Hard water or mineral rich water can wreak havoc in the institutional or commercial kitchen. From plumbing and water pressure problems to inefficient equipment, mineral build up and limescale are problematic not to mention it alters the taste of everything. While we can’t help you fix the taste issues, we can help you with maintenance routines to reduce the effects of hard water.
First and foremost, if you have hard water in your operation, we strongly suggest you get a water filter not just for the running water but for each piece of equipment that utilizes water in operation including your dishmachine, steamers, kettles, ice machines, etc. We can assist you in finding the right water filter for your facility and carry filters from brands like Everpure, Ice-O-Matic, Hoshizaki, Scotsman and more.
But beyond a water filter, you also need to know how to clean and descale equipment. Many larger pieces like steamers have a descaling program built in to the equipment. One piece of equipment that is used regularly is the coffee urn but there is no built in system, so we are outlining the steps to descaling your coffee urn below. You can use this process on other equipment in your commercial kitchen like; coffee brewers, if there is no built in descaling process.
1. Prepare A Descaling Mixture – you can purchase a premade descaling chemical or you can make your own descaling mixture using easy to find ingredients that are food safe and non-toxic. White vinegar and fresh squeezed lemon juice mixed at a 1 to 1 ratio with warm water can get the job done and are cost effective. For most Coffee Urns you need to prepare approximately two quarts of descaling mix.
2. Run Through a Brewing Cycle – Using the prepared descaling mix, pour the mixture into the coffee urn or percolator with the stem and basket removed. Close the lid, plug in your urn and let it run through a full brewing cycle. Once complete, let it soak for at least fifteen minutes and leave the coffee urn turned on so that the mixture is kept hot. After 15 minutes, drain the urn through the serving spigot to run the descaling mixture through this too.
3. Clean your coffee urn – let the coffee urn cool down and go through your cleaning routine to remove any flavor transfer that may occur from the lemon juice or vinegar, or to remove any descaling chemical.
Your coffee urn or percolator should run more efficiently and quickly now that any limescale or mineral build-up has been removed. Depending on the hardness of your water, you can determine the frequency for running through this process. If it is very frequent or the scale build up is too heavy, it’s time to call Cook’s and ask about a water filter.
