# Gaggia Baby Class 06, frothing, and a few bits and bobs



## Magnus (Dec 19, 2011)

Hi there, I am a happy owner of a Gaggia Baby Class 06, and have a few questions.

I struggle to produce a nice micro bubble froth with the pannarello wand. I find I get a nice volume, but it's mainly built of larger bubbles than I'd like to see. I wonder if anyone has tried the wand that gaggia.co.uk sell (PPF1K11, with a longer nozzle) or has other suggestions how to best use the wand the brewer comes with?

Has anyone tried the VST 18g basked with the Baby?

I find the brewing process moody, and I suspect my £45 Krups Burr grinder is not up to scratch. I sometime have to make very large adjustments on the grind size for the same beans to get a nice shot (I use about 16g and expect a draw time of about 25 seconds), and I suspect that the grinder is not producing grinds that are even enough in size and also produce dust that clogs the basket. Are there any similar experiences, and what grinder would you recommend if I were to get a better one?

Thanks for a great forum,

Magnus


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

The standard Gaggia steaming arm and panarello wand attachment are designed to make frothing milk easy. Unfortunately, the design makes it extremely difficult to produce anything except giant bubbles.

Regular steam wands tend to be solid metal pipes with one or more holes on the bottom. The user "surfs" the surface of the milk with the tip of the wand incorporating air into the milk. Panarello wands comprise a plastic or metal attachment to the metal pipe that has a hole at the bottom and also one or more holes further up its side. The panarello sucks air through the higher hole(s) and then blows this into the milk through the hole at the bottom.

To produce microfoam you have the following options:

- Surf the milk with the hole on the side of the panarello as one would normally the tip. There are videos on Youtube of people demonstrating this technique but be warned it it very difficult to get right.

- Remove the outer sheath of the panarello. This leaves a small plastic jet on the steam arm which has a single hole on the bottom and can be used like a regular steaming wand tip. The only problem is that without the full panarello attachment, the wand is now quite short.

- Fit the replacement panarello wand you referenced and remove the outer sheath leaving its longer internal jet. I followed this approach with my Baby Class and was able to produce microfoam consistently.

- Replace the whole steam arm. Unfortunately the steam arm on the Baby Class is attached via a ball joint and so the arm cannot be replaced with the Silvia's as with many other Gaggia machines. However, I believe some people have managed to replace the wand with a Wega wand which has the same ball joint.

I used to use both 15g and 18g VST baskets with the Baby Class and found they did make a difference. The 18g basket works well with doses of 17-19g and offers less resistance, and hence allows a finer grind for these larger volumes of ground coffee, than the stock Gaggia 14g basket. The VST 15g basket works well with doses 14-16g and like the 18g basket produced more consistent shots with less early blonding.

How much liquid espresso are you producing from the 16g dose of ground coffee?


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## Magnus (Dec 19, 2011)

Hi.

Thanks for your great answer!

I produce somewhere around 30ml of espresso with my 16g and so wouldn't mind a slightly larger draw.

I will give the longer pannarello and the 18g VST a go.


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## Magnus (Dec 19, 2011)

Hm, correction: the draw varies in size 30 - 45ml.


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

No problem, hope it helps.

It sounds like something is changing between shots. What precision are the scales used to weigh your coffee? Are they 1g or 0.1g? A difference of a gram of ground coffee in the basket could cause a difference.

How much of your espresso shot is crema and is this consistent? If this is varying between shots perhaps weighing the shot might give a more consistent measure.

Finally, what does the pour look like towards the end of the shot. Does the flow of liquid from the portafilter spout speed up significantly towards the end of the shot and what colour is this liquid?

A more advanced grinder will make a noticeable difference although your grinder might not be the cause of the inconsistency you are currently experiencing. With grinders for espresso you tend to get what you pay for to an extent. How much would you be looking to spend? The Iberital MC2 seems to be fairly well liked on this forum as does the Eureka Mignon. Personally, I can recommend the Compak K3 Touch as a good grinder and pretty good value for money. Finally the Baratza Vario and Virtuoso are worth considering if you will be using the grinder for other brew methods in addition to espresso e.g. French press, drip, etc. This is by no means an exhaustive list but should give you some idea of options.


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## Magnus (Dec 19, 2011)

My scales are a digital 1g, so a bit rough. Do you have a domestic 0.1g scale to recommend? I've been looking, but failed to find one.

I get about 5 - 7mm crema when it has settled fully in a small 55ml shot glass. This is pretty consistent, and only reduces when the beans are getting old.

The colour remains dark brown / honey coloured towards the end, so that seems ok. However, the pouring speed is interesting. During what I think is a successful draw, I do see some increase of flow through the draw. In failed or less successful ones, I sometimes see a dramatic increase.

I have started taking greater care when tamping, to ensure it's level, or even, in the basket. This seems to create more predictable results, but I'm still only using the plastic, very thin, tamper the Gaggia comes with.


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

CoffeeHit and HasBean both sell 0.1g scales for less than £15:

http://www.hasbean.co.uk/products/Pocket-Scales-%28300g-%7B47%7D-0.01g%29.html

http://www.coffeehit.co.uk/digital-lcd-mini-scales-1000g0-1g/p229

Some speed up during the shot is normal although it sounds like you have successfully identified an issue with your failed and less successful shots - these might be suffering from some channelling. In these cases rather than passing evenly and consistently through the coffee puck, the brew water is finding a path of lesser resistance through it. This results in a faster flow rate and a bitter tasting espresso. Channelling is sometimes a result of uneven distribution of the ground coffee within the basket prior to tamping or a bad seal between the side of the basket and the coffee puck. Next time you see this happen, have a look at the top of the coffee puck in the basket after the shot has finished. Can you see little holes in the surface of the coffee bed and are these at the edge or somewhere towards the middle?


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## Magnus (Dec 19, 2011)

I have looked for channels, and so far I've only noticed them in the middle, but I'm not sure what to do about that, other than more careful tampering.

I'll look more closely next time, to see If there are any towards the edge.

Again - thanks for your help!


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

That sounds like the water is finding a path of lesser resistance through the centre of the ground coffee puck. Try distributing the grounds evenly around the basket before tamping and breaking up any clumps of ground coffee. I find stirring the ground coffee in the basket with the end of a needle or paper clip usually works well. For demonstrations try searching for WDT (Weiss Distribution Technique).


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## Magnus (Dec 19, 2011)

Ok, great. Thanks, I will have a go over Christmas.


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## tonycollinet (Feb 13, 2010)

Hello - I am also using the baby class, and want to improve steaming. Have you tried the longer Pannerello? If so, how did you get on with it?

Thanks.


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

I bought the longer steam wand attachment but took the pannerello bit off it.

So its just a longer steam wand with one hole for steam.

The long and short of it is poor steam power. You may get limited success but I struggle to achieve that nice turbulent flow needed when stretching the milk.

Wish I had a classic for the rancilio wand mod


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## jimbow (Oct 13, 2011)

I believe some people have had success performing a similar mod on the Baby Class using a Wega steam wand rather than a Silvia one. I think this wand has the ball joint required.


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## fatboyslim (Sep 29, 2011)

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?4238-Gaggia-Baby-Steam-Wand-Upgrade/

How did I miss this?

So it seems the Rancilio Wand mod will fit on a Baby (hopefully Baby Class too).

Anyone who has taken a Baby Class apart, does this sound correct?


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## Eyedee (Sep 13, 2010)

My opinion for what its worth, just take the outer sleeve off the panarello leaving the pointy bit. Get used to it, mastery is quite easy if you play around with your technique.

Ian


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## Magnus (Dec 19, 2011)

I have a similar experience to Fatboyslim with the longer panarello without the sleeve. It's an improvement, but still difficult to get good micro bubbles. still worth doing, though, as the original pannarello really will leave you quite unhappy and with large bubble hard foam for continental style capuchino and nothing else.

I'm also very keen to hear if anyone has tried fitting the Silvia wand on the baby class!

I would try myself but don't want to break any warranty seals on my new machine and will do some more research before I try.


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## Magnus (Dec 19, 2011)

Jimbow: thanks for your earlier pointers!

I now have predictable results and can fine tune grinding and amount of coffee to get shots I like.

The main mistake I did was not being careful to even out the ground coffee and breaking up any lumps when filling and tapping the basket.


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