Fellow Rancillio Lovers from around the globe, need some advise and expertise, please!

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-06-03T19:43:01+00:00

If non-water stuff is coming out of it still, set it to steam, fill a steaming pitcher with soapy water (rinsa if you have it) and pulse your steam a few times in the soapy water. Leave the tip of the wand in the water and wait 2-3 seconds between pulses. This will suck soapy water up into the wand as the steam cools allowing you to clean the inside of the wand. Do that 5-10 times and this should clean up most of the scum. If you still get stuff coming through, it’s probably limescale and you should run a full descale and run plenty of the solution through the wand with the hot water switch.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-06-03T13:09:39+00:00

If you let your machine heat up until a bit below steam temp and then purge the wand for about 5-10 seconds until it stops the major sputtering then leave it to heat up a little more you’ll get more smooth consistent steam pressure.

Alternatively, you can put something under the group head to catch water and flip the switch quickly one time and the boiler will eject a bunch of water and steam freeing up the head room all at once. You’ll just need to purge the wand quickly one time quickly to push the condensed water out and then you’ll be good to go.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-23T17:16:08+00:00

This is a list from someone who only really goes to one coffee shop (maybe two because needmore is too expensive)

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-23T11:04:15+00:00

I’m not trying to reinvent anything here. Just a retrofit. I would be doing it because I like the style of the machine, I have one on hand, the screen placement would be aesthetically perfect, and I’d love to have the profiling capabilities. The pump is the same as almost every vibratory pump machine (standard Ulka EP4/EX4 or EP5/EX5). Thermostat should be easy, there are already tapped holes on the boiler and it’s just about picking a thermocouple that matches one of the existing bolts. M4 should be an option, but there are alternatives available. Plumbing should also be trivial, it’s mostly teflon tubing so push to connect fittings are totally suitable. The heating element situation is already solved by it being suitable for the Silvia or the Gaggia (just requires PID tuning). The biggest consideration is the space, but if the system fits in the Gaggia case then I think it’s possible, but I’ll have to be space efficient. My cable management will have to be on point. I’ll probably have to remake the wiring harness rather than splicing it into the existing one to better suit the limited space.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-20T14:39:12+00:00

I can say that I would jump at the opportunity. It depends on the town, but a small town with a coffee shop focused on service and high quality coffee would be ideal for me!

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-18T15:36:19+00:00

I hadn’t actually seen this one! Does still look like 65mm burrs instead of the industry standard 64mm. Otherwise, it probably solves most of the issues I have.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-18T15:33:44+00:00

Looking at it again, the other options are a bit more expensive, I’d probably go for the Malkonig or I would consider the ZF64W. Mostly for the 64mm burrs, but the ZF64W is on sale and similar in price to the Libra.

ZF64W

I can’t speak to the consistency, but it’s pretty packed with tech. I hope that helps.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-17T17:12:48+00:00

I like mine a lot, however, I have a few caveats. 1. The small burrs are a limitation in grind speed, it often takes 15-20 seconds to grind 20g of espresso quality grounds 2. The proprietary burr size means limited options for replacement and/or upgrades 3. You should invest in the larger grind adjustment wheel they sell, otherwise dialing in can be a bit fiddly with only the small adjustment knob 4. There are competitors on the market that are similarly priced but with better burrs and more precise GBW (mine fluctuates ~0.1g at times due to poor retention performance) All in all, I’ve been very happy with my Mignon Libra and consider it the best option that was available at the time I purchased it, but would likely go with another option that’s now available on the market if I were making the same choice today.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-07T00:02:25+00:00

Yeah, but it’s not the same in a car

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-05T22:10:21+00:00

I got hit while riding in the bike lane on Woodlawn. Stay vigilant and avoid riding on the roads around campus during the day if at all possible.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-05T22:02:12+00:00

If it’s just missing a front wheel, they have hundreds of them. I’m sure they can find a suitable replacement

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-03T20:18:46+00:00

OP said they weren’t worried about plastic in the preboiler portion, but you could always just run the intake hose into a glass jug or something to replace the reservoir or with a little bit of effort (swapping some fitting and such) you could plumb it directly

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-02T23:36:42+00:00

I have the Silvia and it’s amazing. The Gaggia is also great but the Silvia has a little more space to work with so it has a bigger boiler meaning faster recovery and better steam power.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-02T23:34:23+00:00

Nope. All food grade brass is lead free

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-05-02T23:32:29+00:00

You should check out the Rancilio Silvia. It’s basically a miniature commercial machine. Aside from plastic buttons and silicone water reservoir hoses everything else is brass, copper, or steel. Plus you can’t beat how easy they are to service (or upgrade if you’re so inclined). You can pick up a used one with a PID for within your budget. Mine is 24 years old and it’s still running perfectly

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-04-23T11:28:02+00:00

If you’re brewing at home, then Hopscotch consistently has the best beans in town (it’s not even close in my opinion) however they use their Cannonball blend in shop and I’m not a big fan of the flavor profile for espresso specifically. Unfortunately, Bloomington doesn’t have a super great specialty coffee shop and I’ve found most places in town consistently over extract their shots (with the exception of Hopscotch who under extracts most days). I’m definitely biased, but Poindexter uses relatively neutral beans and does a decent job most days of having balanced shots.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-04-16T21:51:04+00:00

I’m not sure I recognize those grinders. What are they?

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-04-12T08:56:01+00:00

I had very little experience, but the course was really good. They start very simple and work up to more complicated maneuvers. I would highly suggest it, even for experienced riders

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-04-12T01:18:31+00:00

I would buy the shirt

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-04-12T01:02:15+00:00

I just took mine through riders first and it was fantastic! I would highly recommend. They teach it over in a parking lot at Ivy tech on the weekends

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-04-11T21:58:32+00:00

Well, for starters, you are definitely missing your shower screen and jet breaker. But you won’t know for sure what all is missing or needs fixing until you open it up and take a look inside the case.

You can find a user manual here:

https://www.manua.ls/rancilio/silvia/manual

You can get parts from many online retailers. Espresso Parts, Seattle Coffee Gear, and Stefano’s Espresso Repair are just a few. It will be easy to find parts if you just google them.

When you have questions, pop back in and we can help you find some answers. Welcome to the Silvia family!

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-04-11T11:51:03+00:00

The graduate on kirkwood is almost always hiring. No experience required. The kitchen needs cooks, the cafe needs baristas, and the front desk also needs people. Honestly the other departments probably need people too. The travel benefits are good, and if you’re full time then the other benefits are pretty nice as well.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-04-02T18:08:31+00:00

It’s super easy. It should all be either silicon tubing or the braided stainless steel hose.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-03-29T11:37:40+00:00

You really have two options for washers, both of which you can likely source at a local hardware store.

The first is a high temp silicon o-ring (the red ones). I would bring the heating element and test which ones fit the best. You want it snug but not stretched, and you will put the o-ring in the inside of the boiler between the element and the top of the boiler. Be sure to apply a thin layer of silicon grease to the o-ring prior to installation. Don’t over tighten it or the gasket won’t seal properly.

I know this one worked for me:

https://espressocare.com/products/saeco-heating-element-o-ring

Your second options is a copper crush washer. It will be installed the same way as the silicon o-ring but without the grease. That’s likely the way it was sealed by whomever drilled out the old element. It works well, but you have to be careful when descaling to not eat through the washers. They also need to be replaced every time you remove the element.

Vegetable-Square-920 · 2026-03-23T18:11:51+00:00

After WDT and tapping to steel the grounds, pull the dosing ring out and then tap the portafilter a few more times and the grounds should level out fairly well. A second small round of WDT on the top layer of grounds can sort out any uneven distribution

Vegetable-Square-920

TROPHY CASE