In the instructions for my Alexia, it mentioned cracking the steam wand or drawing a couple of ounces of water out before each shot would be a good idea. I've noticed, though, that when I crack the steam wand, a couple of spurts of water come out and then a whole lot of steam/wet air follows until the pressure drops to zero. I never steam with it, so the water shouldn't be up to that temperature. Is there any reason there would be excess air in the boiler? If I pull several ounces through the group head and then let the heater cycle on and off again, the same symptom repeats. Thanks!

The Buyer's Guide to the Quickmill Alexia recommends flushing a couple ounces through the group before the extraction. Technically the boiler idles above the boiling point of water, as you can see from the PID readout in this video:



But the water cools on its way from the boiler to the group because the grouphead idles near the brew temperature.