(Part 2) Reddit mentions: The best coffee & espresso cleaning products

Some additional thoughts:

If you haven't done this already, give your machine a quick sanity test before spending money on parts. Make sure it powers up, heats up to the point where the lights stop flashing, push one of the brew buttons and make sure water is pumped out the group head, and verify that the steam and hot water functions work.

When you get the portafilter, you should immediately clean and descale the machine. In order to clean it you need a cleaning disc. It's included with new machines, so if you are lucky yours should have one, but if not you will need to get one. Unlike most machines, Breville doesn't use a blind basket, their disc has a small hole in it so the cleaning solution is both backflushed as well as cleans out the portafilter. You will also need cleaning tablets.

Breville recommends vinegar for descaling, but you might want to use Dezcal instead.

Sounds like you have a build up issue! Amazon sells one, which works really good and pretty cheap. My wife swears by it!

www.amazon.com/Essential-Values-Universal-Descaler-Espresso/dp/B01IX0ZS9G

It sounds like you're entirely starting new, so I can give you some pointers I hope will be helpful. I also run a Breville Infuser, but I have a Ceado E6P.

• Maintenance and cleanliness. (More of general kitchen tip, but applies doubly here)
  
  When was the last time the grinder was cleaned? When was the last time the machine was descaled and back flushed? Consider this to be like brushing your teeth: you do it regularly so you don't get cavities and dental disease. You do not want to wait until things get funky. I clean my stuff about once a month. I also descale once a month because I have hard water; but I used to live somewhere where I only needed to descale once every 6 months.
  
  On cleaning your grinder: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVVsTAUzVzM
  
  Grindz tablets: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0014J7FUY
  
  Descale: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lq1TiwoJbWA
  
  Our machines do not have a descale mode, but that doesn't matter, you can follow the steps anyway. Also, just buy citric acid, you don't need Breville's stuff. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GNBHPAS/ I always backflush after I descale, so I stop following this guide at roughly the 2 minute mark.
  
  Backflush: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1N8HLoW6ew
  
  Cafiza: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004L8RTEM/
  
  
• Beans:
  
  You need fresh beans. There's no two ways around this. You can play with this if you like. Old beans are monumentally difficult to dial in, and often it's impossible. I find beans last nearly a month after the roast date, but there's a noticeable drop off after the second week. There's a lot of room for experimenting here, I recommend you do. Also note, that some beans cannot be dialed in. I don't understand the roasting and processing factors, but there is a lot of variation here.
  
  
• About the Infuser:
  
  Our machine can be programmed such that it will dispense a fairly precise volume of water with the press of a single button. My 1 cup button is programmed to purge the group head, and my 2 cup button is programmed for a regular pull. I want you to know that this a really a good approximation, but Breville has a "smart" feature where it will try to "save" the shot if it thinks the pressure is too high. This has ruined a few cups for me, so I only have this programmed for those bad mornings, but otherwise I don't use it.
  
  Edit: I'm an idiot. If your pressure gauge is "bouncing" or fluctuating during a shot, most likely your pump is going bad. You can try to service it or replace it, I bought one of these off amazon and it is working: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00NMNA138/. I got this because it arrived the same day. This is the actual pump: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077ZRP3GD.
  
  I only use the 2 shot single walled basket, and I have also modified my portafilter to be bottomless. I generally find a good shot is just after the second screw in the pressure gauge, but that gauge is not very helpful.
  
  
• 
  
  I bought a few toys to help me out. These are not necessary, and in fact some people will tell you that you don't need them at all. Those people are probably right, but I like my toys anyway.
  
  A funnel: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07N693YSS/ A cut yogurt cup can work. It doesn't need to be fancy, I just wanted something fancy.
  
  A pick: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003E48EWA/ A toothpick or anything pointy can totally suffice. Again, just wanted to be fancy.
  
  A leveling tool. I have a 51mm because that's what I could find cheaply at the time, but it looks like 53mm are also available now. 51mm: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BTN1S2C/ 53mm: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07S4Q179B/
  
  A tamp: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUXN53U/ This tamp has a spring inside it. I only bought this because I had a nasty habit of over tamping.
  
  I found this video that I like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMldWhQVMQA I would not tap the filter after the distribution (where he's stirring the grounds), and I tamp gently. I don't twist or turn the tamp.
  
  
• 
  
  Dialing in is a trial and error type deal. In general, you want ~16 grams in the portafilter, and want to pull ~32 grams of espresso in ~30 seconds. These aren't hard and fast rules, and there's a lot of wiggle room here.
  
  Find a coin like a nickel or penny and clean it. After you've tamped your portafilter, place the coin directly on top of the grounds, then lock the portafilter in the machine. Remove the portafilter and then carefully remove the coin from the grounds. (Do not pull a shot with the coin in there)
  
  Is there an indentation in the grounds? If so, then you have overfilled the portafilter. If not, you might be good, or the portafilter might be underfilled. A scale will really help here.
  
  To pull a shot, I have my portafilter locked in, and place my mug on top of my scale underneath the portafilter. I will hold down the 2 shot button (doesn't matter, you can hold down the 1 shot button), and keep it depressed for roughly 10 seconds. This is the preinfusion stage. Low pressure water is being introduced to the grounds. I chose 10 seconds because this is when I first start to see espresso appear at the bottom of my basket. You can experiment here. I then release the button to allow the full extraction. I press the button again at ~30 grams to stop the extraction.
  
  I want to emphasize that these are rough guidelines. You may find something entirely different that works. I apologize if I came off as rude or condescending, I'm a bit of a turd by nature. Please ask if you have any questions.

I use my coffee grinder brush after each use, it works pretty well and gets all of the flour out of the mill and into my grain bag.

Espresso Supply Coffee Grinder Brush https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00M62JHGI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_LonPCbJ8JYFNM

Bucket+Hot Water+Brew Rite

Works great on CrownHookah bowls

Urnex descaler, I trust them. We use them at every day at work.

I wouldn't suggest vinegar unless you enjoy the taste the next time you go to pull some shots :P

Check out products similar to Dezcal which you mix with water and cycle through your machine.

>the seals are a little leaky around the group head.

Do you use a group head brush to clean the gasket?

No, but we've descaled it by having a Jura tech do it, and we've used Claris filters for a while. Water in Canada isn't hard so it's been a non-issue really.

But yeah the little pills are those : https://www.amazon.com/Jura-64308-Cleaning-Tablets-Automatic/dp/B000BJSF6Q

Stick to metal and use this to clean instead.

This stuff is INCREDIBLE.

cleans my coffee stuff to looking like new

I use something like this one:

https://www.amazon.com/Grinder-Cleaning-Bristles-Espresso-Accessories/dp/B01DK0LS7K

Use this: (Urnex Nespresso Machine Cleaner - 5 Pods - Coffee Maker Cleaner Pods Cleans Brew Chamber Exit Spout and Nozzle https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6PI68W/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_a-2iDbNXMPMXY)

You don't mention cleaning - have you thoroughly cleaned it?

1. run the cleaning cycle at least twice with a citric acid solution. Remove the filter from the tank when you do this. Allow the machine to sit a few hours after each cleaning cycle. This lets the acid dissolve as much calcium build up as possible. Perform another cleaning cycle with filtered water.
   
   
2. backflush with cafiza.
   
   Links are to Amazon (UK) but there are other sources if you just search - they're to show what you're looking for. See how that works for you.

I use these.

My girlfriend used to work for a coffee shop and they would descale with these guys. They work really well. Not too expensive and you just drop one into the basket. A lot less fuss than making some concoction at home to use.

alternative:

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https://www.amazon.com/Espresso-Coffee-Distributor-Leveler-Black/dp/B07S4Q179B

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edit:

an even cheaper one

We used it about everyday, brewing two cups per day. The maintenance was just the decalcifier kit designed for it. This is the item we used for it: Philips CA6706/48 Saeco Espresso-Machine Maintenance Kit https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00C0PKI00/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_bjlnybS47D654

Do you have any way to see it in person? If not, maybe you can ask for photos of it steaming, pouring and with the covers off of it. If you buy it, I would suggest you buy some Dezcal and a replacement gasket kit.
https://www.amazon.com/Rancilio-Silvia-Espresso-Machine-Repair/dp/B008I5N9XE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481719097&sr=8-1&keywords=rancilio+silvia+gasket

When you get it descale it and replace the screen and gasket/

boil in 1/2 vinegar & 1/2 water for 20min or use this

Urnex.

I use these:

https://smile.amazon.com/Urnex-Professional-Grinder-Cleaning-Tablets/dp/B0014J7FUY?sa-no-redirect=1

In my Sette 270.

I looked, and I have this stuff, actually, for milk wand cleaning:

https://smile.amazon.com/Urnex-Circle-Espresso-Machine-Cleaning/dp/B004NRXFP8?sa-no-redirect=1

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B004L8V8ZI/ref=psdc_13397451_t3_B004L8XAW2

I use this stuff. Works on all kinds of coffeemakers.

Same thing happened to mine, I used this and it got rid of it completely.

I find the water very hard here in Suffolk and use to get limescale around my taps but as soon as I purchased aLimey Tap Descaling gadget I have noticed a big difference.

Get some of this and clean the pot. It will make the coffee a lot less bitter.

Less stinky and more effective is one of the de-scaling products (example ). Sure you have to run water through the coffee maker three more times, but at least you avoid the stink of hot vinegar.