[AJP80]

This morning I got my first La Pav boiler burn. Ouch!! I had assumed, without giving it too much (if any) thought that it would be not too dissimilar to an E61 grouphead burn. I was wrong. Whilst it's not too bad visually (I don't think it's going to blister) the pain, from the briefest of touches with the inside of my forearm, is intense and enduring.
I'll not do that again.

 

[MediumRoastSteam]

This morning I got my first La Pav boiler burn. Ouch!! I had assumed, without giving it too much (if any) thought that it would be not too dissimilar to an E61 grouphead burn. I was wrong. Whilst it's not too bad visually (I don't think it's going to blister) the pain, from the briefest of touches with the inside of my forearm, is intense and enduring.
I'll not do that again.

Haha! You've been bitten by the peacock! Trust me, you'll respect the peacock from now on, it will only happen once. 😂😂😂😂😂

 

[Nopapercup]

This morning I got my first La Pav boiler burn. Ouch!! I had assumed, without giving it too much (if any) thought that it would be not too dissimilar to an E61 grouphead burn. I was wrong. Whilst it's not too bad visually (I don't think it's going to blister) the pain, from the briefest of touches with the inside of my forearm, is intense and enduring.
I'll not do that again.

They are lethal! I've been using mine for years now with no issues and then a couple of weeks ago I wasn't paying attention when it was warming up, reached over the machine and rested my fore arm on the steam release valve. It's left a nice scar and as @MediumRoastSteam said I won't make that mistake twice.

 

[tambu]

Quick update on my own La Pav: Thanks very much for all the advice above, and the links - really useful. It took me a little while to tame my Europiccola, but I'm getting some decent shots (and yes, a couple of burns - especially after it's been on for a while). Took me a while to get the feel for it, not least as I couldn't be bothered to hand grind more than a couple of shots a day apart from on the very first day when I did a ton, but I'm definitely a lever fan now. Main things that helped me, in case anybody finds this useful in the future:-

- Some kind of temp monitoring on the group as advised by AJP80 (and most of the internet); I used insulating tape and an IR thermometer I already had

- The Bruce Pappas video linked above by AJP80 was the main inspiration for my workflow

- The Bplus cafe videos for milk steaming with the 3 hole (he has a few useful videos); the one hole has arrived now, but as I've made a lot of progress with the 3-hole I'm undecided on whether I'll swap it or not

- Descriptions online of what 9bar roughly feels like - I still don't know for sure, as I've not fitted a pressure kit, but to me it seems a bit like slicing through firm cheese or chilled butter, which seems to be what a lot of people report

One thing I've noticed is that with a single pull I pretty much always get 1:2, but occasionally it'll blow out to 1:3 for the same grind / dose and I've no idea why. I must be doing something different, but it's not a mini-pull (I have focused on a single pull so far). Any ideas?

Next up: solve my grinder dilemma. Looks like a niche ("sensible") or an EK ("crazy"). I have some reservations about an EK paired with La Pav, but at the end of the day I mostly drink brewed and I'm very curious about whether the EK will make the blindest bit of difference to my brewing. I'm a bit cyncial, but it's a question I've asked myself repeatedly for about 5 years now ...

 

[MediumRoastSteam]

One thing I've noticed is that with a single pull I pretty much always get 1:2, but occasionally it'll blow out to 1:3 for the same grind / dose and I've no idea why. I must be doing something different, but it's not a mini-pull (I have focused on a single pull so far). Any ideas?

Sometimes there's air in the piston, which you'll feel due to whats described as a spongy pull. What solved for me is to so some "dry pumps" before you pull. A 10s pre-infusion also helps to increase the output.

 

[AJP80]

Hi @tambu I've only just seen seen your post.

What Alberto says re maximising shot volume works. I have also used a mini pull to pre-infuse before using a full pull for the main extraction. This increases the shot volume and I have observed no ill effect on the coffee puck (the main extraction looks good using a naked portafilter).

I would say that the La Pavoni is not really made for EKspresso - pulling really long shots is going to be a challenge. But then I don't think espresso is your priority so making the very best EKspresso might not bother you. The EK does make tasty espresso at 2:1 to 2.5:1 ratios (at 13g dose), which is good enough for me.

As for the grinder dilemma, I can sympathise. Buying an EK does feel like a bit of a grinder lottery, if making espresso with one is important. I think I mentioned that, had I received a poorly aligned EK, my solution would not have been to sand it, but to consider a smaller, additional grinder for the odd espresso I make. On the other hand, in my experience at least, buying grinders is always a bit of a lottery. The EK is my fourth in 15 years. The first three all had their faults (a Kitchen Aid with plastic internals that fell apart; a Mazzer Mini E that, due to an uneven adjustment ring, had terrible alignment and couldn't grind for espresso (which was all I drank at the time); and an early Elektra Nino (not terrible for medium to dark roasts, but design choices, low tolerances and a wobbly upper burr carrier meant it wasn't great for lighter roasts or large grind adjustments)).

It's fair to say that the EK is the first grinder that hasn't caused me a lot of worry and bother. It might be big, expensive and ugly (I actually like its looks and think it's a bit of a design icon), and it's not perfect (why is the paint so soft and scratch prone; why doesn't the augur catch all of the bean fragments), but it makes really tasty coffee and will likely survive a nuclear war (it will certainly outlive me).

 

[heratech]

Seeing La Pav on ebay actually made me want to get back into espresso a few months ago.

I watched for them for ages but in the end settled for a Gaggia Classic as couldn't justify the money to start.

Was tempted by that quick mill veloce that just sold but I think thats further down the road - will try a lever machine one day!

 

[tambu]

Sometimes there's air in the piston, which you'll feel due to whats described as a spongy pull. What solved for me is to so some "dry pumps" before you pull. A 10s pre-infusion also helps to increase the output.

Yep, I'm doing at least one dry pump before the first pull to bring it up to temp. To be honest, I think it might just be me being a bit sloppy with how long the pre-infusion runs, combined with a bit too much experimentation (and a lack of accurate note taking...). The main problem I have with the Pav at this point is that you can't experiment by running through a whole bag in a session, because of the temp. But overall, when it's not great it's still OK and when it's great it's great. For my occasional use, it's pretty much perfect.

 

[tambu]

Hi @tambu I've only just seen seen your post.

No worries! After all the umm-ing and err-ing, I finally thought I'd treat myself to the crazy option (big birthday). Somewhat unexpectedly, my wife actually quite likes the giant white EK43S that now dwarfs over its small La Pavoni neighbour and is happily using it for her aeropress fix. It probably deserves a few comments on the other EK43 thread, but I'm going to wait until I've got used to it - it's early days...