How to use a Rancilio Silvia Coffee Machine - MAKE A GREAT COFFEE, PROCESS, TIPS & CLEANING

Hi there .

In this video , we're gonna cover some essential steps and guidelines when using this Rancho coffee machine .

So join me in this video as we make a great coffee and also cover some essential steps to look after this machine .

So before we start to make a coffee , let's just cover some essential information .

So here we have our power switch .

We've got a green light and we've got an amber light .

Now , when the green light is on , obviously power is on .

And when the amber light is on , it means that the elements in the boiler is heating up .

Here we have our coffee delivery switch .

Here we have our hot water delivery switch , and here we have our steam switch .

Now , before we even put power to the machine , it's important that we check the water tank level and make sure that it's full .

Now it's not essential .

But if you've got the provision , try and use filtered water where possible .

Now , something to keep in mind is that this is a manual machine and the water boiler needs to be primed with water before you even start .

Otherwise , you can actually burn the elements in the boiler .

Now , to do that , we can either use the coffee pour or the hot water .

Pour delivery switch .

Either of those switches will activate the water pump and make sure that the boiler is full .

Now , what I like to do is actually hit the hot water switch and open the valve .

And that way I know when water's coming out .

And that way we know that the boiler is actually full .

So we press the hot water delivery switch and we're gonna open the steam valve .

And now we're gonna turn the power point on and then turn the power switch on .

So once we have water coming out , we know that that's good and that the boiler is primed , ready to heat up .

Now you'll notice that our amber light has come on , and that just indicates that the element is heating up .

Once that amber light turns off , it means that it's at temperature .

However , what I recommend is that you leave the machine on for about 15 minutes and also lock in the group handle into the group head and get the system hot in order to get a nicer coffee .

Now , when making a milk based coffee .

I recommend that you take the following steps now because this is a single boiler coffee machine .

When we activate the steam switch , the water temperature inside the boiler is gonna be in excess of 100 °C .

And that way we can get our steam out of the steam wand over here .

So once that's done , then we wanna cool the boiler down .

And we can do that by pressing the hot water delivery switch , priming the boiler again and opening the steam wand until all the steam is actually purged from the system and hot water comes out .

Once we do that , then we can go on and make our coffee .

And what that does it actually prevents steam coming out of the group handle and you burning the coffee .

So by following these steps , you'll prevent the actual element from burning out .

So now that we've allowed our machine to heat up because in this example we're gonna be making a milk based coffee , we're gonna hit this steam switch and you'll see that the amber light has come on again , indicating that the boiler is heating up the water and once that amber light turns off , we know that we can start using the steam wand .

Now .

It's important if we're gonna steam milk for longer than 2 to 3 minutes that we prime the boiler back up with water .

So to do that , we just turn the steam switch off , turn the hot water switch on , allow the pump to pump water back into the boiler and prime it .

And then we start our steam switch process again .

Alright , so now that the amber lights turned off , we can actually start steaming milk .

First , we want to purge any water in the system .

So we just open the valve until all the hot water comes out and steam starts showing .

And we're looking for a silky texture in the milk as we stretch it .

So when you're finished , turn the steam switch off like that .

Put your milk aside , grab a sponge or a towel and clean the steam wand .

And we want to purge the system now of the steam .

So to do that , we'll just get our other junk , turn our hot water switch on , activate the steam valve and let all the steam exit the system so we get hot water like that .

Now , what I also like to do is get your glass or your cup and activate the coffee pour switch .

And that way we actually prime the cup and get it up to temperature .

So we're not pouring coffee into a cold cup , and that way we purge anything that's left in the shower screen under the group head .

OK , I just wanna clean the group head of any grinds on the contact surfaces like that .

And now it's ready to put in the machine so you can see that we've actually got some really good crema coming out of that coffee .

So now that we've finished making our coffee , we're just gonna take off the group hands on like that .

And usually what I like to do is just clean that shower screen like that .

Just get a bit of the coffee grind off , and then I like to just do a coffee pool .

Just get a bit of hot water through the shower screen and clean any coffee grind that's still may be in the system so you can see that that water's still quite dirty .

Um , and that way , when we go to make a coffee next time it's just clean the water that comes out .

And now that we're done , we can just simply turn the machine off .

So now that we've finished making our coffee , I'm just gonna go into some weekly and some monthly maintenance that we should be performing on this particular machine .

So on a weekly basis , we should be doing a back flush and it's very straightforward .

So all we do is grab your port of philtre and place it into your group head and then grab this blind disc that comes with the machine and just place it in there .

Now I've used the double Porter philtre .

Um , you can use a single , it doesn't really matter .

It'll do the same job now .

We're just gonna remove the drip tray cover like that and we'll just put it aside and we're gonna lock in our group handle into the group head .

Activate the coffee pool or the coffee extract switch up here .

We allow that to run for five seconds , and then you'll see the system back flush and drip into the drip tray .

You might want to empty the drip tray beforehand .

In this case , it's not very full , and that's all .

So on a weekly basis we do this back flush for five seconds , and that's it .

So now we can empty our drip tray , clean out the group head , and then I recommend you get a brush and you clean around the shower screen in the actual group head mechanism .

But so that completes the weekly maintenance and cleaning .

Now on a monthly basis or for every kilogramme of coffee .

I recommend that you do a proper chemical clean of the group head , and that's fairly straightforward as well .

So it's a very similar process , except we're gonna be using a coffee tablet or you can use some powder .

And we're gonna do that step three times So we activate the coffee pour or the coffee extract switch for five seconds at a time , and then we allow for 10 seconds .

Break in between so three lots of five seconds with 12th intervals in between .

So again , grab your group handle and put your porter philtre in , and then your blind disc on top .

And now we're just gonna grab one coffee cleaning tablet like that , and then we put it in on top of the blind disc like that .

And then we just lock the group handle in to the group head .

We're gonna activate this switch for five seconds and allow for 10 seconds in between .

And we do that three times in total .

So that completes the monthly cleaning process or per kilogramme of coffee .

It depends how much coffee you have .

So then just give this a clean .

And then I'd recommend you just do a bit of a flush just to get any chemicals that still might be in the system out .

And what you might find is you might need to do one coffee or so before you get that taste back .

And it's just because of the chemical or the cleaning tablets .

So now that we've finished our coffee , we've finished our cleaning process .

I just like to give everything a good clean and then put it back in and get the coffee machine ready for next time .

So that's it .

I hope you found this video informative .

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Thanks for watching