I concur with what has been said so far. I wouldn't downplay your machine though. Remember that, before the GS/3 was available, the Brewtus was the ONLY home machine recommended by David Schomer on his site for home use (and the GS/3 now holds that honor). I don't consider $7,500 to be a "home" price, so I still consider the Brewtus to be among the best home machines you can find. There are a few others since the B2, but not many.
All that said, I am reminded of some sage advice that a brewer once gave me in Belgium. I was asking how to reproduce his yeast/bacteria culture, flavor profile, etc. in a beer I brewed here in Seattle, and he said something like, "Why don't you develop your own house beer that you really like? You will never re-create exactly what we do here, but you may well find something even better, and with your own unique set of yeast and bacteria, you will then have something that noone else will be able to reproduce!" If it were me, I would go enjoy the shots at your cafe, and all that the experience there offers you. And I'd also play with blends/roast levels/etc. at home and find something that suits you equally well, or better! I just changed my "house" blend last week, and found something (after two years) that I like even better than what I was doing before. Just a thought. All the best, keep us posted. b On Mar 27, 2011, at 6:20 PM, TWG wrote: > What about your grinder? tamper? water quality? dosage? I presume you > use the same beans. > > You've got the right idea to take your machine over there. > > If it comes down to the machine it shouldn't be a surprise. > > On Mar 27, 8:38 pm, Dan Hagelin <[email protected]> wrote: >> Kitt, >> >> Thanks for your thoughtful response. It occurred to me that I could hire >> the barista to come to my home but your suggestion of taking mine to the >> coffee shop is much better in that it allows A/B comparisons. What >> separates our shots is that his have such a phenomenal clarity of flavor >> which allows me to perceive a myriad of flavors that are simply missing in >> mine where the palate is more homogenous and simple. His machine is a >> beautiful La Marzocco and it seems fitting that it's output would surpass >> that of a Brewtus, but it does it so so handily that my home shots now seem >> lackluster. It will be interesting to see what kind of results this barista >> can eke out of my Brewtus. I won't spring for the GS/3 yet! >> >> Tanks again, >> Dan >> >> On Mar 27, 2011, at 2:44 PM, Kitt Johnson wrote: >> >> >> >>> Dan, You asked >>> "have experience using a loftier machine than the Brewtus and if the >>> results they achieved were noticeably superior. >> >>> I have used a few other machines, notably a few of the LM machines and then >>> a number of other shop machines (not every shop seems to be able to afford >>> an LM.) I have not found them noticeably superior. I also seem to recall >>> seeing a few comments on forum boards by baristas who have a Brewtus saying >>> that they did not find it deficient. >> >>> A more likely cause of your disappointment may be that your machine is not >>> set-up quite the same way that the shop machine is, or your technique is >>> not well suited to their blend of coffee. You do have the opportunity to >>> do a little testing by throwing your machine in the back of the car, >>> filling your reservoir from his dispensed water supply and having the >>> barista prep a few filter baskets that you can pull together. The latter >>> will eliminate the grinder, volume distribution and tamp from the >>> variables, hopefully leaving you with just machine issues. >> >>> What you particularly need is the testing equipment to verify that your >>> dispensed temperature matches his and that your pressure matches his. You >>> can not assume that just because your PID reads the same number that he >>> says he is using, the dispensed temperatures exactly match the number on >>> the gauge. Only something like a Scace (That can perform the same test on >>> both machines) can tell you if the machines are really the same. Absent >>> test equipment, your barista may be able to tweak your machine's settings >>> by taste to bring your experience more in line with his shop results. >> >>> KittJ >> >>> ----- Original Message ----- >>> From: Dan Hagelin >>> To: [email protected] >>> Sent: Sunday, March 27, 2011 1:52 PM >>> Subject: Man or machine? >> >>> I have a PID’ed and well maintained Brewtus V-II, ... I’m not a complete >>> rooky. I suspect (and hope) ... >> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "Brewtus" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]. >>> For more options, visit this group >>> athttp://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en.- Hide quoted text - >> >> - Show quoted text - > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en.
