Hi Rich, I keep trying to respond to you and keep getting sidetracked. A few thoughts:
The boilers are connected to the same water source, yes, but they are separate. As I’m sure you know, water gets shunted to one or the other, depending on needs and logic of the controller. So, it’s possible to have one taste bad and one good. The brew boiler is flushed regularly in most cases, because you’re pulling shots frequently. The steam boiler doesn’t, unless you frequently make tea, americanos, etc., because the hot water wand pulls from the steam boiler. As a result, two things happen that affect the taste and quality of the water in the steam boiler. First, the water stays in there, hot, for days or weeks at a time. Given that this is a copper boiler, in my experience, the water takes on a metallic taste after a while. Second, if you use steam, you are pulling off water molecules from the top of the water in the steam boiler, but dissolved minerals stay in the boiler. Over time, if you don’t flush the steam boiler, the minerals get more and more concentrated, because new minerals are added to the boiler when it refills, but none are removed. This leads to the water appearing turbid/cloudy, and also tasting more and more like whatever minerals/dissolved solids you have in your water supply. As an aside to this, the outlet to the hot water wand is at the bottom of the steam boiler, and over time, all those concentrated minerals will clog the copper tubing and eventually block it altogether. I switched to an ECM machine a few years back, with stainless steel boilers. I dump the steam boiler weekly, or sometimes more often. Even with doing that, the water is turbid by the end of a week, but no metallic taste. Bottom line—once you’ve done a good de-scale and flush, I’d suggest you dump the steam boiler every day or two if you wish to have good tasting and clear water for tea, etc. I also installed the BWT filter system (sold by Whole Latte Love: https://www.wholelattelove.com/search?q=bwt%20water%20filter&hPP=16&idx=shopify_wllusproducts&p=0&is_v=1 <https://www.wholelattelove.com/search?q=bwt%20water%20filter&hPP=16&idx=shopify_wllusproducts&p=0&is_v=1>) and it is great. They claim that you no longer need to de-scale with this system, and my experience over about 3 years and 3 filters backs up this claim so far. I recently replaced a heating element and it was almost like new. The countdown flow meter is a worthwhile addition; it lets you know when to change the filter with no guessing. I hope some of this helps, and best to you! Ben McCafferty > On Feb 12, 2020, at 08:09, Rich <[email protected]> wrote: > > Thanks Eric, I didn't think of the tap which I guess is pretty stupid! I will > give that a go and report back once I have fixed my leaky steam boiler. > Richard > > On Tuesday, February 11, 2020 at 6:40:22 AM UTC, Eric Christoffersen wrote: > I don't think so... its so difficult to get it fully flushed. The water is > all connected internally so if some outlet makes nasty water you should check > that uncommon part of that outlet. > > Maybe try disassembling and cleaning out the water tap and steam heads? Also > try cycling more water through those outlets. > > On Tuesday, February 4, 2020 at 11:07:33 PM UTC-8, Rich wrote: > I have just tried from the group head and it tastes fine, is it worth me > doing another full citric flush of the steam boiler? > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Brewtus" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/f9a943f0-71d6-4ac9-bbe4-a4100202fc48%40googlegroups.com > > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/f9a943f0-71d6-4ac9-bbe4-a4100202fc48%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer>. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Brewtus" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/brewtus/0CDF37B3-4D1F-4FD3-AA0A-93A2A23E9B0C%40me.com.
