I use the wet towel after steaming. When I backflush and soak my portafilters at the end of every week I will stick the wand in my pitcher full of JoeGlo solution before I drop in my PF's and baskets. The brief soak dissolves any residue that I missed with the post steam towel wipe. You just have to make sure to give it a dip in clean water and open the valve to blow out any solution that worked up the wand.

I think there's a lot of good tips in this thread for cleaning off baked on stuff from the wand, but one thing I'd mention that might solve your problem and improve your milk drinks is steaming to a bit lower of a temperature. 160F milk is by no means scalded, but I've always found milk steamed between around 135 and 150F to be noticeably sweeter. I'd say it's worth a try; your mileage may vary, but it's better at my bar, on my taste buds.

The upshot of steaming to this temperature is that the milk has a much, much lower tendency to bake onto the steam arm. I always just wipe it with a hot rag. Usually right after I steam, but sometimes I pour first. Sometimes I even forget until after I am done cleaning up the group (wipe, water backflush), probably about 1 minute or so. The stuff never really bakes on. And this is on the beastly Elektra steam wand, too...

Funny story: the other night I went to an Italian restaurant to order some takeout for my sick wife. I was stuck waiting for them to make the food, since it was a spur of the moment thing and I hadn't called in the order. While I was sitting at a table taking in the quiet atmosphere of the restaurant at 5:30PM on a weeknight, a man came in and ordered some ridiculous milk-based espresso drink. The person behind the bar at this point was apparently a newbie to the machine, but he decided to attempt the drink himself. Disastrous results followed. Even he seemed to realize that the thing that he was building would be unacceptable to serve a customer. So he got another girl from behind the bar to come over and see what he'd been doing wrong. Much laughing ensued (shared by the person who ordered the drink... taking it like a good sport). She proceeded to show him how it's done. She knocks out his soupy puck and doses some coffee from the grinder, does a perfunctory tamp, locks it into the machine, and presses the brew button. This being a commercial HX, steam like smoke begins to emanate from the portafilter spouts, along with the nasty swill. I want to say, "I have a machine like that at home... you know you're supposed to flush them till they stop boiling before you make a shot, right?" But I let it fly. Not worth it.

Then she shows the guy how to steam milk while the shot is pulling. Whips out what looks to be a 30 or 40 oz. pitcher and fills it half full, puts it up to the crusty steam wand and opens the valve. She proceeds to "froth" the milk for a few seconds, in the same way that a dog with rabies might froth at the mouth, big, stiff, nasty bubbles. Typical, I suppose. But what really, really got me, was when she finished out the steaming by setting the pitcher on the drip tray with the tip buried in it. Those familiar with steaming, particularly on high capacity machines like this one, are familiar with the very noticeable pitch that milk has when it's being steamed. It starts high, and as you straddle that "sweet spot" temperature, it starts to drop. After a few moments, it gets quiet, and if you keep going, it starts to rumble from the beginnings of the boiling phase. This woman stood there--3 people, herself, the newbie, and the customer, chatting and watching the milk steaming, as the pitch hit the spot where I'd stop. Moments passed, and pitch was dropping like a rock. Stop.... stop. please stop? Seriously not funny... I was starting to get kind of nauseous. She let it go till it went just about silent! And the guy had no idea. He seemed to enjoy it when he tried it.

Now I don't want to sound like a snob. Scratch that, I really don't care. I'm on board with this "it's good if you enjoy it" stuff that people have been harping on a lot lately (honestly, for awhile), at least to some extent. Yes, I know "there's no accounting for taste." But there are some things in this world that are quite simply disgusting no matter who you are, like eating your own vomit or feces. I realize that this wasn't on par with that, but it was darn close. Darn close.

Sorry for that rambling segue...

LOL!

Nice analogy Nick. I don't think I can even go go back to SB or any of the other places I used to get my espresso from. Even my "sink shots" are better than that. That said, I had some of Dads mocha pot coffee last night and it was many notches down the scale (old costco coffee) but sometimes you got to take one for the Gipper.

btw, I use a damp sponge and it works great on the milk wand. If I get stupid and forget to wipe I flip it to the scrubber side and presto, clean again. It is a dull stainless finish though. I always try to blow some steam out immediately since my lever actually sucks milk up into the wand. Not so on the Promac though.

Here's what I do:

I keep a very wet paper towel folded four times over on the drip trap and a glass of water nearby.

Immediately after I am done steaming, I grab the wet towel and wipe the steam arm down to get any milk off.

Then I immerse the steam arm in the cup of water and give it a short burst of steam to clean out the wand.

It works well and the arm never needs to be cleaned.

Adrian

Martin wrote:When the arm isn't clean enough to suit me, I slip a glass of water underneath, let it soak, and wipe off with an open-weave, non-scratch scrubber.

Now here's the question:
So what?
1. I don't notice a steaming difference when there's a milky crust on the arm and tip. I can imagine that there might be a noticeable difference after a cafe barista does thirty milk drinks, but for me?
2. I can't imagine there being a health issue.
3. So why the universal practice of wiping after every steaming? Is it largely an aesthetic issue?

If you don't keep it clean, it's easy to get the holes plugged up. Worse than that, most home machines don't have any sort of one-way valve between the tip and the boiler, and when you drop the boiler temperature, if the tip isn't clean you risk sucking milk back into it. At which point you'll really wish you hadn't, as it gets quite nasty and is quite hard to remove.

Best,
David

DavidMLewis wrote:If you don't keep it clean, it's easy to get the holes plugged up. Worse than that, most home machines don't have any sort of one-way valve between the tip and the boiler, and when you drop the boiler temperature, if the tip isn't clean you risk sucking milk back into it. At which point you'll really wish you hadn't, as it gets quite nasty and is quite hard to remove.

The OP asked for a better way to manage baked-on milk, and I'm responding to some of the more elaborate rituals people are suggesting and whether they are genuinely necessary. I'm suggesting that a modest build-up over a couple of days can be dealt with by soaking; and you can forego a pristine wipe after each steaming.

I know it sounds like I'm on the wrong side of cleanliness, and the disgust of at least one poster is palpable. Even David's patient explanation isn't entirely convincing--assuming one doesn't let milk build up to a doomsday level.

Keeping the steam tip holes open seems more related to the practice of blowing out after steaming and less related to wiping clean. I don't understand "when you drop the boiler temp. . ." I can only imagine shutting the machine off immediately after the last steaming, and leaving the tip emerged in milk. This can't be what you mean.

Beyond cleanliness issue if you don't wipe the tip clean of milk after steaming before purging the wand you still risk sucking milk back up the wand. Just purging without wiping first there will be a small amount of milk left on the tip including around the steam holes that can and oft' will be sucked up the wand. What happens when this happens over time? Steam valve replacement time. This will happen with the machine kept turn on because the steam wand cools from steaming hot usage to idle. Does not require turning the machine off to happen. I know of barista who have lost their jobs because they would not make it a habit and owner got tired of costly steam valve repairs. (Some machines are more susceptible than others, my understanding some commercial machines now have steam anti-syphon valves to help with this problem. Believe retro-fit mod available for my Linea but haven't done it yet, other fishes to fry requiring limited $$$)

Best practice IMO immediately wipe wand with damp cloth immediately after steaming then purge then swirl and pour.

As far as cleaning a crusty wand goes, agree few minute soak in espresso machine cleaning solution does the trick and good practice as already mentioned to get the small amount that might be missed in crevices during wiping. All my baristi are trained in proper steam wand cleaning after every usage, I accept no excuses long line of customers or not. And nightly soaking of the wands while detergent backflushing part of nightly routine at my cafe.

Whether baked on crusty milk is really a health issue or not is irrelevant to me, it's disgusting and simply asking for trouble from a maintenance stand point. A good chef doesn't use a dirty pan to prepare a new dish. A good barista doesn't use dirty equipment be it cup, grinder, PF, group, steam pitcher or steam wand,

Martin wrote:I'm suggesting that a modest build-up over a couple of days can be dealt with by soaking; and you can forego a pristine wipe after each steaming.

Compass Coffee wrote:Beyond cleanliness issue if you don't wipe the tip clean of milk after steaming before purging the wand you still risk sucking milk back up the wand. Just purging without wiping first there will be a small amount of milk left on the tip including around the steam holes that can and oft' will be sucked up the wand. What happens when this happens over time? Steam valve replacement time . . . .

Whether baked on crusty milk is really a health issue or not is irrelevant to me, it's disgusting and simply asking for trouble from a maintenance stand point. A good chef doesn't use a dirty pan to prepare a new dish. A good barista doesn't use dirty equipment be it cup, grinder, PF, group, steam pitcher or steam wand,

Exactly!

Compass Coffee wrote:Beyond cleanliness issue if you don't wipe the tip clean of milk after steaming before purging the wand you still risk sucking milk back up the wand.

Interesting.
I use a brush sold to clean out the water tubes in Camelback backpack systems. Every other time that I back flush I remove the tip and scour out the wand, although I've never seen evidence of that need. When I used to use softener/filter canisters, I regularly cleaned these tubes, and there's no question that it was necessary. I don't entirely understand the physics of how milk gets sucked up into the valve as explained in this thread, and don't recall ever reading any other explanation even though there's agreement about the wiping practice.

Martin wrote:Keeping the steam tip holes open seems more related to the practice of blowing out after steaming and less related to wiping clean. I don't understand "when you drop the boiler temp. . ." I can only imagine shutting the machine off immediately after the last steaming, and leaving the tip emerged in milk. This can't be what you mean.

Depends on the type of machine. The wand on almost all machines is going to cool, potentially sucking milk back up into it; how much further it goes depends on the design of the plumbing and valve. And lots of smaller home machines like La Pavonis are typically turned off between uses. Besides, it only takes a few seconds; why tempt fate?

Best,
David