# The importance of being dirtless.



## Earlepap (Jan 8, 2012)

Today I started working my way through a bag of Unkle Funka from Extract. I was looking forward to it since it had received much exaltation on the boards.

100g of it later and I'd yet to pull anything approaching a drinkable shot. This didn't leave me too dumbstruck as my espresso skills leave a lot to be desired, but having pulled several shots within the guideline time and weight, some should've at least been vaguely palatable or able to be disguised in milk. Alas no, every one had a vile acidic, tart and metallic flavour - similar, but not identical to the taste of under extraction .

I gave up after pouring my staggering 'free pour friday' entry and considered hurling the Gaggia onto the train tracks below my window, forgetting about espresso at home forever. Then it occurred to me that I couldn't remember the last time I'd given everything a thorough clean. I set to descaling and backflushing the Gaggia, soaking the grouphead, screen and baskets in puly caff, and running a load of grindz through the Vario. Ship shape and Bristol fashion.

After grinding and pouring a seasoning shot I started afresh with the Funka. 15g dose: it ran fast, blonding at 19sec leaving a 25g shot. The result wasn't the best, but wasn't a sinker either and showed signs of promise. With the grind tightened a little, a beautiful shot was produced, with more funk than James Brown's drawers (in a good way).

Most people are aware of this I'm sure, but to anyone new to the world of home espresso:

don't forget to keep your shit clean!


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## Filthy_rich85 (Jan 20, 2011)

By brilliant coincidence I'm just going through my cleaning cycle of back flush, descale and polish for miss Silvia. Grinder will also get a good clean down ready for a long weekend of abuse


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Reminds me that I need to tackle descaling Brewtus....ah dual-boiler darn it.

Gonna try and access the boiler directly rather than go via the tank


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## 7tenths (Mar 14, 2012)

Good advice, which I too must get round to...


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

So after 12 months of daily use and using both an in-tank water softener and brita filter, this is the end result. e61 mushroom removed for inspection


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

give a pretty good indication of the condition of the boilers and heating elements. Suffice to say prevention is better than cure, so next weekend a full de-scale will occur.

For now I soaked these parts in a weak citric acid solution for a couple of hours (including the whole e61 unit).

End result :


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

I guess this is how on some multi-group machines one head flows slower than the other


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## RobD (May 2, 2012)

should the nickel/brass coating underneath the chrome be showing that quickly?


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

Thats the damaging effects of scale for you!


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Gary, did you use one of the Bella Barista E61 service kits? I'm considering having a go at the groups on my machine and a little worried about not being able to reuse gaskets, or having to lubricate gaskets etc.


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

No Mike, it was a doddle. Followed a couple of threads on HB for this info.

I put tape round the bolts to avoid damaging the finish. Getting the big bolt undone too a couple of taps with a hammer on my wrench. The gaskets were all white plastic and looked brand new.

As an aside - I think I need a new group-gasket as its been 12 months, unrelated to scale tho.

Brewtus has been fully descaled now. It took 13 litres of water to remove all hints of Citric Acid! Glad its over.

The inital 'green water' which came out of the Steam boiler was vile....cloudy and visibly full of scale. The brew boiler wasnt bad at all.


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Been doing some digging to learn more about my machine, seeing as there is so little info on the internet, and turns out it's an e-91 rather than an e-61.

http://www.espressoparts.com/e91diplomate97e98duesmartgrouphead

This complicates things


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## garydyke1 (Mar 9, 2011)

any help? http://coffeegeek.com/forums/espresso/questions/34941


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## MikeHag (Mar 13, 2011)

Found that one. Sadly doesnt really say much that's useful. Will look for pdf manuals of machines that use the e91, e97, e98 etc. As the guy on coffeegeeks said, there must be some pros to counteract any cons versus the e61.


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