# Tips, tricks and advice for a newbie with a secondhand Gaggia Baby Twin.



## limes (Oct 10, 2013)

I am buying a year old Gaggia Baby Twin at the weekend for £80. I've already had a good search on the forum for relevant threads, but basically I'd like to know more about cleaning/de-scaling/servicing a Baby Twin to get the best out of the machine, so I pose a few numbered questions below. Please bear in mind I am a newbie on a budget.

(1) I'd like to know how to give it a decent clean, back-flush(??), service, etc, I'm even quite happy to take the innards apart to do this properly if it means a well maintained machine (I'm pretty good at taking apart and putting things back together). I want to make sure I do this with the correct cleaning products as I believe the Baby Twin brew boiler is aluminium and the steam thermo-block is stainless-steel-lined-aluminium - I think some products may cause damage to either steel or aluminium? Machine is sold with genuine Gaggia fluid and I have ordered a blank back-flush plate, but can a back-flush be done on the Baby Twin like the Classic or is anything different? The machine has just been repaired by Phillips who fitted a new boiler because of a leak. (Which might not bode well, but hey...) I think the steam wand may have the occasional drip after steaming, could this be a problem? Any tips for cleaning the machine between uses?

(2) The machine already has the Silvia steam wand modification. I am wondering if the Baby Twin needs an OPV mod (like the Gaggia Classic does) to reduce the system pressure to that for loose coffee instead of the higher system factory set ESE pod pressure? If this is possible, how to go about doing this and might anyone know how to make a cheap accurate pressure gauge or anyone nearby Winchester to help?

(3) Any further tips and tricks for getting the best out of the Baby Twin, this could be any kind of advice, from cleaning after each use, to how to get the best brew/steam, peculiarities of the machine?

I'm keen to make good espresso with the machine for myself and the girlfriend so that it remains permanently in place on a limited worktop space, so please help!

I am off to post in the "grinder" and "wanted" forums for advice with sourcing a good second-hand grinder, no point answering that here in the Gaggia forum...

Thanks.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

...as I mentioned in my other post, finding out brew temp is (one of) the fist things you should know about your machine. I think they must all differ slightly.

Mine brews under temp (at 165F), so after the cooling flush I have to temp surf by switching on my steam switch for 25 seconds (which brings me in at about 206F) I then open the steam valve to let out the extra heat and pressure (this acts as a 'poor man's pre-infusion which also alleviates the initial pressure burst on the puck) and pull the shot. This gives me a better starting point for brewing.

You have to know your initial temp (after cooling flush) to know how much surfing is needed to get your optimum brew temp.

Hope that helps for starters!

M.


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

It's interesting to see how other people temp surf with the Classic. I'm not sure whether it's the right way of doing it but I tend to:-

Flush from the brew head till just after the water stops making the steam like noise approx just over 1oz of water.

The light goes off after about 15 secs. Fit the PF and then after out 10 secs the light comes on and I hit the brew button.

Haven't got a clue what the actual temp is but I seem to get ok result from what I can tell.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

urbanbumpkin said:


> Haven't got a clue what the actual temp is but I seem to get ok result from what I can tell.


What does the shot taste like??

Also, the mottled colour of the crema can be a good indicator...


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

The shots taste great when I do this. The only thing that sometimes happens is that when I do the flush as normal, the light doesn't go out.

8 out if 10 times it's fine. If I do the shot without letting the light go out there's a bitter tinge to the shot.

If there's a more reliable temp surf sequence I'm all ears.


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## Milanski (Oct 10, 2013)

I believe every machine must be slightly different in terms of heating hence the importance of figuring out brew temp for your specific machine.

If you flush enough water out of the boiler the light WILL go out while the water is heated back up to temp. Most people say that as soon as the light comes back on (indicating the water is at the correct temp) this is when you pull your shot. In my experience this is not the case. I highly recommend getting a polystyrene cup from a cafe (free!) and a probe thermometer off Amazon or ebay for a fiver. Then push the probe diagonally down into the cup (from the outside, in) so the end of the prong wedges into the bottom of the cup in the corner with the side wall and the top display section is nearer the top of the cup. Then flush enough water out (about ten or fifteen seconds worth), wait for the light to go out (it may go out sooner (or a bit later) depending on where in the heating cycle the boiler is at), wait for the light to come back on and draw water into the cup for about ten seconds and wait to see what the highest temp reading is. If you're within a couple of degrees of 100c or 200f then that's a good starting temp. Keep the cup pushed up to the brew head tightly until you get your highest resding so minimal heat is lost and BE CAREFUL! If you get splashed you could get burned so use caution.

This technique is not 100% accurate but for the money it's really great and told me a lot about what was going on with my temperatures.


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