The Beginner’s Guide to Coffee Machine Maintenance
Summary
TLDRThis video script emphasizes the importance of cleaning and maintenance for coffee equipment to ensure great taste and longevity. It covers espresso machines, grinders, brewers, and other accessories, providing detailed cleaning tips and addressing common issues like buildup and descaling. The script also discusses the impact of water quality on machine health and offers guidance on when to replace parts like gaskets and burrs. Sponsored by Trainwell, a fitness app, the video aims to educate viewers on proper care to enhance their coffee experience.
Takeaways
- 🧼 Regular cleaning and maintenance of coffee equipment is crucial to prevent bad taste and ensure longevity of the equipment.
- 📚 Always read the manual for specific cleaning instructions from the manufacturer, as they often provide detailed guidance.
- 🔍 For espresso machines, cleanliness of the portafilter and group head is essential to avoid bitter and harsh tasting coffee.
- 🚿 Backflushing espresso machines is necessary to clean the internal parts and prevent buildup of coffee residue that can affect taste.
- 💧 Descaler concentration depends on the hardness of the water and the scale buildup in the machine; frequent descaling is safer with lower concentrations.
- 🍋 Citric acid is an effective and food-safe descaler, but always follow manufacturer recommendations to avoid potential damage.
- 🛠 Grinders require regular cleaning, especially the exit chute, to prevent regrinding and the production of excess fines.
- 🌾 Avoid using uncooked rice to clean grinders, as it can void the warranty and potentially damage the grinder.
- ⚙️ Burrs in grinders have a long lifespan and should be changed based on usage and performance decline, not just time.
- 🍵 Filter coffee brewers should be cleaned regularly to remove residue and descaled to maintain optimal performance.
- ☕️ Kettles and other coffee equipment like travel cups and moka pots should also be cleaned and descaled to ensure the best taste and functionality.
Q & A
Why is cleaning and maintenance of coffee equipment important?
-Cleaning and maintenance are crucial to prevent your coffee from tasting bad due to dirty equipment and to ensure the longevity of your coffee setup, whether you plan to keep it for a long time or sell it later.
What should be the first step when maintaining coffee equipment according to the script?
-The first step should be to read the manual, as most manufacturers provide detailed instructions for maintenance, which are often available online as free PDFs.
What is the significance of the portafilter in espresso machine maintenance?
-The portafilter is significant because it should be cleaned daily to ensure the taste of the coffee is not affected by old coffee residue. It includes cleaning both the inside and outside of the portafilter and the basket.
What is the 'finger test' mentioned in the script for cleaning the portafilter?
-The 'finger test' refers to rubbing your finger on the inside of the portafilter and checking if the accumulated residue is clean or disgusting, indicating the need for more frequent cleaning.
Why is it recommended to clean the group head of an espresso machine?
-Cleaning the group head is important because it affects the taste of the coffee. Accumulated coffee residue can cause the espresso to taste bitter and harsh, so regular cleaning helps maintain the quality of the coffee.
What is the purpose of back flushing an espresso machine?
-Back flushing helps to clean the internal tubes of the espresso machine, particularly the ones that carry used coffee water back to the waste after each shot, preventing the buildup of coffee solubles that can affect the taste of future coffee.
How often should you descale a coffee machine?
-The frequency of descaling depends on the hardness of the water and the manufacturer's recommendations, but generally, it ranges from every six to twelve months in low scale-forming areas, and more frequently in high scale-forming areas.
What are the risks of using an incorrect concentration of descaler when descaling a coffee machine?
-Using an incorrect concentration of descaler, especially a too low concentration, can lead to incomplete removal of limescale, which may cause blockages in narrow parts of the machine and potentially damage it.
Why is it advised to purge the steam wand after each use?
-Purging the steam wand after each use helps to remove any remaining milk residue, preventing the buildup of dried milk solids that can affect the performance of the wand and the taste of the milk froth.
What is the recommended way to clean the burr chamber of a coffee grinder?
-The recommended way to clean the burr chamber is to use a cleaning tool provided by some manufacturers, which are ground coffee beans with a cleaning agent. Alternatively, for some grinders, you can open the burr chamber and use a vacuum cleaner or brush to clean it out.
Why should you avoid using uncooked rice to clean your coffee grinder?
-Uncooked rice is harder than coffee and can damage the burrs. Additionally, using rice can void the grinder's warranty, as it is not an approved cleaning method by the manufacturers.
How often should you change the burrs of a coffee grinder?
-The lifespan of burrs can vary widely, from 250 to 500 kilos of coffee, depending on the manufacturer's recommendations and the type of coffee being ground. It is not necessary to change them frequently, but signs like an increase in fines or hotter ground coffee can indicate the need for a burr change.
What is the benefit of using espresso machine detergent for cleaning coffee equipment?
-Espresso machine detergent is effective at removing coffee oils and residues that accumulate over time in coffee equipment. It helps to maintain the taste and performance of the equipment and is safe for regular use.
How can you tell if your coffee grinder's burrs are dull?
-Signs of dull burrs include a sudden increase in fines and ground coffee coming out much hotter than usual. These indicate that the burrs may need to be changed.
What is the recommended maintenance for moka pots?
-Moka pots should be cleaned regularly to remove any buildup of residue. Additionally, the gaskets should be replaced if they become brittle or if there are any signs of pressure leaks.
Outlines
🧽 Importance of Coffee Equipment Maintenance
The video emphasizes the critical nature of cleaning and maintenance for coffee equipment, debunking the myth that it's a mundane task. It outlines the risks of neglecting maintenance, such as degraded coffee taste and potential equipment damage. The speaker encourages viewers to consult their equipment manuals for manufacturer care instructions and mentions reaching out to manufacturers for additional insights. The session is structured to cover espresso machines, grinders, brewers, and other coffee equipment, highlighting the significance of regular care for optimal performance and resale value.
🛠️ Cleaning and Maintenance of Espresso Machines
This paragraph delves into the specifics of maintaining espresso machines, focusing on the portafilter and group head cleanliness. It advises daily cleaning of the portafilter basket and regular disassembly for thorough cleaning, including soaking in hot water with detergent if necessary. The importance of cleaning the shower screen and dispersion block is stressed, with tips on removing accumulated coffee grounds to prevent bitterness in espresso shots. Backflushing is introduced as a technique to clean internal machine parts, and the video promises a deeper dive into this process.
💧 The Technicalities of Espresso Machine Backflushing
The script explains the technical aspects of espresso machine operation, particularly the function of the solenoid valve and its impact on machine cleanliness. It describes the process of backflushing to clean the internal tubing where coffee solubles can accumulate. The paragraph provides guidance on the frequency of backflushing and the use of espresso machine cleaner, advocating for regular maintenance to prevent buildup and maintain taste quality.
🍋 Descaling and Water Quality for Coffee Machines
This section discusses the complexities of water chemistry as it relates to coffee machine maintenance, addressing both scale formation and water corrosiveness. It explains the process of descaling, which involves using acidic solutions to break down limescale within the machine. The importance of using the correct concentration of descaler is highlighted, with recommendations varying based on the hardness of the water and the frequency of descaling. The use of citric acid as a descaler is promoted for its organic and food-safe properties, but caution is advised for machines with certain materials that may be susceptible to corrosion.
🌡️ Additional Coffee Equipment Care and Grinder Maintenance
The script moves beyond espresso machines to address the maintenance of coffee grinders, emphasizing the need to keep the exit chute clear of coffee buildup to ensure proper grind discharge and prevent regrinding. It also touches on the cleaning of hoppers and the burr chamber, noting the importance of regular cleaning to maintain performance and the lifespan of burrs. The use of cleaning agents designed for grinders is mentioned, and a warning is issued against using uncooked rice for cleaning due to warranty concerns.
🧼 Cleaning Filter Coffee Brewers and Other Coffee Equipment
This paragraph provides cleaning tips for filter coffee brewers, recommending the use of espresso machine detergent for effective cleaning. It advises regular soaking of mesh filters and the cleaning of stainless steel carafes to prevent taste deterioration. The video also briefly covers the maintenance of other coffee equipment such as kettles, travel cups, and moka pots, stressing the importance of regular cleaning and descaling to maintain equipment performance and the quality of brewed coffee.
🔧 Concluding Thoughts on Coffee Equipment Maintenance
In the concluding paragraph, the video script reiterates the importance of regular maintenance for all coffee equipment to ensure optimal performance and taste. It encourages viewers to share their experiences and any changes in their maintenance routines after watching the video. The script also invites viewers to ask questions or share concerns about equipment maintenance not covered in the video, promising responses in the comments section. The video ends with a thank you note and a reminder of the sponsorship by Trainwell, a fitness app offering personal fitness coaching.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡cleaning
💡maintenance
💡espresso machines
💡portafilter
💡group head
💡shower screen
💡backflushing
💡descaling
💡grinders
💡burrs
💡espresso machine cleaner
💡descaler concentration
💡filter coffee brewers
💡moka pot
Highlights
Cleaning and maintenance of coffee equipment is crucial to avoid negative impacts on coffee taste and quality.
Neglecting maintenance can lead to coffee tasting bad, with a waste of good coffee beans.
Proper maintenance ensures the longevity of coffee equipment, even for those planning to upgrade later.
Manufacturers' manuals provide essential maintenance information and are available online for free.
Additional tips and tricks from manufacturers can enhance the maintenance routine beyond what's in the manual.
Espresso machines require the most maintenance due to their complexity and cost.
Portafilters should be cleaned daily, both inside and out, to prevent buildup of old coffee.
Naked portafilters, with chopped-off bottoms, require less cleaning effort.
Group heads, including shower screens and dispersion blocks, should be cleaned weekly to avoid taste issues.
Backflushing is a technique to clean the internal tubes of espresso machines and is recommended weekly.
Flushing the group head immediately after a shot helps prevent buildup of coffee residue.
Descale coffee machines regularly to prevent limescale buildup, which can damage the machine.
The choice between homemade or branded descaling solutions depends on the machine's material and manufacturer's recommendations.
Grinders need regular cleaning, especially the exit chute, to maintain performance and prevent regrinding.
Hoppers in grinders should be cleaned when empty to prevent oils from going rancid and affecting taste.
Burr chambers may require internal cleaning or burr replacement over time, depending on usage and manufacturer's advice.
Espresso machine detergent is useful for cleaning various coffee equipment and removing residue.
Filter coffee brewers, kettles, and moka pots also require regular cleaning and descaling for optimal performance.
Transcripts
- Today we're talking about cleaning and maintenance.
Now, you might think, "Oh, that's a bit boring.
I might skip this one."
But please don't.
It's super important.
Not taking care of this stuff properly is a massive gamble,
and there are some significant downsides.
At best, you're gonna make your coffee taste bad,
and what a waste if you've bought some nice coffee beans
to put them into dirty equipment to make the shots
or the brews taste harsh and bitter.
That's not okay.
But maintenance, perhaps: even more important.
Now, it might be that you finally have achieved
your dream setup.
You wanna keep that running perfectly for decades,
or it might be on your way to your dream setup,
and you might be thinking at some point,
"Well, I'll sell this and upgrade later."
If you wanna sell it for decent money,
it needs to be well maintained,
and that's what we're gonna cover today.
And I will say read the manual.
Most manufacturers will cover quite a lot in decent detail,
so please do read the manual.
They're all for free online as PDFs.
You can just search your piece of equipment
and 'manual' and 'PDF'.
It'll be there somewhere, but there is more,
and we felt a little bit like
there wasn't quite enough.
And so we actually approached a bunch of manufacturers
with extra questions,
and we'll try and give you the summary of all of it,
the tips, the tricks, the essential stuff
to keep your kit tasting good and working beautifully.
We're gonna cover four categories of coffee equipment today.
The first up will be espresso machines,
the most expensive, perhaps the most complex,
perhaps the most deserving of maintenance
of all the kit that you'll buy.
Then we'll cover coffee grinders of all types.
Then we'll talk about coffee brewers,
little batch brewers, those kind of things.
They need a little bit of love and care too.
And we'll finish with a few
little other bits and pieces of coffee equipment
that may benefit from a little cleaning and maintenance.
Let's start with espresso machines.
I should disclose,
my brain might be slightly broken
by my time spent in the coffee industry,
thinking about cleanliness in espresso machines in cafés.
That is a different world.
If you're doing 500 drinks a day,
the machines are gonna need a different kind of schedule.
Cleanliness is so important,
and so I'm kind of a bit more obsessed with it,
I think, as a result of that.
Let's ignore for now the outside of these things
and their magnetic attraction to fingerprints,
and let's focus on things that affect the taste of coffee,
the group head in here.
Starting with a portafilter, it's pretty easy.
A portafilter like this,
obviously, your basket should be clean at all times.
If you're struggling to get your basket out, don't forget,
you can always just use a little teaspoon,
wedge in here, and it will just pop out.
Keep this basket nice and clean every single day.
There's no reason not to give this a clean.
Obviously, every time you pull a shot,
the inside should be clean, but the outside too.
A lot of people prefer what are called naked portafilters,
where the bottom of this is chopped off like this
because there's less to clean.
The inside of this should sort of pass
what I would call the finger test
where you should rub your finger on the inside of that,
look at it, and not be disgusted by what you find.
If what has come off here
is an accumulation of old coffee and is disgusting,
you're not cleaning frequently enough,
I would say a little soap,
a little dish soap is totally okay at the sink,
a sponge or a sort of soft scour.
Make sure anything that's in here is off at least weekly.
But generally, anytime I'm done with a session of making,
I just wanna get rid of anything in there.
If I leave it, and I leave this in a machine,
and the machine is hot,
any retained liquid will kind of cook down,
evaporate out, and deposit soluble material,
and that will get more and more disgusting over time.
I just want to get rid of it.
If you've gotten to the point
where things have gone quite wrong,
and it's accumulated a significant amount here,
then, yes, under those circumstances,
I'd say it's okay to give this a soak.
Get some very hot water,
dissolve a teaspoon of espresso machine cleaner,
and suspend it, only sort of dip it in up to here.
Don't get your handle in there, obviously,
and let it soak for an hour or overnight,
and then it will come off more easily,
any sort of retained dirt,
but keep this beautiful and clean.
Think of it as a frying pan.
You wanna cook, every time you cook a meal,
in a fresh, clean frying pan,
not one that still has yesterday's dinner
remnants inside it.
Now let's talk about group heads.
In almost all machines,
there's gonna be a shower screen up here
that disperses water over the coffee.
Taking that down frequently is very useful.
My minimum frequency for a regularly used machine
would be every week.
I see no reason not to take it down
more frequently than that if you wanna do that.
Again, it should pass the sort of ick test
where you take it down
and you shouldn't be disgusted by what you find.
This one has a little flathead screw in the middle.
Other machines have a little Phillips head.
Some have bolts.
You can get tools to help drop 'em down.
Now, in some machines, it'll just be a screen.
In some, there'll be a block too.
So we'll take that screw out there.
This the shower screen,
and coffee tends to accumulate here behind it.
You can see in this one there's some coffee accumulated.
We let it build up.
This, to me, would definitely be tasteable in my espresso,
this amount of ground coffee here.
It would be adding bitterness and harshness to the finish
and I would want to get rid of it,
and my cleaning schedule
is not frequent enough for my taste
if I'm seeing this much coffee accumulated here.
Things like puck screens slow the accumulation of coffee
around shower screens,
but ultimately it's so little work
and it's so easy to take this just to a sink,
give it a scrub, clean it up.
Again, a little bit of dish soap is fine.
Rinse it out completely.
Some machines may have dispersion blocks.
Again, you can see a little bit of coffee
is accumulating on here slowly.
It sort of passes my disgusted test,
but I wouldn't want any more coffee
accumulated on this before it was cleaned.
When these are down, you can also get in there,
and just wipe clean the dispersion sort of block up here
where the water's coming from.
Again, coffee will slowly accumulate here.
It's pretty easy to clean off.
And again, it's about as easy as it will be
to clean the gasket that's up there too.
Now it's time to talk about back flushing.
And before we get into it,
we need to get technical just briefly, just briefly,
and talk about the way that some machines work.
A lot of espresso machines have what's called
a solenoid valve on them
or a three-way valve more accurately.
One way is the water coming from the boiler,
so your hot fresh water ready to brew espresso.
Another sort of route for the valve is to the coffee,
and the third route is to the waste.
When the machine is in a normal state, the valve is closed,
and so water cannot leave the boiler,
but the tube from the coffee to the waste
is kind of open as a pathway.
When you brew, it closes the tube to the waste,
and opens the one from the boiler,
so water flows from the boiler to the coffee.
Espresso brewing happens under pressure.
And at the end of a shot, when you press stop,
that pressure is released due to this three-way valve.
It can go back up the way it came.
It gets stopped by the stopper
so it can't go into the boiler,
but it can go then down to the waste.
This means at the end of every shot of a espresso,
some let's call it coffee water
gets shot up inside the machine
through a tube that's very hot on the way to the waste
and it will deposit some coffee solubles
on that little tube that goes from the valve to the coffee.
It's the kind of two-way street of the coffee machine.
Some machines have very long two-way streets
or relatively long, some much shorter.
But either way, when you are back flushing,
this is the part of the machine
that you're primarily worrying about.
Everything else, the screen, the dispersion block,
you should have already cleaned.
How dirty this gets depends on a number of factors,
and so therefore how frequently you should clean it
depends on those factors too.
Again, for me, as a bare minimum, it would be once a week.
Espresso machine cleaner is relatively cheap.
You don't need very much to do a good job,
and it's simpler and easy to use,
and it's an investment of a couple of minutes of your time.
The rewards are there.
A machine cannot be too clean.
It very easily can be too dirty.
You can mitigate the need for cleaning
by always flushing the group head
as soon as you've finished pulling a shot.
the shot stops and that pressure
sends that coffee water back up into the tube.
Immediately take your portafilter out and flush it.
That will bring clean water through
and drag out a lot of that before it starts to deposit.
Now, this is particularly important
under one specific circumstance,
which is you've pulled a shot that's flowing way too slow,
we call it choking, almost,
and you stopped it to kind of try again,
change your grind setting, change your dose, and fix it.
In those circumstances,
the liquid that you've shot inside the machine
is significantly stronger.
It's got way more soluble material in it
than the end of a normal espresso
where that water is relatively weak.
Just flush it out as soon as you can
and a good five second flush is fine
to prevent that accumulation.
Now let's talk about maintenance,
about investing a little bit of time and effort
to get some great results.
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To clean properly, again, think about
what you're actually doing.
I'm kinda brand agnostic around espresso machine cleaner.
I use Urnex quite often, but Pulycaff is good.
There's a bunch of other brands out there.
I don't like the tablets
because I find the dose to be too high
and a kind of waste of detergent.
If you're cleaning frequently,
tiny amount is really enough.
This should last you a very long time.
If you think about the cleaning process,
when you lock this in and you push go,
hot water's flowing from the boiler into here.
There's a blank basket in this,
so it can't go anywhere.
It begins to dissolve the detergent.
And when you press stop,
that's when cleaning begins
because that's when that pressure
will drag the detergent up into the machine.
Leaving it to do its job is very important.
So in a funny sort of way, once you start cleaning,
it's the time that the machine is off
that is much more effective
than the time that the pump is on
and trying to push water in.
Generally, you'll see people be like
10 seconds on, 10 seconds off, repeat five times,
but you could do 10 seconds on the first time,
10 seconds off, and then a shorter ons and longer offs,
and be just as effective.
When you're done, rinse it out, rinse it clean.
Make sure there's no detergent left in here,
and then make sure that the water coming out
looks and smells clean, and you're done.
When it comes to cleaning,
the only other bit of an espresso machine
to really worry about is the steam wand.
Now, I would say regular and good habits
of purging the wand at the end of steaming milk
and wiping it thoroughly immediately with a wet cloth
mean that you shouldn't have to do
any frequent maintenance beyond that to your steam wand.
But sometimes some people maybe aren't
that good at that stuff,
and you need to do some additional cleaning.
I would say, and I would recommend very strongly,
if you have an accumulation of milk, dried milk solids
around the holes of the steam wand,
take the tip of the steam wand off.
You might need a little spanner.
They will all unscrew pretty much,
and then you can soak that in some hot water and detergent
and clean it out.
I don't like the idea
of you soaking the entire wand like that.
It's highly unlikely anything bad would happen.
But in cafe scenarios, I have seen over the years,
people do that switch off the machine,
and a poor seal of the steam wand
has turned that into a drinking straw
and it's pulled milky disgusting water
back inside its own steam boiler,
and that's very bad.
So I would say always, always, always
remove the tip of the steam wand for cleaning.
The rest of it, cleaning is really aesthetics.
Make sure it looks nice and clean.
Don't let mold grow in your drip tray.
You know who you are.
Don't do that.
But apart from that,
nothing's really gonna impact the taste of your coffee
from a cleanliness perspective.
What we're gonna talk about now
is probably the most stressful, frustrating,
difficult part of this whole video,
and it's descaling.
Water for coffee is a complex world.
The best water for coffee's taste
may not always completely align
with the best water for the longevity of your machine.
And there's two ways that water can affect your machine.
The most common way is that water can be scale forming.
It's got a lot of calcium bicarbonate in there,
and that will form calcium carbonate, which is limescale,
and that will accumulate inside your machine
and eventually break it.
Descaling it is usually done by adding
water with acid dissolved into it
to break down the limescale.
You can actually have water that is corrosive.
Under certain circumstances,
water's chemistry can mean it will damage a machine.
I would say if you're concerned about this
and wanna know more, It's a complex world,
but you can use things like
Langalier index calculators online
where you can input a bunch of details
about your water's chemistry,
and it will tell you if it's likely scale forming
or likely corrosive,
or hopefully happily in the middle
and not doing anything bad whatsoever.
When it comes to descaling a machine,
this kind of two approaches,
and shout out to John from Decent.
When we contacted everyone, he gave a great answer to this.
You can use what I would call the
frequent descaler concentration.
There you're gonna be regularly descaling your machine
and there's gonna be pretty limited scale buildup inside it
if there is any.
And so you can use a relatively low acid concentration.
There, it might be anywhere from 2 to 5% acid
sort of by weight.
If you are in a scale forming area, your water's quite hard,
you haven't descaled for a couple of years,
you run a really serious risk
where if you add gentle descaler to that,
well, it could just loosen some flakes of scale
that could travel through the machine
and clog sort of a very narrow part of it.
A lot of machines have
what are called flow restrictors in them
to sort of slow the flow and add some pre-infusion.
They may be 0.6, 0.8 millimeters wide.
That's the narrowest point in the machine.
It's very easy for a lump of scale to clog that,
and that would be bad 'cause it's quite hard
to kinda get fresh descaler in to break that down.
In those circumstances, I understand it may be better
to use a much higher concentration of descaler,
and leave it a lot longer to do its work
to hopefully break down as much scale as possible.
That might be something like 20% acid by weight.
You can either make your own descaler
or you can buy off the shelf products.
There's reasons for both.
I like to make my own.
I use this: citric acid.
It's delicious, it's organic, it's food safe,
it's cheap, and it's easy to find.
With this, you can make up
your own concentrations very easily.
Like I said, it's a percentage by weight.
So if you're making a liter at 3%,
you just need 30 grams of citric acid.
Nice and easy.
The other thing is if you taste water
coming outta a machine that still has descaler in it,
it's just a little tangy,
and it's totally safe to drink.
So I love everything about this.
However, there are machines,
I think of Gaggia machines in particular,
where you'll often see caution to avoid using citric acid,
and to use own branded product instead
because there's concern about this causing corrosion
in something like a Gaggia's aluminum boiler.
By and large, if a manufacturer recommends
their own brand product, that's reasonably sensible.
The downsides are it's expensive.
You may be tempted to use
a lower concentration or dilute it down
or use less than recommended,
and that may get you into trouble
from using two weak a solution as we mentioned before.
For someyhing like this, I'd happily use this.
For something like this thing here,
I'd probably be happy to use citric acid too.
It's easy. It's simple.
It's good.
In a low scale forming area,
probably be doing it every six or twelve months
in a higher scale forming area,
a bit more frequently than that.
If your machine is new or in good condition
or recently descaled,
you can do a very simple test.
Take out your portafilter,
put carafe underneath,
and catch 30 seconds of water
running freely from the group head.
Let it flow, 30 seconds, weigh that.
Once a machine begins to accumulate scale inside,
that number will start to drop.
And so every couple months you can be like,
how's my machine doing?
And for a lot of machines,
you'll get a very early warning there
that flow is starting to slow.
That's a concern.
Get on with some descaling.
If you've never descaled a machine before, it's very simple.
Empty your water tank out
and add your descale mixture to it.
Turn the machine on and begin to pump water through.
You're gonna try and fill the system
with the acidic water, with that descaler.
Once you've gotten to there,
it might be that you wanna let the machine
heat up a little bit.
Some machines may not recommend this.
Do read your manual.
Then you're gonna switch off and leave it for a while.
That gives a chance for the acid
to break down any lime scale inside.
And after a while, you're gonna turn it back on
and flush it through.
And once you've flushed through
everything in your water tank,
get rid of any residue in there, give it a rinse out,
and then fresh water in, and keep pumping it through
until the taste of sourness has gone.
It's gonna be probably at least a full tank
to get it through.
And that should be, if you're descaling frequently,
all you need to do.
But like I said, read the manual.
Speaking of water tanks,
don't let water sit in your tanks for too long.
If you've gone away, change the water out.
It will accumulate often a biofilm inside
that can affect the taste of the water.
So turning over the water in your water tanks
is a good idea.
In terms of other maintenance,
thankfully it's pretty limited.
In a domestic scenario,
you might change the gaskets
that are inside the group head maybe every year.
They will age and become brittle,
and form an imperfect seal over time,
and you'll see these kind of tears of either clear water
or kind of coffee water
running down the outside of your portafilter.
The shower screen itself may age over time.
It really depends on the quality of the build,
and the manufacturer, and all that kind of stuff.
If it's really flexing a lot
or if the mesh that sits over the metal
is sort of detaching from it as well,
it's not an expensive part to change
and it is worth doing.
For most people, it should last a good long time though,
a year or two comfortably.
But if you're pulling a lot of shots,
if you're dosing higher doses too,
you may see a bit more wear and tear on that shower screen.
Grinders need a little bit of love too,
but probably less than you think.
It is important to clean them out.
It does really impact performance if you don't,
and so here are the essentials.
First thing you're gonna worry about in a coffee grinder
in terms of regular maintenance
is going to be the exit chute,
where coffee is leaving
the sort of grinder into a dosing cup, into a bin,
whatever it's gonna be.
That exit point needs to be kept clear
because coffee will slowly accumulate there.
If you don't keep it clear,
then coffee can't properly leave the grind chamber
and you'll get some regrinding happening.
That will make more fines.
That will make the shots taste worse.
That is to be avoided.
So making sure the exit chute is clean
is the number one task.
And I would do that frequently.
That's at least every week.
Keep an eye on it.
In some grinders, it's more visible than others.
It's obviously just underneath here.
Most grinder manufacturers will give you a brush.
This is what the brush is for, this little part here.
We should talk briefly about hoppers.
Not every grinder has a meaningful hopper
that you can clean.
This one doesn't really.
this one really does.
If you like to leave beans in a hopper over time,
you should know that your cleaning
needs to adapt around that,
especially if there's any oils
on the outside of your coffee beans.
Regardless, you will see some accumulation over time
from a full hopper.
You'll see oils deposit on there,
and they will start to taste bad.
Oils, when they go rancid, smell like fish,
and you don't want a fishy hopper for your coffee grinder.
Regularly remove your hopper once it's empty.
Take this away to the sink.
Dish soap is fine.
Make sure any oil is removed.
Water alone will not do a good enough job.
You need a little bit of detergent, not very much.
Make sure it is completely dry
before returning it and back on it goes.
I've seen some horror shows here.
And if you've got a little bit of an accumulation
inside your hopper, and you don't really believe me,
you're welcome to try the finger test
where you grab a little bit of it.
And if you're up to it, taste it.
See how that goes.
Where you've got sort of normal
sort of built in hoppers that don't remove,
getting in there where you can with a damp cloth
is probably gonna be the best you can do.
Just make sure nothing is building up unnecessarily.
If it is really bad,
you might need to remove the hopper,
but can get complex.
Ideally, just keep on top of it
and don't let the oil build up.
Now there is the more complex topic of
opening up the burr chamber and getting inside there.
And here, there's real variance on how easy that is
and how risky that is.
For me, a big divider is,
is there some sort of threading near the burr chamber?
In an environment like this
where you are unscrewing something, generally a top piece,
well, I do not want at any point
to get ground coffee in these threads.
That would be very annoying.
Some grinders make it very easy
to open up the burr thread, get in there,
and just stick the nozzle of a vacuum cleaner in there,
and hoover out whatever's in there,
give it a little brush off first.
That's great. That's lots.
Some manufacturers are saying don't even bother doing it
more than every six to 12 months.
There's not a lot of return on investment.
As for the burrs, they will need changing over time,
but actually the lifespan of a burr is pretty substantial.
Recommendations vary quite widely.
I've seen everything for domestic burrs
from say 250 kilos up to 500 kilos.
That's gonna be somewhere in the region of
a decade for some people to longer,
and so it's not something
you're gonna need to do very often.
There'll be loads, these days, of videos on YouTube
about how to change a burr set,
especially because people are experimenting
with different burr sets,
rather than just changing them
because the old ones have gotten a little dull.
If you don't wanna get in there and open up a burr set,
but you do wanna do some cleaning,
there is one other option.
These things, and they are now made by
a couple of manufacturers I think,
but I think Urnex were the first ones to do it.
These are designed to be ground to do the cleaning.
They're little sort of pretend coffee beans
that are a kind of cleaning agent,
and you grind them through like a dose of them.
There's a dose recommendation depending on the grinder,
grind them as normal,
and then you would need to grind through
some fresh coffee afterwards
to make sure you push through
all of the sort of remaining material from these things.
They are, as I understand, food safe.
I remember they used to eat them at trade shows
when they first launched them to prove how safe they were.
Didn't look tasty.
So don't worry about that.
But yes, you'll need to purge out a bit of coffee.
I will say every manufacturer of grinders said:
please don't use uncooked rice to clean your grinder.
Please.
I see it all the time.
They really don't like it.
You do void your warranty.
Rice is actually much harder than coffee, uncooked rice.
I just wouldn't do it.
When burrs get dull, it's actually quite hard to tell.
One manufacturer did say if they feel dull, they're dull.
But I don't know how accurately I could assess
the sharpness of a burr with my fingertips.
So for me, the big telltales are a sudden increase in fines.
The ground coffee coming out is much hotter than usual.
Those are two common clues that I would see,
especially in cafes where the burrs are a little bit dull.
And in those situations,
firstly, I would make sure everything was nice and clean.
And then if I was still having issues
and the timeline kind of lined up with
I've used a couple hundred kilos, maybe 300 kilos,
then yes, I'd look at changing it.
Kilo-based guidelines aren't that useful
because not all coffee is created equal.
Very dense, very light roasted coffee
is much harder to grind
than very dark roasted coffee.
And so the lifespan of the burrs is, to some extent,
dependent on the kind of coffee it's grinding,
not just the volume of coffee that it's grinding.
So, it's that from that with a grinder.
Just keep it looking nice
and you shouldn't have to have any other
sort of parts to worry about or maintain
for the lifespan of these things.
Let's talk just briefly about filter coffee brewers.
First thing is I would probably recommend
buying some espresso machine detergent.
It's super useful.
Anything that's touching coffee repeatedly over time
will acquire some unpleasantness,
and this is the best way to get rid of it.
Things to worry about.
In cheaper brewers like this, you'll get two things.
You'll get often little mesh thing here.
Even if you're using a paper inside this,
or still using this,
this just needs to soak now and again,
so it doesn't have any unpleasant residue on it.
This you can probably clean by hand with a bit of dish soap.
Pretty easiest thing.
But again, if you wanna be lazy,
a little soak in espresso machine detergent
works super well.
I'm not a huge fan of glass carafes and heated plates
because they make the coffee taste bad.
I like stainless steel carafes that are insulated,
but they easily accumulate a little bit of dirt over time.
So again, hot water, just boil a kettle full of water
or heat a pan on the stove.
a good teaspoon of espresso machine detergent.
Pour on the hot water, mix,
leave it for half an hour, rinse out thoroughly,
and it'll take away all the unpleasantness
that's accumulating there.
Easily done.
Even if you're a good person, it can happen.
It can happen to you too.
But done regularly, it's really no effort,
and it's totally worthwhile.
Descaling these is still worthwhile
for best possible performance.
They won't suffer the same way in terms of failure
that an espresso machine will
because most of the tubes and pipes in these are much wider,
but still, I would recommend
that sort of 2 to 5% strength descaler solution in here
and just brew it halfway through to turn it off
and turn it back on after half an hour.
Let it finish, add some clean water through afterwards.
It's quick. It's easy.
You don't have to do it very frequently,
but it is worth doing.
Last few bits and pieces before we wrap up.
Firstly, kettles.
Now, ideally, like I said,
you could have lovely water going in,
so your kettle will look brand new on the inside
at all times.
That's the ideal.
However, in many situations,
you might have a kettle that's shared usage.
You use it for coffee.
Someone else uses it for tea.
Someone else doesn't care what they put inside,
and you may end up with a slow accumulation of scale.
This one's not too bad.
Typical London kettle: far more horrifying.
But descaling these is super easy.
100% just use powder citric acid,
mix it into a little bit of the water.
The best bit of it is that
you don't have to be that accurate,
and you can just watch it happen.
It's very satisfying, bubbling away, reacting.
Chemistry, it's exciting.
And then you have a lovely crisp, clean kettle afterwards,
and that's nice too.
Interestingly, one manufacturer did recommend
washing the inside of your kettle with detergent.
I'm not sure I'm there.
So for me, just rinse it out frequently.
In terms of other coffee stuff,
again, treat your travel cups like carafes,
so they will accumulate stuff over time.
A little bit of espresso machine detergent
is the way to go, just a little bit.
Leave it to soak.
Take it right out.
It'll be beautiful afterwards.
Moka pots, the other one that are worth talking about,
please clean them.
A patina of dirt is not a good thing.
It's not seasoning.
It's just dirt.
Please clean your moka pots.
Aside from cleaning them regularly, the gaskets in them,
the little rubber rings inside here,
they do need changing.
Again, if they get brittle,
if you can feel that they're brittle,
if locking in is an issue,
if you're having any sort of pressure leaks,
it's probably time for a gasket replacement.
It's cheap and it's easy to do.
That's the thing I think to worry about most.
If you wanna know why,
we have a sliced in half moka pot here in the studio.
Well, there's a good reason,
and we'll leave a link in the description down below
to our moka pot series, which will explain all.
And that's it.
Those are the things you have to worry about
when it comes to maintenance.
And I'm gonna say thank you again to Trainwell
for sponsoring this video.
Don't forget, you can get 14 days free
with your own personal fitness expert
by clicking the link down the description below.
But now I wanna hear from you.
Has this changed the way you're gonna approach maintenance?
Maybe you wanna comment a few days after the video
and you're cleaning a bit more.
Are you tasting the difference?
Is there something we missed?
Is there a question that you have unanswered
when it comes to maintenance
that's not found in this video or in your manual?
Leave us a comment down below.
We'll respond if we have a good answer for you.
But for now, I'll say thank you so much for watching
and hope you have a great day.
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