Gaggia Temperature Surfing: Are all Gaggia Classics the same?

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Milanski
Posts: 20
Joined: 11 years ago

#1: Post by Milanski »

This is a survey to find out if all Gaggia Classics have the same temp surf routine. Contrary to the info out there, my machine comes up about 40 degrees short so have to engage the heating element to get up to temp.

I do the standard flush, wait til the light goes out and then back on but then have to press the steam switch for 13 seconds to get up to around the 202 degrees mark.

I'd be interested to know what everyone else's routine is.

Thanks!

Milan.

jonr
Posts: 610
Joined: 11 years ago

#2: Post by jonr »

I didn't like temperature surfing and added a micro-controller to control temperature before and during brew.

Milanski (original poster)
Posts: 20
Joined: 11 years ago

#3: Post by Milanski (original poster) »

Fair enough, but for me it's part of the fun.
I manage pretty good consistency now (a VST basket made a big difference) so the temp surfing thing just means I get a bit more out of the whole coffee making process.

ValeVitola
Posts: 76
Joined: 11 years ago

#4: Post by ValeVitola »

Try not to do an initial flush before pulling your shot, since the boiler is so little, if you want fresh water, just do the initial flush when turning on, then wait 20-25 minutes. for my gaggia classic, I get to 203F after 12 seconds of steam switch on, then I pull the shot. (I always prime before my shot, opening the steam valve until water starts to flow).

SJM
Posts: 1819
Joined: 17 years ago

#5: Post by SJM »

Valeria is right that a "standard flush" is not appropriate on a machine with such a tiny (3.5 oz) boiler. You want to prime it just to get any steam out of the top of the boiler, but flushing only pulls cold water from the reservoir into that nicely hot tiny boiler and....down goes the temp....

jonr
Posts: 610
Joined: 11 years ago

#6: Post by jonr »

An advantage of small and medium sized boilers is that you can get a declining temperature profile (a good thing) and add heat (automatically or manually) if needed to flatten it (small boilers would otherwise have excessive drop). A large single/double boiler will tend to have a flat temp profile and there may be nothing you can do to fix it.

I recommend getting a device to measure and log brew basket temperatures over time during an actual shot. That's what really matters.