When your Brikka need to be washed...thoroughly

I brought my Brikka to my girlfriend's place, and it's been few days. Brikka started to brew worse coffee with less crema, and I first suspected it's because my girlfriend uses a different grinder and her stove is a gas stove and mine is electric. I thought I need to find the optimal grind and heat for her kitchen.

But next day, Brikka was really upset. It spread the coffee around the gas, and I finally realized it needs to be cleaned...thoroughly. Sorry my baby Brikka, it's been a while since I ran you with vinegar without coffee.

So I put water in the bottom tank with 1-2 tbs of vinegar, and run Brikka as usual without coffee. The vinegared water came out a minute later and I repeated this twice.

Then I realized some of the machined holes on the filter were clotted with coffee powders. I used pin to remove the clot and finally assembled Brikka all together.

Now my Brikka got back it's force with nice crema!

Any other maintenance tips?




Posted by DAIGO on Sun, Mar 04, 2007, 15:10 Permalink

Article category: Brikka Maintenance
Article keyword: vinegar

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Brikka wash: Vinegar works great. I would recommend using plain water a few times as well for a rinse. I feel the best thing to do is immediately after pouring your cafe and crema into your cup, place the whole pot under cold water to reduce the pressure. Exactly the same as a pressure cooker. This helps to preserve the gasket seals and prevents the grounds from bring forced into the screen for longer than need be. After the pressure has decreased disassemble the unit throw the grounds away and thoroughly rise and clean everything with plain warm water. Although the gaskets are designed for heat, they do last a lot longer if you use just warm water and not hot, also please . . . no chemicals. Hope this helps, and enjoy.
Posted by cafecortadito on Thu, Mar 22, 2007, 23:34

vinegar?: Hold on...Vinegar? Won't that affect the taste of coffee afterwards, if only for a while?
Brikkalypto
Posted by a non-member on Sat, Mar 31, 2007, 11:10

vinegar: I know that vinegar sounds not right; however, it does a wonderful job cleaning Aluminium, and it removes the hard water calcium deposits. I usually use a 50/50 Vinegar/H2O solution. If the Brikka is in dire need of cleaning you could go to a 100% solution of vinegar. Please remember to boil as you would with coffee by using only H2O, about 3 or 4 times. And lastly, your first couple of times using coffee, the taste may be a bit off because the Brikka needs to be re-seasoned. The same as how a washed tea pot needs re-seasoning. Enjoy.
Posted by cafecortadito on Tue, Apr 03, 2007, 01:16

probably good thing to do between coffee types?: Hmmm...interesting. Thanks for the explanation. Any advice on the vinegar kind? Obvioulsy not some very aromatic 10-years aged balsamic from Italy... :-) I just used water - seems to have removed a lot of particules - will do that again. I wonder what is the optimal method in order to clean the brikka out of a previous brand or kind of coffee. for instance if I use a bitter one for 2 weeks, the first 4 or 6 cups of very mild coffee afterwards still taste bitter..I bet a good cleaning like what you suggested would not hurt...
Brikkalypto
Posted by a non-member on Sun, May 06, 2007, 06:57

:

originally there should be an oxidized membrane on the inside surface of the brikka, to prevent aluminum from coming into the coffee.

i'm always afraid that after being washed with an acid (like vinegar), the membrane will be eroded, alumimun might be exposed and leave something in the drink, and pose the risk of like... Alzeimer's....  so i dared not use vinegar...

if we have to use vinegar, maybe we can heat the empty pot on fire for a few seconds, so that the surface could be oxidized again, recreating the membrane that blocks aluminum in.

jimmycui
Posted by a non-member on Tue, May 08, 2007, 11:08

When your Brikka need to be washed...thoroughly: I have noticed that my Brikka does need regular cleaning/maintenance. Especailly when it starts to boil over onto the stove and there is no crema being produced. With daily use I would recommend once every three months or so. Regular use keeps the Brikka happy. Of course much depends on the amount of oils in your favourite coffee.

Here are a few tips:
1) Use a toothbrush to clean all of those little holes.
2) Dissemble the ring and cap/hat, clean all the parts with a toothbrush and warm water. You will likely find a lot of build up there.
3) For stubborn build-up use vinegar, or a vinegar solution if you have not cleaned for a very long time; remember to thoroughly rinse in water.

The Brikka cleaning/maintenance is a bit of a balancing act. When you first get it the pot needs to be seasoned and some oil build-up is need to make good tasting coffee and crema. Mind you let it go too far and you end up with volcanic type eruptions all over the stove, burnt coffee, and no crema. I should also add that is you do not use the Brikka for a long time say two to four weeks or even month the oils in there dry out and can cause blockages which result in problem of volcanic proportions.
cafecortadito
Posted by a non-member on Sun, Sep 09, 2007, 15:31





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