I'm using the Steel Duo PID for about a week now and I reaally loving it! This is my first espresso machine EVER and I know I set the bar quite high with it but I learn so many things from youtube that I didnt want to start on a lower point. My 4th shot was already pretty good. From 18g of coffee I got 38g of coffee in 35s. Still lot to learn but I already know that with the Steel DUO PID it will be a lot of fun!
Great point regarding the OPV and its affect on the volumetric measurement. The issue with what you suggested is that if the opv isn't activated (set to 11 bar), the pump will push the water in relation to its natural curve (pump curve). This means that at 9 bar you probably won't hit the required flow. The flow will probably be to high, much higher than the desired 1.2-1.4 mL/sec.
I am pleased with my DUO. I am hoping that Ascaso gets a retrofit for the steam wand upgrade that the DUO PLUS has, because I feel like that is the only thing that is missing. Thanks, Justin, for always giving such great overall reviews and feedback.
Your videos are great. Got this maching a few weeks back and you were super helpful on IG. Keep up the killer work. Also, mine shipped with the 20 amp adapter as well.
changing the outlet is a really really easy job since most household circuits are 20 amp even if they have a 15 amp plug (my breaker box had it labeled as 20 AMP)...I did it and it took a trip home depot and a few minutes... don't sweat it. An electrician would likely do the job for less than $200 since it's a 5 min job for them.
I feel like dual boilers are overkill for home, unless you are a 5-6+ people household and make 8-10 shots and milk drinks daily. Just too much energy to waste otherwise. I got a Mara X 3-4 months ago, which is a bit more forgiving from that aspect and I'm the only coffee drinker at home. I make matchas and hot chocolates for the family. Highly recommend it and I have been loving it! 😊
Hsve the black dual plus for newrly a year now (in UK) and love it. Only QC problem (knock on wood) is the drip tray brackets falling off, which i glued but it didnt last long. They now have a fix they send you but its a bit of a DIY. Other than that love the machine.
Nice vid, yet again dude. I certainly have this on my shortlist for new machine sometime for in the next year or so. How’s it stack up against the rancilio silvia pro x?
I just got one of these as my first ever home espresso and I have been generally very happy with it. The opv is a bit odd but i typically pull shots manually anyway, so the volumetric on the machine isn't as important to me.
I think one of the advantages of the plus over the regular steel versions is the selection of actually usable baskets. If you buy the regular one and upgrade the portafilter and the baskets, you‘ve already spent the price difference…
I met Ascaso engineer in September. I told him about the issue of 20A/ 15A. I believe Ascaso would figure out a solution of this matter. I personally like the aesthetic of Ascaso very much. I used a Baby T plus in one catering event for over 200 shots. The technology and the built quality gave me of confident. The thermoblock which Ascaso uses is not something used in cheap machines. The material is high quality stainless-steel.
I set the single shot to run just long enough to flush the group head. I push down to pull the shot, then once is done, I take out the portafilter, and press up so it flushes while i dump the puck.
Yeah, the aesthetics drove my purchase more than anything. Everything else in this price range is ugly and almost all of them only come in chrome. I got the steel duo PID and it has been miles better than my previous sub $1k machines. It looks great, heats up fast, and is super easy to use. I really like that you can steam a drink, close the valve (but leave the pump on), wipe the steam arm, and then purge. I could never do that before. As you mentioned, the hot water outlet is fantastic as well. My wife made a tea with our electric kettle and it was too hot to drink for like 10 minutes. My tea was hot but drinkable by the time I got enough water out. I only use one basket, so I programmed up for decaf. That lets me use the same grind setting for regular and decaf. My wife hated the price, but loves the coffee. It's consistently better than any we can buy around here. We're saving $5-7 x2 basically every morning, so it's paying for itself quickly.
I have owned the Duo (Black) along with a matching Varia VS3 for about 18 months. I agree with the negative points that you have made but none of them really bother me The machine heats up quickly (I run a blank shot through to help heat up the group head while I'm grinding my first dose) I love the adjustability even though it's a bit quirky. I would say the one slightly bothersome point is the vibration, some times it's very loud. Honestly the quality of delicious coffee that you can make is extremely satisfying. I bought mine after discovering your channel so thanks from the West Coast!
If you use a bottomless portafilter, the heating time reduces a lot because the coffee exiting the basket isn't hitting any portafilter parts, so it doesn't lose heat. In short, using a bottomless, you just need to heat up the basket and not the portafilter.
They’re all very similar. The dream may have a slightly different tone on account of the different case, but I would need to run them side by side to know for sure
I will probably have ordered a Steel Duo Plus by the time you read this, but are there any other premium thermoblock machines in the same price/quality range?
Do you have any contact with Ascaso? The reason I’m asking is that I have a super simple but game changing suggestion: they should add an identical lever opposite the steam pressure lever that controls a simple ball valve past the over pressure valve on the pipe, right where the little U shape of the copper pipe runs along the left side of the housing. They could attach the valve to the case and use a second wood handled lever to control it. It would essentially be the Slayer Mod for this machine. Super simple addition but would make this a no brainer endgame machine. I’d already have bought one if they added that to the latest version of the duo. Please see if you can pass my suggestion along! It’s actually a simple mod for a plumber like myself so I may do it on my own if they aren’t interested. Maybe I’ll buy the handle upgrade you said was hard to get from Ascaso, or a replacement wooden dial from the previous gen and modify it myself. The only problem would be the OPV. You’d probably trip it by reducing the flow. Something for the engineers to work out…
I am a little confused by the pricing. I bought a Dream PID for $1250 and now it is $1445. Their pricing seems to outpace inflation. I wonder if it is supply chain or Ascaso taking advantage of the popularity?
I'm confused. All they had to do was to put flowmeter right after OPV before the heater. Explanation that flowmeter is to be used as a total water flow is basically using it as a timer, which defeats the purpose.
Yeah. It’s a pretty strange oversight for engineering. I had the exact same thought. Seems like an easy fix. It would be interesting to hear from the engineers about why they didn’t modify that for this generation. They had their reasons I guess.
Thanks for the review! $365 CAD seems like a steep price increase over the DUO PID for what you get. I see that the bottomless PF is $233 on Ascaso Canada website, which seems very steep.
I think this depends where you live. In North America the Bianca is considerably more expensive. In Europe they are more comparable. But for me, the Bianca is in another tier price wise. (Almost 50% more expensive!)
Bianca owner here. I love the machine and have been really impressed by its serviceability. The performance is flawless. Rotary pumps are so quiet and have a pleasant, low-frequency sound. I rarely flow profile, but it is awesome to have it when I want a light roast. As for warmup time, I have it plugged into a smart plug and set up automation in Apple HomeKit. It starts up 30 minutes before I wake up everyday and is ready to roll when I get to the kitchen. If I was in the market today, I’d go with the Bianca again. It is still the only machine (I know of) that has flow control, rotary pumps, and dual boilers for less than $5,000.
@@pnw_jordan the profitec Drive has the same features as the bianca at around 2700 Euros in my country. Currently deciding if the better build quality is worth the extra 600 Euros. Style wise and haptics wise I like em both.
I ordered this machine after watching your review on the duo. I was thinking about getting a cheap machine for the office. What do you think about that new ninja?
I think the reason why the flow meter is plumbed before the OPV is because the volumetrics are meant to be reset after you change coffees. So you dial in a shot, set the volumetric using that shot and it's kind of expected that if all parameters are constant then the water that's released through the OPV remains constant as well. But I agree that this is not intuitive at all and this would make not want to use the volumetrics on this machine.
Great review…looking at this machine hard but biggest concern for me is the 20 amp vs 15 amp my kitchen is. We also travel with our machine at times so concerned this may be a problem or even unsafe on 15 amps?
I have had mine on a 15 amp circuit with an adapter for about 2 months now. You lose some steam power, but otherwise it doesn't matter. Just make sure you order the adapter online. I couldn't find one at home depot, Lowes, or Ace hardware anywhere in the KC area.
@@chadjensen7248 yes, but I usually don't. The time saved is negligible, and I'm usually gathering all the stuff for steaming still while I'm pulling a shot.
I found that by grinding coarser the pressure cannot be dropped to 9bar if the OPV is set to 11bar. In this case the espresso flows just much faster and no proper extraction takes place. I've set the OPV to 10bar currently.
I found that most of the time if I got the grind perfect it could work, but I would still hit the OPV often enough to throw the volumetrics. So I still tend to pull fully manually.
@@DaddyGotCoffeehave to say, love the toggles. Love that the presets are on one toggle, up and down. Don’t love that there’s no dedicated manual toggle. Holding the preset toggle for 30ish seconds for every shot would irritate. Plus, is it just me, or are the toggle upside down? Shouldn’t “on” be up?
They do make a 15 amp version through some sellers now. I have one. From everything I've seen and been told, the only disadvantage is that steaming milk may take a few extra seconds if you are doing both at the same time. In virtually every other scenario there is no difference.
@@DaddyGotCoffee interesting! Does that version have the Plus features but only 1 thermoblock? Edit: I see the website says dual thermoblock even for the 15A version. I guess the question is, what's the benefit of dual thermoblock if you can only use one at a time? Extra cost for little benefit.
@@cruiser33 The advantage with the dual blocks/boilers, you don’t have to cool the block after steaming to pull your next shot. With a single block or boiler machine, you pull your shot (at say 94C), increase the temperature to steam (at say 125C), steam your milk, then cool the block/boiler temp back down to 94C for your next shot. On my cheap, crappy machine (with a thermoblock), the cooling from steam temp to brewing temp either takes 10 minutes or I have to flush a ton of water through either the steam wand, or the group. Since I’m using purchased distilled water, treated with Third Wave Water Espresso blend, I don’t like wasting the water. Most days for me, this isn’t really an issue, as I’m just making an espresso or two, or an espresso and a cortado just for me. But on weekends, I may be making up to 4 milk drinks back to back. The solution then is to brew all the espressos, then start steaming. Some kind of dual heating machine is on my radar for the future, but most are WAY outside my budget. The MiiCoffee Apex/Turin Legato are looking good for me.
@@coreycannon4511 Thanks for this! Maybe dumb question: my breville barista express has a single thermoblock and I can go from shot to steam and back to shot relatively quickly. Why are you seeing 10min cooldown times on your single thermoblock machine?
@@cruiser33 Can you? If I steam, then change back to brew temperature, any water coming out of the group is more steam than water for around 10 minutes. This is the time it takes for the high heat from steaming to dissipate. Similar to when you turn off an electric stove element, the “caution hot” light stays on for some minutes while the element slowly cools. I can speed up this cooling time on my machine by running water through the block after turning the steam off. I can either run it through the group (flushing) by pulling a shot with no portafilter in place, or I can do it through the wand by turning the steam knob on with the steam mode off. Perhaps some single thermoblock machines do this automatically when steam mode is disengaged, flushing fresh water through the block to cool it and then directing it elsewhere, say through the 3 way solenoid (my machine doesn’t have one) directly into the drip tray. Or maybe even back into the reservoir. I don’t know the subtle workings of your machine, to be honest. Unfortunately, in the reviews nobody has ever talked about those sorts of details. I’ve watched a few hundred espresso machine reviews, but still didn’t know ALL the ins and outs of how the workflow on my machine would work until I got it home and played with it.
When it gets to a more sensible price of 1000$ and stops rattling like a 300$ Breville Bambino 😤😤😤 i might consider it. Also why not a 10second preinfusion capability? Some like their pucks extra wet.
I have the first version steel duo pid ( no knob on the side ) i’ve used it daily for 3 years. Still work like a horse. However, the volumetric fonction is not a real volumetric. ( like you mentioned) It’s not consistent. So everyday, i pull my shots by holding down the toggle switch. Cheers!
Yeah if you hit the OPV ceiling at all it will impact your volumetrics, which is likely why it comes from the factory set at 11 bar but this also makes it trickier to dial in the grind perfectly. Honestly I tend to use the switch over the volumetrics unless I have a half dozen family members over and lined up for cappuccinos
You can set the volumetric time to for example 50 seconds and then you start the shot with pressing the switch once and then when you want to end the shot again. Like this you don't have to hold the switch during the extracion.
@@gggeeeooorrrggg in my case, the machine is used by my wife and my oldest child. These 2 use the « volumetric » fonction because they aren’t coffee nerds like me.
The stainless color is terrible. I had one (it was mislabeled as white online) and returned it immediately. It looks like a chunk of metal and is very bland. I eventually sold my Ascaso Duo because of the lack of flow control. I do like the Duo a lot and if they ever introduce flow control then I’d probably go back to it, but for now I’m sticking with my Bezzera Aria Top.
Can I set the extraction time to a long time and manually stop an extraction when my scale says I've reached my desired extraction or, do I need to hold the button for the whole time I'm doing an extraction?
That is exactly the way to go and how I do it on my Steel Duo PID! Then you just need to push the switch down shortly to start the shot and again shortly once as it reached your desired output.
Pretty impressive features for the price? I would say it's quite overpriced. Volumetrics, preinfusion, pressure gauge, pid.. 3 times cheaper DeLonghi Opera has that. I think all these semi professional coffee machines are overpriced. Basically it's just a water heater and a pump. I bought this one recently for $2300 (it's more expensive in my country) and it was faulty right from the beginning. Returned it and I will never spend so much money on a overpriced coffee machine again.
I'm using the Steel Duo PID for about a week now and I reaally loving it! This is my first espresso machine EVER and I know I set the bar quite high with it but I learn so many things from youtube that I didnt want to start on a lower point. My 4th shot was already pretty good. From 18g of coffee I got 38g of coffee in 35s. Still lot to learn but I already know that with the Steel DUO PID it will be a lot of fun!
Great point regarding the OPV and its affect on the volumetric measurement.
The issue with what you suggested is that if the opv isn't activated (set to 11 bar), the pump will push the water in relation to its natural curve (pump curve). This means that at 9 bar you probably won't hit the required flow. The flow will probably be to high, much higher than the desired 1.2-1.4 mL/sec.
I am pleased with my DUO. I am hoping that Ascaso gets a retrofit for the steam wand upgrade that the DUO PLUS has, because I feel like that is the only thing that is missing. Thanks, Justin, for always giving such great overall reviews and feedback.
Your videos are great. Got this maching a few weeks back and you were super helpful on IG. Keep up the killer work. Also, mine shipped with the 20 amp adapter as well.
The Plus comes with both the double spouted and bottomless portafilters in the box!
Thank you Cory! Mine didn't but it was a demo unit. Just confirmed and edit incoming:)
@@DaddyGotCoffeeNice! I own this machine and your review was very fair otherwise. The extra portafilter really boosts the value add.
Agreed! Especially given that the Ascaso version is so expensive otherwise.
haha ..I wish my Baby T came with a bottomless...had to buy it and it was not cheap
changing the outlet is a really really easy job since most household circuits are 20 amp even if they have a 15 amp plug (my breaker box had it labeled as 20 AMP)...I did it and it took a trip home depot and a few minutes... don't sweat it. An electrician would likely do the job for less than $200 since it's a 5 min job for them.
Thank you! I’m debating between this and single or dual boiler setup. Keep coming back to this.
Feel free to leave any questions for other owners to chime in too! ☺️☕️
I feel like dual boilers are overkill for home, unless you are a 5-6+ people household and make 8-10 shots and milk drinks daily. Just too much energy to waste otherwise. I got a Mara X 3-4 months ago, which is a bit more forgiving from that aspect and I'm the only coffee drinker at home. I make matchas and hot chocolates for the family. Highly recommend it and I have been loving it! 😊
Also I forgot to mention, that I did put a flow control on it. ☕
The best single boiler (with rotary pump) is the ECM Mechanika Max.
Here’s hoping breville replaces their dual boiler machine with a dual jet.
Would you prefer the ascaso duo more than a dual boiler something like the anticipated profitec move? And why?
Great review!! would you recommend this over the Oracle Jet?
If anything, this definitely convinced me that the Dream is all I would ever need 😅
When you compare the whole line, you really start to see the value of the dream
Hsve the black dual plus for newrly a year now (in UK) and love it. Only QC problem (knock on wood) is the drip tray brackets falling off, which i glued but it didnt last long. They now have a fix they send you but its a bit of a DIY. Other than that love the machine.
Nice vid, yet again dude. I certainly have this on my shortlist for new machine sometime for in the next year or so. How’s it stack up against the rancilio silvia pro x?
I just got one of these as my first ever home espresso and I have been generally very happy with it. The opv is a bit odd but i typically pull shots manually anyway, so the volumetric on the machine isn't as important to me.
I think one of the advantages of the plus over the regular steel versions is the selection of actually usable baskets. If you buy the regular one and upgrade the portafilter and the baskets, you‘ve already spent the price difference…
I met Ascaso engineer in September. I told him about the issue of 20A/ 15A. I believe Ascaso would figure out a solution of this matter.
I personally like the aesthetic of Ascaso very much. I used a Baby T plus in one catering event for over 200 shots. The technology and the built quality gave me of confident.
The thermoblock which Ascaso uses is not something used in cheap machines. The material is high quality stainless-steel.
I like the look of this machine the best. Still deciding if buy this now or wait for the Profitec Mice in a few months.
Profitec move is better
@@mryoyo7741 why?
@@mryoyo7741 how so?
I set the single shot to run just long enough to flush the group head. I push down to pull the shot, then once is done, I take out the portafilter, and press up so it flushes while i dump the puck.
I use only my Pullman 17-19 basket and I set the double shot for my regular espresso and the "single" for my decaf.
Hopefully the Linea Mini R review comes out soon. Hopefully before Black Friday 🤞🏽
Yeah, the aesthetics drove my purchase more than anything. Everything else in this price range is ugly and almost all of them only come in chrome.
I got the steel duo PID and it has been miles better than my previous sub $1k machines. It looks great, heats up fast, and is super easy to use. I really like that you can steam a drink, close the valve (but leave the pump on), wipe the steam arm, and then purge. I could never do that before.
As you mentioned, the hot water outlet is fantastic as well. My wife made a tea with our electric kettle and it was too hot to drink for like 10 minutes. My tea was hot but drinkable by the time I got enough water out.
I only use one basket, so I programmed up for decaf. That lets me use the same grind setting for regular and decaf.
My wife hated the price, but loves the coffee. It's consistently better than any we can buy around here. We're saving $5-7 x2 basically every morning, so it's paying for itself quickly.
If you had to choose between ascasco steel duo pid or the profitec pro 300, which one would you choose?
Love the reviews but dude, it’s In-ox not I-nox. It’s just an alternative term for stainless steel. It doesn’t oxidise
In spanish is inoxidable, so I think it comes from a latin term or something.
I have owned the Duo (Black) along with a matching Varia VS3 for about 18 months. I agree with the negative points that you have made but none of them really bother me The machine heats up quickly (I run a blank shot through to help heat up the group head while I'm grinding my first dose) I love the adjustability even though it's a bit quirky. I would say the one slightly bothersome point is the vibration, some times it's very loud. Honestly the quality of delicious coffee that you can make is extremely satisfying. I bought mine after discovering your channel so thanks from the West Coast!
If you use a bottomless portafilter, the heating time reduces a lot because the coffee exiting the basket isn't hitting any portafilter parts, so it doesn't lose heat. In short, using a bottomless, you just need to heat up the basket and not the portafilter.
Yes, I do use a bottomless portafilter and it does speed up the warmup time.
Is the Ascaso Dream PID or the Steel Uno as quiet as the Duo or is louder? Love the video by the way!
They’re all very similar. The dream may have a slightly different tone on account of the different case, but I would need to run them side by side to know for sure
Its interesting that both home water heaters and espresso machines are having this move away from water tank heating and to this coil idea.
I still think you should get a GC and do the gaggiuino mod. You're so into the internals and testing and everything!
I will probably have ordered a Steel Duo Plus by the time you read this, but are there any other premium thermoblock machines in the same price/quality range?
I see that you have a flow sensor like the Bookoo in one of your tests, do you think it's possible to integrate it like on the E61 machines?
Anything is possible but with an all metal hot water path it would be a little work
Curiously the machines ship in Canada with a 15 amp plug. Does this limit steaming performance?
Do you have any contact with Ascaso? The reason I’m asking is that I have a super simple but game changing suggestion: they should add an identical lever opposite the steam pressure lever that controls a simple ball valve past the over pressure valve on the pipe, right where the little U shape of the copper pipe runs along the left side of the housing. They could attach the valve to the case and use a second wood handled lever to control it. It would essentially be the Slayer Mod for this machine. Super simple addition but would make this a no brainer endgame machine.
I’d already have bought one if they added that to the latest version of the duo. Please see if you can pass my suggestion along! It’s actually a simple mod for a plumber like myself so I may do it on my own if they aren’t interested. Maybe I’ll buy the handle upgrade you said was hard to get from Ascaso, or a replacement wooden dial from the previous gen and modify it myself. The only problem would be the OPV. You’d probably trip it by reducing the flow. Something for the engineers to work out…
I am a little confused by the pricing. I bought a Dream PID for $1250 and now it is $1445. Their pricing seems to outpace inflation. I wonder if it is supply chain or Ascaso taking advantage of the popularity?
I'm confused. All they had to do was to put flowmeter right after OPV before the heater. Explanation that flowmeter is to be used as a total water flow is basically using it as a timer, which defeats the purpose.
Yeah that way it could be a much more certain way of controlling a programmable shot.
Yeah. It’s a pretty strange oversight for engineering. I had the exact same thought. Seems like an easy fix. It would be interesting to hear from the engineers about why they didn’t modify that for this generation. They had their reasons I guess.
Who makes that tamping cradle?😊
Also, where can you buy the duo plus steam upgrade kit? I can’t even find it as a product listed anywhere
17:37 what is your tattoo? Is it in Hebrew? I try to ask Claude AI what it was and it just told me it says TDN.
Thanks for the review!
$365 CAD seems like a steep price increase over the DUO PID for what you get. I see that the bottomless PF is $233 on Ascaso Canada website, which seems very steep.
The bottomless PF is included with the plus!
@DaddyGotCoffee yes! I meant to say that the PF probably accounts for most of the increase in price.
Not to mention being perpetually out of stock.
If heat up time does not matter to me, why not the bianca instead? Especially if I like the looks more.
I think this depends where you live. In North America the Bianca is considerably more expensive. In Europe they are more comparable. But for me, the Bianca is in another tier price wise. (Almost 50% more expensive!)
Bianca owner here. I love the machine and have been really impressed by its serviceability. The performance is flawless. Rotary pumps are so quiet and have a pleasant, low-frequency sound. I rarely flow profile, but it is awesome to have it when I want a light roast.
As for warmup time, I have it plugged into a smart plug and set up automation in Apple HomeKit. It starts up 30 minutes before I wake up everyday and is ready to roll when I get to the kitchen.
If I was in the market today, I’d go with the Bianca again. It is still the only machine (I know of) that has flow control, rotary pumps, and dual boilers for less than $5,000.
See also, the Lucca M58 👀
@@DaddyGotCoffee thats expensive! I live in Europe and both machines have nearly the same price here.
@@pnw_jordan the profitec Drive has the same features as the bianca at around 2700 Euros in my country. Currently deciding if the better build quality is worth the extra 600 Euros. Style wise and haptics wise I like em both.
Forgot to mention the pre infusion feature and how that works on the machine.
nice to see some coffee local to colorado!
PID for boiler? Is that not standard for any PID machine. My Gaggia PID upgrade has a setting for the steamer...
I ordered this machine after watching your review on the duo. I was thinking about getting a cheap machine for the office. What do you think about that new ninja?
I think the reason why the flow meter is plumbed before the OPV is because the volumetrics are meant to be reset after you change coffees.
So you dial in a shot, set the volumetric using that shot and it's kind of expected that if all parameters are constant then the water that's released through the OPV remains constant as well.
But I agree that this is not intuitive at all and this would make not want to use the volumetrics on this machine.
I wondered if the flowmeter wasn't capable of handling pressure? That would do it too. Either way, agreed.
Great review…looking at this machine hard but biggest concern for me is the 20 amp vs 15 amp my kitchen is. We also travel with our machine at times so concerned this may be a problem or even unsafe on 15 amps?
I have had mine on a 15 amp circuit with an adapter for about 2 months now. You lose some steam power, but otherwise it doesn't matter.
Just make sure you order the adapter online. I couldn't find one at home depot, Lowes, or Ace hardware anywhere in the KC area.
@kiaulen can you use steam and pull a shot at the same time on 15v?
@@chadjensen7248 yes, but I usually don't. The time saved is negligible, and I'm usually gathering all the stuff for steaming still while I'm pulling a shot.
@@Kiaulen yeah that makes sense. Thanks for the reply ☺️
if your grind size and prep is consistent, your volumetric output will be consistent. But, I agree they could have made it better
How long will your promo code work? I'm thinking about buying one, but was considering waiting until Black Friday to see if any other deals drop.
It seems that you have a Micra now, how does it compares to it?
I found that by grinding coarser the pressure cannot be dropped to 9bar if the OPV is set to 11bar. In this case the espresso flows just much faster and no proper extraction takes place. I've set the OPV to 10bar currently.
I found that most of the time if I got the grind perfect it could work, but I would still hit the OPV often enough to throw the volumetrics. So I still tend to pull fully manually.
@@DaddyGotCoffeehave to say, love the toggles. Love that the presets are on one toggle, up and down. Don’t love that there’s no dedicated manual toggle. Holding the preset toggle for 30ish seconds for every shot would irritate. Plus, is it just me, or are the toggle upside down? Shouldn’t “on” be up?
They do make a 15 amp version through some sellers now. I have one. From everything I've seen and been told, the only disadvantage is that steaming milk may take a few extra seconds if you are doing both at the same time. In virtually every other scenario there is no difference.
In canada, you cannot steam and pull at the same time on the 15a version
@@DaddyGotCoffee interesting! Does that version have the Plus features but only 1 thermoblock? Edit: I see the website says dual thermoblock even for the 15A version. I guess the question is, what's the benefit of dual thermoblock if you can only use one at a time? Extra cost for little benefit.
@@cruiser33 The advantage with the dual blocks/boilers, you don’t have to cool the block after steaming to pull your next shot. With a single block or boiler machine, you pull your shot (at say 94C), increase the temperature to steam (at say 125C), steam your milk, then cool the block/boiler temp back down to 94C for your next shot. On my cheap, crappy machine (with a thermoblock), the cooling from steam temp to brewing temp either takes 10 minutes or I have to flush a ton of water through either the steam wand, or the group. Since I’m using purchased distilled water, treated with Third Wave Water Espresso blend, I don’t like wasting the water. Most days for me, this isn’t really an issue, as I’m just making an espresso or two, or an espresso and a cortado just for me. But on weekends, I may be making up to 4 milk drinks back to back. The solution then is to brew all the espressos, then start steaming.
Some kind of dual heating machine is on my radar for the future, but most are WAY outside my budget. The MiiCoffee Apex/Turin Legato are looking good for me.
@@coreycannon4511 Thanks for this! Maybe dumb question: my breville barista express has a single thermoblock and I can go from shot to steam and back to shot relatively quickly. Why are you seeing 10min cooldown times on your single thermoblock machine?
@@cruiser33 Can you? If I steam, then change back to brew temperature, any water coming out of the group is more steam than water for around 10 minutes. This is the time it takes for the high heat from steaming to dissipate. Similar to when you turn off an electric stove element, the “caution hot” light stays on for some minutes while the element slowly cools. I can speed up this cooling time on my machine by running water through the block after turning the steam off. I can either run it through the group (flushing) by pulling a shot with no portafilter in place, or I can do it through the wand by turning the steam knob on with the steam mode off. Perhaps some single thermoblock machines do this automatically when steam mode is disengaged, flushing fresh water through the block to cool it and then directing it elsewhere, say through the 3 way solenoid (my machine doesn’t have one) directly into the drip tray. Or maybe even back into the reservoir.
I don’t know the subtle workings of your machine, to be honest. Unfortunately, in the reviews nobody has ever talked about those sorts of details. I’ve watched a few hundred espresso machine reviews, but still didn’t know ALL the ins and outs of how the workflow on my machine would work until I got it home and played with it.
My Mazzer Philos just arrived and it makes the best coffee of my life on the aiden fellow.
Do i need every time to push the button before steaming ?
The switch? Yes ☺️☕️
@ depending on the amps you cannot steam and pull shots together
When it gets to a more sensible price of 1000$ and stops rattling like a 300$ Breville Bambino 😤😤😤 i might consider it. Also why not a 10second preinfusion capability? Some like their pucks extra wet.
I have the first version steel duo pid ( no knob on the side ) i’ve used it daily for 3 years. Still work like a horse. However, the volumetric fonction is not a real volumetric. ( like you mentioned) It’s not consistent. So everyday, i pull my shots by holding down the toggle switch. Cheers!
Yeah if you hit the OPV ceiling at all it will impact your volumetrics, which is likely why it comes from the factory set at 11 bar but this also makes it trickier to dial in the grind perfectly.
Honestly I tend to use the switch over the volumetrics unless I have a half dozen family members over and lined up for cappuccinos
You can set the volumetric time to for example 50 seconds and then you start the shot with pressing the switch once and then when you want to end the shot again. Like this you don't have to hold the switch during the extracion.
Great suggestion
@@gggeeeooorrrggg in my case, the machine is used by my wife and my oldest child. These 2 use the « volumetric » fonction because they aren’t coffee nerds like me.
@@gggeeeooorrrgggI use it exactly this way since 4 years.
I hope this machine better quality than standard steel series...
$2k for a Thermoblock machine is just insane...
Why?
Because you're not even paying for a boiler!
$2k for thermoblock is ludicrous.
Inox is basically a name for stainless steel.
The stainless color is terrible. I had one (it was mislabeled as white online) and returned it immediately. It looks like a chunk of metal and is very bland. I eventually sold my Ascaso Duo because of the lack of flow control. I do like the Duo a lot and if they ever introduce flow control then I’d probably go back to it, but for now I’m sticking with my Bezzera Aria Top.
Just flip the drip tray so there is no bump
It’s an project flaw. The opv should be put before the flow meter on the hidraulic system
Premium edition James Hoffman
do you ever drink simple washed coffee? 😃
Your background music is too loud
Can I set the extraction time to a long time and manually stop an extraction when my scale says I've reached my desired extraction or, do I need to hold the button for the whole time I'm doing an extraction?
That is exactly the way to go and how I do it on my Steel Duo PID! Then you just need to push the switch down shortly to start the shot and again shortly once as it reached your desired output.
I think id rather have a super automatic. Dont have time to pull shots
Yet another pid espresso machine. I keep asking why these keep being made. Lever, or decent seems to be the proper choice?
2200€ end game machine, of course it is
Pretty impressive features for the price? I would say it's quite overpriced. Volumetrics, preinfusion, pressure gauge, pid.. 3 times cheaper DeLonghi Opera has that. I think all these semi professional coffee machines are overpriced. Basically it's just a water heater and a pump. I bought this one recently for $2300 (it's more expensive in my country) and it was faulty right from the beginning. Returned it and I will never spend so much money on a overpriced coffee machine again.