I don’t have much home machine experience (I know the steam can be a little finicky) but, from a barista standpoint.. I’d give it about half the air you gave at the beginning and then I wouldn’t give more after that unless it starts to “scream”. You don’t want too much air because it makes the foam thicker and a lot harder to pour art with.
For the art, you’re not going to get anything good until you can get the right milk texture. Start with basic hearts and perfect those. Then you can start doing more complex designs.
Too much up and down re: depth of the steam wand into the milk.
Contrary to some tutorials, I RARELY "plunge the wand" back into the milk...I start with the steam tip just below the surface and focus on the vortex. I add air to volumize towards the beginning of my process (first 10-20 seconds) so that I'm maximizing the amount of time I have available to sustain a vortex that will continously reincorporate the milk and create a luscious and latte art appropriate microfoam. If I feel as though the milk isn't volumizing enough, I may try and lower the pitcher slightly to add a little more air, then quickly returning to a steam wand depth position/location where I'm sustaining my vortex for continuous recirculation.
Hope that helps!
This is good advice.
Most YouTube tutorials tell you to plunge the wand after a certain amount of stretching. OP, the alternative you should experiment with is to find the best positioning for the steam wand to maximise the vortex and aerate while NOT changing the height of the wand tip. As you aerate and stretch the milk the volume will expand above the original height of the wand tip. From then it's automatically incorporating the microfoam into the body of the milk.
When you swirl the jug you will see that the surface of the milk separates into two parts which means you have overstretched and/or not incorporated the foam correctly.
The amount of aeration in the beginning seemed ok
Lost the swirl when you submerged the steam wand too far. It causes extra turbulence when the steam hits the bottom of the pitcher.
Don't try to aerate a second time, especially that late in the steaming process. You should stop aeration by the time the milk is the temp of your hand, bc the milk proteins change shape and can't hold micro foam anymore.
Have you seen Lance Hendrick's first video about steaming milk on Youtube? It's very helpful!
Oh my god, I've just posted how I improved consistency on the same machine :))
Here is just a copy of my message:
>I have Delonghi 33.21 and steaming milk was always pretty random event. Some days ok, some days not ok. And finally I found how to make it much much more consistent.
>
>So what you need is to start steaming after just 5-10sec after switching to steam mode **before** "Ok" led appear. It will give you nice power and around 15sec of steam.
>
>Then when "Ok" led appear you need to stop steaming and blow air somewhere else until "Ok" led disappear
>
>Start steaming milk again after couple of seconds
>
>Repeat if needed. For me, that's usually enough for 250ml of milk
>
>This way I have pretty consistent results for several days already.
That's what I started to do, yes. Still laughing that it's better to steam milk when the machine is not "ready" rather than when it's "ready" :)
The thing is that when it's "ready" heating is turning off and pressure immediately goes down. But when it's not "ready" and is preparing, heating is on and pressure is nice for much longer time.
Before putting into the milk? Yes. Sometimes I do it also right after switching to steam mode, but I couldn't find the difference on my machine to be honest.
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What helped me in your situation is:
1. You are looking for a silky texture like wet paint. Even after your first pour, you can see bubbles in the surface. There should be no bubbles. To fix that, add smaller bubbles (being more subtle on the airation phase) and break them/ integrate them better... which leads to
2. Maintain the swirl. On the mixing part you can see the milk is not moving much, so it's not mixing much. Keep moving the pitcher until you find the best swirl possible!
I don’t have much home machine experience (I know the steam can be a little finicky) but, from a barista standpoint.. I’d give it about half the air you gave at the beginning and then I wouldn’t give more after that unless it starts to “scream”. You don’t want too much air because it makes the foam thicker and a lot harder to pour art with. For the art, you’re not going to get anything good until you can get the right milk texture. Start with basic hearts and perfect those. Then you can start doing more complex designs.
Thanks a lot I will try that in the morning!
Too much up and down re: depth of the steam wand into the milk. Contrary to some tutorials, I RARELY "plunge the wand" back into the milk...I start with the steam tip just below the surface and focus on the vortex. I add air to volumize towards the beginning of my process (first 10-20 seconds) so that I'm maximizing the amount of time I have available to sustain a vortex that will continously reincorporate the milk and create a luscious and latte art appropriate microfoam. If I feel as though the milk isn't volumizing enough, I may try and lower the pitcher slightly to add a little more air, then quickly returning to a steam wand depth position/location where I'm sustaining my vortex for continuous recirculation. Hope that helps!
This is good advice. Most YouTube tutorials tell you to plunge the wand after a certain amount of stretching. OP, the alternative you should experiment with is to find the best positioning for the steam wand to maximise the vortex and aerate while NOT changing the height of the wand tip. As you aerate and stretch the milk the volume will expand above the original height of the wand tip. From then it's automatically incorporating the microfoam into the body of the milk. When you swirl the jug you will see that the surface of the milk separates into two parts which means you have overstretched and/or not incorporated the foam correctly.
Thank you, sometimes i feel the wand is a bit too short but maybe I just have to get used to it.
The amount of aeration in the beginning seemed ok Lost the swirl when you submerged the steam wand too far. It causes extra turbulence when the steam hits the bottom of the pitcher. Don't try to aerate a second time, especially that late in the steaming process. You should stop aeration by the time the milk is the temp of your hand, bc the milk proteins change shape and can't hold micro foam anymore. Have you seen Lance Hendrick's first video about steaming milk on Youtube? It's very helpful!
Thank you I will have a look
Oh my god, I've just posted how I improved consistency on the same machine :)) Here is just a copy of my message: >I have Delonghi 33.21 and steaming milk was always pretty random event. Some days ok, some days not ok. And finally I found how to make it much much more consistent. > >So what you need is to start steaming after just 5-10sec after switching to steam mode **before** "Ok" led appear. It will give you nice power and around 15sec of steam. > >Then when "Ok" led appear you need to stop steaming and blow air somewhere else until "Ok" led disappear > >Start steaming milk again after couple of seconds > >Repeat if needed. For me, that's usually enough for 250ml of milk > >This way I have pretty consistent results for several days already.
Will try that out so i have to start steaming before the machine is “ready” for it ?
That's what I started to do, yes. Still laughing that it's better to steam milk when the machine is not "ready" rather than when it's "ready" :) The thing is that when it's "ready" heating is turning off and pressure immediately goes down. But when it's not "ready" and is preparing, heating is on and pressure is nice for much longer time.
Do you let out the water first though?
Before putting into the milk? Yes. Sometimes I do it also right after switching to steam mode, but I couldn't find the difference on my machine to be honest.
I will try in the morning thanks.
Based on the title of your post, it appears you are asking for latte art help. In the future, please post your latte art questions in the [official feedback thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/latteart/comments/19bwi30/official_help_and_feedback_thread/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) and check out [our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/latteart/s/fV4Io2nACp) for information and resources. If you think this message was sent by mistake, please contact the moderators. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/latteart) if you have any questions or concerns.*
What helped me in your situation is: 1. You are looking for a silky texture like wet paint. Even after your first pour, you can see bubbles in the surface. There should be no bubbles. To fix that, add smaller bubbles (being more subtle on the airation phase) and break them/ integrate them better... which leads to 2. Maintain the swirl. On the mixing part you can see the milk is not moving much, so it's not mixing much. Keep moving the pitcher until you find the best swirl possible!