Hey, i have some basic questions which the answer to always eludes me.


1. How fast should i purge my steam wand after frothing the milk? do i need to put down my frothed milk to purge the wand, or can i directly and pour the milk over the coffee, and then purge the wand? i dont want to take any chanches, and be on the safe side.

2. how long can steamed milk stand still before separating? and if separated, will it mix 100% together again when swirled?

3. should flush the group head and clean it with a cloth between each shot? or is just enough flushing it with water between each shot? and should this flushing idealy be right after i pulled a shot, or right before i pull the next shot?

4. I use my machine multiple times a day, should i backflush with water after everytime i use it, or is it enough flushing it at the end of each day?

Thanks very much for all the help helping me perfect my routine!

What machine do you have? I know for number 1, I have to clean the steam wand and I flush it while cleaning it right away since it isn't a "no-burn" steam wand. I don't want the milk on the outside to turn in to a super hard crust.

I'm interested to hear what people say for the other questions.

Rocket Giotto Evoluzione V2
And yeah, on nr.1 i was also thinking in terms of the milk residue sucked back into the tank.

1. How fast should i purge my steam wand after frothing the milk? do i need to put down my frothed milk to purge the wand, or can i directly and pour the milk over the coffee, and then purge the wand? i dont want to take any chanches, and be on the safe side.

I don't think it has much to do with insulated vs uninsulated wands, although I do understand the point about not letting the crud dry on an uninsulated one by wiping it off quickly (but that's really another question). The steam tips on both types of wand are the same and both hot. I've found that time is not really of the essence and have successfully purged the wand right after steaming (obviously) and after. The thing to avoid is letting it sit, perhaps forgetting you did not purge, then doing it again. Eventually, the holes might clog up making reaming before purging necessary.

2. how long can steamed milk stand still before separating? and if separated, will it mix 100% together again when swirled?

Steamed milk gradually separates starting immediately. This is actually a good thing. If making a latte you want to use it right away, but if making a dry cappuccino letting it sit will allow the hot milk to settle on the bottom and the dry form on the top. No, swirling will not mix it all back together. Swirling actually only breaks up the dry foam somewhat. So, suppose you want to do some latte art and you've let it sit a bit long. The trick is to pour it between the foaming jug and another foaming jug. You only need to do it a couple of times to get things mixed nicely for latte art.

3. should flush the group head and clean it with a cloth between each shot? or is just enough flushing it with water between each shot? and should this flushing idealy be right after i pulled a shot, or right before i pull the next shot?

Your call on this one...I expect you'll get a lot of opinion. As for me, I just flush for a few seconds; sometimes I peer at the screen to ensure it is free of old grounds (which it usually is). If something remains I just give it a quick rub with my cleaning brush.

4. I use my machine multiple times a day, should i backflush with water after everytime i use it, or is it enough flushing it at the end of each day?

Good question; I was researching this very thing the other day. Often, we see the instructions to backflush at the end of the day (I've never seen instructions to do it after every shot if that's what you mean in your question). I've been backflushing after I've pulled all the shots in a particular session. However, as I feel this may add needless wear and tear to the machine, thus my research. I believe the recommendation to backflush daily may stem from the commercial world. Looking over manuals from a number of prosumer type machines, I have noted that some recommend to backflush only about every 50 shots. For me, this is about once a week, which is what I've started to do. It's too early to tell if I'll find the need to go back to daily flushing. I bet you get lots of opinion on this question too.

Oddaball wrote:3. should flush the group head and clean it with a cloth between each shot? or is just enough flushing it with water between each shot? and should this flushing idealy be right after i pulled a shot, or right before i pull the next shot?

I like this question, because I had to actually stop and think about what I do. It's muscle memory by now. My routine is:

1. Knock out the puck.
2. Hold down the button to start water coming from the group head.
3. Put the portafilter under the water, then insert it into the group head, wiggle back and forth a few times.
4. Release button, stop flow of water.
5. Remove portafilter, wipe it down with a rag, wipe the group head with a rag.
6. Put portafilter back in to group head.

That's what I do!

I actually do a water backflush after each shot, unless I plan to do more shots immediately. That routine began after the first time I replaced my shower screen.

Jack

I've been at this less than a year. I remember having these questions so I will put my answers out there. This is just what I so and how I understand these things.

1. How fast should i purge my steam wand after frothing the milk? do i need to put down my frothed milk to purge the wand, or can i directly and pour the milk over the coffee, and then purge the wand? i dont want to take any chanches, and be on the safe side.

As I understand, the big deal here is to avoid forgetting to purge it. Otherwise, the little bit of milk that gets inside the wand can go bad and be gross. I think the thinking is to make yourself do it before you pour your milk because you should clean your tools when you are finished with them instead of waiting till later and this way you won't forget to purge as you admire your latte art skills. I would assume this is informed from the commercial setting where training needs to be simple and follow rules and everyone needs to do things the same way. On my machine, I think I could do it before or after I pour the milk but I choose it to do it before the pour and immediately following steaming. And I do it this way every time. Why? Cause I forgot to do it once when I didn't have a set routine.

2. how long can steamed milk stand still before separating? and if separated, will it mix 100% together again when swirled?

Good answers above.

3. should flush the group head and clean it with a cloth between each shot? or is just enough flushing it with water between each shot? and should this flushing idealy be right after i pulled a shot, or right before i pull the next shot?

I flush and rinse the PF in the flush water between shots and hit the shower screen with the brush when I am done a session. I make a latte in the morning, flush. Drink the latte over breakfast. Then I make an americano. If this is the end of my coffee morning, as it is most mornings, I brush with the Pallo brush and flush. I might brush between each shot but I don't have a nice place to put my brush that makes this easy. I stopped using a rag on the shower screen altogether because it would screw up my rags so much.

4. I use my machine multiple times a day, should i backflush with water after everytime i use it, or is it enough flushing it at the end of each day?

I pull 2 - 4 shots a day on average. I back flush with water once every 3 days or so. My manual says to do it after each session but I don't. That is just me though

1 & 2. Froth, wipe, 1 second purge, swirl, pour

3. After pulling a shot, I knock out the puck, rinse the portafilter with water from the group, wipe the basket dry, wipe the screen and either pull another shot or put the portafilter back in the group.

4. I chemical backflush about once a week and clean the screen/whip out the group then as well. The IMS screen seems to get less dirty than the OEM screens.

On #4, I could totally be wrong and should be doing water backflushes everyday.

I also have the BDB. For steaming, I have generally been able to time the steam shut off and lowering the pitcher to get the wand above the milk such that a tiny amount of steam is still flowing (not enough to spray milk around). As long as I do this, I don't have any milk in the wand to purge. I pour the latte right away, then clean the wand with a hot water wet rag, and then still do a purge. I purge onto the drip tray, with good lighting so I can see if any milk does come out (usually not). If so, I wipe the drip tray and purge, repeat until there is no visible milk.

I flush the group after every shot. If it is the end of the day, or at least a few hours until the next session, I do a short water back flush (up to max pressure, stop as soon as that is reached: about 6-7 seconds). I do a chemical cleaning when the machine tells me to, but I take the drip tray off, clean the pan thoroughly, and I repeat the process a few times until the water flushing into the pan is completely clean. (I empty the pan between cycles). This is often 4-5 times.

Interesting to clean the PF/basket with the flush! I have the sink close at hand, and have been using it. I have not been brushing the group head at all, perhaps I should start. What I do is flush the head, then rinse it with water using a laboratory squirt bottle (the kind with NO tube going to the bottom of the bottle, since the bottle will be inverted for this. I rinse the screen, and up in the open area around the seal. I take the small paper towel I used to dry the pf, fold it into a flat point, and work it carefully into the seal area, wipe around the entire circle. You might be surprised how much coffee muck gets up there. I do the water backflush after this, and if I see a more than the usual amount of coffee bits in the leftover water in the blind pf, I do another flush.

Oddaball wrote:Hey, i have some basic questions which the answer to always eludes me.


1. How fast should i purge my steam wand after frothing the milk? do i need to put down my frothed milk to purge the wand, or can i directly and pour the milk over the coffee, and then purge the wand? i dont want to take any chanches, and be on the safe side.

2. how long can steamed milk stand still before separating? and if separated, will it mix 100% together again when swirled?

3. should flush the group head and clean it with a cloth between each shot? or is just enough flushing it with water between each shot? and should this flushing idealy be right after i pulled a shot, or right before i pull the next shot?

4. I use my machine multiple times a day, should i backflush with water after everytime i use it, or is it enough flushing it at the end of each day?

Thanks very much for all the help helping me perfect my routine!

I swear this was put up here for me. Was about to start a new thread and decided to search first. I've had a setup for once 3 months and just changed to a BDB so far here is what I've been doing painstaikingly:

Pull shot, put on warm in tray
Steam milk, wipe wand and purge then wipe and purge again - I'm a bit of a nut on this point.
Swirl milk then pour

Knock out puck, flush, just got a pallo brush and have been brushing while flush goes. Then use rag to wipe out remnants though the pallo is awesome.
Rinse out PF wipe and insert. If last time for day I've been doing the 5 backflushes.

This is probably overkill?