[geeks] Barbeque Geekery

[Dan Sikorski]

Sheldon T. Hall wrote:
> Yeah, I followed all that on alt.coffee. It probably does make a good
> difference on a single-boiler machine like the Silvia.  Its boiler holds
> about 300 ml, which is pretty much standard for single boiler machines.  The
> GS-2 is many times the mass of a Silvia; I think the brew boiler holds 7
> liters or something, and each of the group heads is probaby half the weight
> of a Silvia.  With all that thermal mass, not to mention the 2200 Watt brew
> boiler heater, it can handle a lot of cold water inflow without anything
> much happening, temperature-wise. I've run some primitive experiments, and
> the brew temp is stable within 2 or 3 degrees (IIRC) no matter how much
> water you run through it.
>
> It's fun to look at, fun to play with, makes simply exquisite coffee.
>
> Unfortunately, it's many thousands of miles away ....
>   

That La Marzocco is a serious machine!  I'm not suprised that it doesn't 
have problems getting the water hot and keeping it that way.  The Silvia 
is obviously in a completely different category.  I've been thinking 
about buying one for quite some time now, but can't quite get myself to 
do it.  I also haven't kept on top of things very much, there might be 
better machines out there in it's price range by now. 

My current home coffee equipment is the following:
Technivorm Clubline KB741
Bodum French Press
Bialetti moka pot

The Technivorm is my weekday morning coffee maker since it's fast and i 
can have it brew directly into my travel mug.  On the weekends, i use 
the french press.  It takes a little longer to boil water on the stove 
for it, but I love press pot coffee.  I don't use the moka pot much.  i 
don't find the coffee it makes to be that great, so i just use it when i 
want to make strong coffee to be mixed with something else.

I'd really like to get an espresso machine and a vacuum pot. I've never 
had vacuum pot coffee, but i would expect it to be pretty good, and 
since the whole thing looks like it belongs in a chemistry lab, I think 
it would be fun to use.

    -Dan Sikorski