I’ve got a decent Italian beginner espresso machine called the Gaggia Classic. It makes decent espresso, but not great.
In order to make it deliver quality shots, some modifications must be made to the machine. I’ve done the simplest, so far, which is to change the steam nozzle. Next on my list is a pressure valve and preheater. This will allow me to adjust the valve to make sure the shots are pouring around 9bar. The preheater will also heat the water before it enters the boiler, ensuring less temperature drop as I’m pouring.
The biggest modification necessary is a PID, which basically takes over the old analog thermostat, and replaces it with a microprocessor constantly checking whether or not to turn on the boiler to reach the desired temperature. I will probably make this with an Arduino, so I can add some nice features like automatically turning on the machine at a certain time every day.
Quite a bit of fun I stumbled onto there.
Post a Comment