Maintenance and Descaling

A little routine care keeps your machine tasting clean and running for years. There are two separate jobs that people constantly confuse: cleaning coffee oils (a residue you clear by wiping and backflushing) and descaling (removing hard mineral scale from the boiler and lines). Neither replaces the other. This guide covers the full routine and gives you an exact, numbered descaling procedure.

Daily / after each use

1. Purge the steam wand with a short burst of steam, then wipe it immediately with a damp cloth so milk cannot dry inside or out.
2. Knock the puck into the knock box and empty the drip tray before it overflows.
3. Rinse the portafilter and basket under hot water to clear oils and fines.
4. Wipe the group head and shower screen with a clean cloth.
5. Flush a few seconds of water through the empty group to rinse grounds off the screen.

Weekly

1. Backflush with detergent if your machine has a three-way valve (Solo, Flux, Duo).
2. Remove and clean the basket and shower screen to clear built-up oils that dull flavour.
3. Check the tank and its filter for scale or slime; rinse as needed.

Descaling procedure

Scale is mineral buildup left behind by your water. It restricts flow, throws off temperature, and eventually blocks lines.

1. Set your frequency by water quality. Test your supply with the Water Hardness Test Kit. Descale monthly on hard or unfiltered water; every 3-6 months on filtered or soft water. Every BrewCraft machine can be descaled, including the Lever.
2. Empty the water tank, then mix BrewCraft Descaling Solution with fresh cold water following the dilution ratio printed on the bottle. It is citric-acid based — never use vinegar, which damages seals and leaves a lingering odour that is very hard to rinse out.
3. Remove the portafilter completely so the solution flows freely straight out of the group head with nothing to restrict it.
4. Run some solution through the group head, then divert and run some through the steam wand so both paths get treated. Stop with roughly half the tank remaining.
5. Turn the machine off and let it soak about 20 minutes. The acid needs dwell time to break down limescale inside the boiler and lines.
6. Run the rest of the solution through, then refill the tank with fresh cold water.
7. Flush the FULL tank of clean water through both the group head and the steam wand to rinse every trace of acid out. If you can still smell or taste solution, run a second full tank of fresh water the same way.
8. Reinsert the portafilter, wipe down, and pull a throwaway shot before serving.

Grinder

1. Brush retained grounds out of the chamber and burrs every few weeks.
2. Deep-clean the burrs periodically to clear oils and fines that go stale and taste rancid.

Quick schedule

Keep good water going in and most problems never start. If flow or taste has already drifted, check troubleshooting.