Our steam boiler stays very clear without any turbidity or odor. I
have been careful over the years to keep my TDS below 50 (we dilute
Crystal Geyser as needed to keep that level. I had posted on
alt.coffee a few years ago that Crystal Geyser varies their sources
both around the country and regionally, so it is necessary to use a
TDS meter to check from time to time. Presently, the source that is
shipped to the mid-coast in California is about 54-58 TDS) as I don't
feel like muscling my B-I around to flush the boilers with citric
acid, recognizing that according to the SCCA, the near-perfect TDS
should be 125 for the best coffee extraction. (If they want to come
over and decalcify my steam boiler, I will be happy to use hard
water). But we are outliers. In addition to using soft water, we are
also guilty of actually FREEZING our coffee beans (long before the
blind tests that showed the inability to perceive differences between
fresh and short-term frozen beans).
Our "routine" cleanup:
1. I remind my wife that bacteria grows on the milk protein on the
steam wand, aided by the presence of the cold water in which she
leaves it soaking. It gets cleaned off every day or two. I try not
to think of it when she brings me a delicious cap in the morning. Good
politics... on the other hand, the bacteria may add to the overall
flavor...
2. Wipe out the PF every day or two if it has not been washed. Gets
rid of the small amount of coffee debris that has accumulated. Wipe
off the rim of the PF with a finger or palm before mounting to assure
a good seal (although I must say that having not changed my 3-year-old
gasket until just recently, I had not realized how stiff and non-
compliant it had become, although the gasket did not leak on either
the grouphead side or the PF side.)
3. Backflush with Cafiza every few weeks or when I suspect some
rancidity ("J*****, have you backflushed the Brewtus lately?", to
which the answer is invariably "No". The PF is soaked at the same
time.
4. Clean the grinder ad.lib. (usually every few weeks).
5. At 3 years (approxmately 150 lbs) we have not replaced the grinder
burrs.
6. Refill the water reservoir daily after a session.
How we have such good espresso I will never know...
On Sep 17, 9:09 am, Ben McCafferty <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Hi Mark,
> Yes, you're correct--temp is too low to push water out. As I dump the water
> out the wand, the pump is already filling the boiler again with room temp
> water, so the boiler is never anywhere close to empty.
>
> Interesting that your steam boiler stays nice and fresh. When I say
> "funky", I mean that the water gets a bit turbid and lightly discolored. If
> I check total dissolved solids it is way high, because the water is getting
> removed (as steam), but the minerals are staying behind. I guess I could
> see where not recycling the water from the steam boiler would help keep
> flushing fresh water through the system, but isn't the water from the OPV
> coming from the brew boiler, not the steam boiler? If so, I'm not sure this
> theory makes sense, since the steam boiler wouldn't be getting flushed in
> that case.
>
> Perhaps you just have really soft water and so it takes a longer time to see
> the buildup of TDS in the steam boiler? I have pretty hard water here near
> Seattle.
>
> Also, if you use the hot water wand regularly (i.e. for tea), you wouldn't
> see this problem either.
>
> bmc
> "Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel....."
>
> > From: Mink <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> > Reply-To: <[email protected]>
> > Date: Wed, 17 Sep 2008 04:23:10 -0700 (PDT)
> > To: Brewtus <[email protected]>
> > Subject: Re: Your cleanup routine
>
> > Barry and Ray - this PF wiggle or sneeze (assume that's the same
> > thing?) I can see how this would clear out grounds from the gasket and
> > outside of the screen, but when I take the whole screen and seal out
> > (which I do daily) there's a fair accumulation of residue on the
> > inside of both the screen and the grouphead. My concern is that your
> > method doesn't get that - or have I misunderstood your method?
>
> > Ben, on your flushing of the steam boiler, two questions. When you run
> > the hot water until it stops coming - I assume that's because the
> > water in the hot water boiler is too cold to produce pressure, rather
> > than because the boiler is empty (not a good idea, esp with power to
> > the element?).
>
> > Secondly, I have the (220v European?) configuration which doesn't
> > channel water back from the OPV to the reservoir, but vents it instead
> > to the drip tray (and it's a LOT of water - more than the amount that
> > lands up in the cup). But after more than 18 months the hot water from
> > my HW wand is still perfectly fresh and good - no trace of funk - and
> > I wonder if this is the reason?
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