Kitchen Cabinet Chicago

Noticing a performance issue when using the steam boiler under certain conditions. 

1. Normal scenario: Machine is connected to a timer that turns brew-boiler only on at 5 AM. By the time I get up at 6, I flip the switch on for the steam boiler, and then start loading and tamping, the grouphead is nice and toasty at 88. Pull my shot at a perfect 92.5. Steam is ready, foam milk and make superior latte for my wife. Then I repeat the pulling and steaming for myself – no issues. Life is good. Turn off the steam boiler and go to work. Machine turns off via timer at 11AM (just in case the wife wants to pull a shot).

2. Random scenario: It’s a “day off” kind of morning. Turned the machine off the night before by mistake. Wake up late – Turn on BOTH boilers, walk around the corner for a bagel, wait 45 minutes for the boilers to warm up. Come back and check temp on brewhead – 12 degrees below normal! Start flushing brewhead to bring temp up. Start flushing through hot water wand to help brew boiler t-stat forget that it has a hot steam boiler sitting next to it. Takes and additional 30 minutes and an extra reservoir of water for brew temp to get up and stable for brewing.

So, the moral of the story is, wait until the last minute to turn the steam boiler on, and always turn it off when not in use. That puppy heats for steam pretty quick, so this is not a major inconvenience, but still worth mentioning. Also, another note to self – start researching PID mod.