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Shower Screen Removal and Grinder settings
Hi everyone
I have just received both the L1 and E8 yesterday evening. Wow, I did not imagine the box for the Compak would be much bigger then the L1 box. Kudos to Reiss also for providing such a good packaging for the L1 that it will handle any (if at least most) abuse by the delivery guys.
I must thank Reiss also for his assistance in guiding me when I had queries during the installation and setting up of the L1 even it was already way late at night for him. Much appreciated!
I have 2 queries as to the combination of both L1 and E8, which I hope are useful for beginners like me:
Grinder settings
Lets start off with the easier one. Totally new in this so can I ask what would be the good start for grinder settings using a medium-to-dark roast.
Would 14 be fine enough? I tried several ranging from 74 then 25 and down to 20 but kept getting sink shots. Upon pulling down the lever, it starts to drip into the cup already and pushing the lever up has no resistance to allow the lever to slowly rise up. Lever just goes all the way up. Brew time over in a couple of seconds.
I am grinding to around 15.8g and using the supplied bottomless PF. Tamping lightly with the Londinium tamper also. Will purchase some fresh beans later today to try again as am using 4-week old beans (which was purchased on a whim whilst waiting to order the L1!) to at least try and eliminate any uncertainty of the freshness of the beans.
Shower screen removal
Per my understanding, best to grease up the sleeve before putting in the lever assembly of which I have done. Whilst attempting to pump 25-30 times, Reiss has advised also to remove the shower screen to allow excess grease to be rubbed off. (Silly me forgetting to remove that).
Therefore, started to try removing and following video guide from permanent file and also the below (apologies for re-using the text from earlier thread as might be useful for others saving time to find the exact info):
explicitly, take a wide, flat bladed screwdriver and place the tip horizontally in the press line at the 3 o'clock position, where the notch is in the bottom of the group to accommodate the right hand lug on the portafilter, and use the bottom of the group where the notch is as a fulcrum for the screwdriver that you are using as a lever
then do the same thing at the 9 o'clock position on the group
then back to the 3 o'clock position
then back to the 9
then to the 3
and so on
i promise you it will come off - you will need to keep the blade of the screwdriver pushed firmly into the groove or it will jump out of the groove as soon as you use the screwdriver as a lever, but i promise you the shower screen will come off using this simple method
when you put it back on i suggest you smear the thinnest film imaginable of silicone grease (i.e. just a greasy sheen when viewed across the light is enough) aroung the inside of the vertical sleeve on the shower screen so it isn't a metal on metal situation - this will make it less likely to bind on
I think I am a bit unclear on the above instruction and would like to clarify further: do i use the blade of the screwdriver to nudge against the groove of the seal/gasket or the groove of the shower screen?
I have attached a pic below for easier referencing (pardon the pic quality taken):
Any help on this would be much appreciated and apologies in advance if this really is a simple procedure as I can't get my head around figuring out how to remove the shower screen.
Cheers
Fred
I have just received both the L1 and E8 yesterday evening. Wow, I did not imagine the box for the Compak would be much bigger then the L1 box. Kudos to Reiss also for providing such a good packaging for the L1 that it will handle any (if at least most) abuse by the delivery guys.
I must thank Reiss also for his assistance in guiding me when I had queries during the installation and setting up of the L1 even it was already way late at night for him. Much appreciated!
I have 2 queries as to the combination of both L1 and E8, which I hope are useful for beginners like me:
Grinder settings
Lets start off with the easier one. Totally new in this so can I ask what would be the good start for grinder settings using a medium-to-dark roast.
Would 14 be fine enough? I tried several ranging from 74 then 25 and down to 20 but kept getting sink shots. Upon pulling down the lever, it starts to drip into the cup already and pushing the lever up has no resistance to allow the lever to slowly rise up. Lever just goes all the way up. Brew time over in a couple of seconds.
I am grinding to around 15.8g and using the supplied bottomless PF. Tamping lightly with the Londinium tamper also. Will purchase some fresh beans later today to try again as am using 4-week old beans (which was purchased on a whim whilst waiting to order the L1!) to at least try and eliminate any uncertainty of the freshness of the beans.
Shower screen removal
Per my understanding, best to grease up the sleeve before putting in the lever assembly of which I have done. Whilst attempting to pump 25-30 times, Reiss has advised also to remove the shower screen to allow excess grease to be rubbed off. (Silly me forgetting to remove that).
Therefore, started to try removing and following video guide from permanent file and also the below (apologies for re-using the text from earlier thread as might be useful for others saving time to find the exact info):
explicitly, take a wide, flat bladed screwdriver and place the tip horizontally in the press line at the 3 o'clock position, where the notch is in the bottom of the group to accommodate the right hand lug on the portafilter, and use the bottom of the group where the notch is as a fulcrum for the screwdriver that you are using as a lever
then do the same thing at the 9 o'clock position on the group
then back to the 3 o'clock position
then back to the 9
then to the 3
and so on
i promise you it will come off - you will need to keep the blade of the screwdriver pushed firmly into the groove or it will jump out of the groove as soon as you use the screwdriver as a lever, but i promise you the shower screen will come off using this simple method
when you put it back on i suggest you smear the thinnest film imaginable of silicone grease (i.e. just a greasy sheen when viewed across the light is enough) aroung the inside of the vertical sleeve on the shower screen so it isn't a metal on metal situation - this will make it less likely to bind on
I think I am a bit unclear on the above instruction and would like to clarify further: do i use the blade of the screwdriver to nudge against the groove of the seal/gasket or the groove of the shower screen?
I have attached a pic below for easier referencing (pardon the pic quality taken):
Any help on this would be much appreciated and apologies in advance if this really is a simple procedure as I can't get my head around figuring out how to remove the shower screen.
Cheers
Fred
Attached files
Comments
Did you buy the beans 4 weeks ago or were they roasted 4 weeks ago? A month old roast could be fine or even excellent, but if the roast date was much earlier or even unknown, this may explain the extraction you are getting.
My E8 is currently at 17.5, so exactly between the 15 and 20 marks.
About the shower screen, I take it off with a tea spoon. You can try, it's not hard. If you use common sense and care, you can't damage anything.
Thank you. Am happy to be able to finally lay my hands on the L1
Beans were purchased 4 weeks ago but the roast date was probably 2 weeks older or more from time of purchase. The thought of having an L1 clouded my judgement in beans purchase :D
Yea, that's what I thought about beans being too old hence getting the sink shots currently. I have just got hold of some new beans roasted on 11th Aug so should be fine. Will do further testing tonight and see how it goes.
Frans, thank you for sharing your grinder setting. I shall use that as a baseline and work from there. Hope to be pulling some decent shots tonight, fingers crossed!
As to using a spoon, that's a great idea and I shall also have a go at that tonight too. One question, did you use the tip/edge of spoon to take out at the seal/gasket groove or the shower screen groove? (in reference to my pic in earlier post).
I am still confused as to where I should be placing any spoon or flathead screwdriver.
Regards
Fred
Good of you to post a picture, so we know what we're talking about. I place the round spoon end on the shower screen groove. If you pull it down on one spot of the groove, then fit it to another spot on hat groove, the screen will come off easily.
When you have it out, it's also useful to study which side of the rubber seal is the upper side. Initially both sides may look identical but on close inspection, the side that fits the shower screen top best has the sharp edge a tiny bit cut-off to allow for the rim of the screen to hang onto it.
Great! Now I know where to start, which is to use the shower screen groove.
And in terms of determining which spot to start off, like what Reiss has mentioned, start at the 3 o'clock notch where the notch is in the bottom of the group to accommodate the right hand lug on the portafilter then proceed to 9 o'clock and back to 3 and so forth til the screen pops out.
let us know how you get on freddie
i think i have placed a video of shower screen removal in the permanent file at some earlier date
kind regards
reiss.
Will do.
In putting the seal and shower screen back, I assume the easiest way would be per your video clip (3/3) using the PF to put it back in.
Cheers
Fred
Just to give an update on first half of shower screen removal:
It could not have gone any easier! Frans, great tip on using a teaspoon after knowing where to grab it to pull down the screen. Had a flathead screwdriver waiting at the side but was not needed at all.
Decided to regrease the sleeve again since I did not have the opportunity to grease the bottom half of the sleeve. Once done, pump the lever for 25-30 times to remove the excess grease at the bottom.
Afterwards followed by using the PF (without basket) to put the sleeve back per the video clip (3/3). Very easy once you find the sweet spot to slot it back in and then turn it slowly to 4 o'clock then back to 6 o'clock then back to 4. Removed PF after that.
Reiss, I really felt like a pro taking everything apart and putting it all back in. Kudos for making it such a simple task!
Now onto the second half of testing the grind settings out. Will wait another 40 mins (right now counting down at 26mins) to let it warm up properly and fingers crossed on a decent shot coming out. Let's not even get into frothing the milk yet! :D
Cheers
Fred
So..testing went well for a second stab at this.
With some fresh beans, I started out with a grind setting of 17.5 as a baseline but had sink shots. Therefore dialed back and eventually found a grind setting of 12 giving relatively decent shots with a duration of 22sec with a dose of 16g in the basket.
Next up was frothing milk and boy, was I in uncharted territory. Gave it a shot anyhow using the 2-hole tip instead of the default 4-hole tip to see if it made it any easier for me to froth into a 12oz jug. Not bad, not bad I must say for a beginner and the milk was very smooth and did not require any tapping as there were not much bubbles to begin with. Thank you YouTube for lessons on this!
As the night was (relatively) young, decided to try some beans that were purchased in Melbourne but with a roast date of mid July (!!) just for kicks. Finally settled on grind setting of 15 with a dose of 15.7g in the basket and WOW! these beans still can give out a nice punch to the palate. Very laidback and smooth, methinks I prefer this to the 1st beans :pinch:
Anyways, I call tonight a great learning experience all the more made up by how easy it was just to go about dialing in the grind for each bean without having to worry about the espresso machine and temp surfing of grouphead, waiting for water to be boiled and all other variables.
Like what Reiss has envisioned: just step up to the L1, chuck in the PF, pull down, wait then pull up. Shot after shot!
Onwards to more testing tomorrow night!
Have a good night everyone!
Cheers
Fred
kind regards
reiss.