If You Do Need To Close, Follow These Tips.

20 March 2020 by Kia Tromans

With all that’s going on right now, it unfortunately true that many coffee shops, tea rooms, restaurants and many other types of businesses may have to close for an extended period of time. We have found from many years of experience in this business that leaving a coffee machine for an extended period of time, getting no use whatsoever, can lead to some maintenance issues occurring when it does begin to see regular use again. We are going to list some steps here on how to mitigate any potential damage that could happen to your equipment due to any extended period of no usage.

Firstly, we will be going over how to leave your grinder in a state where it will be fine left without being used. Make sure that you remove all beans from the hopper, and store them appropriately, such as in the bag they come in resealed or in an airtight container. Do not put beans in the fridge with other food stuffs as they can absorb smells and flavours when stored like this. Once the hopper is empty, remove it from the top of the grinder and use a hoover to remove and waste or beans that may have been left behind in the top inlet of the grinder. If beans are left for a long period of time they can harden substantially and therefore do damage to the teeth of the grinder when it is used again in the future.

Empty your knockout drawer of any coffee ground remains, as these can go mouldy in quite a short period of time so leaving a knockout drawer full for an extended closed period is not advisable. Deep cleaning your knockout drawer in hot hater and a cleaning solution is advisable if it does reach this stage.

For the coffee machine itself, before we discuss the steps we’d suggest carrying out for leaving it for an extended period, we first suggest that you go through your regular cleaning procedure for the machine itself, to make sure that there is no waste that will end up being left in the machine whilst it is not being used. The main cleaning task that you should ensure is carried out is back flushing the group heads, this is to be done with the cleaning solution of your choice. This should be part of your daily maintenance of the machine and should be something you are familiar with. This process removes any lingering waste in these parts of the machine, and we want to make sure there is nothing of the sort left in the machine that could sit and stain the machine whilst it is not in use.

We recommend properly washing your group handles by soaking them in a mixture of hot water and whatever cleaning solution you wish to use, removing the meshes from the group handle for this and soaking them separately, to make sure these are fully clean before allowing them to sit for an extended period of time. Make sure that the steam arm is cleaned by wiping down any milk that is staining the outside of the arm and if you think that any blockages are building up in the nozzle, poke something thin and sharp through them like a needle to clean out any waste that is drying up and blocking the steam arm. The drip tray of the machine needs to be properly washed and wiped down, removing any lingering waste that would be left to sit. For the drain in the centre of the drip tray, we recommend pouring some hot water with bleach or something like bleach mixed in with it, to flush away any blockages that could have built up as waste is carried down the drain.

DO NOT soak your steam arms in any way, such as leaving a cup of water and cleaning solution underneath them and letting it sit. This can contaminate the whole machine as waste that would have stayed localised at the bottom is carried up through the steam arm and into the insides of the machine. An example of this is the boiler can be contaminated with foul milk odours, causing the machine to smell like sour milk with every use. This sort of contamination takes a full machine disassembly and deep clean to resolve, so never soak your steam arms, as this is a lengthy and costly procedure.

When all your equipment is properly deep cleaned and ready to be left in a state of no use for however long this situation may go on for on for, the best way to prepare your coffee machine to be left is to open the steam valves and release all the steam in the machine, as this can go a long way in helping prevent an airlock from occurring within the machine