Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[pcrussell50]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I would also soak the group handle in espesso cleaner as well as you cant scrub every nook of rancid coffee oils thatll degrade the taste of any espresso.

you can, if your portafilter is bottomless

nudge, nudge, wink, wink

-pete

[>mcknightp]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

sadly, the BDB is not available here here in the states yet

Theyll have their initial stock in 14 days or so. Drop the Breville US office an email via their site www.brevilleusa.com & theyll be able to tell you who the stockists are.

Cheers, Phil

[dr.a.j.pickering]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Doc, well it is actually that smart! It only counts extractions longer than 7 secs in the cleaning cycle counter, so youve actually extracted 200 times longer than 7 secs.

Thanks Phil

Ok that means I have drank a lot of coffee

Come to think about it I am over 2kg in

Aprox 40-50 shots per Kg plus I quess some of the backflush cycles are over 7 sec

[wdrummond]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

ok i have had the BES900 for a few days now and Im trying to work something out.

according to the machine specifications, i should be dosing with 18g of ground coffee for a double shot and tamping with 15kg of pressure. what i cant work out is what difference the 15kg of pressure would make, as the tamper itself will only reach the indent of the basket (usually under light pressure). is this an indication that my grinder is set too fine?

also the puck consistently sticks to the screen - which from what I have read is an indication of too much coffee in the basket. So does this mean i should be using less that 18g of coffee or is this an indication of grind size (as previously mentioned)?

I would be grateful for any tips!

[howser999]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Thanks for the feedback phil!

One other quick question, which may seem silly - would you typically use a double basket to make a single milk coffee? My coffee has been quite strong so Im thinking that perhaps im oding....

[dr.a.j.pickering]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

also the puck consistently sticks to the screen - which from what I have read is an indication of too much coffee in the basket. So does this mean i should be using less that 18g of coffee or is this an indication of grind size (as previously mentioned)?

Not according to Guru Phil

On some longer extractions, the cake seems to get stuck to the dispersion screen as there is some negative pressure being created when the 3 way solenoid opens to the drain as the solenoid is inverted. This is more pronounced with the 900 baskets as they have quite a taper & the puck releases very easily.

[dr.a.j.pickering]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

One other quick question, which may seem silly - would you typically use a double basket to make a single milk coffee? My coffee has been quite strong so Im thinking that perhaps im oding....

Again Guru Phil has answered this

Having said all this, I get the best results with either one side of a double basket or a double ristretto. I havent used a single basket for 10 years....until I started to work for Breville, commercially, theyre just not used.

Cheers, Phil

[>mcknightp]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

according to the machine specifications, i should be dosing with 18g of ground coffee for a double shot and tamping with 15kg of pressure. what i cant work out is what difference the 15kg of pressure would make, as the tamper itself will only reach the indent of the basket (usually under light pressure). is this an indication that my grinder is set too fine?

If you check out this post is should cover your questions re dose/grind. What are you using to control dose? Are you using a Smart Grinder?

As for dose, a good starting point is when AFTER tamping the top edge of the cap on the Breville tamper is level with the rim of the filter basket. This will give you ~19g of coffee in a double. Remember this dose height is AFTER tamping and will be about 6mm below the rim of the filter basket & you need to hold tamp pressure constant, I use 15kg+

See this video for some tips:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4ByyUmZT28

Once youve got the dose height nailed, you just need to adjust the grind size to optimise espresso flow rate. I use the shot clock as a starting point for this as well. If you see espresso start to flow from the spouts at 11-13secs on the shot clock, then itll be a pretty nice shot.

[pcrussell50]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

there are some remedial questions coming up that dont have much to do with faults or foibles in the BDB, but are related to crafting shots of espresso in general.  being new here, i dont know if its appropriate to refer CS members to things like, "Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste" by linking to it?  i wouldnt want to go crook with the mods by inappropriately linking to another site.

-peter

[dr.a.j.pickering]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Like this http://www.home-barista.com/tips/esp...te-t16968.html

[timmyc]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

there are some remedial questions coming up that dont have much to do with faults or foibles in the BDB, but are related to crafting shots of espresso in general.  being new here, i dont know if its appropriate to refer CS members to things like, "Espresso 101: How to Adjust Dose and Grind Setting by Taste" by linking to it?  i wouldnt want to go crook with the mods by inappropriately linking to another site.

-peter

Haha dont get too worried about it. I believe that only commercial links are disallowed. So any information websites should be fine

[warney]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Well my experiences

Tried the machine with CoffeeSnobs Espresso WOW!, and it is a very nice and smooth cup.

2 Problems I have ran into!
1. Puck always sticks the the shower screen! (I dont think I am overdosing, and I am always keep in line with the tamper.
2. Broken lid where the Water Fill area is!

I spoke to customer service this morning, and I have to now wait until it is fixed! Ahhh was enjoying it as well! I have only had the machine for a week!

[Dazzler]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Im think Im hooked.
I needed a second shot before I smiled this morning. Should I be concerned?

[bmcquillen]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Well my experiences
2 Problems I have ran into!
1. Puck always sticks the the shower screen! (I dont think I am overdosing, and I am always keep in line with the tamper.

Hi Warney, I was having the same problem and i was actually under dosing.

Make sure when you tamp the coffee is bang smack on the line in the filter basket no less.

I posted the same a bit back in this thread and phil said it was the 3 way v/v pulling a vacuum which sucks the cake onto the shower screen.

Hope this helps

[howser999]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Again Guru Phil has answered this

I think I phrased the question incorrectly. Im awfully confused. So, Ill be a bit more specific - using a double basket and dosing as per phils instructions, should I be getting ~30ml in 25 - 30secs?

I know this is a bit more of a general question, but I cant for the life of me remember the coffee course I did 6 months back!