FOB! Need help to set up,break-in VII,grinder,Black cat,Illy

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Cafesp

FOB! Need help to set up,break-in VII,grinder,Black cat,Illy

Post by Cafesp »

Happy Holidays to All,
Thanks All for posting and sharing,
After months of enjoy reading, i'm happily camping here to announce to all of you that VII, Cimbali Max Hybrid jr. and Black Cat coming to town!!!
Do i need to OPEN VII to CHECK for wiring ?
Do i need to Break-in VII and Cimbali grinder?
What temp., grinder setting for Blackcat, Illy dark roast and Illy Decaf.
Any tips for set up, plumbing
FYI i got 20A VII, Softener& Filter system, Pressure Regulator valve, Water pressure gauge, all from Chris, i have hard water supplied.
Thanks advance for your time
Nathan
Niko

Post by Niko »

Cafesp wrote: Do i need to OPEN VII to CHECK for wiring ?
Do i need to Break-in VII and Cimbali grinder?
What temp., grinder setting for Blackcat, Illy dark roast and Illy Decaf.
Any tips for set up, plumbing
I wouldn't open the machine for anything except to adjust the manometer which might arrive crooked. If you're so inclined to remove anything else, only one screw holds the warming tray on top for a quick peek inside. I'd leave the side panels alone unless you have a lot of time on your hands.
Run several blank shots through to flush the group and purge the steam boiler by filling a pitcher several times with the hot water spigot. As for the grinder, maybe season it by grinding a shot and throwing it away.

Congrats and welcome to the S1 Cafe!
MDL
Barista
Posts: 329
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 11:29 am
Location: San Diego

Post by MDL »

sounds like a great setup.

Be sure to flush the water softener/filter setup before you connect it to the VII; you have to be sure that you dump carbon fines and or particulates down the drain instead of into your machine.

I have some extra John Guest shutoff valves in my system so that I can flush cartridges and test the water without having to disconnect the machine. My suggestion is to put a John guest "T" after your softener and carbon cartridges. Put a shutoff after the "T" and before your pressure regulator/guage and before the run to your machine. Also put a shutoff onto the extra leg of the "T" that you will use to flush cartridges into a bucket and to obtain test water.

If you search for posts of mine you will find links to sources for inexpensive replacement cartridges in Souther CA and also for water hardness test strips that I think are better than the ones that Chris sells (finer gradations in reading).

Take care and good luck with your setup!
Mark
Mario

some settings

Post by Mario »

I use 94 degrees Centigrade for both Intelligensia and Illy. On a Mazzer Mini E I set the grinder 3 notches finer than the mark for Black Cat regular and 4 notches left of the mark for Black Cat Decaf. For Illy Decaf I set the grinder to 5-6 notches left of the mark.
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