Cleaning your machine is a vital part of getting the best out of youre coffee. Making coffee generates a load of oils  which, unless the machine  is regularly cleaned, build up and impart a nasty flavour to your coffee. Please remember that this is a guide and you should check your owners manual for in depth cleaning instructions. 

Super-Auto Machines

I spoken to a number of coffee machine technicians and they have all told me that one of the main reason for machines failing is due to owners failing to perform basic maintenance on their machines. Contrary to common belief, super-auto's are NOT maintenance free!! There are generally two systems in superauto's that require cleaning:

Read more: Cleaning Your Super-Auto

Introduction

I had been contemplating doing a PID and rotary pump conversion on my Brewtus II for some time. Feeling rather inspired by the guys at Ministry Grounds rotary conversion project, some articles on the Home Barista web site as well as a lot of discussion on the Bretwus email list about the conversions, I was almost ready when, I heard a rumour about a new Brewtus being released, knowing the limited extent of my own handyman skills, I decided to wait a bit and see what the guys from Creme produced. After 5 days with the new Brewtus , I can say that I am well impressed so far.

Differences 

Visually the Brewtus II and III are almost identical, the only real visual clues to the differences are the slightly different temperature display and the changed power switch and to be totally host, I actually prefer the old power switch, a nice big lighted red one :-) and the nice BIG digits on the old temp display, the new PID controller has smaller digits. 

The major changes are all under the skin and they do seem to make a significant difference to the machine.

Read more: 5 Days with my Brewtus III

I thought I‘d write this story about my find and prove that it is possible to find a decent affordable espresso machine set-up. It can be a bit of an adventure.

Being away from home on holiday is such a pleasure. Away from work and being at the seaside or enjoying the great outdoors is my idea of a good holiday. But when you get to most of the B&B’s or chalets, all you get are instant coffee sachets. And for a coffee fanatic, who is used to brewing his/her own beverages with that gleaming (weighing in at more than 10kg) espresso machine which proudly sits in the kitchen next to the 17kg grinder, this is just not good enough. So what is one to do. I know of some BU members who take their entire large and heavy coffee setups (Expobar Brewtus machine/Mazzer grinder) on holiday with them – especially on a certain Subaru meet. But I wanted something light and only slightly more nasty than my main set-up, being a Grimac La Uno machine with the monsterous Mahlkonig grinder.
 

I decided that a decent portable espresso machine (with a pump)/grinder set-up was needed. This was to be a huge challenge. What light-weight and small enough set-up could meet my needs. I was also on the look-out for something affordable, so that if it was damaged or stolen, I wouldn’t be too heart-broken. 

I first tried a cheap (R350) Russell & Hobbs burr grinder that I’d found in Pick n Pay. I’d read on the Internet that with modifications, it could grind beans fine enough for espresso use. It worked great and I thought, this would be perfect. But the mod actually makes the grinder work beyond its comfort zone, so the burrs went blunt after only 3 months, rendering the grinder useless. 

The back storeroom at Tazza D’Oro, to me, is a heavenly place to be. Alessandro has so many old home and commercial machines and grinders waiting for restoration, or pining to be saved. This is where I found the grinder perfect for my needs. It was a plastic covered, cheap-looking, light-weight unit, coloured in kitchen red and white. The make was Rancillio and “Jacky” be her name. I found out that it was the predecessor to the famous Rancillio “Rocky” model. It needed a good clean and some minor repairs and she could be mine for R500. But hidden under the skin was the real treasure. I was amazed to find real conical burrs. The slow-moving motor is so loud that conversation  is impossible while in operation. But who cares...it can grind espresso fine and it can easlily fit into a backpack, so I did the deal. Now all I needed was a lightweight espresso machine to go with my beloved “Jacky”. 

On one of my charity shop searches, I came across a little Russell & Hobbs espresso machine which had all the nastiness of the steam espresso machines (like a cheap and nasty little aluminium portafilter). But this one had a pump. “For R60...err..I’ll take it.” But I found that it faired no better than those cheap and nasty steam “espresso machines”. Anyone who can pull a decent shot on this deserves to be called the “World’s Greatest Barista That Ever Lived”. So it was time to search again. 

On another charity shop search I found a nice little plastic bodied unit. It was a Gaggia “Espresso” model. But it was missing its portafilter. It was full of moss on the brewgroup, but it was only R50, so I snapped it up quickly.  Being a bit of a restorer makes me brave about opening up units to study the internals. To my surprise I found a decent-looking Aluminium boiler with a commercial sized brass brewgroup. I dismantled the group to scrub all the moss off. I then filled the resevoir and switched on the machine. To my horror, white water came out. I ran gallons of water for an entire afternoon until finally it ran crystal clear. It got hot which made me smile. I ran the steam and was amazed at how much steam was produced. I went back to Tazza D’Oro to see if they had an old Gaggia portafiter which I could buy and grind to make a naked portafilter. None were available at the time, but Paul (main technician) told me he’d look for one for me. 

I was very eager to try out the machine, so I went back to the charity shop in the hope of finding the missing portafilter. Lo and behold, the woman who’d sold me the machine had found the bag containing the missing portafiler, along with the basket and plastic tamper. I was so excited to finally try out the machine at home in my kitchen. 

The portafilter was a real commercial-sized, brass with chrome plating affair. I had a feeling it might produce a fairly decent shot. I ground on my noisy “Jacky” and tamped with my beloved Reg Barber tamper, then locked in the portafilter and swithed on the warmed up Gaggia. I would have been happy with only a fairly decent shot (cheap machines can’t really make good coffee).  But what came out had me doing flick-flacks. This little machine could produce a proper commercial quality shot. I’ve actually seen much worse in many commercial coffee houses in SA coming out of really expensive machines (proof that it is all about the beans and barista). As for the milk steaming, it could do micro-fine with no sweat. I have a habit of leaving my milk jugs at coffee jams, so without my main one, I resorted to using a nasty v-shaped aluminium measuring jug. But I was still very happy with the results. 

So there it is. It is possible, with a lot of searching, and a bit of luck, to find a cheap setup which can produce quality coffee beverages. Some of the home machines from the 70s and 80s were really well made. And through  time either were forgotten in the storeroom or replaced by the new fancy expensive fully automated unit. So if you are a struggling engineering university student, or a potential coffee geek, who is too nervous about forking out thousands of hard-earned cash for an espresso set-up,  – I want to tell you that there is hope. Somewhere out there in a storeroom, garage, second-hand shop or charity shop, there is an espresso machine and/or grinder waiting to be found. Its a great experience to find one, but the search can also be great fun.

So George from Koldserve asked me if I would like to have a look at a new handleless jug that they are bringing in. Being a gadget junkie I drove over right away to pick it up so I could try it out. It just so happned that the jug they are getting is a new Rattleware jug that they have just imported. It is exactly the same jug as my favourite milk frothing jug (which I imported myself from the US) except obviously no handle and a pretty cool custom rubber sleeve around the jug.

I was a bit hesitant at first about the rubber sleeve and thought that it would interfeer with my ability to feel the milk temp with my hand. It was only when using my handled jug again that I realised that I don't feel it with the  hand which is holding the handle in any case bit rather with my other hand on the bottom of the jug . Because, with the handlless jug, I am holding the jug in the palm of my hand I am able wrap my small finger around the bottom of the jug to feel the milk temp, it all seems to work very nicely and I had absolutely no overheated milk :-)

As far as the control of the jug is concerned, and latte art. I found the handleless jug took a little gettting used to, but once I had the hang of it I would definately rate it better than the same jug with the handle. Your hand is closer to the tip of the jug giving you finer control of the tip, you do have to however make larger movements as a result.

The jug has a beautiful bell in the bottom to help create that swirling motion that is required for great textured milk. Capacity is pefect for two cappucino's and I would rate it overall as an excellent latte art jug and one that I would highly recommend.  I am not sure when they will have stock but cost should be around R200.For those of you who may prefer the version with the handle, I think that George may be getting some of them as well, just have a chat to him.