Frothing Techniques - Practicing

Honest_Gaza

On another thread it was suggested that frothing techniques could be learned/practised by using water in place of milk.

I've given this a belt this morning and realised that I'm not quite sure what the objective is.  Obviously, with milk the froth is created and depending on the size of the bubbles, volume will increase.

What's the go with water ?  I'm assuming I am to aim for bubbles that are no bigger than ......?

JM

Well you're right, water isn't milk so it won't have the same characteristics.  However a water test can be useful with a new machine to see where best to place the steam wand if you wanted to create a whirlpool etc. Also, sometimes when people upgrade to a more powerful machine they paint the walls with milk - so a water test can help you adjust technique to prevent those kinds of things. Then back to milk...

Remus

yupp as  JM just said, the idea is to get the idea of thw eand position for the whirlpool. and to have it spinning or folding in over itself rather than just bubble away. listen for a tearing sound. usually its when the nozzle is JUST barely above surface area so only a tiny bit of steam/ air is disturbing the surface of the liquid.

Honest_Gaza

Thanks boys