Squareandlevel Senior Member Joined: 22 Dec 2012 Posts: 2 Location: Ohio Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Astoria argenta,aero... Grinder: Mazzer super jolly,baratza
Posted Sat Dec 22, 2012, 7:11am Subject: Help! Slow shots
We opened a custom cake shop/bakery with the goal of good coffee about 5 months ago. We have been using an Astoria Argento SAE 2 which we picked up used and had "serviced/checked" before opening. We clean the heads nightly with Cafe Lindo. Yesterday, the right group wouldn't pull a shot inside of 30 seconds and the left head worked fine. Today, neither group will pull a normal timed shot. The output pressure gage is usually around 9 bar and is now climbing into red (10-10.5) when pulling a shot. The grind settings have not changed with the exceptions of a minor morning calibration check by our opening barista. Any suggestions?
Posted Sat Dec 22, 2012, 8:36am Subject: Re: Help! Slow shots
Sounds like a difficult situation! The first thing to do is check the water debit. With unrestricted flow, measure the amount of water the machine dispenses in "x" seconds.
My fear is that the brew path may be clogging up, perhaps from coffee grime or maybe from scale. Checking the water debit will help to narrow the possibilities.
SStones Senior Member Joined: 24 Nov 2012 Posts: 209 Location: Canada Expertise: Professional
Espresso: Giga 5, ECM Giotto, Rocket... Grinder: Anfim Milano-Best Vac Pot: No :( Drip: Some $30 thing from Walmart Roaster: I buy pre-roasted.
Posted Sat Dec 22, 2012, 6:09pm Subject: Re: Help! Slow shots
In addition to Jon's reply, check the brew-pressure gauge when running with no portafilter. If it's still up near nine, your lines are clogging with something. The fact that one group clogged first makes me suspect a lot of circulating calcium getting out of the heat exchanger and clogging your solenoid valves. So long as you still have noticable flow, you could try descaling the brew-circuit. Or descale everything, collect the crap that comes out and share it with the "Serviced/checked" monkeys.
Squareandlevel Senior Member Joined: 22 Dec 2012 Posts: 2 Location: Ohio Expertise: Just starting
Espresso: Astoria argenta,aero... Grinder: Mazzer super jolly,baratza
Posted Sun Dec 23, 2012, 5:21am Subject: Re: Help! Slow shots
Thank you for your help guys! Water debit is 5.5 ounces in 10 seconds with the gage reading 9+ with no portafilter. I will work on descaling. I will start searching for a good descaling post for this machine. If you know of one it would be appreciated. Thank you again and have a great day!
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