Back Flushing w/Cafiza

[JohnB]

In the manual from CC they advise not to b/f w/cleaner more then once every 3 weeks. How often do you guys find it necessary?

The reason I ask is that I did my first b/f w/Cafiza today after approx 3.5 weeks of use. After rinsing & pulling a throw away shot I got the best tasting shot since I started making my own Espresso in December. Absolutely no bitterness/sourness/saltiness, just the great flavors of the Liquid Amber. While my technique has certainly improved in the last few weeks I don't think it changed much from yesterday so I'd say the machine was overdue for a cleaning.

[Weska]

I've never backflushed with detergent, as LaSpaziale seems to recommend. But now you have me thinking....

[hlsheppard]

I pull two "triple basket" shots per day. That said - I usually backflush with cleaner every other week (sometimes 3 weeks if travelling, etc).

[jmcphail]

I've been backflushing with with plain water every night before putting it to bed, and tearing down the screens and disc and scrubbing ( with the big wire brush! ) soaking in detergent, and then backflushing with detergent on Sunday night. I use Joe Glo, but I think it's similar to Cafiza?

So that's a detergent backflush once per week for me. And plenty of rinsing.

[woodchuck]

Backflush and clean group wih a brush after each coffee session. Remove and soak screens, backflush with Cafiza once a week. Pull 8 to 10 doubles a day.

Cheers

Ian

[chas]

Backflush and clean group wih a brush after each coffee session. Remove and soak screens, backflush with Cafiza once a week. Pull 8 to 10 doubles a day.

Cheers

Ian

Actually my preference is to forward flush and clean screen with a brush while forward flushing after each session. For me a session is 1 or 2 doubles. That way you blow most of the nasties down into the drip dray whereas a backflush would suck a lot of that up into the group.

[JohnB]

Normally I do a short forward flush after every shot to clear stuff out & a series of plain water backflushes at the end of the day. I'm curious why CC suggests not using the detergent in a backflush more then once every 3 weeks. Can the detergent damage anything in there with repeated use?

[jmcphail]

I typically go at it with the Pallo brush while running shots with no portafilter. I don't know that I've had much success in getting crud out from between the screens that way, though, but I can have a positive effect on the bayonet/mount and the edge of the dispersion disc and around the screw head.

[Niko]

I go at it with the Pallo Brush between every shot, never with the wire BBQ brush. Detergent every week to week and a half keeps the doctor away.
After thousands of shots pulled - it's still going...

Too much Cafiza can be a bad thing too, the reason why CC mentions no more than every 3 weeks is because the detergent can cause the valves to slip because of build up over time. So if you keep doing it every week when the machine doesn't need it, the detergent builds up instead of rinsing off.
I pulled almost 6,000 shots through my VII in exactly 1 year so there's no problem of too much Cafiza on this machine :D

[jmcphail]

I don't use the wire brush in the group itself, I feel like it will hurt the rubber gasket in the long run.

But I use it on the disc and screens when they're out of the group.

[Richard]

Too much Cafiza can be a bad thing too, the reason why CC mentions no more than every 3 weeks is because the detergent can cause the valves to slip because of build up over time.

I certainly agree there's no point in overdoing detergent backflush, but I must say that the cautions on Chris' website are targeted specifically at the mass-produced manual E61 groups which rely on coffee oil deposits to lubricate the cam. If those groups are backflushed too frequently in relationship to the amount of coffee going through them, they start squeaking radically every time the lever is raised.

[chas]

When I had an Isomac Tea I certainly noticed that the lever squeaked for the first shot or two after a Cafiza backflush. However, LaSpaziale also recommends against backflushing stating that it will last longer with coffee oils in the valves, too.

Based on the brown color when I backflush I'm not convinced of that argument. Chris has also stated that if you backflush, use no more than 1/4tsp which is a level spoonful of the spoon on the back end of the Pallo brush handle. That amount every couple of weeks seems innocuous.