Espresso Machine Cleaning Digest

[tmaynard]

Okay, we've all read Espresso Machine Cleaning - Why, How, and When and the Article Comment forum pages -- I just reread them both, and searched for "cleaning" and read all relevant hits. Dan has already said (elsewhere), "Ask 5 home baristas about their cleaning schedule and you'll get 10 different answers." (I have paraphrased his actual comment. )

At the risk of dead-horse-beating, I'd like to pin this down definitively. Nota Bene: my machine (Gaggia Coffee) does not have a 3-way valve. At the risk of incensing everyone else here, I have omitted references to backflushing (with or without chemicals). If you backflush, feel free to post a revised regimen with BF included! My feelings will not be hurt, I promise.

Here's my distillation of the cleaning page ("PF+B" = Portafilter and Basket):

Between shots
* Dump puck, wipe PF+B
* Flush group (with PF+B inserted? Or once without, once with?? There are good arguments for both sides.)
* PF Wiggle (note to self: buy a blind basket, 58mm -- or possibly a dedicated wiggling PF+BB [blind basket])
* Scrub PF+B (Scotch Brite seems the preferred tool) and dry

Hourly (could also be Between Shots, depending on your OCD level)
* Brush shower screen and gasket

Daily (would include the preceding, after your last shot of the day, adjusting as required)
* Brush/wipe shower screen, gasket
* Rinse, scrub, wipe PF+B
* Purge steam wand (whether used or not?)

Weekly
* Soak PF+B in chemical solution
* Disassemble group, soak in same

Monthly (does not apply to me, I use store-bought water)
* Check your water filters

Yearly
* Descale (depends on your water, I presume)

Alrighty then, this describes a regimen that you could follow whether you pull 1 or 10 shots a day. How have I misinterpreted the available data? And how widely does your own regimen diverge from this "standard?"

[Psyd]

HMMmmmm. Some of that seems a bit much...

I pull my shot and then rinse the PF before I pull another, using a different basket. If I'm going to pull more than a pair of doubles, I'll use both groups, if no, I'll use the one I didn't use the previous occasion.

Post last pull of the session:
Knock the puck out.
Wipe and clear the steam wand (if used).
Rinse the PF and basket.
Flush the group.
Rinse the group with a PF wiggle.
Wash the PF, basket, and frothing cup without soap.
Wipe the baskets down and place on the cup heater.
Wipe the PF down and place in the group.
Wipe the steam pitcher and put it in the freezer.

Once a week I backflush each group thoroughly, more often if I have heavy use.
Once a quarter I completely clean the machine, backflushing with chemicals and soaking the PF's and all the baskets, scrubbing and soaking the grouphead.

Once a year I remove the shower screens and disassemble the group and clean and soak everything.
Of course, anytime it looks like it needs it, I may jump the schedule.
Most won't believe it, but the PF'a nd baskets look clean when I soak them in Cafiza, but I do it anyways. The grouphead doesn't seem to be too much cleaner when I use the Cafiza either, as it seems to stay fairly shiny.

The Grinders get disassembled whenever they seem to smell a bit off. As long as they smell like fresh ground coffee, I leave 'em alone.

[espressme]

Hello Folks,
What about the cleaning of non-HX machines such as levers and pumps ( with and without 3way valves ?) What are the differences in technique? Cleaner? De-scaler? Some of the manufacturers' directions are bit flakey.
Sincerely
Richard / espressme

[iginfect]

And what do we do with lever machines where the shower screen doesn't come off (like an Olympia Cremina)? Am I supposed to disassemble the whole group head to clean it periodically? And when it doesn't go back together again? Blind pf baskets for a 67 Cremina?

Marvin

[Kristi]

When I use the Solis, all of the above, but

ref "backflushing": put a little cafiza in pf blank. do pf jiggle until water starts coming out. Lock pf and shut pump off simultaneously. Shut heat off. Let sit for an hour. Remove pf blank and clean and flush everything.

This would apply to any non-3-way machine, afaiac.

[mogogear]

Most of my experience has been with non HX machines- levers. I have owned a Silvia, TEA and a Livietta( HX intro) and still have a couple of Astra Gourmets. They all are a little different.

Most of the high points on HX have been touched on. If you are more anal by nature, you will not relax till all the bases are covered. Thats OK - it is your machine. Others will do it another way.

Levers- Since backflushing is not an option I:
pull a shot, knock and then re-insert PF, and pull another water only shot.
Remove PF using a folded Papertowel or equal wipe the PF gasket and wipe the dispersion screen.
Done

Every week or so- I actually use a group-head brush and brush the PF gasket.

Once a quarter- I'll flip off the dispersion screen and ( with the machine not on and hot) raise the lever or / lower depends on which machine, and do a simple wipe out of the cylinder with some Cafiza and hot water. Scrub the screen. Yes , I know that flipping off my Cremina's screen with out taking the grouphead off was warned about by Steve R. and proper care should be excerised if yours is stubborn- My screen pops off easily, always has. It just seems silly to do a big operation to check the cylinder.

Once a year ( maybe pull the PRV off on the bigger machines) and look inside to check out if any de-scaling is required. If so a tbsp of Citric acid ( bought bulk at a beer / wine making store) to a 1/2 gallon of water or mixed to your specs. Fill up the boiler, bring to temp, run some shots, steam, draw water and let it sit for about an hour. Drain flush - drain flush. Refill , bring to temp and pull shots and run all water , stream venues till all clear

I live in a "good water " area. I use a brita pitcher, keep the filter changed. After a year I have no detectable scale in any thing I own. Good for me - some of you will have crystals forming in a month... sorry.

When I took the astras apart ( they were from St Paul MN) they were scaled!! But the citric acid works charms on everything. Faucet sets, group heads, boilers( 5 L) lines etc. Cafiza and boiling water or just warm water soaked any old PF's etc back to sparkling clean.

I use 0000 steel wool for cleaning PF and chrome and polished stainless steel. It seems to leave ZERO swirls and not degrade the chrome on PF after repeated cleanings. I find that the green scotchbrite pads are too abrasive for most of the bright-work.

I also have never gotten real upset about some boilers not being plated and other having nice nickel plating inside. Most of the water lines in the world have been made of copper( versus old galvanized . teracotta and others) and most good quality alcohol stills are made of copper( they run at the same temperatures and run for a long time with no altering of flavors- I speak from experience onthis point- I ahve been distilling quite a while). I have noted that many here find that they start to find plating in their PF baskets and get very concerned. While visually alarming I don't think it is as big a issue as it seems. I do know that frequent use of descaler will remove plating from the inside of boilers very quickly.......... Won't it Richard
What you should do about it when it happens to you is another good topic to discuss.




It is late , I have wandered and digressed. Shutting up But that was a nice Fiesta Bowl Game........................!!

[Dogshot]

The article on machine cleaning is a gem. I have found that a great way to check on your own cleaning regime is to pop the screen off to check for build-up on the screen and inner parts of the grouphead shortly before planned maintenance. If the back of the screen is very dirty, backup the cleaning schedule until it is at a level of build-up that you are comfortable with. Screens with the centre screw are easy to remove, and E61 screens pop off safely and easily in seconds when you use Cannonfodder's suggestion of a paint-can opener.

It can be surprising how quickly the grouphead gets dirty, even when regularly rinsing and flushing the group.

Mark

[roadman]

Once a year ( maybe pull the PRV off on the bigger machines) and look inside to check out if any de-scaling is required. If so a tbsp of Citric acid (bought bulk at a beer / wine making store) to a 1/2 gallon of water or mixed to your specs. Fill up the boiler, bring to temp, run some shots, steam, draw water and let it sit for about an hour. Drain flush - drain flush. Refill , bring to temp and pull shots and run all water , stream venues till all clear

Our water here is hard so last month I descaled my Cremina with citric acid. I ran into a couple of problems.

I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons citric acid to 1 liter of water. It took around 20 cycles of heating and rinsing the water out through the group before the water was no longer green and tasted okay again. I was pretty surprised (and rather frustrated) by the number of flushes it took to have it run clear again.

Is this typical? Did I overdo it on the citric acid to water ratio? Should the water be run through the group or dumped out through the top?

After all that flushing the lever action got stiff. It clearly needs lubrication. Is this typical after descaling? Is there an easy way to relubricate the piston or do I need to disassemble the group?

Jon

[jesawdy]

Is this typical? Did I overdo it on the citric acid to water ratio? Should the water be run through the group or dumped out through the top?

Your citric acid solution formula sounds right. On my HX, when I went to fully flush the brew path, I flushed quite a lot more than I would've guessed until the green and eventually the "lemon" water taste was gone. On the boiler side, I drained the boiler completely and flushed about three times the boiler volume or more via the hot water tap and/or boiler drain plug. I should add this was an agressive descale, not knowing how long ago it had been done on a used commercial machine.

It certainly would be easier to turn the Cremina over and dump the descale water out the top, and then flush through the group. You probably want to send some citric through the group to descale, but maybe not too much. Some lever folks could help here.

[cannonfodder]

I have not used citric acid to descale so I can not comment on that. As to the sticky lever, yes that is normal. After a few shots it will smooth out as the coffee oils re-lubricate the works.

[espressoperson]

Our water here is hard so last month I descaled my Cremina with citric acid. I ran into a couple of problems.

I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons citric acid to 1 liter of water. It took around 20 cycles of heating and rinsing the water out through the group before the water was no longer green and tasted okay again. I was pretty surprised (and rather frustrated) by the number of flushes it took to have it run clear again.

Is this typical? Did I overdo it on the citric acid to water ratio? Should the water be run through the group or dumped out through the top?

After all that flushing the lever action got stiff. It clearly needs lubrication. Is this typical after descaling? Is there an easy way to relubricate the piston or do I need to disassemble the group?

Jon

Jon,

I can't comment on the concentration of citric acid; I use packages of Cleancaf. It has the advantage of cleaning as well as descaling, which is what the Cremina needs to clean out the lower piston and dispersion screen area and keep your shots tasting sweet. It always amazes me how brown and grungy the initial flushing water gets - even shows through the blue color of the Cleancaf.

Occasionally the lever may get too stiff to move easily. Here's what I use to lubricate it http://www.petrolgel.com/. I don't take the machine apart but just raise the lever to its highest point and then squeeze some lubricant on the lowest exposed parts. It takes a little while to work its way down but lasts for months. It even lasts through successive Cleancaf flushes, which I try to remember to do every two or three months.

I used to flush more often but two things I now do allow me to do it less often. First, pull less two lever shots; the elimination of the second lever raising in the middle of a double shot cut down on the amount of espresso that gets sucked up into and past the dispersion screen. And second, place a disk of filter paper on top of the tamped puck to also reduce the contamination of the screen. I cut the disks from pourover filters - I can get about a dozen 49 mm disks from one #6 Melitta filter.

[roadman]

Occasionally the lever may get too stiff to move easily. Here's what I use to lubricate it http://www.petrolgel.com/. I don't take the machine apart but just raise the lever to its highest point and then squeeze some lubricant on the lowest exposed parts. It takes a little while to work its way down but lasts for months. It even lasts through successive Cleancaf flushes, which I try to remember to do every two or three months.

I've tried lifting and lubing as you've suggested. That was several days ago, but no change. I'm using the lube from the Olympia factory.
It's not like I have to wrestle with it, though it does take a bit of effort to raise it up. I just really enjoyed having that smooth as silk action that it had after it was reassembled.
What do think, wait longer for it to work in or re-lube or get out the wrenches?
Jon

[espressoperson]

I've tried lifting and lubing as you've suggested. That was several days ago, but no change. I'm using the lube from the Olympia factory.
It's not like I have to wrestle with it, though it does take a bit of effort to raise it up. I just really enjoyed having that smooth as silk action that it had after it was reassembled.
What do think, wait longer for it to work in or re-lube or get out the wrenches?
Jon

Jon,

I agree with you that it's just not the same machine without that frictionless feeling as you pull with nothing between you and the espresso but the pressure of the pull through the puck. Hope you can get back to that with minimal effort.

I squeeze a very generous amount around the openings over a few sessions. I'm wiping the area with paper towels for a few days afterwards to clean up the excess. I usually get a quick noticeable improvement quickly, but it takes a few heating and cooling cycles to kick in completely. But no more than a couple of days total before it is working smoothly.

The petrol gel may have a lower melting point than the stuff you're using. Perhaps that's why it can work externally. Perhaps it melts and flows to where it is needed. If that's the case, it might be worth trying. IIRC it is what service used to use before getting the current new and "improved" lubricant. Perhaps once the new stuff is properly applied it lasts longer. Hopefully more knowledgable users like bobcraige can chime in with suggestions...

[roadman]

Espressoperson, thanks for the feedback. I finally ended up having to remove the group. I dropped the piston down far enough so I could pop the screen off and lube the piston walls. What a difference. I can lift the lever with one finger again. Sweet!
Jon

[xtophr]

Between shots
* Dump puck, wipe PF+B
* Flush group (with PF+B inserted? Or once without, once with? There are good arguments for both sides.)
* PF Wiggle (note to self: buy a blind basket, 58mm -- or possibly a dedicated wiggling PF+BB [blind basket])
* Scrub PF+B (Scotch Brite seems the preferred tool) and dry

I have essentially "made" a blind basket out of an unused single basket that my machine came with. I simply put two strips of black electrical tape, overlapping slightly, inside of it covering all of the holes. I use it for the portafilter wiggle and the dirty grouphead and gasket get blasted clean. If the tape ever falls off or goes bad, I just replace it. But I have had the same tape on for over six months.

As for scrubbing the basket with a Scotch Brite pad; Don't do it! You can actually make the holes slightly bigger by scrubbing it with one! Just use your Joe Glo or whatever you use for cleaning to soak the baskets and portafilters. Then just a simple rinse and wipe with a paper towel will do. Remember not to make your Joe Glo solution deep enough to get any plastic parts of your portafilter in it (handle, etc.). The plastic could get damaged by repeated exposure to it.

[espressoperson]

Espressoperson, thanks for the feedback. I finally ended up having to remove the group. I dropped the piston down far enough so I could pop the screen off and lube the piston walls. What a difference. I can lift the lever with one finger again. Sweet!
Jon

Great! I still have to hold the base down when I raise the lever so the work you put into disassembling and lubing sounds worth it.

[espressoperson]

I have essentially "made" a blind basket out of an unused single basket that my machine came with. I simply put two strips of black electrical tape, overlapping slightly, inside of it covering all of the holes. I use it for the portafilter wiggle and the dirty grouphead and gasket get blasted clean. If the tape ever falls off or goes bad, I just replace it. But I have had the same tape on for over six months.

Clever idea! I regularly clean and wiggle as you describe, but just with the portafilter and an empty basket, with a cup below to catch the overflow. There is enough water and pressure blasting through to get the job done. But I like your idea and will give it a try to see if it is even more effective. Finally, a use for the single basket?