Mini Vivaldi II manufactured 2009

[oton]

My new Mini Vivaldi II it's here (not from ChrisCoffee). It's from 2009. I made some exterior and some interior pics because there are some things that I dont' know if are normal.











It comes with water softener:




Interior top picture. Click to maximize




What's the "On Off" switch???




When I turn on the machine and the steam boiler is heating, suddenly this ¿pressure valve? release some steam and water drops. Is this normal??



As you can see the blue cable got some water drops and it touchs the valve that its very very hot.. can it be dangerous?

[JohnB]

On/Off switch is for the timer. The S1V2 uses a plastic cover over the steam valve so the water doesn't spray around when the boiler heats but it doesn't have the cup surrounding the valve like your Mini. Any water on the wire insulation will quickly evaporate with the cup warmer cover in place so I don't see it as an issue.

It looks like you could move the blue wire back out of the way if you were concerned.

[Endo]

Sweet! The "La Spaziale" back looks super nice when it's displayed on a counter. Wish I had the room to do this.

Nice choice on the Compak K3 Touch too. Matches very nicely.

My Mini is new as well. It was made in October 2008 and is the Mini-Vivaldi (not the II).

It has all the new features like the new side panel attachments, valve cup (much better than the plastic scotchtape IMO). Only mine doesn't have the dual manometer. But I could add it for $100 with a new front panel according to Chris. But I kinda like the PF gauge I made for now (a fun and cheap little project). Gauges are kind of "set and forget".

Also, I think yours has the 1C increments on top. Right? I know I can buy the sticker, but I wonder if mine can actually display in 1C? I think I would prefer that. I can do the 1C, just not display it. It would be great if there was simply some button combo that would do this without removing the board.

What tip does your steam arm come with? Mine came with 3 hole tip but I bought the 4 hole as well.

I like the BestCup resevoir filter/softener. It gets me from 150 ppm down to 50 ppm. Let me know where you get replacements cartridges. I haven't found an online source in North America yet.

What does your diffuser disk look like. Mine came with the thicker 13mm with the holes offset in a circle. I bought the thinner 11mm as well with the holes in a circle.

The brass cup surrounds the "vacuum breaker" you'll hear it close up when the water in the steam boiler starts to steam after bought 3 minutes. Once it closes (a sudden stop in hissing), your boiler starts pressurizing and you'll see the the pressure build on your gauge. The cup is there to contain the water droplets that shoot out during hissing. Since it is hot, the water in the cup evapouates quickly. When you boiler is turned off, this valve opens (no noise) to remove the vacuum pressure that would result from cooling down.

Your blue wire powers the left side of the heating element in your boiler. On my machine this wire is white. Your clip looks like it was mistakenly put on backwards. Look at the white wire at the left corner of my picture here (near the yellow arrow). This gives it more room to go around the cup:

http://www.s1cafe.com./viewtopic.php?f=35&t=1010

I'd pull it off at the boiler and flip it around the other way to give you more room around the cup. Water droplets might run down it to the connection and could cause some problems if left as is. UNPLUG YOUR MACHINE BEFORE YOU REMOVE IT.

[oton]

Thank you guys for the answers. :)

Also, I think yours has the 1C increments on top. Right?

Yep. 1ºC increment.

What tip does your steam arm come with? Mine came with 3 hole tip but I bought the 4 hole as well.

4 hole tip. I think is .9 mm, but not sure.

What does your diffuser disk look like. Mine came with the thicker 13mm with the holes offset in a circle. I bought the thinner 11mm as well with the holes in a circle.

It's the 13mm holes offset.

I'd pull it off at the boiler and flip it around the other way to give you more room around the cup.

yep, thats what i've done.

...

My god... thats more difficult than I thought. Horrible shots.

Look at this:



LOL. Why this happens? I fill the single basket with 7.0 gr. Tamp with Espro. Brew 25-30ml in 25 sec, but watery, bad taste (not sure if it's sour ot bitter, or the 2 at same time, lol)

[Endo]

Single basket? Nobody uses this (except some old Italians). Only doubles.

Use about 16 or 17g in the double basket. Grind fine enough for about 30 sec for 1 to1.5 oz. I can tell by your puck that your grind is WAY to coarse.

[chas]

Oton:

I've never seen anything like that. You sure you didn't put brownie mix in the basket instead of coffee?

[Endo]

The single basket has less friction on the edges than a double basket (nice cone shape like you'd use on a mould). If you forget to empty your PF right after your shot (because you are too excited about your new machine ), it will get baked on and this could happen.

[oton]

Double basket, more dose and coarser grind fixed the problem (at least for now) Thanks.

I have a problem with S. Callaghan tools. The idea behind this tools seems to me great, but it does not work for me... or I do something wrong...

I fill the PF and with the #30 tool I remove the excess of coffee, however the shower screen still touches the coffee.


(the pic is after the brew, but before the shower screen had already touched)


This is due to the 53mm spaziale design and the S1 double shower screen?+

+

Could anyone tell if the steamwand tip is the 1.2mm or 0.9?

[Endo]

Double basket, more dose and coarser grind fixed the problem (at least for now) Thanks.

Grind finer I think you mean?

I have a problem with S. Callaghan tools. The idea behind this tools seems to me great, but it does not work for me... or I do something wrong...

I fill the PF and with the #30 tool I remove the excess of coffee, however the shower screen still touches the coffee.

This is due to the 53mm spaziale design and the S1 double shower screen?

You should not see the screen in the puck (only the screw head). In my opinion, the large holes in the Vivaldi screen make it vital to get some distance (headspace) between the screen and coffee.

You are probably settling the coffee grounds too much during dosing (tapping the PF down for example). It looks like you are dosing about 1g too much. If you do this settling and use the #30 tool, you will get too much coffee since it won't be as compressible with a 30 lb tamp. The best way to control this is too get a digital scale (like the $11 one I have ):

http://www.dealextreme.com/details.dx/sku.1165

If you don't have a scale, another way to tell is to look at how far your tamper compresses into the PF. With the Espro, you should have the top of the tamper at the same height as the rim of the basket (or just a tiny bit below) with the 30 lb tamp.

You can also get an additonal 2mm headspace by switching to the thinner 11mm diffuser disk.

Don't give up.

Make sure you calibrate your tastebuds as well by trying a great espresso from a very good pro cafe. I've heard many people coming from super-autos using weak Lavazza (or from stale pods) who when tasting a REAL espresso say it tastes "bitter" or "sour". They just prefer weak coffee....which is fine...but you won't get that from a Vivaldi, it makes rich traditional espresso.

Could anyone tell if the steamwand tip is the 1.2mm or 0.9?

Hard to tell. I think all the 4 hole tips are 0.9mm now but I might be wrong. Here is mine:

4 hole 0.9mm tip

viv_tip.JPG (23.4 KiB) Viewed 13416 times

Good microfoam steaming with a powerful tip takes a LOT of practice!