirs.
Now… My machine is well outside warranty so I thought why not mod it. I watched some YouTube vids and it seems the easiest way is the OPV adjustment but best results people were getting was about 12-13 bar pull. Then I bought closest size 304 stainless steel spring I could get on Amazon with slightly thinner wire.
So sharing this out of excitement but now have to dial it in. I’ve set my inner burr to 3 and need to play with outer. I should be getting my 18g basket soon and will play with optimal dosage/extraction/timing trigonometry arithmetic. Mathematicians, I’m joking there. Couch judges, I’m joking there.
Will post more when I find optimal setting but I’m just happy I have a 9 bar espresso machine that’s already paid for itself hundred times over.
I’ll take vid of the extraction when I make it. First try, no squirting/spray using bottomless portafilter. Yay.
To add. I have made it extract at 9.5 fully sealed portafilter after photos was taken. I’ve read somewhere that 9 bar machines extract at 10 bars at the head. I went for happy medium but what’s .5 gonna do. It’s too way better than 15. Also, I ran machine 5 times and it was always same consistent 9 bar until I adjust to 9.5.
Lastly, please don’t ask me for steps how to mod it. I’ve watched YouTube so none are my steps nor recommendations. I cannot stand behind them so please consult internet. Sorry to sound jerky. I’m just posting this to show it maybe possible to do it better with aftermarket spring.
by Limp_Ad4324
10 Comments
I get mine to that just by grind settings. Glad you figured out what worked for you.
Bbe mod is a game changer for sure.
i did that before i sold the machine. I don’t think you gain anything other than refilling the tank more often.
You can pull 9 bars without the mod IMO. You just have to find the right grind size. Nonetheless…cool mod man
It’s a fantastic mod, you’re gonna love it. If you ever get annoyed at how much water you’ll get at the drip tray, you can try the reroute mod
https://www.reddit.com/r/espresso/s/G2FhsalXVM
Could you point the internet YouTube resources you used?
What’s the amazon link for your spring?
I did the same with my old infuser. Great mod. You’ll make great coffee…
Nice job! If you really want to bake your noodle add a dimmer to your pump. Pressure profiled shots with pre-infusion mean a whole new level of smoothness and flavor
I do not understand why people are so obsessed with OPV’s as a form of making good espresso. I see the OPV as a fail safe for when I have got my grind size wrong. I would never use it as the means to pull 9 bar shots.
What I mean is… Use your grind size to achieve the 9 bars of pressure. Then you know you have a consistent pressure which lowers as the puck erodes. Now compare that to using an OPV to make your espresso… You have ground your coffee too fine and the OPV kicks in at 9 bar. The OPV releases the pressure your flow rate drops the OPV closes the pressure builds back up again. rinse and repeat. Your espresso is all over the place and ultimately unrepeatable. No consistency. Yet you got your espresso in 30 seconds so you *think* you did a good job. Nope.
If you can set your OPV set it to 10 or 11bar or even higher. You don’t want the OPV to ever get involved is the aim. Just grind your coffee to the right size so you get 9 bar of pressure from coffee puck resistance. Not the OPV.
There is this very weird mentality of people here that think setting an OPV to 9 bar and masking your grinding mistakes using the OPV is somehow the right thing to do. I compare it to those who use a spouted portafilter to mask their bad puck prep that they can’t see compared to a bottomless portafilter where you can see your mistakes.