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

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  • #16
    Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

    The short version of what AMs saying here is get freshly roasted beans.
    Up to 10 days old is good. October is not good.

    Make sure there is a roast date on the beans you buy and they are only a few days post roast when you pick them up.

    Then its time for the next step the unpressurised baskets.

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    • #17
      Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

      Hey guess what, we have almost the same setup! I think the 800ES is the same as the BES820, minus the hot water arm and pressure gauge. I notice youve been silent recently, but lets hope this helps anyway!

      Im not an expert (still a Newbie, really) so Ill be corrected if Im wrong, but let me share my experiences with you:

      Wet Puck. Its always going to be wet, no matter what you do with the original basket. Its a result of the pressurized basket (advance dual wall crema system) holding water. Leave it until youve finished steaming, then it will be dryer.

      Grinder. Use the finest setting (Turkish). Its nowhere near turkish, but youll get the best results with it.

      Temp. As someone said, its not ready as soon as the light stops flashing (which only takes a couple of minutes). I leave mine for at least 10 - 20 minutes. Then I run a short pour with no grinds (4-5 secs) to heat up the basket, etc. Then wait until you hear the little steam overflow and do it again. On the last run, grind your beans. Then dry the basket, and dose, tamp, lock it in, and extract!

      You wont get great results from this setup, but rest assured with good beans and good technique you can make better coffee than Glorias and the rest.

      Where to from here? The cheapest "upgrade" for you is three things:
      • Get a krups unpressurized basket. I got mine from Pullman as mentioned earlier. Get them to measure it if youre thinking about a Pullman tamper as well.
      • With the new basket, your grinder just wont cut it! Youll need to do the mod, but be careful! If you break it you keep the pieces!
      • Get a better tamper. The plastic one has an angled handle so its hard to get a flat top, and its hard to get the right pressure.
      With my modded grinder and improving technique, I find that to get close to the nice dark looking pour, I almost have to block up the machine, and send the pressure guage into the red! I think it cant quite handle it, which is why Im slowly upgrading.

      I hope that answers some questions!

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      • #18
        Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

        Great post Iain!!!!! 8-)

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        • #19
          Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

          Originally posted by 4B4F697070756A7D721C0 link=1273959932/17#17 date=1274964339
          Great post Iain!!!!! 8-)
          Ya... The wind direction up there must have changed ;D ;D ;D

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          • #20
            Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

            Originally posted by 5B747D7F68577B747B7D7F777F746E1A0 link=1273959932/18#18 date=1274967199
            Originally posted by 4B4F697070756A7D721C0 link=1273959932/17#17 date=1274964339
            Great post Iain!!!!! 8-)
            Ya... The wind direction up there must have changed  ;D ;D ;D
            What are you guys saying, that all my posts arent great?!

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            • #21
              Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

              As people have suggested these cheapo brevilles need modification to get half decent shots.

              Both the baskets in the machine and that grinder they use.

              After you do that you have the potential to get something good out of the equipment every now and then, with more average/good shots and very few excellent ones. But, that is just the limitation of the gear.

              I have a modified Ikon and modded grinder as a temporary hack.

              As an aside I found the dremel cut orginal double baskets better than the Krups drop in. Although I would reccomend taking out a fair whack more material than that pic above to expose more of the basket.

              Anyone gone stupid and made thier brevilles portafilter naked? ;D

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              • #22
                Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                Originally posted by 4E594A0E0D0C3C0 link=1273959932/20#20 date=1275398109
                Anyone gone stupid and made thier brevilles portafilter naked?  ;D
                I was thinking about it, but the wife wants the original gear, including the dual wall basket (it is easier) so Im resisting!

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                • #23
                  Re: Breville 800ES +BCG 450- Help on making good espresso

                  I have the bes820, and it has the same internals as the 800es, as well as the breville burr grinder. Despite what people might say, you can make a good coffee from this setup provided you do what the others have said. I just want to emphasise that you need to do the grinder mod!

                  Grinder Mod: This is the most important!!! The 450 grinder isnt capable of grinding fine enough for these machines. Even with dual wall you will notice a massive difference. Without it my machine constantly under extracted and tasted weak. With it, and a fresh bag of beans, I make coffees that leave cafes in the dust.

                  And on another note
                  A friend had done the making it naked thing. The first attempt was a failure with a disc grinder, and the second was with a special tool designed for the purpose (apparently). I just bought the unpressurised baskets from breville.

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