UPDATE: It's now been a full day since my first troubleshooting experiment (turning off the steam boiler). Oddly enough, everything is working properly, even with the steam boiler turned on and at full pressure/heat (1.3 bars). No hissing or major steam through the group head as happened before. When I activate the pump by raising the group lever, there's a typical 1-2 second delay before water flows with the tiniest wisp of steam at first (presumably because the group head is hot), but the water temp is right at the 200° F PID setting and remains there for as long as the pump runs. Pulling shots is completely normal. I'm relieved but cautious. I don't know what caused the problem, nor why it's now stopped happening.
I did find a workaround in case I need to turn off the steam boiler. Pull a shot, pour 6 ounces of moo juice or cashew milk into a pitcher, add some coconut oil, then whip/froth that concoction with a stick blender. Add it to my long-pull espresso shot (4 ounces), then nuke it all in the microwave for 30 seconds. Voilá! A nice foamy latte. A bit inelegant perhaps, but quite tasty. Happily, though, I'm back in business — at least for the moment — with normal milk steaming on the Brewtus. I'm still interested to know why/how 220° water from the steam boiler was coming through the group head. Should anyone here have any insights, I'm all ears. On Saturday, September 4, 2021 at 2:25:54 PM UTC-5 billherbst wrote: > First troubleshooting experiment (to try to rule out possible causes of > the problem): This morning I turned on the Brewtus IV-r (after a night > where the machine was turned off), but I did NOT switch on the steam > boiler. I left it turned off, so that only the brew boiler would heat. > > Interesting results. The Brewtus heated up the brew boiler and reached the > PID set temp of 199° F in about ten minutes. I removed the naked > portafilter and lifted the group lever to see what would happen. Brew water > streamed through the group head exactly as it should and appeared to be the > correct temperature (no hissing or steam). I pulled a shot, and everything > was fine. > > I left the machine turned on and went back an hour later to check again. > Still good — brew water flowing through the group head was the correct temp > with no hissing or steam. To the best of my ability to apply logic, this > implies that the problem isn’t with the PID at all, and is instead somehow > tied to the steam boiler and internal plumbing. > > The problem I had six months ago was caused by scale. The water in my town > is so hard that scale build-up had caused the solenoid-operated valve (the > one that's normally closed but opens when the steam boiler level sensor > triggers refilling) to seize in the open position. Replacing that valve and > de-scaling the machine fixed the problem, and I resolved to do a citric > acid de-scale at least once a year. > > Now it’s six months later, and I’m wondering if scale build-up has caused > a problem with the internal valves that control direction and flow of water > from each boiler. I still don’t understand why and how 220° water from the > steam boiler can be coming through the group head, but it is. Perhaps > someone here knows and can explain that to me. > > On Saturday, September 4, 2021 at 4:16:23 AM UTC-5 billherbst wrote: > >> Well, there’s more trouble with my Brewtus IV-r. Judged by gauges, >> lights, and valves, everything is normal and operating as it should, but >> when I raise the e-61 group lever to activate the brew cycle, the water >> that comes through is way, way too hot. Yes, a stream of water is pumped >> through the group head, but it’s accompanied by loud hissing and a large >> volume of steam. >> >> The PID is set to 199° F, but the water coming through the group head is >> hotter than boiling — 220-230°. >> >> Has the PID failed? Has anyone else had this problem? >> > -- 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/5858ec30-ac33-4dae-9b13-e2d1a73cc3c0n%40googlegroups.com.
