# Refrub Gaggia Classic from ServiceGaggia arriving today! woop woop



## Boomish (Apr 8, 2016)

Title says it all really, my machine is finally arriving..my first one I got from Ebay arrived in bits! Imagine dropping a Gaggia from a 5 story building (possibly higher) in a thin cardboard box, thats kinda what it looked like when it arrived









Still all good, as I should have got one from Coffee Forums very own expert ServiceGaggia who stepped in with a new refurb to save the day..can't wait..

Still got no grinder or Coffee (ordered from Rave 10 days ago) but I can grab some ready ground I suppose and at least have a go..


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Nice one!

Dont get to pi**ed off when the shots are crap from pre ground, fresh beans will be ten times better once you get a grinder.

You ordered from rave 10 days ago and they have not delivered? might be worth a phone call as they deliver quickly normally.


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

Also worth checking your confirmation email from rave that you filled in the recipient address correctly.

That is a long time for them to arrive


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

Or check you didn't do what I did with a coal order over the winter and think I'd got all the way through the process but hadn't pressed a final, post PayPal, confirm


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## Boomish (Apr 8, 2016)

The Gaggia is here and it's beautiful,(and in one piece) bit of rust here & there but it looks lovely, had a quick go at install after priming and having a first bash with some ready ground Illy coffee, first of all I must have tamped it too hard, water wouldn't flow through well and started backing up, with a very loose tamp it worked a treat. The coffee however stuck to the underside of the machine when I removed the portafilter, blimey this is messy.

However try as I might I can get the milk to froth, watched a few you Tube video's, I tried skimmed & semi skimmed milk, left the machine to warm for 30 mins, put the temp tag sticker on the jug but all I get is warm milk







hardly any froth at all. hmmm more practice & forum reading needed I think. Tips are more than welcome..I promised the wife a morning cappuccino


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

Did you flip the middle switch and leave it a couple of minutes before turning the steam knob?


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## Boomish (Apr 8, 2016)

Missy said:


> Did you flip the middle switch and leave it a couple of minutes before turning the steam knob?


Yep I did do that, but now I realise red means it's heating up, weird even though I left I'm sure the red light was still on...I shall investigate more..I've read something about starting to steam just before the red light comes on.


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

Does it? I thought the red light came on when the boiler switched off. I'm assuming you also ran the hot water off the steam wand. My process is make coffee- flip switch-go fetch milk put in jug-open steam knob onto cloth until steamy-close knob.wait couple of secs-steam.

When you say warm milk, is it getting hot and switching the temp tag? If so it's "just" a case of lifting the nozzle so it's barely in and it makes a hissing noise. After that you should have more bubbles than you can handle and it's just a case of technique refinement to get the whirlpool and microfoam.


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

the red light comes on when the steam is up to temp, it is off when it is coming up to temp.

You do need to purge the steam wand of any water that will be residing in it, i usually do this a few seconds after throwing the steam switch so as not to utalise any of the built up steam.

I've also read about trying to time it so you start steaming before the light has come on, this is so the boiler element stays on for the duration of the steaming. Hard to actually implement. I wait until the light comes on.

If the light is going out when you flip the steam switch and subsequently going off after about 40 seconds this indicates it is working as it should so you should be able to get hot frothy milk,, getting micro foam isn't a given, it takes some practice, in some cases LOTS of practice (me)

Hope by now you have managed to knock out that cappuccino for the Mrs

Whats the story on your beans from rave?


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## Boomish (Apr 8, 2016)

Thanks guys well I did my first coffee of the morning, I'm getting better at making less mess Grinder is ordered so for now we tried illy and Morrisons espresso. I'm only using the single shot cup thing, the morrisons coffee gives a lovely creamer! However the milk is useless, I watched loads of video last night when i went to bed, and am doing exactly as Missy and Ratty say but all I get is hot milk and the tiniest bit of foam, so no cappuccino this morning, it was a nice latte however









I tried less milk, I tried semi skimmed & skimmed, I couldn't quite get the whirlpool going tilting the jug & if I lift it out of the milk it makes a hell of a noise, I am feeling the jug and watching the temp tag, lowering it as the temp rises, but am desperate for foam so tried keeping it at the top but nothing seems to make any difference.

I watched a You Tube video that showed it being so easy, same machine & same wand, I think I did exactly this but nothing like it. Maybe my machine hasn't got enough oompf ? I even tried cooling the milk jug. However even at this poor attempt it's light years over my nespresso machine!

I can allow myself another coffee in a few hours I'll try again then


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Has the steam wand been changed from the standard one ?


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

Where about in the country are you? Perhaps there's a member with a Classic that could drop round to see you, or you could go and see them for some help/advice?


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## Kman10 (Sep 3, 2014)

Don't worry too much over the milk, it takes a lot of practice to get right, I've got a classic too and took me a while to get it right. My advice is get lots of milk to steam


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

froggystyle said:


> Has the steam wand been changed from the standard one ?


 I do believe that mark fits them to all the machines he sells.

I found the angle of the silvia wand to be too straight.

When you compare it to other machines being used you'll see the wand is at an oblique angle, whereas the silvia wand is straight down.

I bent mine and was happier with the result, but still think I might bend it more


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## Boomish (Apr 8, 2016)

yep it's a new Silvia wand, looks to all be working fine, it must be me, normally I'd say I'd be good at working things like this out but as you say maybe it's just not that easy.

Thanks Mrshades for the kind offer, I think i'd be super embarrassed if someone came all the way to me to show me how to froth the milk lol, I'm in Brentford middlesex if there is a close member but I'll keep trying, we do like our milky coffee's in this house









What a great forum!


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

This is the angle I bent mine too.

I think you'll find yours will come straight down, which I found hard to work with.


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## Boomish (Apr 8, 2016)

Foam Foam Foam & more foam! the elusive devil in the detail has finally arrived to my newbie barista skill set! So try as I might I couldn't get foam until this morning, with renewed vigor I awoke this morning, I went & got fresh croissant and full fat milk determined to make my wife a nice cappuccino, and no not just because I wanted to justify my purchase & infatuation with proper coffee

I read an online help answer to "no foam from my gaggia" last night and they mentioned "stretching the milk" suddenly it made sense I need to pull the nib out of the coffee! I also wondered if it was the type of milk I was using, so I got organic full fat milk. With gusto I tried the new "stretching" technique tryig to make the milk rise and hey presto it works, loads of foam! ok it's warm milk with foam on top but it's a start

I've since made a few more latte/cappuccino coffees this morning for my wife & daughter, single & double shot! No the milk makes no difference well not much, we even tried almond milk which my daughter likes and that was really nice. Oh and my missing Rave coffee order arrived this morning too, so a double bonus!! whoo.

All I have to do now is practice, turning the warm milk with a lump of forth on the top into creamy milk..









Thanks again for all the help, grinder is on order and the Gaggia is up and running, perfect start to the weekend! It makes the fact that I have to work today all that much more bearable


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## Missy (Mar 9, 2016)

Fab news! Amazing how different descriptions can suddenly give someone a lightbulb moment!!


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## Kyle T (Jan 6, 2016)

@Boomish check out this video. @EpicEspresso has some really good videos on his Facebook page and this video has helped me a lot. It got me to a consistent smooth velvety foam every time. Now I am just practicing my latte art!




__ https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=870295939667494&id=861284730568615


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## Boomish (Apr 8, 2016)

Kyle T said:


> @Boomish check out this video. @EpicEspresso has some really good videos on his Facebook page and this video has helped me a lot. It got me to a consistent smooth velvety foam every time. Now I am just practicing my latte art!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Ahh Kyle thanks so much for this, try as I might I can't get it to work very well, if I follow exactly as mr Epic is doing there the milk is simply warm, I can get the sounds right & I can stretch it but if I don't leave the wand at the top for ages I get hardly any foam at all, in this video he's hardly at the top for very long at all. I am beginning to wonder if it's my machine. I'll rewatch this again in the morning and see if I can replicate it..or video what I'm doing wrong.


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## Jumbo Ratty (Jan 12, 2015)

Just a few questions Boomish.

What milk are you using?

Ive found it easier to get good results with whole milk, even more so if its really fresh.

We get a weeks worth of milk in one go and always find I get better results with the freshest milk.

I actually prefer the taste of semi skimmed though, i find whole milk too over powering in taste.

Are you getting the milk hot enough ?

Have you got a temp tag or are you judging it.

I judge it. By experimenting and actually overheating the milk ( I could smell it , nasty ) I realised just how hot it needs to feel through the jug.

I have hot hands and can handle hot things more than some people due to working with hot machines and touching hot metal.

Some people have soft hands and may think its hot enough when it isnt.

I find the milk expands a fair amount right near the end of the heating process, stop too soon and it isnt silky enough.

But im in no way an expert on it,, just giving you my experience for what its worth


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## Kyle T (Jan 6, 2016)

It took me a few tries even after watching the video. You want to start with the wand in the milk, turn the steam knob on and then slowly lower the jug until the wand is almost out of the milk this should give you that ticking sound which implements the foam. Remember that you having to keep lowering the jug to keep the wand just above the milk to keep the ticking sound going because as you implement the foam the milk rises. I timed the video and he only does this part for 10 seconds give or take. The rest of the time is just spent warming the milk with the wand much further down into the milk.

So long as you are purging your steam wand before using and a big blast of steam is coming out i would think that it is working ok. Practice definitely makes perfect (or at least better :-D)


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## Boomish (Apr 8, 2016)

Thanks for the replies guys,

JUmbo - yep I have experimented with all milks I've settled with semi skimmed, I have a temp tag yep, I recently worked with a girl who manages a Coffee shop who told me to watch how hot it gets or you can split the milk proteins , so recently I've tried to stop just before the temp tag starts going yellow, by that time it pretty hot to hold the jog. However I didn't see any big difference.

Kyle - thats really helpful, thats what I'm doing I've also watched the FB video link you posted and this one in our own forums - http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?16401-Problem-after-upgrading-to-Rancilio-Silvia-wand-for-Gaggia-Classic

But still the same hot milk with foam on top, until this week when I noticed something, I made 2 cups of coffee at once so had to do the milk twice, the second time round the milk was a LOT easier to get micro foam! I still didn't get it circulating right but I could tell the difference, so today I tried purging the machine as if I'd made 1 coffee before mine,

Turned on machine for half hour,

Ran water through portafiler for a few seconds,

Switched to steam, quick purge, wait for 45 seconds then a good 30 sec blast into a jug of water, this was helpful in seeing the water circulation.

Steam off then made my double shot espresso as normal and attempted the milk steam, this time wow I'd say I got nearly 70-80% of microfoam throughout!

A bit of a faff but it was my first smooth creamy milk, not good enough for any latte art but it was a great taste









Oh & my Sage Smart Grinder Pro is here full of Rave Coffee Columbia San Pascual beans, it's fantastic!

Sorry bit of a long ( hopefully not too boring )post but really apreciate the help trying to perfect a coffee from the Gaggia Classic


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## UncleJake (Mar 20, 2016)

Boomish said:


> yep it's a new Silvia wand, looks to all be working fine, it must be me, normally I'd say I'd be good at working things like this out but as you say maybe it's just not that easy.
> 
> Thanks Mrshades for the kind offer, I think i'd be super embarrassed if someone came all the way to me to show me how to froth the milk lol, I'm in Brentford middlesex if there is a close member but I'll keep trying, we do like our milky coffee's in this house
> 
> ...


I'm not a million miles away in Twickenham if you're still struggling. I'm no latte art genius - but can show you how to get decent micro foam - or indeed, if there's an issue with your machine/technique.


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