Wire Brush

[ddunn]

How are you using the brass brush that came with the S1?

[chas]

It's sitting in a drawer waiting for the one I use to clean my barbecue grill to wear out

There was no explanation that came with the S1 of what this was to be used for and it seems frightfullly large to use for anything. I have a very small wire brush which I can't even remember buying years ago. I've used that occasionally to brighten up the surface of the brass dispersion puck when I've had them out for cleaning. The large brush is too unwieldy even for this small task.

Certainly a wire brush of any size is not appropriate to try and clean around the group gasket.

[ddunn]

Those are my thoughts, too. How do you keep the holes of the brass puck clean? Every week or so I clean the puck with a mild abrasive made for brass and force the cleaner through the holes with a flat tooth pick.

[chas]

Chris tells me he got the low down on that wire brush from LaSpaziale along with why the dual shower screens and why it comes with two sets of screens. They don't recommend backflushing with detergent. Here's their recommended algorithm which was designed with light commericial use in mind.

• * With unit on and hot, remove the shower screen bolt
  * Remove the shower screens and diffuser disk, rinse off excess grounds and soak in Cafiza or equivalent
  * Press one or two cup button and scrub up in there with the wire brush while the water is running.
  * Reassemble but use the other set of screens (the second set wasn't included for when one set wears out. It was included for commercial users so they can clean, reassemble, and be ready to go while the dirty shower screens continue to soak)

The two shower screen arrangement is mostly designed to trap the grounds between the two screens so that there is no need to backflush. Their idea is that some coffee oils up in the 3-way are a good thing for lubrication and that the detergent dries it out too much and may impact longevity. Of course this is with the idea of commercial use so I'm not sure this is a big deal for most of us. However, at least we now understand why the shower screen arrangement and the "barbecue grill" brush. In the case of the latter the long handle is a necessity since it's expected to be used while boiling water is gushing out of the group.

[ddunn]

I still cannot see using that brush as Chris instructs. It seems to me that it would be too easy to tear up the rubber gasket. Also, I do not have anything under there that needs that brush to clean. A sponge or rag does fine.

[chas]

I agree. It's like using a shotgun to kill a mosquito. I have a group brush from my old Isomac Tea days. The bristle part is 270 degrees of a circle with a perpendicular angled handle made to go up inside the group/gaslet area and scrub it. It worked great. Too bad there doesn't seem to be a 53mm version. But a sponge is working OK for me, too.

[Barry]

Their idea is that some coffee oils up in the 3-way are a good thing for lubrication and that the detergent dries it out too much and may impact longevity.

This is not without merit. I have always noticed that the lever on my Tea tends to not be as smooth right after I backflush with Caffiza.

Barry