VBM Super Electronic DUAL PROFILER Dual Boiler Espresso Machine

Yes, please make sure the flow control is in the full open position.

The small toggle was to turn off the sensor for the water reservoir when the machine is plumbed in. Remove the reservoir, power on the machine. If the machine indicates no water on the display, then it is positioned for tank mode. If plumbed in, place the switch in the opposing position.

It is possible that the calendar setting may have been turned off.  To turn the calendar option back on, select the settings menu option. Then select settings, and then mode of operation. You can turn on the calendar from there.

The Super Digital has a lever on the right side of the E61 grouphead. When the lever is lift up to the 90 degree, horizontal position, there is a switch behind the lever that activates the pump. At the same time, the valves in the grouphead open and close to allow water to extract the espresso. When the lever is brought fully down to the vertical position, the pump stops and the manual valve opens to allow the pressure in the filter basket be relieved to the drip tray via the large spout on the bottom of the grouphead. When the pressure is relieved, the portafilter can be immediately, cleaned, and removed for the next espresso extraction. This is known as semi-automatic dosing.

The importance on using the Super Digital is that the lever is brought down in alignment with the pump pressure profiling, if enabled to fluctuate pump pressure, end time. In other words, the lever should be brought down at the end of the pump pressure programming. If the pump pressure is kept steady at a certain bar pump pressure, like manual mode, then it is not as important.

In the Super Electronic, the manual valve for the pressure in the filter basket is replaced with an electrical solenoid valve.The lever and switch are removed as the machines electronics are controlled by the brain unit that starts and stops the espresso extraction. The addition of a flow meter measures the water for the start and stop action. This is known as full automatic dosing.

The importance of the Super Electronic is that the programming of the pump pressure profiling has an end time of the seconds programmed to stop the pump. For example, one does not want to have the pump pressure profiling end in 35 seconds, but the dosage time of water is programmed for 40 seconds.

We hope these features make sense.

Sorry for the delay as we needed to double check one thing. Our answers follow:

1. How fine an adjustment is possible on the brew temp?

The unit can be programmed in F, but some degrees will skip as it mostly programmed internally to follow the Celsius algorithm.

2. Is the warm up time 1 hour?

Any dual boiler in 110 volts and with an E61 grouphead should have 45 minutes warm up. there are machines advertised in less time, but they usually will overheat and require cooling flushes.

3. Is the machine is stock?

As of this response, the answer is yes.

4. Does it need to be on a 20amp circuit? Thanks!

The machine has been designed to work on 15 or 20 amps. The reason is that the power alternates between boilers - one boiler gets power at a time. Coffee boiler is usually priority.

Since parts and part numbers can change, please follow the instructions in our self-service parts portal to determine the correct parts.

There are customers who are quite happy with the manufacturer's choice of dispersion screen. Some customers do decide to upgrade.

Some customers purchase the Matrix dispersion screen and a E61 competition basket.

Thanks for the update. Please email us a video of the process.

1. I noticed that on the website you mentioned that there were issues with magnetic drives and with the pump pressure controllers and you brought this up with VBM. I was wondering if any changes were made by VBM?

A. This problem occured with another brand. So far, since 2019, we have never replaced any of the magnetic drives on the VBM.

2. How much more expensive is the replacement of a gear pump vs a vibration pump? Do the gear pumps have a longer lifespan to make up for this?

A. Vibration pumps range up to $229, and gear pumps are about $700 at the time of this writing (subject to change after this post). Lifespan is based on taking care of the machine, protecting it from electrican surges, etc.

3. Are there any other machines you would recommend in a similar price range with comparable features, such as flow control/pressure profiling etc.?

A. There are none with all the features the VBM dual profiler has.

4. Do you sell the different colored side panels and how would I go about ordering them? 

A. Colored side panels are sold separately on our web site.

5. Are there benefits of the Digital compared to the Electronic? I understand that the Electronic has all of the controls on the display, whereas the Digital has more physical controls. Are there any other benefits? Thank you very much!

A. The Digital offers a manual lever to start and top the extraction. One needs to remember to bring the lever down when the pump profile time ends. The Electronic allows the extraction to stop at the end of the profile. One just needs to remember to program the dosage timing to the profile timing.

Yes, but rinse it before placing in the tank. Try to offset it so it does not cover in the exit tube at the bottom of the reservoir.

Comments follow:

I have been playing arond with the new VBM and I really like it. VERY Happy with it. I think I mastered the profiles that I can make with the 10 stored ones. But I am a bit confused with the one on the home screen. The instructions call it a long and short? Must be in Italian thing. I always called it a single shot and double shot. I like something in the range of 2-2.5oz in about 25-28 seconds. Which one would I use for this? And can I program that? I like to just wake up and not thinking well, so just being able to hit a button would be great. I would like to see if that would be possible to just do that?

Yes, you can program WITH COFFEE the amount of water/time for each. Then, keep in mind to program your pump pressure profiles to the exact time as those programmed shots.

Also, I was confused about the temperature. What should it be set at and what is the "offset temp". Most espressos are between 200-205 degrees. Should I set it for like 205 with the offset at 10? I am getting some roasted beans and they advise a temp of 205 to brew. I totally love this machine though and impressed. Looks awesome and I had to turn down the steam boiler. it is very strong.

Offset is most cases in 10 unless you are in the high altitudes which may impact the differential or offset. Jim prefers 203, but other beans may be different.

The steam boiler temperature can be programmed through the touchpad as bar pressure.

Please contact your dealer for assistance as our machines may be a little different. Plus, they need to earn the money you paid them!

Sorry, we are not aware of any upgrades at this time.

Sorry, we do not measure decibel levels. The reason is different distances and reverb from surroundings can impact.  It is not as quiet as the rotary pumps because this one is gear driven.

Sorry, VBM never has seen these codes.

Also, you have placed this question on the wrong product because A codes are for the older VBM PID dual boiler espresso machines.

Sorry for the delay as it has been crazy busy for months. We will try to answer one at time as it keeps things simple. Some things still need  to be researched.

b. A common feature of the grouphead lever on most E61 machines is a tiny region just above mid-point, where the manual lever does not yet turn on the pump motor, but does open a trickle of brew water into the grouphead, just at the low pressure from the brew boiler (1 to 1.5 bar). Does the Digital version’s lever have this feature? If yes, then the Digital version could mechanically do its own version of (manually controlled) pre-infusion, perhaps even followed by a (manually controlled) water-stop blooming pause – thereby saving all 7 pre-programmed pressure profiling stages for the later extraction stage. Comments, please?

Answer is yes, but sometimes, the actuator switch behind the grouphead lever needs to be adjusted. Remember this feature works best in plumbed in mode. It is not as good in tank mode.

Sorry for the delay as it has been crazy busy for months. We will try to answer one at time as it keeps things simple. Some things still need  to be researched.

4. In the Domobar’s Advanced Menu, can we change the brew pressure pump’s PID parameters, and also change this pump’s acceleration (i.e. whether pump changes from one pressure level to another very quickly vs. more slowly and gradually)? (these features are present in the Vesuvius’ Advanced Menu)

Brew pressure pumps PID parameters? Not sure what you mean here.

As for the pump acceleration, we currently do not see changing the delta of the velocity from slow to fast or vice versa. We can advise VBM, but expect the cost to increase. On the flip side, the VBM change in pump pressure seems to mimic the competitor machine out of its box.

3. In your detailed description of the Lelit Bianca years ago, you criticize gear pumps for having electronic controllers that are failure-prone. Do you know if Domobar, with this new machine using today’s new technology, has overcome this problem?

Years ago, we have seen issues with these gear pumps as they had to be replaced, or at least their magnetic drives replaced. We still are replacing some of those magnetic drives to this day.  In our development and testing with VBM, this is something we closely looked at and advised VBM. Furthermore, we did not like the pump pressure controllers in the prototype, and we advised VBM strongly to make a major improvement in this area.