The other day, after tamping and polishing, I noticed a divot in the top of the puck.

Examining the tamper, there was the missing coffee stuck to the oil film on the tamper. I was distracted dialing in the grind for a new blend and forgot to clean the tamper.

When I used an all metal tamper, I polished it every couple of shots and just washed it with the basket at the end of the session. Now that I have a fancy wood handle, I just polish it clean every couple of shots.

I'm curious how often and using what method others clean their tampers.

I work with a bar towel on my shoulder. After tamping simply swirl wipe the piston after each build. Been primarily using the same RB 5 years never found it necessary to clean the piston per se'. I do periodically season the handle with a food grade moisturizing protectorate oil.

I just put a towel in my hand, put the tamper on towel, grasp the piston around the top and twist like I am polishing a puck. I have on occasion wiped it off with a little dish soap after using some very oily beans, but the wipe works just fine 99% of the time.

That is also why you polish the top of the puck after tamping. It keeps any coffee from sticking to the piston. I do a zero pressure twist and lift while twisting.

cannonfodder wrote:That is also why you polish the top of the puck after tamping. It keeps any coffee from sticking to the piston. I do a zero pressure twist and lift while twisting.

I do. It didn't. I do. Hence the !

cafeIKE wrote:The other day, after tamping and polishing, I noticed a divot in the top of the puck.

Examining the tamper, there was the missing coffee stuck to the oil film on the tamper. I was distracted dialing in the grind for a new blend and forgot to clean the tamper.

When I used an all metal tamper, I polished it every couple of shots and just washed it with the basket at the end of the session. Now that I have a fancy wood handle, I just polish it clean every couple of shots.

I'm curious how often and using what method others clean their tampers.

I put it into the ultrasonic cleaner, along with my teeth

ken

Like Mike M., I work with a bar towel on my shoulder. Unlike Mike, I wipe pre-tamp rather than post-tamp. Just a quick wipe with a dry part of the towel. Similar to what cannonfodder describes, but the towel never leaves my shoulder.

Larry

I have not had any trouble with coffee sticking to the tamper bottom. I put the tamper on a bit of soft tissue and gives it a half turn when i put it down. It is then clean enough for the next tamp.

I got the tamper for free so i kept it and i use it but i always get some grinds that falls outside the tamped area of the puck and it gets a bit messy on the rim of the portafilter. To fix this i give the puck a last soft polish with the tamper and then use a small brush to clean the portafilter before i put it into the grouphead.

Towel on the shoulder is a must.

niklas
sweden

niad wrote: ...use a small brush to clean the portafilter before i put it into the grouphead.

I do something similar, but I use an ear syringe http://tinyurl.com/q2v9v. At first i thought about using a photographer's lens brush http://tinyurl.com/rdyyp, but I decided that I would be too tempted to actually brush the puck. I was taught that touching the puck after tamping is strictly forbidden (will my shoulder towel be taken away if I violate this edict?), so the ear syringe became the puck blowing tool of choice.

Larry

There is just something about disusing an ultrasonic teeth cleaner, ear syringe and espresso in the same paragraph that gives me the willies.

cannonfodder wrote:There is just something about disusing an ultrasonic teeth cleaner, ear syringe and espresso in the same paragraph that gives me the willies.

I never thought about using an ultrasonic dental appliance to clean the puck. How does that work? Only joking. After re-reading, it kind of give me the willies too, but really no worse than dissescting needles http://www.home-barista.com/weiss-distribution-technique.html

Larry

Perhaps not entirely related, but I'm considering a brass piston for a tamper. I've been emailing Reg Barber about one, particularly cleaning and polishing the brass. They said to use toothpaste. Now I realize that's for brass. Is there any reason why it wouldn't be advisable for stainless steel?

You don't have to 'polish' stainless as it does corrode past the layer of chromium oxide. You can simply wipe a stainless tamper clean. Over time, it may get scratched, at which time it will require vigorous polishing to remove the chromium oxide and some metal to the scratch depth. A new layer of chromium oxide is then formed, again preventing corrosion.

Brass and copper on the other hand corrode on exposure to moisture in the air. Polishing removes the verdigris and allows the base metal color to shine.

Polishing removes metal & corrosion by the abrasive action of the polish.

SlowRain wrote:Perhaps not entirely related, but I'm considering a brass piston for a tamper. I've been emailing Reg Barber about one, particularly cleaning and polishing the brass. They said to use toothpaste. Now I realize that's for brass. Is there any reason why it wouldn't be advisable for stainless steel?

I hardly ever even wipe off my brass RB piston and it looks as good as the day I bought it. Now I wonder if I take some toothpaste to it if it will look better...

networkcrasher,

How do you like your brass piston? What handle did you go with?

I really like it. I have it in a C-Flat on a Bubinga/Delron handle and it just "crunches" different when you tamp. I'd like to get a bit larger one, exactly the same, but I think it's cheaper to just find some more baskets to give a whirl.