Dirty steam wands!

Dry_bean.

How long does it take for some of the steam wands I've seen in a lot of commercial establishments to grow the magnificent knob of baked on milk that looks like an upside down toadstool?
I find even the slightest trace of milk on the tip offensive, cant imagine how some cafe's let the growth reach such gigantic  proportions. :o

Koffee_Kosmo

on 1297468984:

How long does it take for some of the steam wands I've seen in a lot of commercial establishments to grow the magnificent knob of baked on milk that looks like an upside down toadstool? I find even the slightest trace of milk on the tip offensive, cant imagine how some cafe's let the growth reach such gigantic  proportions. :o

I would say from the first use that is not wiped off I purge and wipe clean the steam wand after every session KK

Dry_bean.

on 1297471344:

I purge and wipe clean the steam wand after every session KK

Ditto, as a home user I wipe and purge the wand after every cup, its certainly much easier to remove when fresh as opposed to when it bakes on, looks grotty as well. :o

beanflying

I wipe after I purge  ;D And the steam tips on my machines get wiped and purged after each use especially when in commercial use. But yes there are absolute shockers out there that are never touched  :P

Unknown

Purge - Texture - Wipe - Purge - Repeat. If you wipe after you purge post texture, you are cooking the milk onto the wand. So...Purge - Texture - Wipe - Purge - Repeat. I am religious about this method, but unless you have stainless wands, you'll find it difficult to not get some kind of build up on your wand. A good soak in hot water and a firm rub usually sorts it out. Oh my....I'm blushing..... :D

askthecoffeeguy

I see a dirty steam wand and I walk away - I figure if the standard is lowered here then what is cleanliness and hygene like elsewhere - especially in the kitchen

Unknown

Selleys make a cloth called "wonder cloth" or "super cloth". They are by far the best cloth I have ever used to clean a steam wand. Give them a go, a god send in a high volume situation.

Lacehim

I use sellys super cloths too.  They are great. If the steam wand is dirty you can imagine the last time the machine was backflushed or serviced.

RichardM

I'm not quite as pedantic at home as I probably should be with my wand. I purge/wipe after every use, but it does get a very thin layer of crud on it by the end of each week. I just soak in white vinegar overnight once a week, and it comes up perfectly clean. In a cafe, I can't imagine going to one that has any more than a *tiny* bit left on the nozzle. The biggest concern there is those that have a significant allergy to milk, and order a soy...then have a steam wand flaking off crusts of dried milk protein into their beverage (there is no vomit smiley, so imagine one here).

Lovey

One of my ex local cafe's had a machine with a steam wand that looked like it had an off-white/brownish sleeve over it, disgusting. On the other side of the cleanliness coin, I've seen cafe's where they use scourer pads on their steam wands to get the milk off. They'd done it so much that they'd worn the chrome plating off, revealing the brass underneath  :o.

E61

I can remember once being asked to speak to an extremely irate customer who had dragged his expensive italian built machine into the office, dropped it on the floor and was screaming for a refund. He was so mad and it took a while to work out what the problem was. Through the swearing and shouting I eventually determined that he was outraged at the poor quality build of the machine, couldn't believe he had paid so much for it and that it had "suddenly" stopped producing steam from the steam wand. One look at the steam tip and it was obvious that it had never been wiped down, let alone purged. But what was really weird was when we removed the arm and the tip gravy seemed to ooze out !!!! The Tech swore it was a red sauce but it tasted more like onion to me!

E61

Oh - and a tip for those who enjoy the Seattle Coffee Gear You Tube Videos. YES- it is possible to make awesome scrambled eggs in a milk pitcher using the steam arm of your espresso machine. NO - egg flavoured milk is not awesome ! MAYBE - it may be possible to cook a side of bacon on the cup warmer of some machines - I'm still trying to prove this  ;D

RichardM

on 1303450631:

MAYBE - it may be possible to cook a side of bacon on the cup warmer of some machines - I'm still trying to prove this  ;D

You could wrap the bacon AROUND the steam wand with cable ties to cook it That would require even more cleaning than the eggs.

tauyeung

I've been teaching/showing/lecturing my own family on how to clean their steam wands - but to no avail.  They use it and let it sit, and try to clean it hours later (after sipping their cup, watched some tv, dosed off etc).  5 years down the road and I'm still catching them dipping the wand into a tub of hot water to try to soak the 'cheese' off, not to mention one of the steam wands has had its chrome scraped off (no doubt someone tried using a knife). One of these machines finally died (and not just the steam wand) and is now in my 'shop'.  More about this machine later as I don't want to stray from this topic