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Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

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  • Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

    HI,
    I have the above gear and do not seem to be able to make a very nice coffee.

    I but fresh beans - grind what I need. gring on turkish fine setting

    I fill the handle and press with the Breville supplied tampa but the coffee poors quickly.

    I have heard it should be 30 mls in 30 seconds.

    My puck is always very wet.


    Just not sure what to do - can you guys break the steps down for me ?

    Look forward to good coffee

    Cheers

  • #2
    Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

    Originally posted by 26212D3225252B33400 link=1273959932/0#0 date=1273959932
    I but fresh beans - grind what I need.  gring on turkish fine setting
    What beans and from where ?

    * If supermarket, then 99.999% chance they are STALE
    * If from a popular coffee chain, then could still be stale

    What grinder ?

    Comment


    • #3
      Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

      The BCG 450 is a breville burr grinder. The beans are from the local roaster and also from a specialty cafe

      Comment


      • #4
        Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

        Have a search on this forum for unpressurized baskets. Make sure you change the search results for more that 1 weeks posts.

        I have the same machine and get pretty good results with it.

        Need to mod or replace the basket.

        Andrew

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        • #5
          Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

          Did you replace your basket Andrew? What one did you buy?

          Comment


          • #6
            Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

            The unpressurised double basket from a Fresca BES860 would be your best bet - the single basket is too small to bother with.

            Your grinder may well need modding as it is basically a repackaged Solis Maestro

            Comment


            • #7
              Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

              Originally posted by 686F637C6B6B657D0E0 link=1273959932/2#2 date=1273960482
              The BCG 450 is a breville burr grinder. The beans are from the local roaster and also from a specialty cafe
              If ya using standard pressurised baskets.. (made to assist with stale beans)

              And with "Fresh beans and grind set to Turkish" and it comes through in seconds...

              Then guess what... An un pressurised is not going to help, but will make it worse.

              I say again... Beans and or Grinder..

              When were they roasted, when did you purchase / pick up and how have you been storing them.

              Rough guide of 3:

              1: Green beans best before 3 years
              2: Roasted beans best after 3 days but before 3 weeks
              3: Ground beans best before 3 minutes.

              So how good are ya beans ?


              Comment


              • #8
                Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                olsmokey, my beans are freshly bought roasted in the last 2 weeks, just opened out of sealed foil pack.

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                • #9
                  Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                  Thanks Newbie! lol, i think your referring to AngerManagement, the "Olsmokey" is a marking in direct correlation to the amount of posts he has made, as for ya beans, it there a ROASTED ON date stamped on the foil bag?

                  It may sound a little anal, but this is the root of 90% of "new to CSs" problems

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                    Originally posted by 3430160F0F0A15020D630 link=1273959932/8#8 date=1273983087
                    Thanks Newbie! lol, i think your referring to AngerManagement, the "Olsmokey" is a marking in direct correlation to the amount of posts he has made, as for ya beans, it there a ROASTED ON date stamped on the foil bag?

                    It may sound a little anal, but this is the root of 90% of "new to CSs" problems
                    Call me later to night Mr Wsully... Say 8pm

                    Old Smokey... Yep about 12 day off those lovely / great / lung lollies ...Oh I want one now....

                    As to teh highlighted bit... Only 90% ... And teh rest.
                    Originally posted by 05020E1106060810630 link=1273959932/7#7 date=1273982861
                    my beans are freshly bought roasted in the last 2 weeks, just opened out of sealed foil pack.
                    Date stamped or not ????

                    Lets put it this way... Flow rate is a direct relationship between the beans / grind size and Tamp.

                    Now if this set up has been doing OK previously... We are assuming so; as you have stated nothing to the contrary.

                    Then.... If ya getting gushers...

                    1: Ya have water

                    and

                    2: Nothing restricting teh flow of water through teh beans..

                    Thus - Coarse grind OR too light a Tamp OR STALE BEANS...

                    If all was OK before... Then one of these has changed.. Usually people do not change their grind... Tamp teh same way; but beans get changes every week or so..

                    Now it could be somthig else... But hard to know as we have little to go on other than - This is my machine and it gushes..

                    95% plus it is the beans if what you advised and we have assumed is correct.

                    Now I need two cigs, back to back.. Or just a plain Camel

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                      Sloppy puck sounds like course grind, providing your happy with your beans being fresh. Your tamping technique could be part of it but if you are to course then 100kg of pressure still wont help.

                      The Breville grinder is not really up to the job in most cases for Espresso. As the others said there is some threads on how to improve them but best to start looking at a different grinder in the near future. Find a family member that drinks Plunger or Stovetop and do them a favour by giving them your old one. If you can go to a finer setting then do it on the grinder and see if it improves labels on grinders dont work reliably as a method of setting it.

                      The only other possible is that your pressurised basket is Stuffed with accumulated coffee fines and sludge. Important you get an unpressurised one !!!!! If you have any coffee machine cleaner like Cafetto then a good soak of the basket in some of this might help but the best thing to do is throw it in the bottom draw and get a proper one.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                        I guess I have not really been impressed from day 1 with my attempts of making a brew. This is why I started buying fresh beans (250g packs) direct from roasters rather than from cafes or supermarkets

                        The beans only have an expiry date into October on the whole beans pack but I did purchase them from a well known roaster outlet direct.

                        The coffee to me is woody to bitter.

                        It appears to have a crema but I just do not think this is taste is alll .

                        Is the whole pressurised Vs unpressurised basket worth me investigating and if so where do I buy these from to fit my handle and machine?

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                          got mine from Greg Pullmans website (got tamper as well and love it)

                          link to the product you should look at - http://www.coffeetamper.com.au/shop/product_info.php?cPath=25&products_id=109

                          The other option is to cut out the bottom floor of the basket if you have the right tools (Dremel or fine drill).   Be careful not to go too far as there is only a few millimetres between the two layers, although if you damage it there are probably hundreds of these baskets sitting in drawers across the country. Photo of my modified basket included.

                          I did both of these and get the better result from modifying the basket that came with the machine as 1) it fits well (the krups basket is ok but not as snug) and 2) the holes in the krups a pretty large so you will get a few more grinds in the cup.

                          Other tip that I think is well worth it - get some green beans and a corn popper or heatgun/breadmaker and roast your own.   Its not that difficult to get reasonable results and the satisfaction that you actually roasted that coffee is huge.  Jump in and give it a go - I did exactly this in Feb this year and have just clocked over my 48th roast and it just gets better each week.

                          Problem I have now is upgraditis - mazzer mini on bench now and seriously contemplating the new Rocket Evoluzione (or however you spell it)

                          Cheers and good luck.
                          Andrew


                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                            That bitter you are getting is most likely caused by not having everything hot, just because the machine says its ready it is not, 20-25 minutes should do it with the group handle attached too. So dont blame the beans just yet.

                            That stuff that looks like Crema is actually not proper Crema, the dual floor pressurised baskets you have make FAKE crema. Also in a lot of cases the actual extraction pressure is low and this will cause less than desirable flavours from good beans.

                            Where in Oz are you someone might be able to point you in the right direction to get the unpressurised basket.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                              Originally posted by 787F736C7B7B756D1E0 link=1273959932/11#11 date=1273993801
                              The beans only have an expiry date into October on the whole beans pack but I did purchase them from a well known roaster outlet direct.
                              Arrr getting some where..

                              PS. Single skin baskets are great... But lets get him working first..

                              As I said teh rules of 3 as to good beans... If they have 6 months on them still...

                              WHEN WERE THEY ROASTED ?

                              Answer: ________


                              Now if the bags are already marked as an expiry date into October on the whole beans pack....

                              There is half ya problem if not more... STALE BEANS is strill MY guess.

                              Ignoring Temperature etc if ya system is pulling a double basket and pours way too quick...

                              1: Grind
                              2: Beans
                              3: Tamp

                              Again you have not advised how it was working previously..

                              If it ever was..

                              Answer: ________


                              Like getting blood from a stone... Go and visit a Sponsor or another CS person.. It is becoming obvious that text is not the way... You need hands on exposure.

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