Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[DavidW1960]

Hahahaha - it makes you well caffinated anyway!!

[random111]

Hi All

I'm very much a noob here so please bear with.

I've had the BES900 with the smart grinder for about 10 months now. Love them both.

Just wanted to help with the following:
1. Do I need to service the machine regurlarly? E.g. once or twice a year? Is this covered under warranty? Do I call up breville to organise a service?
2. When I do the backflush clean using the rubber insert on the portafilter, the soapy water comes out of the portafilter like I was making a coffee, is this normal? I thought the idea of the backflush is to have the soapy water go back up through the filter into a valve and come out of a seperate pipe?
3. When I was changing the filter recently, I noticed my water filter had a slimey build up on it's walls, this worried me that the machine will need to the internals to be cleaned (descaled?) to prevent this slime building up and causing a problem. However I have read different posts on here re descaling and not sure what the overall consensus is. Should or shouldn't I do it? Will a standard service include a descale?

Thanks!

Random

[brokenvase]

Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I found a page in the user guide that says 25 to 35 seconds. That's referring to the shot clock reading or just the shot excluding pre infusion?

It's including I reckon. Excluding would make over extracted coffee for me.

[brokenvase]

Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

With beans I use less than this produces sour acidic shots any more and bitter overtones creep in

Call be crazy but I do 26-30s 30-35ml shots. I drink piccolos and kinda like the little sweet citrus taste coming through the milk.

[DavidW1960]

1. Do I need to service the machine regurlarly? E.g. once or twice a year? Is this covered under warranty? Do I call up breville to organise a service?

I don't believe Breville have ever recommended this.

2. When I do the backflush clean using the rubber insert on the portafilter, the soapy water comes out of the portafilter like I was making a coffee, is this normal? I thought the idea of the backflush is to have the soapy water go back up through the filter into a valve and come out of a seperate pipe?

Are you using the dual wall basket? If not, you should be. You can also get a real blind filter - that's what I used for a backflush.

3. When I was changing the filter recently, I noticed my water filter had a slimey build up on it's walls, this worried me that the machine will need to the internals to be cleaned (descaled?) to prevent this slime building up and causing a problem. However I have read different posts on here re descaling and not sure what the overall consensus is. Should or shouldn't I do it? Will a standard service include a descale?

This probably just means you should wash the water tank with warm soapy water and change the filter. Breville say it should be 3 years or so before a de-scale is needed. Do you know what your water quality is like? De-scaling is not a user task.

[Barry_Duncan]

Hi All

2. When I do the backflush clean using the rubber insert on the portafilter, the soapy water comes out of the portafilter like I was making a coffee, is this normal? I thought the idea of the backflush is to have the soapy water go back up through the filter into a valve and come out of a seperate pipe?

Random

Random

Welcome to CoffeeSnobs and the BDB.

It looks like your plastic insert has a hole in it like my original one. I got another one without a hole from Coffee Parts.

When I block the filter with the blind insert, I can built the water pressure to the full 12.5, I turn it off and hear a short hiss when the three way valve releases some water into the drip tray. I do this back wash several times after each coffee session.

I backwash with some bi-carb soda once a day and with Clean Machine detergent once a week.

Whenever I take off the shower screen, it is perfectly clean.

Scale can be a problem especially if you have hard water. The water tank filters supplied by Breville contain ion exchange resin to remove excess scale forming minerals. If your water is on the hard side addition water treatment could be desirable, such as a bench top or under sink filter system to minimise scale formation.

Barry

[random111]

I don't believe Breville have ever recommended this.



Are you using the dual wall basket? If not, you should be. You can also get a real blind filter - that's what I used for a backflush.



This probably just means you should wash the water tank with warm soapy water and change the filter. Breville say it should be 3 years or so before a de-scale is needed. Do you know what your water quality is like? De-scaling is not a user task.

Hi David

Thanks for your help!

I think I may have been using the single wall baskets, but nevertheless I think I will be buying a blind basket anyway to do it properly, from your post it seems that will be fine?

Not sure what my water quality is. It tastes fine! lol...no seriously no idea, maybe I should think of getting some sort of filter on my tap?
When I felt that slime I just washed my water tank with soap and changed the filter.

Good to know I dont need to descale or service in the short term, I do have an extended warranty anyway however I didn't want to have a problem with warranty being knocked back if my machine breaks down in 4 years time because I didn't get the machine serviced along the way.

[random111]

Random

It looks like your plastic insert has a hole in it like my original one. I got another one without a hole from Coffee Parts.

When I block the filter with the blind insert, I can built the water pressure to the full 12.5, I turn it off and hear a short hiss when the three way valve releases some water into the drip tray. I do this back wash several times after each coffee session.

I backwash with some bi-carb soda once a day and with Clean Machine detergent once a week.

Whenever I take off the shower screen, it is perfectly clean.

Barry

Hi Barry

Thanks for your help.

Do you mind letting me know what part I should look for on coffee parts? Not sure what to search for and want to get it replaced if in fact it does have a hole in it.

I think I will be getting a blind basket and using that instead, as well as buying a big bottle of coffee machine cleaner to clean machine and portafilters more regular.

Thanks

Random

[DavidW1960]

I think I may have been using the single wall baskets, but nevertheless I think I will be buying a blind basket anyway to do it properly, from your post it seems that will be fine?

Yes that is totally fine. You can also get an insert like Barry did - but this will also work better if you use the dual wall single basket - I got one of those and used it as well as a full on blind filter for the chemical backflush. Either is fine.

I did use the silicon disc supplied with the hole in it only when I was running the clean machine cycle with the tablet, again with the dual wall single basket.

Not sure what my water quality is. It tastes fine! lol...no seriously no idea, maybe I should think of getting some sort of filter on my tap?

The BES900 comes with a resin filter in the tank so it will to some degree soften your water. I'd recommend using a test strip to see what your water hardness is like - you may well need to get a filter. Hard water will cause a lot of scale build up in your machine.

You can also speak to Bernard at Bombora and send him a sample of your water and he will make a recommendation to you. In my case, I have never found that water here ever changed the hardness strip colour - we have very soft water. Bernard analysed my water and said we didn't need to treat it. Simple.

When I felt that slime I just washed my water tank with soap and changed the filter.

Exactly what I would have done. I also changed the in-tank filter every time I did the clean machine cycle which was more frequently than 2 months.

Good to know I dont need to descale or service in the short term, I do have an extended warranty anyway however I didn't want to have a problem with warranty being knocked back if my machine breaks down in 4 years time because I didn't get the machine serviced along the way.

Good to look after your machine. Sounds like you are.

[Barry_Duncan]

Agree with you but I am more calm for such marketing stuff because the money Breville makes from that will not go to my pocket. Of course, someone also takes advantage of this forum for business purposes. I am more neutral to that kind of thing even I am also an owner of the product.

Nick,

We enjoy having you posting on this site, even if we may not always agree with you.

While your English is very good, you may have some trouble translating our Aus-English as it is different to how the poms and yanks (English and Americans} speak and spell.

In Australia our warranty laws are pretty strict to protect us from shonky, crook. dealers. However should it be obvious that we may have caused damage by doing our own unauthorised “repairs” the warranty may not be valid.

Also Breville has the right to use this site for commercial use as they are one if the 43 fee paying site sponsors who cover the costs of running this site.
You and I as non-paying members can post our ideas here at no cost to us as long as we don't advertise things in direct competition with the fee paying sponsors.

Barry

[nickoyang]

Nick,

We enjoy having you posting on this site, even if we may not always agree with you.

While your English is very good, you may have some trouble translating our Aus-English as it is different to how the poms and yanks (English and Americans} speak and spell.

In Australia our warranty laws are pretty strict to protect us from shonky, crook. dealers. However should it be obvious that we may have caused damage by doing our own unauthorised “repairs” the warranty may not be valid.

Also Breville has the right to use this site for commercial use as they are one if the 43 fee paying site sponsors who cover the costs of running this site.
You and I as non-paying members can post our ideas here at no cost to us as long as we don't advertise things in direct competition with the fee paying sponsors.

Barry

Hi,

Thanks for your comments. I am keeping busy recently and might not be able to read all your posts.
Thank you for all your help.

Cheers,

Nick

[greg-g]

I use the silicon disc supplied with the hole in it only when running the clean machine cycle with the tablet, again with the dual wall single basket the rest of the time for back-flushes I leave a drawing pin in the hole and use the regular single basket which is what we normally use.

Is it OK to use a disc without a hole for cleaning cycles? The machine would just pressurize to 10.5 bar in my case and effectively do nothing as all the water released by the pressure relief valve.

Greg

[Barry_Duncan]

Hi Barry

Thanks for your help.

Do you mind letting me know what part I should look for on coffee parts?

Random

Take a look for blind filters at;
Barista Accessories Blind Filters for Back Flushing | Coffee Parts

The 58 mm stainless steel one costs $6.32 while the rubber one costs $3.85 plus postage.
I got the rubber one which totally blocks any of the BDB filters.

They also have Caffeto Espresso Clean powder at:
Barista Accessories Cafetto Coffee Machine and Grinder Cleaning Products | Coffee Parts

Barry.

[Tupinamba]

I am just another happy camper. A good share of my happiness comes from the dramatic improvement in coffee quality as I learn (a lot from Coffesnobs), practice and become more skilled. I attended the level one of a barista training course last night. I founds some bits very informative. It was also fun to play with the big machines. And well, the teacher said the BDB is great. This morning coffee was better and wife very content.

I have a few questions coming from what we did on the course:

1) we used huge triple filter baskets to make two espresso shots. I think they must hold up to 30g. The coffee came out pretty slowly, with an almost gooey consistency and a stripy crema. We cut the shot at first sight of blonding. Shots were very short, 20ml at most, and intense and very enjoyable, excellent when milk was properly added. Is there a triple filter basket for the BDB? I imagine a triple would go in the portafilter is the black plastic thing is removed. By the way, what is the function of the it? Is it there to make cleaning easier?

2) to clean the machines we used Cafetto powder in a blind filter. The soapy water appeared in the drip tray. That would not happen in the BDB. When I run a chemical backflush with the rubber disk in the dual wall filter the water comes out through the portafilter spouts (my rubber disk does not have a hole). So, a couple of questions. Would you recommend Cafetto powder as a substitute for the tablets? Is it a recommended practice to backflush the BDB with a blind filter?

[ozmackem]

Hi All,
Wondering if someone can help with my dilemma.
I seem to be pulling quite bitter shots from my BDB regardless of the beans being used.
I'm on to my third batch of beans, the one I'm currently on is beanbay espresso wow.
I've adjusted grind size, tamping and dosing to what is consistently giving me 9 bar pressure and a shot of around 35 seconds which starts around the 9 second mark.
My drink of choice is a strong long black.
What could I be doing that would give bitterness to my coffee shots?

Cheers in advance.