New user and owner of a CM with a few questions

[scoota_gal]

Re: New user and owner of a CM with a few questions

Nail on the head there, depecid...get some fresh stuff and youll be probably amazed at the difference. I cant vouch for the beans that you got as a freebie...

Sack your boss for not letting you have coffee at work...what sort of place are you working for!? Thats a shocker really...as I would have thought that a cup of coffee was far cheaper than a bottle of soft drink even...anyway...drink all the bottled stuff youre allowed if thats the case!

Youre heading down the right path there in finding that the bigger basket gets consistently better coffee. Yes, having a greater volume in the basket means that the chances of bad coffee will be less. Some people are now using triple baskets in their machines. Basically, Id be recommending that you use the bigger basket and leave the smaller one in a drawer somewhere, never to see the light of day again...

Ill let some others join in with advice now..

Oh and by the way...theres not going to be too much bagging out of your set up here (unless of course Im going to be proved a liar! : :P)...its proving to be quite the little machine...and there are plenty of other brands out there just like it. Just dont use the hopper in the grinder to store your coffee beans and youll be okay!

[depecid]

Hello people! Im new here, so go easy

Quick bit about me, im a chef who loves coffee and until recently was allowed 2 per day at work. Management has now said no more to our dissapointment (My kitchenhand makes the best brew i have ever tasted, much better that the cafe staff) we are no longer allowed.

I went out and bought a Breville bes860 with a built in grinder (i KNOW..... ive done my fair share of reading through the forums, and considered the gaggia, and the sunbeam, but this is what suited me best) and have gone through 750g of the free beans in 24 hours. I swear i had a dodgy machine, but im starting to get the results im after. Had a few questions that i thought you coffee pros out there could maybe help me with.

For the first 20 or so cups, the pressure needle would always peak and i would get only drips. After a lot of playing around i thought, ill start at the bottom. So i did the smallest dose, and the coarsest grind, and barely tamped at all. Same result....
So i tried the double wall filter.... perfect... the gauge would sit right in the center. Now... how?!? I dont understand how a filter with one tiny hole could possibly require less pressure than a filter with many, and without tamping?
The other problem was the machine would only push through about 15-18 mls of liquid in its default setting. That was eventually fixed by manually programing it.
Note, im talking about using a single filter. When i use the double, i get much more consistant results. Why is this? Is it because there are simply more holes or that pressing the double cup button generates more pressure?

My grind is set at 9 out of 15, which seems slightly coarse to me... but not too sure. The grinder is set up for this machine only, so even on the coarsest setting its not very coarse... if that makes sense

Im almost out of my "Brazilian" beans... so when i am ill buy some good ones and see how i go. Hopefully more consistant.
Thanks guys!