Hi there BX'ers, I just have a quick question for any of you La Marzocco Linea owners or users out there, I'm struggling with getting good results when steaming smaller quantities of milk and wondering what other Linea owners are setting their steam boiler pressure to.

I think I'm around 1.5 bar, which is probably about the max you'd want to go, but I'm just curious as to where you've found is good to achieve nice milk for single drinks.

Obviously the steam tip is a factor here as well, so any steam tip advice would be helpful as well, I've changed out the stock tips long ago but still can't achieve the same results on this machine as I can on many others.

 

Cheers Troy.

 

Note: This discussion is now closed, thanks to the contributors.

Brady I think you got the wrong end of the steam wand on this one though.

I'm totally open to the discussion going off-topic, but you've come off sounding a little hostile in your remarks and possibly misinterpreted something here.

I just found a diagram from LM which shows steam boiler water temperature at 110 degrees C at 1.4 Bar, whereas a single boiler is the same temperature at 1.2 Bar.

So to achieve the same steam dryness, LM requires a higher setting.

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You know, there's something I don't get about this discussion.  Typical boiler settings on heat-exchange machines are in the 1.0-1.2 range.  I understand that 1.5 is not an uncommon steam boiler setting for LM machines, but that is 50% higher than for hX machines.

 

Why is that?

 

Also, if you are struggling with overly high steaming "power", why would you not turn down steam pressure?

 

Not disagreeing at all with the idea that tip hole diameter and quantity will have a larger effect on steam quantity and velocity, but surely a 25-50% reduction in pressure would do something?

Troy,

 

The reason that most HX machines run at 1-1,2 bar is because, otherwise the water will be to hot to use for brewing.

La Marzocco, by separating the boilers, can run 1.3-1.5 range for its normal range. The pressure relief is designed to open to 1.7 or 1.8.

Control of the steam I believe is the issue, not the strength or volume that the machine produces.

The tip that I use on my Linia2AV is from espresso parts NW and does help me to create better microfoam. also for smaller quantities of milk I simply do not turn the valve on as quickly or fully.

 

Hope this helps,   Eric

 

Thanks,

I think this topic has been well and truly exhausted now, it was only intended as a quick question pertaining to LM Linea specifically.

Perhaps if people need help with their specific machine, they should post in the approriate forum or start a new discussion. Thanks for all the clarification from those working with the Linea, I believe the new tip will help control the steam to better effect. I should point out that I've owned this machine for a couple of years now and tried different boiler pressure settings without seeing too much difference, hence the original question.

Troy


james eric needham said:

Troy,

 

The reason that most HX machines run at 1-1,2 bar is because, otherwise the water will be to hot to use for brewing.

La Marzocco, by separating the boilers, can run 1.3-1.5 range for its normal range. The pressure relief is designed to open to 1.7 or 1.8.

Control of the steam I believe is the issue, not the strength or volume that the machine produces.

The tip that I use on my Linia2AV is from espresso parts NW and does help me to create better microfoam. also for smaller quantities of milk I simply do not turn the valve on as quickly or fully.

 

Hope this helps,   Eric

 

Funny thing about discussion forum topics... they tend to range a little beyond the original post.  That's what makes them worthwhile for those of us in the community though, otherwise it would be kinda like we were all working at some sort of coffee help desk.

 

So sorry that Eric confused my question for yours.  How embarrassing!

 

If you are going to hang out here, I suggest that you figure out how to be ok with other people being part of the conversations you start.  If you want a one-on-one with La Marzocco the phone number is on their website.

 

My question was in response to Scott's post, though anyone that knows lots about La Marzocco machines is certainly welcome to jump in.  It's something I've always wondered about, was on the original topic, and it seemed like a good opportunity to ask... haven't seen Scott around before.
This discussion is now closed, at the request of the O.P.

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