Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Grind defInitely too coarse is my bet - or too small a dose. Scotty mccallum has a video that shows you how to dial in your grinder. Its in a link here on One of my first posts to this thread - ill try and find it tomorrow.

[Thirteen13]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

no rush david cheers... I think its definately too course hence why it runs way to quickly and the fact it gets no pressure behind it too.

The problem is i dont want to shoot double for 1 cup of coffee it will be way to strong for me.

But i dont like the single basket as we have already discussed.

So far my smart grinder is set to 1 Shot with +1 Amount (so 1 + 8%) and the grind size is set to 1 off Max espresso.

[Courierdog]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Tried my Naked Portafilter this morning.
Just Like and Apple Promo, or in this case just like Phils videos.
There is also another advantage, the puck does not to seem to stick to the group as much either. I am now able to keep both side of the basket clean with ease.
Another plus my old Silvia has gone to a good home, my friend and his wife are beginning their espresso journey.

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hmm - if you use the double basket you need to do a double - no way around that really. Thats why I use the single and have no issues with it really despite the bad press a single gets here - it works for me.

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

http://www.espressocompany.com.au/how-to.htm

[Thirteen13]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

alright watched clip 2 to get some guidance and it was helpful, im interested to know, with each type of bean does the grind and dose need to be adjusted or should it always remain the same ?

Is the amount the smart grinder puts out for 1 and 2 shots without any Amount adjustment the correct size ? judging by the clip it seems like its dropping out way to much. I realise the manual says 3x the amount, but following hte clip i realise he collapsed then added more, but it seems like on the default shot sizes its way to much, id be tempted to either go 2 shot with -5 to make it 1.60 shots or 1 shot +5 so 1.40 shots.

Sorry if ive gone off topic with grinders, but its relating back to the machine!

[Gnat]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

You cant underdose in the double basket to get a single, that would be causing your poor/fast extractions. Either waste one side of the pour (nooo all that coffee!!), stick it in the fridge for iced coffee, or pull double ristrettos (my favourite option).

Re: dose, the 1 shot is just a rough guide, dont take it literally, you have to figure out your own dose through experimenting.

[eaglemick]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

alright watched clip 2 to get some guidance and it was helpful, im interested to know, with each type of bean does the grind and dose need to be adjusted or should it always remain the same ?

Is the amount the smart grinder puts out for 1 and 2 shots without any Amount adjustment the correct size ? judging by the clip it seems like its dropping out way to much. I realise the manual says 3x the amount, but following hte clip i realise he collapsed then added more, but it seems like on the default shot sizes its way to much, id be tempted to either go 2 shot with -5 to make it 1.60 shots or 1 shot +5 so 1.40 shots.

Sorry if ive gone off topic with grinders, but its relating back to the machine!

Ive had my Breville for 5 months now and would say it definitely depends on the bean. Every change of bean has resulted in me tinkering with grind size and dose amount!

Surprised youre getting under extraction at 1 off espresso. Must be under dosing or not tamping hard enough imho. I use a 2 shot basket and have moved the dose from +2 to -2 max depending on the beans

[Rusty]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Must be under dosing or not tamping hard enough imho.

In my experience tamping pressure is the least sensitive variable. You can vary it a lot without having much affect on the result.

Under dosing is the most likely culprit. Watch Phils video and always dose the double basket for a double shot.

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Ive had to alter the dose for different beans. One of the reasons I got the VST 22g basket was that I could do a double on my grinder and it delivered enough to fill the 22g basket with little wastage.

My Breville single has around 14g weighed for a dose and it fills the basket properly and I get a good 9bar extraction. A double fills the VST22g triple basket properly (28g) 2 presses of my doserless grinder and very little coffee wasted with either shot. Again for the VST I get a nice 9 bar extraction.

[Yelta]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Thirty three pages and 238 posts devoted to questions, answers, guesses and hypotheticals for the BES900, must be some sort of record for a a thread on a single machine.

I recall similar threads for the Silvia when it was flavour of the month, some got along famously with the machine and others declared it a finicky beast that would not produce a decent shot unless all sorts of modifications were carried out, in the end most got down to pulling shots and steaming milk very successfully, sadly I imagine there are still a few poor souls out there who simply never got it and are still on the modify Silvia treadmill.

Had a read through this thread and aside from a few red herrings all of the information needed to pull a decent shot is there.

So, if your having problems coming to terms with your BES900 my advice is to read through this thread, Id just about bet the answer to your question is in there somewhere.

[Thirteen13]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hey Jon. I think its more just the quest we all face for that perfect shot and cup each time, because i am so new i feel like im shooting fish in a barrell, so i need to fine tune a bit more and just putting it out there to see where im going wrong.

From what ive gather from everyones great advice, im overfilling the single basket, because im trying ot stick to the smartgrinders default sizing ie: 1 SHOT = 1 Shot Basket load... Which i guess makes sense because youd think Breville would use there own basket sizes to gauge how the smart grinder would be preset for each amount. But then the variable of the beans comes into play...

Ive actually been testing 4 different beans of late as i bougth a starter pack of here and each needed a different setting.. Brazil and Columbia i found similar, PNG was WAY off and needed ot be tweaked and i had the most problems with this. Lastly the gold latte blends and this again is different and i think ive just about got it right.

So less dose and avoid what the grinder says rather define my own size, grind size has been consistant, its hte dose thats been affecting the outcome. Obviously professional baristas do know what they are talking about! 8-)

[Yelta]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

4 different beans of late as i bougth a starter pack of here and each needed a different setting

It would be a good idea to stick to one variety until you have the process pretty well nailed and are pulling shots to your own satisfaction, there are plenty of variables to contend with as it is without adding to them.

[Thirteen13]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

yeah im a huge fan of the columbian, i am going ot start roasting that soon and buy a bit of it so then i can get my fine tuning off 1 bean

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I roast the Colombian - it was my fave roast until I tried the Ethopian Yirgacheffe and the India Monsoon Malabar Gold. The Gold will blow your socks off. One of the most interesting things is the way all these beans taste so different. Whereas all shop beans seem to taste the same (Thinking supermarket beans)