# gaggia classic help!



## Eoin86 (Jun 26, 2014)

Hello,

I bought a 2nd hand gaggia classic that apparently 2 years old, the man told me it's was in perfect working order and yes it does work, however I wanted to descale it before I used it as germs and all that, but this machine looks like it has never seen a descale in its life so I have flushed it through with the gaggia descaler and water but the water seems cloudy and then settles to clear... is this something I should worry about? Or is this normal? Or should I keep flushing til I get clear? Also the main part where the coffee comes out the water is running out like a sprinkler shower head... is that the way it's supposed to look? This is my first coffee machine and I read up loads before I bought it and i'm starting to regret buying second hand as there was a brand new delonghi that looked good and got great reviews... feeling very sad right now


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## 4085 (Nov 23, 2012)

The Classic is a better machine! Right, if you descale it would be normal to put the fluid into the water tank, then pull it through into the boiler by pressing the power switch to turn the pump on. You need to check that you have pulled descale fluid through and you can do this in one of two ways. Either taste it or run a bit between finger and thumb and it will feel silky.

Let it soak, I am guessing 15 minutes then pull water through. At this point, take the water tank out, wash it and refill it. Keep on drawing water through and after a couple of litres, taste it as after all, that is what you will be doing when you drink coffee. At the same time, remove the single screw and take the shower screen off and clean it. If the brass group head is not sparkling, it needs cleaned with a stiff brush and some stronger cleaner like Puly caff.

If you are not sure, ask away. It maybe normal when drawing water through to see little metallic bits but if there is scale in the boiler that's normal. I should add, when you remove the shower screen you will see that the water comes out of three holes. This helps it to pass through the puck so your experience is quite normal.


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## The Systemic Kid (Nov 23, 2012)

Eoin86 said:


> Or should I keep flushing til I get clear? Also the main part where the coffee comes out the water is running out like a sprinkler shower head... is that the way it's supposed to look? This is my first coffee machine and I read up loads before I bought it and i'm starting to regret buying second hand as there was a brand new delonghi that looked good and got great reviews... feeling very sad right now


Nothing to worry about - flushed water gets cloudy due to agitation. As long as you have flushed through sufficient fresh water, you're fine. Water coming through the 'sprinkler head' is fine too. You'll need a decent grinder to unlock you machine's potential. You should also ditch the basket that comes with the Classic and get a stock portafilter one for best coffee results.

Ask lots of questions on the forum - you'll soon master it. Sounds like you bagged a bargain.


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## Brewdog (Jun 29, 2014)

There's a cracking link (sticky) in the Gaggia forum

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?3858-So-you%92ve-just-bought-your-Gaggia-Classic

this taught me lots and I'd had a Gaggia for years before using this forum


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## Eoin86 (Jun 26, 2014)

Today I cleaned the group head and shower screen they are both clean, I only got a double shot basket with my gaggia I didn't think about questioning the guy as he did post what he had in the pics, but I have beans and I grind the beans down, I only have a blade grinder as I cannot afford a good burr grinder at the moment, however this one did get fantastic reviews on amazon, What I am finding now is the pour is far too fast like 5 seconds and it's poured lol I'm pretty sure this isn't right... thought average was 27secs, I think I have to grind more beans and use more powder, but the coffee did taste good and did produce crema, but did pour quicker on one side than the other as I had 2 shot glasses side by side. Thank you for everyone's help so far really appreciated and have helped so much.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Didnt read the thread properly!

What grinder did you buy, link?


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## Eoin86 (Jun 26, 2014)

froggystyle said:


> Didnt read the thread properly!
> 
> What grinder did you buy, link?


I bought this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008J22GF8/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_xrWStb1R1DE5K6ZR


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Yeah that's not a burr grinder, it has blades.

The way you need to look at it is this,

When you have the ground coffee in the portafilter, the water has to pass through the grinds evenly, so that the water coming out has extracted the good stuff from the grinds.

A blade grinder will chop the bean into various levels of coursness, so when you put this in your PF and the water runs through its going to travel at different speeds, and the more course grinds will not extract at the same rate as the finer grinds, plus water will find the easiest way through, meaning piss weak, and a faster pour.

You need a burr grinder to get a more even grind, giving you a better extraction, better shot and a big smile!

Time to shell out a few quid!


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## urbanbumpkin (Jan 30, 2013)

Eoin86 said:


> I bought this https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008J22GF8/ref=cm_sw_r_udp_awd_xrWStb1R1DE5K6ZR


Sorry to break the news ....but your going to be wasting you time buying that. I understand everyone's got a different budget but you'd be better off buying

A) a Porlex hand grinder for £30

B) a used MC2 grinder for about £80.

I started off with a Porlex and although a cheap option I got through £20 worth of beans and still did make a decent shot.


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## froggystyle (Oct 30, 2013)

Porlex tall for sale in the for sale thread, get yourself over and grab it!


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## Eoin86 (Jun 26, 2014)

I'm buying a gaggia md64 for £50 2nd hand from a guy on gumtree soon







and to be fair the coffee tastes good from the blade grinder and the crema produced is good


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## jeebsy (May 5, 2013)

If you think that coffee tastes good wait til you get a decent burr grinder


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## marcuswar (Aug 19, 2013)

If your getting "crema" from a blade grinder then I guess your Classic came with the pressurised basket ?

If you look at your basket does it only have a circle of holes in the very centre (pressurised) ...









...or over the whole bottom of the basket (non pressurised).









The pressurised baskets also have a small black insert inside the bottom of the portafilter.









If you think your coffee is good then that's all that matters, after all its you that's drinking it, but I would urge you to at least try using a burr grinder and a non pressurised basket and taste the difference as I think you'd be surprised at the difference.


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## seeq (Jul 9, 2011)

As the post above, if you are using a pressurised filter then you will need a coarser grind and it shouldn't come through quicker than about 25 seconds ish.

You state you only have the double filter, I wouldn't worry too much, most people on here always pour doubles anyway.

As urbanbumpkin stated a porlex hand grinder is a good option on a tight budget. It can be time consuming, but it is infinitely better than using a blade grinder.

You will need to grind very fine for espresso. Not too far from icing sugar. When you pinch the grinds together they should clump together.

You will need a decent tamper as well, the plastic one that comes with the classic will do for now, but only just. The amount of weight you need to apply when tamping is more than you may think. To get you started make sure you are leant over and push down hard. You're not trying to push it through the countertop, just firm and meaningful.

What I would aim for as a starter is double the weight of shot to beans you have put in in 27 seconds. So if you dose the double filter with 14g of coffee you want to get out about 28g of espresso when poured for 27 seconds. That's classed as a 50% ratio and is what is generally classed as a standard espresso. You can later look at varying this ratio to see what you personally prefer

The other important element at this stage is the coffee beans. Don't use supermarket ones, they aren't fresh and aren't really looked after. You will mostly get a bitter and stale taste. Use one of the online roasters. There will be reviews on those in the beans section of the forums.

There are so many other techniques for dosing, distributing, tamping, pouring (ratios) etc. but get the basics right and you'll be on your way

And most importantly don't give up. With a basic shelf bought espresso machine like the delonghi you would get easy, consistent and average shots every time. With something like a gaggia classic when you start (and even after several years when you're being daft and turning the knob on the grinder the wrong way... Oops) you will vary between terrible shots and fantastic ones. So just keep at it


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