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Best water for a home machine

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  • CafeLotta
    replied
    Originally posted by AlexTz View Post
    Hi all, newcomer to CS here with a recent purchase of an Alex Duetto 2 from a fellow CS member in Brisbane (thanks Tim, congratulations on the wedding!) Although this is rehashing an old thread, the topic of ideal water hardness remains a bit opaque to me. I would like to pose the question: for documented “soft” water areas of Australia such as Sydney (57ppm) does the addition of a cation exchange resin water softener bring the resultant hardness too low for optimal flavour extraction?.....
    Very good score with the new machine. Seems likes it been well looked after and bought at a great price.

    Not sure if you noticed the recent thread on water testing which may be of interest - https://coffeesnobs.com.au/general-c...tml#post651446

    Leave a comment:


  • Dimal
    replied
    Welcome Alex...

    Congrats on the new acquisition, terrific machine.
    Best bet would be to take a sample of your tap water to a local water filter supplier and request a Total Hardness and pH test. Depending on what that indicates, you can make a decision on what to do.

    Mal.

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  • AlexTz
    replied
    Hi all, newcomer to CS here with a recent purchase of an Alex Duetto 2 from a fellow CS member in Brisbane (thanks Tim, congratulations on the wedding!) Although this is rehashing an old thread, the topic of ideal water hardness remains a bit opaque to me. I would like to pose the question: for documented “soft” water areas of Australia such as Sydney (57ppm) does the addition of a cation exchange resin water softener bring the resultant hardness too low for optimal flavour extraction? I note recent local work at UNSW has been published with some good insights.

    The suggestion is is that the “ideal” hardness for taste is around 50-80ppm. What are people’s opinions on whether just to run Sydney water as it is vs further softening?
    Thanks and looking forward to years of collaboration.
    Last edited by Javaphile; 8 May 2019, 12:39 PM. Reason: Commercial link removed

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  • Dimal
    replied
    As 'noonar' points out in his post, bi-annual inspection of the "mushroom" isn't a bad way to determine the rate of scale deposition that is occurring and depending on your situation, location, etc this could be stretched out further or made more frequent, but isn't a bad place to start from.

    One thing to keep in mind though, is to have a couple of spare Teflon Washers on hand as the original may not be reusable...

    Another thing as well, you need to use either a high quality exact fit spanner or a hexagonal socket to remove the chromed nut. Otherwise, you will risk damaging the chrome finish or even worse, the nut itself. They are made from brass so are quite soft...

    Mal.

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  • Snobben
    replied
    Originally posted by noonar View Post
    I water test fortnightly, Inspect the mushroom bianually and...
    Is unscrewing 'the mushroom' and doing a visual inspection a quick and easy way to get a good indication of the level of scaling in an espresso machine? Thanks.

    Leave a comment:


  • Snobben
    replied
    Originally posted by CoffeeFever View Post
    Our water quality has been voted as one of the best in the world.
    Voted? Unless we talk 'good' as in 'tastes good' (or some other subjective criteria), I would've thought that you would have to define what is better than something else, ie less of this and more of that in your water, and then one water sample vs another either is or isn't better. No voting involved.

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  • Vinitasse
    replied
    Yes... I have to agree... spending some time talking with a professional to sort things out is probably a very good idea.

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  • Dimal
    replied
    Originally posted by Journeyman View Post
    Generalising comments that put down others are less than useful, in spite of like-minded types 'Liking' them. Specifics would help make such comments more in keeping with the expressed wishes of the site owner. Comments failing to talk on the post subject and clearly aimed at a poster are hostile.
    My post probably came over a bit more brusque than I intended ('twas becoming ever more painful to sit at my desk and type) but was not aimed at you JM, if that is your allusion. Aimed more at the fact that there are so many differing "opinions" about the subject when in the interests of serving the OP's best interests, I think time spent talking with a professional will sort out all and any queries that the OP may have.

    Mal.

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  • Barry O'Speedwagon
    replied
    Originally posted by Barry_Duncan View Post
    As a retired professional, not in coffee but in soil, my research through CoffeeSnobs and elsewhere on the internet shows that the desirable method of water treatment to reduce scale formation in our coffee machines is to pass water through ion-exchange resin to remove magnesium and calcium which is not removed by the common carbon filters.
    To each their own I guess

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  • Barry_Duncan
    replied
    As a retired professional, not in coffee but in soil, my research through CoffeeSnobs and elsewhere on the internet shows that the desirable method of water treatment to reduce scale formation in our coffee machines is to pass water through ion-exchange resin to remove magnesium and calcium which is not removed by the common carbon filters.

    There is plenty of discussion on water treatment elsewhere on this site.

    Barry

    Leave a comment:


  • noonar
    replied
    http://coffeesnobs.com.au/brewing-eq...tml#post543697

    As far as I can tell, THE minimum requirement for conditioning water for espresso machines is the prevention of limescale to protect investments… All other numerous water treatment options appear to be either personal preference or are required due to specific local conditions. Needless to say, limescale prevention is a far more favourable option than the machine repair alternative – as illustrated above. I use Everpure Claris supplied by and recommended by a CS sponsor after consideration of my local water conditions (very hard water). I run a water line from a tee at my washing machine connection in the laundry through the Claris system and jug the conditioned water to my tanked espresso machine daily. I water test fortnightly, Inspect the mushroom bianually and have been very satisfied with the results.

    Leave a comment:


  • diode123
    replied
    Originally posted by Vinitasse View Post
    And... your new comments on global warming don't do your credibility any favours.
    You must be one of the so called 'Professionals' yea?

    Leave a comment:


  • Yelta
    replied
    Originally posted by Pauly404 View Post
    Hi,

    Can anyone recommend the best way to get quality water for a home machine?

    I'm using bottled water and that's inconvenient and expensive.

    Is there a small filter system (similar to Brita) that does a good job? I need a small system, not a plumbed in system.

    Thanks all.
    Paul
    Any thread that mentions water has the potential to go into orbit, everyone is either an expert or has something to sell.

    Leave a comment:


  • kbc
    replied
    Wow. This thread is spiralling a bit !! I'll let you know what I decide on. Cheers everyone.

    Leave a comment:


  • TOK
    replied
    I know from personal experience that when I have taken my roasted beans from one locality to another, it has taken on a different character according to the quality of the water.....or so I think....

    I think the answer to the original question is simple enough:

    What is the "best" water for coffee: Answer: any potable water.

    Because after that it just comes down to personal preference as to what anyone thinks they are tasting in their coffee, and that they think is significant enough that they may want to eliminate (or not).

    There are really only 2 principle reasons for *conditioning* water before it goes in the coffee machine. One is to circumvent the formation of scale in the machine, and the other is so that particles dont enter the machine and cause a blockage somewhere, that will then require an intervention to clear. That is *for the machine*.

    The other reasons for filtering so that flavours or odours dont assault our delicate sensitivities, are not to do with the machine byt for ourselves. Some people are more sensitive (or more likely to take notice) than others, and plain and simple, there are plenty of people for which all this stuff will go straight over their heads and who didnt notice, and dont care one way or another.

    Going back then to the original question, if Pauly is in an area where there is a scale problem, he should be looking for something that either softens the water on the way into the machines reservoir, or a so called 'anti scaling" filter. these are two different approaches to the same end....no (or lessened) scale formation in machine. If the water is "good" on the scale front, it only copmes down to particle filtration OR, if Pauly is picky about odours and flavours from chlorine etc, then to look for some form of filtration that will take care of that.

    Otherwise may I simply say in terms of a budget that will be low key (cost effective, cost convenient, whatever):
    a) that the simple britta thing may be all that is needed (subject to Pauly individual needs/wants)
    b) clean rainwater probably the very cheapest option or
    c) whatever pauly wants to budget for himself.

    For the rest of it, 1) Many people here resent being lectured by other anonymous people they never met in internet forums....waste of time and energy and 2) There is a facilty in this forum to "like" posts, and I believe they offer a convenient and "post efficient" way of agreeing with someoines idea which has already been posted, without having a litany of posts from different people all saying the same thing. Its there, its convenient, deal with it. Is this a coffee forum or a lecture forum? And that is the end of my lecture.

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