Any Coffee Experts Out there?

Anoneemoose

maisie_cat wrote: »

Do these automatic machines have a cleaning cycle? I have an old fashioned plumbed in espresso machine and backflush it regularly with a specialist coffee cleaner. Coffee beans are oily and lack of cleaning the pipe work makes coffee bitter. Similarly, the grinder will also need cleaning to avoid oily build up, some people use white uncooked rice. Check the manual for cleaning requirements because I cannot imagine that it requires no cleaning

Yes, it has a cleaning cycle, which is done when the light comes on. Obviously I wash all of the bits and pieces that are removable like the water tank, grounds container, filter thing (don’t know its name) and drip tray.

When you say they use rice, do you mean they put that in the grinder bit?

Anoneemoose

coffeehound wrote: »

Hiya, ah the 92-96 is the temperature of the water before it touches the coffee but perhaps you cant access that to measure it.

As the temperature in the cup is as usual then that does make the grinder burrs the more likely suspect. Are you having to use a coarser grinder setting than you used to?

Do they sell replacement burrs by the way?

Thank you again. And thanks for the link. I looked it up and apparently 60 is normal for the ‘in the cup’ temp for these machines.

The dial for grinding is 1-7...1 being the finest and what comes out strongest and 7 being the other way. I usually like it at 2. If I turn it to 1.5 or 1, then it’s bitter and if it goes the other way, it’s tasteless.

I’m going to clean/descale today anyway and then try some new beans just in case and so I can eliminate all the other possibilities before spending.

Anoneemoose

Anoneemoose wrote: »

Thank you again. And thanks for the link. I looked it up and apparently 60 is normal for the ‘in the cup’ temp for these machines.

The dial for grinding is 1-7...1 being the finest and what comes out strongest and 7 being the other way. I usually like it at 2. If I turn it to 1.5 or 1, then it’s bitter and if it goes the other way, it’s tasteless.

I’m going to clean/descale today anyway and then try some new beans just in case and so I can eliminate all the other possibilities before spending.

Also, at 2 it’s still quite tasteless!

JJ_Egan

Bitter is either the coffee and some are more bitter than others .
Could also be the extra/ longer extraction .
Once i pull more than a double shot any further extraction is bitter.


Though mine is just a pump machine not a grinder i clean every week around the outlets and descale about once every two months .

maisie_cat

Anoneemoose wrote: »

Yes, it has a cleaning cycle, which is done when the light comes on. Obviously I wash all of the bits and pieces that are removable like the water tank, grounds container, filter thing (don’t know its name) and drip tray.

When you say they use rice, do you mean they put that in the grinder bit?

I used to use white rice in the grinder, but as yours is a bean to cup I would buy the grinder cleaning tablet. I use Urnex Grindz but have also used Puly brand cleaner as well

coffeehound

Has your kitchen been getting hot? That can ruin beans. I remember leaving beans in the grinder hopper in a hot kitchen one summer and after about two days they tasted disgusting! Now keep beans in daily batches in the fridge or freezer..

Anoneemoose

maisie_cat wrote: »

I used to use white rice in the grinder, but as yours is a bean to cup I would buy the grinder cleaning tablet. I use Urnex Grindz but have also used Puly brand cleaner as well

It says it’s not suitable for machines on the one I could find under Urnex. I’m going to chat with DeLonghi as well just now to see if they can suggest anything. If they ok using those, I might give it a try.

Anoneemoose

coffeehound wrote: »

Has your kitchen been getting hot? That can ruin beans. I remember leaving beans in the grinder hopper in a hot kitchen one summer and after about two days they tasted disgusting! Now keep beans in daily batches in the fridge or freezer..

Yes!! My kitchen is so hot lately. I’ll keep them in the fridge.

I know the Starbucks beans always need me to sort of jiggle them before they'll grind..if I don’t jiggle them, they don’t go through but that never happened with any other beans I used. The Starbucks ones always seem oily too.

coffeehound

Anoneemoose wrote: »

Yes!! My kitchen is so hot lately. I’ll keep them in the fridge.

I know the Starbucks beans always need me to sort of jiggle them before they'll grind..if I don’t jiggle them, they don’t go through but that never happened with any other beans I used. The Starbucks ones always seem oily too.

Yes starbucks have a rep for being a tad over roasted. Dark roasts also stale quicker. When storing coffee in the fridge its best to minimise condensation, hence daily batches in food bags or tupperware tubs. But in the short term just keeping the bag in there will be preferable to a hot kitchen. It ll be nice if thats the problem!

Anoneemoose

De’Longhi reckon the machine sounds like it’s functioning as it should. The pucks are as normal, as is the flow, so don’t think it’s the grinder. They have suggested hoovering and wiping, but won’t advise the cleaner.

Will try the other things like fridging the beans. And using a new pack/different type of beans.