# A couple of questions from a newbee



## omega (Jan 5, 2011)

Hi all I have a couple of questions about my Gaggia Classic

1: How hard do you tamp the coffee down is there an easy way to tell ?

2: How do you descale the classic as in instructions it says after descale run cold water through machine that has confused me.

3:What type of descaler should I use ?.

Hope this is not too much to ask for a 1st post

Steve


----------



## DonRJ (Apr 3, 2010)

For tamping, the pressure used should be in the region of 30lb as a starting point, the aim being to develop a consistent tamping pressure. The usual learning tip is to practise using the bathroom scales to get the feel for 30lb pressure and take it from there. Bear in mind that the 30lb figure is not an absolute, I for example consistently tamp at around 25lb.

When descaling don`t leave the machine on throughout the process, switch on to pump descaler into the boiler, switch off and allow it to work, then repeat the process remembering to flush some through the steam wand as well. Once you have repeated the cycle a few times, empty the water reservoir, rinse out, refill, then pump a good amount of water to flush the machine through. By only switching on to pump water through, the machine will not get a chance to get hot.

Puly cleaner descaler is used by a number of Classic users on the forum


----------



## Glenn (Jun 14, 2008)

This link should help too

http://5mcoffee.com/descaling%20your%20home%20machine.pdf


----------

