Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Brady on September 4, 2011 at 10:32am

I always recommend that my clients leave the portafilter handles locked in gently between uses. There are a couple of really good reasons why:

 

Improved brew temperature stability. The reason that groups are massive hunks of brass with water running through them is so that they will stay very near brewing temperature, and then help even out fluctuations of brew water temp during extraction. If you lock a cold portafilter in to the group, that will begin to suck heat out of the group... which may drop your group temp. When it is left in the group between use, the brass portion of the portafilter stays nice and hot and you don't have that problem.

 

Speaking of nice hot portafilters... another reason to like them is that cool brass will suck lots of heat out of your finished espresso shot on its way out the spouts. (Clearly this doesn't apply to bottomless though.)

 

Keeping your portafilters locked gently in place will extend the useful life of your group gaskets. When the group stays in place the whole area stays moist, which helps keep the gaskets from drying out. I have a customer that never uses their leftmost group and hence leaves that handle on top of the machine. That gasket is always twice as hard to remove as the other two that see regular use and humidity, and on occasions that they do need to use that group it leaks.

 

Please note that gasket life is also the reason I say locked in firmly but gently. You want to lock it in place only to the point that it won't fall out or be easily knocked out. This should be less force than is necessary when pulling a shot.

 

Need one more reason? Handles that are locked in are in a safe and known place. No need to go hunting for them when you need them... and less chance that they'll be knocked off the drip tray and onto the floor. The cost of replacing a dented portafilter handle is significant.

 

On your question of "mechanical havoc"... sorry, but your handles should be interchangeable. The exception would be if you are dealing with a very worn machine and handles. If the locking ears on some of your handles are very worn, your tech may have compensated by installing spacers under one or more of the group gaskets. So, if you find that one or more of your handles fit noticeably better in a particular spot then you might want to keep them there. Otherwise they should be interchangeable.

 

One other comment... I'm a firm believer in the "empty basket" policy. Once the shot is finished, I recommend banging the puck out promptly, wiping out the basket, flushing the group with water, and reinstalling the clean portafilter handle. There's some debate here, but I feel this approach keeps things cleaner.

 

Why do they insist that the handles be left out? Were they told that this was a good idea by their tech? Somebody must have told them this.

 

I do hope that helps. Share these reasons with them, and if the thoughts of this machine tech don't sway them, you should probably let it drop.

 

Good luck!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Fraser Jamieson on September 4, 2011 at 10:40am

They don't know what they are talking about. I hope you can find work at a good place.

 

My guess, is that a technician may have told them not to lock the portafilters in when not in use, so as to save the seals. That part is correct. But they should remain in the group head.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Mickael on September 5, 2011 at 9:20am

Everything Brady said is dead on! and as a technician I always recommend leaving the portafilter in the group head (after cleaning of course).  I like that Brady said leave them in loosely but I don't think locking the portafilter in reduces gasket life.  I've had machines in my showroom that are left on and used very rarely (like once or twice a week).  The gaskets still had to be changed after six months.  The gasket material fails due to heat and not really from use in my opinion.  You should be replacing your gaskets and screens every six months or more in busy shops.  Busy shops should change them 4 times a year in my opinion, replacing them every quarter.  If you wait until they start leaking you are going to have a hard time getting them out.  I've had to remove group heads and pound out the gasket with a chisel which cost the customer a lot of extra labor.  I pride my self on showing customers how to change their own gaskets to save them money and when done regularly its fairly easy on all machines.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Melissa Rothacker on September 9, 2011 at 9:38am

Thanks for you guys' input; I'm still not really sure why they insist on leaving them out... the answers I've been given are sort of non-sequiturs.  One manager said "we don't leave them in because we're not high-volume", whereas two others insist "the machine circulates hot water around the brewhead continuously, so there's no need to keep the portafilter in the head."  In both instances, I feel like maybe I'm just dealing with misinformation; as in, it's precisely BECAUSE we're not high-volume that we should be doing everything we can to keep things all nice and toasty-warm (and thus, the portafilters in the groupheads)!  And although yes, I'm aware that the machine circulates water around the groupheads, I still don't see the logic in NOT trying to PRESERVE some of that heat as well as keep the portafilter as warm as possible for brewing.  The machine is a fairly old one, I believe- it's a two-grouphead Astra, with controls such that the start and stop of the brew cycle is controlled by the barista... clearly, I'm not very familiar with Astra's machines; I've only ever worked with La Marzocco's products.  I think perhaps a sales rep from Astra over-emphasized their product's brew temp stability, because I sat through a "coffee class" taught by the shop's owner in which he raved about how consistent Astra's brewing temperatures are, and proclaimed that they are "the only machine to continuously cycle water around the grouphead".  So... thoughts???  I like my customers, and I like my job, but I feel like I'm having to dumb myself down and lower my standards. :(

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Fraser Jamieson on September 9, 2011 at 11:54am

Wow. I feel for you; I really do.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Brady on September 9, 2011 at 6:54pm

Most modern commercial machines do circulate brew water through the group. And you are correct - low-volume vs high-volume isn't relevant in this matter.

 

I run into lots of misinformation and voodoo about espresso machines. Not at all uncommon for people to blindly parrot things they've seen people do or heard people say without thinking. Not uncommon at all, but that doesn't make it easier for you (or Fraser) to deal with. Do what you can.

 

Good luck.

• ▶ Reply

▶ Reply to Discussion