Ye Olde Starbucks Barista (Saeco SIN 006) Trouble

[aroaster83]

I've been wasting too much coffee trying to calibrate this thing and wondered if anyone had a benchmark for success I could start at before playing around further.

Equipment:

• Baratza Virtuoso
• Naked Portafilter 53mm replacement
• Refurb SBUX Barista (Saeco SIN006) with new gasket, descaled, replaced parts by moi, etc

Method:

• Virtuoso screw in the "fine" slot closest to the "medium" slot (no idea what those are called)
• Grinder set to 4
• The portafilter can hold 20g if I stuff it full but I using the method I've used on commercial machines, ~15/16g. So I go with 15/16g
• Flush the portafilter with hot water, grind, tamp.
• Hit the steam button for 5 seconds to get water temp up a few more degrees
• Insert, brew

I'm getting a divot in the center of the puck and sour pulls. I've tried just about everything. I bought this machine because it actually can pull crazy nice shots and steam milk relatively well. I've had beautiful espresso off of these. I can't seem to nail it.

 

[aroaster83]

I did a ton of experiments and came to a problem with brew temperature. Whatever caused the drop, I am not sure and am open to recommendations before I tear the thing apart and investigate how the system shuts off/turns on heating. Anyways, the highest temperature I could get was 182 by turning the system on, waiting for the green brew light, and waiting 10 seconds. The lowest temperature I recorded was 174 which was waiting 10 full minutes after the green brew light came on. Median out of 10 separate methods was 179.