Temperature Surfing a Gaggia New Baby

by **brokemusician77** on Wed Mar 11, 2009 1:52 am

I'm a total Noob looking for a good How-To article on Temperature Surfing a Gaggia New Baby. I've been looking and can't find one on my particular model. Or on Gaggia's at all for that matter. (Lots on Silvia, HX's, etc...)

Is Temperature Surfing technique unique to every machine?

I've watched the Coffeegeek video on temperature-surfing Silvia and have been trying to follow the steps outlined there. Is that the proper method for my machine also?

Thanks.

by HB on Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:44 am

brokemusician77 wrote:Is Temperature Surfing technique unique to every machine?

Usually. I recommend searching the Gaggia Users Group. Your question is either already answered, or one of the group's members could surely answer it.

by **aindfan** on Wed Mar 11, 2009 8:43 am

I'm not sure what the trick shown in the Silvia video is, but here are the steps I take for my Gaggia Espresso (should work for your machine, AFAIK):

1. Prepare the basket and set the basket/portafilter aside.
2. Turn on the pump and flush into my cup until the green ready light goes off.
3. Wait for the ready light to turn back on (after turning off the pump) and dump/clean the heated cup.
4. When the light turns back on, press the steam switch for the number of seconds that you need for this coffee's ideal temperature. I usually do 3 or so, and the Counter Culture Aficionado thread that I found these steps in suggested 6 seconds.
5. Turn off the steam switch, lock in the portafilter, and brew.

I hope this helps. Please keep us posted of your progress. How's the coffee tasted so far?

by **brokemusician77** on Wed Mar 11, 2009 7:30 pm

Coffee's been fine. Loads of crema. Sometimes a little bitter. I live in a small community with a great coffee shop, but no local roaster. They order beans every 7-10 days which are shipped in. The regular beans always seem to be reasonably fresh when I get them. Or at least usable. The decaf beans are another story.

Basically, my method so far has been to flush until the boiler comes on. Once it comes on, I run water through the grouphead until the steam stops hissing. I assume at this point that the water is just below boiling, and then I brew the shot.

Seems to work ok.

by **chuckl** on Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:37 am

that's pretty much what I do with my Silvia, and it seems to work ok. I've stopped paying attention to the light.

by **another_jim** on Tue Mar 24, 2009 12:45 pm

You don't temperature surf a Gaggia.

A Silvia is a 800 watt heater in a 12 ounce boiler; a Gaggia is a 1500 watt heater in a 2.5 ounce boiler. The Silvia takes over a minute to to reheat, the Gaggia a few seconds. So a well surfed Silvia is a bit more stable than a Gaggia, but a Gaggia is idiot proof as far as brew temperature goes.

by **Beezer** on Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:51 pm

With my Gaggia Coffee, it's necessary to pull a short cooling flush before pulling the shot, otherwise the brew water flash boils as it comes out of the group. So basically I flush a couple of ounces through the group until the water stops boiling, then grind, distribute, tamp, pull another quick one ounce flush, and then pull my shot.

Recently, I've also been opening the steam valve during the first few seconds of the shot for a sort of poor man's preinfusion. This seems to take the edge off the shot, which is otherwise a bit harsh.

by **brokemusician77** on Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:52 pm

another_jim wrote:You don't temperature surf a Gaggia. .... a Gaggia is idiot proof as far as brew temperature goes.

Good thing for me then. :wink:

So should I still perform a cooling flush? As I said, I usually run water through the grouphead until the hissing stops. I think this is still necessary, no?

by **brokemusician77** on Tue Mar 24, 2009 1:53 pm

NVM, question answered. Thanks Beezer.

I was wondering about experimenting with a sort of pre-infusion. This is an interesting take on that. I'll definitely give it a try.

by **brokemusician77** on Tue Mar 24, 2009 2:53 pm

Tried the pre-infusion idea this afternoon.

I've been working with a batch of beans since yesterday that seemed stale. Although it's the same blend I usually buy, and they smelled great, my shots were way quicker at my usual grind setting, and went blonde really quickly.

I prepared the shot the same way as the last few. It still went blonde as quick, but this time, it had a nice even flavor, well-balanced between bitter and sour. (My shots are never sweet, just less sour, or less bitter). You may be on to something with this.

My only question is: Since the boiler on the Gaggia is so small, wouldn't opening the steam valve for a few seconds introduce more cold water, thus increasing the intrashot temperature drop?

Maybe that doesn't matter. The proof is in the cup, right?


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