dsbrown Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2004 Posts: 26 Location: atlanta Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: livia 90 semi-auto Grinder: mazzer mini
Posted Mon May 3, 2004, 1:15pm Subject: milk hot, not creamy
I have gotten better with my frothing technique, but i still do not get 'latte art' quality milk. I put the pitcher in the freezer prior to pouring the milk into it to get it to it's coldest temp. By the way, i use 2% milk. After I put the milk in the pitcher, it goes back in the freezer. I am only making enough for 1 drink so i try and get the milk as cold as possible to extend frothing time.
I leave tip on surface of milk until it reaches approx 80degrees and then i put it as far as i can into the pitcher. at the same time i tilt the pitcher to get a clockwise flow of the milk.
i am following the 'directions' step by step and can still only get semi-creamy milk.
i am using the 2hole tip on the livia 90. the 4 hole brought the milk to 150 too fast.
Posted Mon May 3, 2004, 1:31pm Subject: Re: milk hot, not creamy
I had similar problems making microfoam with my new machine up until a week ago. Does your tip look like the one on the left in the picture below? I found an obscure post by searching the forums that suggested using more milk with this tip. Try using 9 or 10oz (1/2 of a medium sized milk pitcher) and try again. The only problem i have now is that if I am only making one cappuccino, I waste a lot of milk. I am going to try a different tip to see if that helps me steam smaller quantities.
dsbrown Senior Member Joined: 26 Apr 2004 Posts: 26 Location: atlanta Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: livia 90 semi-auto Grinder: mazzer mini
Posted Mon May 3, 2004, 1:44pm Subject: Re: milk hot, not creamy
the tip on the left is exactly like mine. i re-read the milk frothing guide on the website and think i am going to leave the tip closer to the surface until i reach approx 100d. instead of the 80 i was reaching. this may help create more foam which will hopefully mix in once i spin the pitcher.
how does that sound? i was just looking at latte art examples and now i can't wait to try again!
adelapa Senior Member Joined: 9 Sep 2002 Posts: 79 Location: Walpole, MA Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Vivaldi II Grinder: Vario Vac Pot: no Drip: Clever Drip Roaster: Behmor 1600
Posted Mon May 3, 2004, 2:04pm Subject: Re: milk hot, not creamy
I had an older version of the expobar pulser and it came with a tip that looks much like the one on the left in the photo above. I had a lot of trouble getting nice foam, nevermind microfoam. I could do ok if I used a lot of milk, but never with 3-4 ounces. I bought a 3 hole tip from WLL and it helped a bit, but then I lost all my skills and couldn't get any foam at all.
I exchanged the Pulser for and Expobar Office, and it is the newer version (water tank not exposed, smaller knobs) and the tip is now pointed like the one on the right. It only has one hole. I can now get really good foam, with only a few ounces, it has made a big difference. I still can not get the microfoam (yet), as when I pour, the foam is too dense and doesn't flow under and up to create the art. It does, however have a great feel while drinking, so I am happy. The pointed tip and one hole steams slower and gives more control. I would still like to get one of the pointed tips with the 2 holes, but I can't seem to find where to buy them.
scubadoo97 Senior Member Joined: 24 Jun 2003 Posts: 677 Location: Florida Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Solis SL70 Grinder: Mazzer Mini & Solis Maestro... Vac Pot: got one of those too Drip: Aeropress, Clarity, FP,... Roaster: SC/TO
Posted Mon May 3, 2004, 3:38pm Subject: Re: milk hot, not creamy
A great thing about the Solis SL70 is I'm getting microfoam with the single hole steam wand on this machine and I am a neophite at this. Now getting good straight shots and hitting the sweet spot is a nother thing.
Clark Senior Member Joined: 5 Apr 2004 Posts: 346 Location: Ottawa, ON Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Synesso Grinder: Robur-e/Anfim
Posted Mon May 3, 2004, 4:01pm Subject: Re: milk hot, not creamy
What style of pitcher are you using? The one here is what I started using a couple of weeks ago and it dramatically improved the quality of my microfoam.
Posted Mon May 3, 2004, 5:21pm Subject: Re: milk hot, not creamy
dsbrown Said:
the tip on the left is exactly like mine. i re-read the milk frothing guide on the website and think i am going to leave the tip closer to the surface until i reach approx 100d. instead of the 80 i was reaching. this may help create more foam which will hopefully mix in once i spin the pitcher.
Best bet is to try it out and see if it works. I tried stretching to 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 degrees, and it did not make much difference with small quantities of milk. It sometimes even seemed that the higher I went, the less foam I ended up with. The best I could end up when using less than 9oz was hot milk with about 1/3 inch of foam on the top of it.
mac75r Senior Member Joined: 18 May 2012 Posts: 1 Location: USA Expertise: Just starting
Posted Fri May 18, 2012, 4:34pm Subject: Re: milk hot, not creamy
I am having milk frothing problems. I ws so excited to get my silivia. I think I'm getting better at pulling at espresso though I'd love to have more crema than I currently have. I think it's like some of the people said I need to get a grinder that even the fine ground illy espresso isn't fine enough. Nevertheless the espresso tastes devine just like I was expecting!! My milk, however, no so divine. It doesn't swirl like people say it should and it expand all teh way to the top with some bubbles on the top but the milk isn't creamy it's watery. I get better foam with my hand held frother. What am I doing wrong?beg
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