a little voice has been nagging me: “do i need to do anything to maintain the silvia?” apparently, i do. so i did it today. maintenance is often forgotten, especially by me, as i prioritize things that have to be done now (or things i enjoy more) over things that *should* be done every month/3 months/6 months/year.
the silvia was used for a few months back in 2008 and then put into storage. we brought it back out last november and i’ve been using it regularly. today, i unscrewed the dispersion screen screw and soaked the screw, dispersion screen, grouphead jetbreaker, and “eco space group nickel” in a cafiza/hot water mixture. i used a toothbrush to scrub all the residue and grounds from both sides of everything. i used a paper towel to wipe the residue off the body plate that sits adjacent to the brass plate (i have no idea what this is called). i wanted to do this before i backflushed the system so i wouldn’t shove all the residue back up into the machine.
rancilio says machines manufactured prior to 2008 (ours is 0907) don’t need to be backflushed. the espresso tech in the valley said backflush only water. everything else online says backflush with cafiza. eee gad. well, i backflushed with only water (cool to medium) before pulling any espresso. a little residue/grounds came out but nothing major and the water was clear, not brown. i think i’ll backflush every week. next, descaling, because my steam wand is dripping just a little bit of water and i know the zojirushi needs descaling, even with brita water, so i’m pretty sure the silvia could use some love in this area as well.
update @ 12:42: after a quick google search and bbb’s inability to take my phone call, i decided to use my citric acid to descale the silvia. i have it. i use it. why do i need to buy a name brand descaler? given the machine’s 9-year history and our hard water, i don’t think this pale blue is too bad. (note: the wb is as accurate as i could get). yay!
per seattle coffee gear’s videos, i waited 20 minutes and ran another 12-16oz through the boiler. after another 20 minutes, i dumped the citric acid water in the reservoir and ran 48oz (16/16/16) of fresh water through the boiler. after the first 16oz, the water ran clear and then i tasted it after the 48oz passed through. for kicks and giggles, i taste tested it alongside hot water from the zojirushi: the same. now it only seems fitting to pull espresso for an afternoon latte. (and apparently, coffee and milk is the only thing that doesn’t upset my stomach…)
update @ 13:47: the steam knob seems more sensitive/receptive. there was a lot more initial pressure when i started steaming the milk. the espresso pulled for 20 seconds/2 oz and was sour like it hasn’t been sour in a while so maybe, just maybe, i’ll get a 23-28 second pull. i cleaned the grouphead and then backflushed it 3 times before i shut the machine down.
5 Apr 20: Been meaning to clean the Rancilio Silvia and Rocky (Rocky wasn’t sealed and there were rodents in our POD!), but I am out of practice and there are already so many things to do. I finally got to it today and now I am rewatching all of the videos because I don’t remember anything at all.
Rocky: I used a screwdriver to clean all the gunk out. I didn’t use a toothbrush on the brass threads…NEXT TIME. Also, the hopper isn’t as clean as I thought but I guess I really need to scrub the gummy coffee stuff out. I scraped and then blew compressed air inside and ran Grindz and then 2 batches of reallllllly old underroasted Rwanda coffee (Dec 2018). I removed the electrical tape from the spinner—I am using a coffee brush and chopstick anyway to get everything out.
Silvia: [1] Descaling: SCG uses Dezcal which says to dissolve 1 packet (28g) of Dezcal Descaling Powder into 32oz (1 liter) of lukewarm water. I have citric acid so that’s what I will use instead. I will, however, use the Cafiza on the grouphead elements like I did before. 1345: soaked the 4 pieces in 3g of Cafiza and 16oz hot water. And I scrubbed the body plate with the stiff espresso grouphead brush. I descaled and it took 4 tanks to clear the citric acid. I think it only took 2 tanks last time. Ahhh, I just read my post—I dumped the citric acid in the reservoir the first time. Smart cookie. Anyway, after 3 tanks, I cleaned the reservoir and then pulled another tank. Finally, it tasted fine. (Of course it did, I dumped the reservoir finally, sheesh.)
[2] Backflushing: I put the blind basket in the spouted portafilter (so it would get warm) and ran it 5 times, each time 5-8 seconds. On one pull, the water came out of the edge…maybe we really do need a new gasket. Some coffee grounds came out. Now to make a latte.