# Newbie questions about Heavenly Usage?



## Astirab (Jun 25, 2017)

Hi there I've bought a 2013 Fracino heavenly and a Cunhill grinder 2nd hand and I'm unsure about a few things as total novice to the barista coffee skills world.

Is the heavenly supposed to have a water filter attached inside the water tank to the little outlet nozzle at the bottom?

I've bought a Brita water filter jug and am currently filtering the water prior to filling the tank I live in Brighton and the water is very hard limescale prone here so assume it's essential to filter all water through the machine; Is this sufficient?

The machine I bought has been stood awhile possibly more than a year I think so I want to try and get it cleaned and ship shape, any suggestions would be helpful, I'm intending to backwash and descale it for starters. Also run some grind clean powder through my grinder.

The hot water outlet was gunked up with crusty possibly scale I scraped this off from the hole behind the screw off tap head and it's now blasting water out nicely instead of dribbling as it did initially.

The steamer is very powerful it has a four hole tip and appears to work correctly I need to take off the steam arms qnozzle tip and give it a good clean.

My grinder is currently set quite fine and the coffee is ground to more like talc than sand my filter handle only has a single basket I think I overfilled it at first and the water drips back down the handle somewhat upon brewing my first attempt, next shot I measure 7g coffee and timed the shot for 25 seconds before turning off the water to the group head, this was better and didn't drip back, although I found that the coffee puck was mostly stuck to the shower head?

To brew my first shot I flicked the black switch on the front above the group head are you supposed to time the shots yourself and then flick if off when you are ready I'd sorta hoped this would be automated but apparently not unless I'm missing something?

Any advice or helpful tips would be much appreciated


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Wow lots of questions there! I'll start the ball rolling and pick up on a couple of things that stuck out to me.

1 - a Brita jug really doesn't do enough to remove scale from hard water. Those little filter things that sit in the tank aren't up to much either. You really want to be using Waitrose Essential Stretton Hills or Volvic (both of which are low enough in minerals to avoid scale and also have enough of the right minerals and pH to get a tasty extraction). Not all bottled water is good for the machine so try either of those, or Ashbeck at a pinch if no Waitrose or Sainsburys near you.

2 - if you had to scrape scale off the wand/water tap then thereis a good chance the whole machine wants descaling as you rightly say. (More proof of '1' above! ). So you'll want some Pulycaff detergent powder for removing old coffee oils (backflushing if the machine has a 3-way solenoid or E61 group) and some descaler. (They're not the same). I think the Heavenly is a single boiler machine so getting the descaler out again should be no problem (unlike many dual boiler machines). That is, unless the fact it's an HX makes any difference to that. (I haven't owned a heat exchanger machine so I'm unsure).

3 - it's best not to use those grinder cleaning granules. Really the only thing that goes through the grinder should be coffee. You'll need to take the burrs out (at least the top one) and clean inside the burr chamber and grind path with cotton buds and a toothbrush.

4 - Espresso grind is pretty fine. Not talc fine between the fingers though - that is more like for Turkish. This is where the shot time comes into it. If you are getting 14g of espresso from your 7g dose in 25 seconds that's good. If you are getting 50g 'espresso' from 7g in 25 secs you need to grind finer, increase dose and/or tamp harder to slow it down. Conversely if you can't get the shot you want in under a minute you need to back off the grinder a bit). Once in the ball park, just be guided by taste - is it sweet? Sour? Bitter? That's the basics of setting the grind (dialling in). That's how you tell if the grind is right. Numbers help consistency and help other forum members guide you, but at the end of the day it's trying to replicate a drink you're happy with.

5 - I am not familiar with the machine but it's fairly normal that you have to stop the shot when you want. Shot time is only a rough guide so you don't really want the machine to automatically cut off after a set time unless you are consistently getting the brew ratio you want at exactly the same time every time (unlikely!). Really you want to weigh the dry coffee in, and weigh the espresso coming out, and stop when you hit your desired brew ratio. Eg 18g in, 36g out, oh and it took about 30 secs.

It's worth noting that single baskets are more difficult to get good results from than doubles - due to the funny shape and 'thinness' (if it's good enough for Apple...) of the puck. Also, at a typical ratio of between 1:2 and 1:3 for espresso, 7g only gives you between 14-21g of coffee which is one or two sips. 18 gram baskets (or thereabouts) are the most popular / common size used in 58mm machines (plenty of people also use 14g doubles or even 21g triples). Some on here do successfully use 7g baskets but I think it's fair to say they're not in the majority.

There will be other opinions on the above but hopefully that's helped a bit.


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## Astirab (Jun 25, 2017)

Thanks a lot hotmetal that's really helpful,

I will be making a visit to waitrose or sainsbury tomorrow to buy some volvic or Stretton hills.

I have some pulycaff on order so will be able to clean off the coffee oils.

I will refrain from using the grinder powder and do as you suggest and clean the burrs manually.

I only received a single basket filter and a blank one with the machine, so will need to order a larger one that will fit my handle, if anybody can suggest ones that are compatible with the heavenly Fracino handle and where to source would be appreciated I'd like to get a 18 gram basket ideally.

I agree the funny shape single basket is difficult and 7g not much coffee to work with. the tamper I bought from eBay is a dynamo metric pretensioned 57mm and I'm assuming it's giving a consistent pressure every time.

I'm going to experiment with the timing and weigh the espresso to see how it's doing next trial session, thanks again for your helpful reply much appreciated .


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## igm45 (Mar 5, 2017)

18g VST or IMS baskets would fit.

I haven't tried the IMS however the general advice seems to be that VST produces better results in the cup, however the IMS is more forgiving of technique.

Bear in mind if/when you do replace the baskets you will need to get a 58 mm (min) tamper.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Yes, VST are good but can be fussy (if your prep is off they can give you 'spritzers' where a jet of water channels through).

Shame about the tamper being 57mm. It really helps if the tamper fits snugly in the basket - don't go for a cheap "58mm" tamper - I had one that actually measured 57.3 on the calipers and was a loose fit that left the edges unsealed. You had to move it about! Get something that is sold as a precision tamper 58-point-something - as it will then be what it says. E.g. Torr 58.4, or Made By Knock Heft 58.35. Probably a flat base will be best as it gives you the best feedback for when you have compacted the puck as much as it's going to go, and helps you feel/see that it's level. Convex tampers can be forgiving but can also feel a bit vague.


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## Astirab (Jun 25, 2017)

I got some volvic mineral water today and will be using that from now on I noticed it had a lot lower calcium magnesium and sulphates than many other waters for sale which I assume is what makes it more suitable for espresso machines.

My pulycaff arrived tonight so will be attempting a clean of tannins from group head and filter basket handle this week. I watched a couple of YouTube videos about performing a back flush on a HX machine and will attempt this procedure also.

I've purchased two glass espresso shot glasses so I can measure more easily a draw and see the crema easily.

I did a weighed experimental shot earlier today and returned 44g of espresso from 7.5g of ground coffee in about 25 seconds, not great I thought so I did another shot with more coffee in the basket and timed this for 25 secs again to obtain less espresso and a fair amount of crema.

I also steamed some milk on the steam wand with the temperature thermometer attached to the stainless steel milk jug and brought this up to the correct temperature 70C the resulting cappuccino drink I made was very pleasant indeed.

My machine needs a bit of a clean and I did hear on a YouTube video that it could be detrimental to descale the boiler myself if the machine could potentially have a great deal of scale built up from being unserviced reguarly as this could block up some parts if big pieces of scale are removed in a descale.

I am not certain of the history service and maintenance of my second hand Fracino heavenly, I was told it was bought for a coffee shop and last serviced in 2015 then not used much after this, so this advice worried me slightly especially as there was a build up of scale partially blocking the hot water outlet when I got the machine, is it worth risking a self descale or should I just leave it if everything is working and pay for a professional service at a later date, I would prefer to perform a regular descale regime myself ideally.


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## tAClue (Jul 6, 2017)

This post makes for very interesting reading @Astirab . I am hoping to receive my Heavenly within the next few days. Not having owned any kind of coffee machine before, I am also looking for pointers on how to perform a general health check and initial maintenance.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

There are 2 sides to the water thing. 1 is to avoid scale or leaching (too many or too few minerals). The other is getting a good extraction (right balance of certain minerals). So it's not just TDS or CaCO3. I'm not an expert on water but the volvic and Waitrose Essential Stretton Hills waters have been suggested by those in the know as being a good compromise for taste and machine health. You can also fit a reverse osmosis filter and then add minerals back in as some here have done to feed their plumbed in machines.


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