Thanks Ben, this is really useful, its a negative feedback cycle, I dont use the tap as it tastes bad which makes it taste worse! I also use the steam wand a fair bit, I will start flushing this more often from now on. I have looked at filters but I am currently using bottled water due to not having the space for a large filter unit. If I ever move house the plan is to plumb her in and put in some filtration.
Richard On Wednesday, February 12, 2020 at 4:29:03 PM UTC, bmacpiper wrote: > > 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+water+filter&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] <javascript:>> 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] <javascript:>. > 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/006107e9-48d4-4bf9-95bf-41ea5ed3263f%40googlegroups.com.
