Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[snypa762]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I have a newbie question. Im very new to coffee making and havent even made my first shot yet, so please go easy on me.

I just bought this machine and while setting it up, attached the portafilter with basket but no ground coffee inside.

I just wanted to test the group head to see if hot water came out through the portafilter.

The pressure bar gauge did not even move.

Is this normal ? with no tamped down coffee in it ?

[LaughingAtFate]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I have a newbie question. Im very new to coffee making and havent even made my first shot yet, so please go easy on me.

I just bought this machine and while setting it up, attached the portafilter with basket but no ground coffee inside.

I just wanted to test the group head to see if hot water came out through the portafilter.

The pressure bar gauge did not even move.

Is this normal ? with no tamped down coffee in it ?

Which basket did you use? I doubt very much that the unpressurised (normal) basket would be able to build up enough pressure on its own to affect the guage

Tis almost like pouring directly from the shower screen, without having the portafilter in place

Try it with coffee, or try it with the pressurised basket

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Yes its normal. No coffee and it cant build up any pressure at all.

[cyberhuey]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Im on the central coast

Hi David, fellow coastie here, and first time CS user...

Just purchased BES900 and BCG800 this morning as my mate also has one and read great reviews on them, although some peoples experiences are mixed.

Anyways, just wanted to know if you get your coffee from any roasters locally? I used to buy from Ceasars @ Erina, although havent purchased from there for a long time, just using the Aldi Expresso at the moment (did have a Saeco Magic Comfort + plus until my updated purchase today)

Also i used to buy Little Italy coffee beans from Cafe Bacio in Nth Sydney when i used to work at Nth Sydney 8 mths ago...

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Huey.

I previously had a Saeco Magic Comfort but got sick of replacing the boiler every few years. Caesars was where I got my first beans for the Breville after being told my vittoria beans were rubbish and not properly roasted by Caesar. I got my grinder from him too.

I then started roasting my own beans.

If you want some good fresh beans, you can always order from Beanbay on CoffeeSnobs. That is what I would do.

[cyberhuey]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

If you want some good fresh beans, you can always order from Beanbay on CoffeeSnobs

Okay thanks for that ill check them out.

Ive heard of Mountain Coffee from Kincumber when they were out at the Terrigal Food and Wine Expo a couple of years ago, but havent been out there to buy a bag to try yet.

Same said mate gave me some sample 250g bags of Jindebah coffee from where he lives in the ACT, the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe was one of my favs but @ $40 kg its on my occasional treat list...

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

the Ethiopian Yirgacheffe was one of my favs but @ $40

See - if you decide to try roasting it will cost you ~$11 for that bean. I have a stash of it here. BeanBay has green beans too.

[cyberhuey]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

if you decide to try roasting it will cost you ~$11 for that bean.

Hmm interesting, i dont think im anywhere near that level yet... was just looking at the roaster machines, wow they aint cheap ;-)

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

You can start with a popper. A Behmor from beanbay is ~$400 - not that expensive. How much beans do you need to roast at a $30 price improvement over purchasing roasted to pay back the investment - not much!

[snypa762]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi all.

My 2nd newbie question. SO I finally pulled my 1st shot today. Bought Grinders Brand "Crema" medium roasted beans from IGA.

I ground them using one shot preset with the Breville smart grinder. about 4 bars from the right on the fine side.

I extracted it but it seemed to finish very early, didnt seem like much espresso at all inside the cup and around 23 seconds of extraction only, also got 7 bars of pressure. I steamed the milk and all in all the final result was a somewhat pleasant tasting but only warm (not hot) coffee.

As this was my first attempt, I would be very grateful if you all could help me get better. Am I doing anything wrong here?

Also the left over puck was very soggy.

Regards!!!

[cyberhuey]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I ground them using one shot preset with the Breville smart grinder. about 4 bars from the right on the fine side.I extracted it but it seemed to finish very early, didnt seem like much espresso at all inside the cup and around 23 seconds of extraction only, also got 7 bars of pressure. I steamed the milk and all in all the final result was a somewhat pleasant tasting but only warm (not hot) coffee.

Hi Yunus,

Im a Newby at this machine myself, been experimenting all day with cheap bag of Aldi Coffee beans.

I came across the exact same issue, i believe back off the Fine settings towards coarse a couple of notches at a time, and also perhaps tamp it a little harder so the machine requires more pressure to push through the water.

I could be wrong, i did the same thing myself was about 4 - 6 notches off really fine and either my BCG800 was doing it too fine, i was getting 11 bar and nothing coming out until i backed off the finess setting more until the first S under Espresso then it was a matter of adjusting between more or less coffee for the 1 or 2 shot PF.

I get around 26 secs shot at 9 bar, so still fine tuning myself, tried going a little more fine but found this makes it worse. So going to try a little more less fine perhaps between the E and s for Espresso marking on the BCG and see how it goes.

[cyberhuey]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

You can start with a popper. A Behmor from beanbay is ~$400

Wow nice looking roaster for $400 that Behmor, ill do a search on CS for reviews on it...

[snypa762]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I ground them using one shot preset with the Breville smart grinder. about 4 bars from the right on the fine side.I extracted it but it seemed to finish very early, didnt seem like much espresso at all inside the cup and around 23 seconds of extraction only, also got 7 bars of pressure. I steamed the milk and all in all the final result was a somewhat pleasant tasting but only warm (not hot) coffee.

Hi Yunus,

Im a Newby at this machine myself, been experimenting all day with cheap bag of Aldi Coffee beans.

I came across the exact same issue, i believe back off the Fine settings towards coarse a couple of notches at a time, and also perhaps tamp it a little harder so the machine requires more pressure to push through the water.

I could be wrong, i did the same thing myself was about 4 - 6 notches off really fine and either my BCG800 was doing it too fine, i was getting 11 bar and nothing coming out until i backed off the finess setting more until the first S under Espresso then it was a matter of adjusting between more or less coffee for the 1 or 2 shot PF.

I get around 26 secs shot at 9 bar, so still fine tuning myself, tried going a little more fine but found this makes it worse. So going to try a little more less fine perhaps between the E and s for Espresso marking on the BCG and see how it goes.

Thanks Huey.

Il try a coarser grind and report back :-)

Cant have too much caffeine tho..will try a little later

[cyberhuey]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

The other thing too, i was just watching a youtube video on BCG800 and BES900 (not brevilles one) and they have about 4 marks off far right fine, but the tamp didnt seem as hard.

From what ive read im supposed to be tamping it at 30lb pressure, i now reckon im tamping too hard, i am a 64" guy and my friends tell me i dont know my own strength...

From the video the tamping seemed to be a lighter pressure... Lots to learn i think on my part...

Yunus, keep experimenting until you think you have it right. Also theres heaps of ppl on CS who know a lot more about this than me, but i thought id put in a comment from one newby to the next ;-)

Also ive been told by my friend as he has the exact same setup, that coffee brand beans and age (freshness) etc has a lot to do with it, and supermarket beans dont cut the mustad so to speak (im using Aldi beans at the moment as a cheap way to start to experiment)

**EDIT** Yunus, read these comments by Phil McKnight regarding the pressure, now i am stumped!

http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1316828376/all

About almost 1/2 way down the page he states the following...

Pressure is one of the most elastic variable in the whole expresso making experience, with temp being the most critical. Dont get too hung up on 7, 8, 9 10 etc. Its a domestic espresso machine & it doesnt have a precision OPV matched to a rotary vane pump. Even if it did thered be no guarantee the gauge would read what is happening at the head, just look at any LM, Synesso, Mirage etc. If you think that the gauge sitting on 9 during an extraction is going to be the silver bullet for espresso, youre mistaken. Quality, well roasted coffee, ground on a quality conical burr grinder, correctly dosed & extracted at exactly the correct temperature is what counts. Ultimately its how it tastes , to you, that matters. I suspect almost all of you BDB 900 owners are making better coffee than what used to be your local cafe........ Have a play with dose, espresso flow rates & temp before you go looking at what part pressure might play in what ends up in the cup.

I guess well have to keep experimenting with it (time expressing, ground finess and dosing, tamping pressure etc) are you using Single or Double cup in single or dual wall? Ive been using the Double Shot Single Wall, also tried the Single Shot Single Wall and i get mixed results... Wow such a fine black art this is ......

[antiXa]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I have tried be it many years ago tamping and not tamping the grind and surprisingly both can be good and terrible.
If I have to buy supermarket coffee I would only ever choose Vittoria mainly because i like a bit of an oily been and find that always grinds nicely although I must say and it may seem sacriligious to some I am doing this on my Delonghi Prima Donna still get a nice drop. Yunus see if you can go online and try the Swiss water decaf truly amazing stuff and my favourite being yirgacheffe.

good luck mate ;D