Krups Espremio for a newbie

[BluePlaid]

I'm pretty much brand new to espresso machines and for Christmas, got a Krups Espremio for about $100... I'm not a real connoisseur by any means and have enjoyed the machine for about a month as I fine-tuned my method for brewing lattes. Unfortunately, my main problem now is that I have lost the ability to froth the milk. So I have a couple questions about it...

1. I know this machine has a Krups "froth-perfect" tip to the steam wand (or some trademarked name like that)... but I don't know what the point of it is. I can tell no difference in performance between it's two positions... Whether it's up/open or down/closed seems to have no bearing on what it does. Any ideas? Their documentation doesn't say much at all...

2. It did a great job frothing the milk for several weeks, but now I seem to merely be heating the milk... sometimes I seem to wait too long and it scalds the millk, leaving it rather hot and smelly... other times I manage to get a tiny bit of froth (I'd be real mad if I was trying to get capps and not lattes as there isn't nearly enough froth). I can't imagine it needs to be descaled after less than a month of use, can it? I'm more than careful to "clean it out" after every time I froth and steam flies heartily from the wand... Any thoughts?

In the meantime, I'll suffer through my milky espressos...
Trevor

 

[DebsCoffee]

Good morning Blue.....just saw your post here as I was scrolling through this morning. If you haven't already solved your problem here are a couple of things I learned about milk frothing. 1) Make sure your milk is REALLY COLD. For my home machine, I put the milk in a metal container in the freezer while the espresso is making and then froth is directly from the freezer (it's not there long enough for ice crystals to form). 2) Use 2% milk rather than a higher fat content milk. It seems to froth better. Hope this helps!

 

[pillguy]

Do you have some type of special tip on the end of the wand? If so, take it apart and clean it thoroughly. You might have it clogged. These special tips often have a breather hole that is required for proper frothing. I had a Delonghi Espresso that required that.

Cold milk is important, but not the cause of this. You can use refrigerated cold milk. Freezer is not required. Basically froth to 100 F, then steam to around 155. Do not go over 160.

 

[Over Caffienated]

My first home machine was a little krups machine, and I will will say they make a decent starter machine. Excellent for the price range.
It sounds to me like your wand may be clogged.My recomendation would be to take a sewing needle stick it into the little hole on the end of the wand to clear it out.
In the future when you're done frothing take a second and open up the steam pressure all the way while the milk is off the wand. Just shoot out a good puff of steam to clear the line, and wipe the wand down immediately. This should prevent future clogging.
Let me know if this solves the problem.

 

[Over Caffienated]

hmmm...... just realized something..... That last post was pretty unclear. I realize Krups makes two different wands Is the "perfect froth" wand the fat one piece wand, or the thin one with the rubber thingy on the end and a little metal tube that sticks up out of it (sorry if I don't know the names for all the little do-hickies on the Krups wand) I have the second kind, and the clog I referred to was the little metal tube, NOT the main opening in the wand.
Unfortunately I always had a periodic problem with it clogging. Not sure why.