Why you should back flush

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Got a call to service a machine.

Do you think they back flush...... :doh:

Koffee_Kosmo

I hope they don't invite me for coffee  :stir ever KK

Brett H

Oh yuck!  I did a friend's machine like that once and it was then and there that I truly learned the value of quality back wash powder!

Kelsey

I wasn't convinced on the whole daily backflush thing... until I tried it. It's so much easier than trying to get up there with a brush and get all the particles out.

FreshCoffee2

Its not all bad news. These days there is more understanding of back flushing and lots more cafe's do it now than ever before. That said......if we could just get them to learn how to adjust a coffee grinder (and understand why they need to know this)...... Oh well, onwards and outwards!

Brett H

on 1330434275:

Had a coffee van guy tell me 10 to 20 times a day to adjust his grinder... He had a full hopper and the doser was packed...  I was waiting for the  "I have a great deal for you " 

I don't know... pictures of dirty groups, packed hoppers staleing in the midday sun.. it's enough to drive a man to tea.... :doh:

Ronin

Nasty. Reminds me of something  :rofl:

Lacehim

on 1330464909:

I don't know... pictures of dirty groups, packed hoppers staleing in the midday sun.. it's enough to drive a man to tea.... :doh:

No.  Just enough to drive us home for one of our own fantastic coffees!  :D

derrilex

Oops, that reminds me. 2.5 weeks since last back flush. Naughty naughty

UNM

on 1330504034:

Oops, that reminds me. 2.5 weeks since last back flush. Naughty naughty

Glad it's not just me then. Edit - although I did do a full backflush at the weekend and gave the filter handle a good soak too. this week at least, I am clean.

Lacehim

I think I'm just up to a year since I did my last backflush!  Only pulling your leg, levers don't need backflushing.

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on 1330425899:

I hope they don't invite me for coffee  :stir ever

This machine came out of a cafe and is going back in tomorrow night. Far away from you, so don't you worry! The request was to fix the leaky steam wand and replace the group seals as they were leaking. The seals were that old and hard I used a chisel and hammer to get them out. The shower screens were also bent, probably from over dosing. Might have been why the first picture was so bad. Training is in order! And their method around old hard seals/over dosing..........

Brett H

OMG!  That's gotta be a joke surely??  Now... Who wants an eBay bargain?

derrilex

When I bought my BZ Chris told me to back flush every 1 kg of beans. In my case that means every week but for less frequent users that could blow out to monthly I guess. Ahhh, I'll do it on Saturday when I get home from hols.

Bottom Line

on 1330516727:

OMG!  That's gotta be a joke surely??  Now... Who wants an eBay bargain?

No joke... We all (on this forum) look at coffee from a point of passion, searching for better quality, different tastes etc. Many cafes and restaurants coffee is seen as a commodity. Not just the beans but the whole process. Where speed of getting the coffee out is important. Where cost is important and quality is on the bottom of concern. When I told the owner that he needs to purge the heat exchange as the water is too hot and will burn the coffee, that this is due to the design of the machine, his eyes glazed and you could tell he was thinking "this will take too much time". Grind on demand and throwing out grinds that are older than 5 minutes is a waste to them. Throwing out heated milk is a waste. Training staff will take too much time. Retraining staff that have bad habits will take time away from getting product out to the customer. Not just getting the coffee out but other food as well. Even the high price of this service probably won't concern him to the point of changing his and his staff's behaviour. If the machine has be down every 4 months for an hour to service instead of few hours (I have lent another machine, any damage he will get a charge) every two years it is cheaper. Or to spend 10 minutes every day back flushing; this equates to 120 hours over two years. Times that 120 hours by the wage he has to pay will be far less than what I or another service person would charge. Sad but it is what it is. Hopefully from our (selfish?) point view the current increase of the public desire for better coffee will push this behaviour towards better practice.

Brett H

A great post BL with due consideration to the coffee=commodity side.  I have no doubt that your client operates profitably and I am prepared to acknowledge that best practice isnt always best profitability.  But seriously... Eeewwww!  :-[

derrilex

Another good reason to bag the crap out of bad coffee producing establishments. If you aren't shooting for perfection in every aspect of your business you will go down and rightly so.