Hey Benoit, Go to the Google Groups page for the Brewtus group, and search "Barry Luterman descaling". Select the thread that is titled "Crystal Geyser or RO water to prevent scale".
A couple of posts down, you will see Barry's 13-step routine for descaling. I had good success with it, but I chose to prop the machine up four different directions for each soak so the water line would be submerged. The only thing that I had to do was flush a lot more water through than he says because I was getting major league citric acid flavors through there--bright, acidic, like under-roasted coffee. I would only do this about once a year; it's not hard, but getting all the citric back out was a bit of a pain for me. Barry pointed me to the Spice Barn for citric; I use it for adjusting mash pH also, so I have lots. If you can't find it, let me know and I'll send you some. Also, have a look at this for more info than you ever wanted to know about water: http://www.big-rick.com/coffee/waterfaq.html Charlie Papazian, father of the homebrewing movement in the US, is famous for the quote, "Relax. Don't worry. Have a homebrew." I live west of Seattle, and my water is fairly hard and a bit alkaline (pH 8.1 or so). The machine makes great shots, and I descale once per year. I imagine I could get better shots if I went to all the lengths of TDS adjustment, etc. but I am comfortable trading off the level of coffee I make vs. the investment of my time, etc. in making it happen. For some, they have the experience/palate/interest to get that next marginal increase in quality, and I hope to have shots from all of them at some point!!! You should also look at the thread called "Cleaning Frenzy" that I started last year. It will be an eye opener on what basic cleaning can do for your machine and shots. Best of luck, bmc "Faith will move mountains, but you'd better bring a shovel....." > From: Benoit <[email protected]> > Reply-To: <[email protected]> > Date: Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:42:35 -0800 (PST) > To: Brewtus <[email protected]> > Subject: Descaling and philosophy > > > Hi, > > I've been searching the posts to find good and valuable information > about descaling the Brewtus. I found a lot of things but it seems > there is no consensus yet on the subject. Is it that risky to descale? > What is the best procedure? Can the pump hold the job on a regular > basis? How many of you guys are doing it? > > I don't know anything about the specs of the tap water I fill my > machine with every day. I wish I could just descale without wondering > about doing it the right way. And avoid the whole "water-filtering- > recharging-testing-worriying" cycle. > > I beleive that descaling is a necessary procedure when it comes to > keep the machine healthy for a long time, and especially for the > taste! I understand as well that the Brewtus is a case of exception > because of the two boilers and it's tricky. > > And as the operation is not recommended by the company, I'm just > conscious about the procedure itself, could we build a document about > it? That would help a lot of users like me. > > If you descale your B on a regular basis, and succesfully, It would be > great to hear your succes-stories! > Or put the links to the posts about it (maybe I missed some of these) > > The expobar service (and speciality coffee machines in general) is > close to nonexistent in Quebec, so this group is a great source of > knowledge for me. > > Thanks, > > Benoit > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/brewtus?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
