Re: BREVILLE BES860
I came across this video while checking out Phils BES900 tutorials.
This Breville BES860 video shows you how to dose/tamp correctly as well as how to judge your espresso pour:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xW8gA46R0yU
Good luck
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
My 2cents...
Grind way too coarse. Should be maybe like caster sugar/slightly finer/ not like flour though. Basically if you were to put it on a plate and press it with your finger it should be able to take on your print/hold the shape of your finger.
Dose is way too much. I believe this may be leading to the channeling.
When you remove the puck it should be firm, not rock hard, nor squishy with a ever so slight imprint from the screen from the coffee expanding.
Hard = too much, Squishy = too little.
I believe as you are overdosing this is leading to you scraping the unspent puck on the shower screen as you insert it causing channels even before you hit the brew button.
In addition overdosing can cause the puck to channel as the pressure >9 bar and eventually finds somewhere to go. This may be evident where it starts off okay then the water kind of surges here and there durring extraction.
Channels = blonding.
Tamping could also be an issue as Tamping lope sided will cause pressure to build unevenly and for the water to take the path of least resistance to your cup!
When tamping try and use your fingers on the top of the rim of the portafilter as a guide. Once satisfied the tamp is basically even exert perhaps a little more downwards force by shifting your hand over the top of the tamper, remove and polish.
Hope this helps
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
The grind in the photo looks coarse, but its always hard to tell in photos.
Thats a serious overdose on the 860. I find if I even overdose a little its very much harder to insert the portafilter into the machine. As mentioned in the manual, and above, with approximately 15kg tamp force the top of the stainless part of the tamper should *just* line up with the top of the basket. In that photo it looks much too high.
I may have been lucky, mine grinds fine enough to restrict the flow down to a nice ristretto but if you dose like that with the finest grind and it still gushes out I would suggest it might be time to look at carrying out Barryds suggested mod above.
Best of luck with it, let us know how it goes!
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
My $0.02 - bearing in mind I dont own one of these machines is that the grind is not fine enough. Looks seriously coarse from the photos.
Cheers
/Kevin
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
And the grind on a plate
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
And from Top
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
Please see attached photos
Unfortunately I dont have scales, so I just tamped it pretty darn hard.
Hope this helps.
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
Do you mind sending through a picture of your single wall double basket(after its been dosed with grinds)? Make sure its tamped to 15kg. Use bathroom scales for accuracy.Originally posted by 716B6F6F6D616E637B766D020 link=1319921107/22#22 date=1322865351The one up the TOP is the is the FINEST and the one down below is the COURSEST?
Does the Grinds look ok? which one do you think I should be using?
Id just like to make sure you have the correct dose before helping you with the grind.
P.S. Try to include a picture of your tamper sitting on top of the grinds in the basket
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
OK, Ive been absent for a while as ive been overseas.
However still havent rectified the problem yet. So I thought Id send a pic of the different types of grinds to see what you guys/gals think.
The one up the TOP is the is the FINEST and the one down below is the COURSEST?
Does the Grinds look ok? which one do you think I should be using?
Your attached picture was deleted as the picture is out of focus and hence no one can really tell you how good or bad the grind is. Additionally at almost 5mb the file size is WAY too big. Please take a picture that is in focus and size it to be about 800x600dpi/100k in size and post that.
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
Hey simmo,
Hows it going, have the shots improved a bit?
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
Mine was well out of warranty before I made the mod.Originally posted by 7762747F777A737D160 link=1319921107/19#19 date=1320111245if youre still in the warranty period Id check with Breville to make sure this quick mod wont effect your warranty.
If you mark the cogs with a felt pen where they meet, the mod is reversable.
Barry
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
They sound like great instruction Barryd, definitely store those away for the day I need them.
They do sound pretty easy, but if youre still in the warranty period Id check with Breville to make sure this quick mod wont effect your warranty. Itll be a quick phone call and it could save you a big headache later on. Plus, if you are in the warranty period and it doesnt really work as advertised, you can just get them to fix it.
Also, before opening up the machine, Id want to make absolutely sure that it wasnt the big nut behind the grinder ;D.
Its really hard to convey technique over the forum, it sounds like youre doing the right stuff. My suggestions on dose and grind settings above also arent neccesarily going to get you anywhere due differences in the two machines, our location, beans etc etc.
I will point you to this quote though from Andy, its the same thread linked by Barryd above, reply #3:
You really do have to put way more coffee than seems feasible into the basket. Try tamping on some scales, and if the standard ~15kg tamp flattens the coffee so that the top of the stainless steel on the tamper is in line with the top of the basket as per the instructions, youve got it right. If the pour is still quick, keep adjusting to a finer grind until you cant go any finer, if its still quick, theres probably something wrong with the grinder.Originally posted by 7758524F360 link=1281927196/3#3 date=1281951352You have to dose like Mt Fuji to enough coffee in the basket, set it to near the finest grind and then tamp it down hard but it will pour a great coffee once you get on top of your grind/dose/tamp technique.
You may use up a bit of coffee in this process, but itll be worth it in the end.
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
Try the finer grinder settings. If the machine chokes up go coarser.
I too had a BES 860 and was able to produce quite acceptable coffee.
However at one stage the grinder became unable to grind fine enough. On the finest setting, a full basket and the heaviest tamp I could give, the flow was too fast. The result was weak insipid coffee.
It got to the stage where I used a separate grinder to get a good cuppa.
With the help of Jolt, another member here, I found out how I could open up the machine and adjust the gears to make it grind finer.
Look at:
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1290592739
and
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1245637891/9%A0 reply 33.
I have now replaced my 650 with a Breville Dual Boiler and Smart Grinder combination. Yum.
Twice the price but twice the flavour.
Barry
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
Ok after packing it tight......... no change.
I filled it half way, tamped it really firmly then filled it all the way and tamped it tight.
No difference. The extraction was still very quick and went blonde very quickly.
Suggestions?
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Re: BREVILLE BES860
Im positive that the dose is ok. I mean its basically full to the brim.
TMonkey after looking at your video, we have the same glasses however I think mine are the larger Bodum ones.
Im a flat white fan, so I need to be able to get some milk in there. But after looking at your extraction its obvious that my extraction process is alot quicker and perhaps I need to tamp the grind with more force.
I will try this and let you know
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