Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[WiredArabica]

Hmm, my suggestion would be to stick with the double shot basket until you're getting consistent results - it's just generally a bit more forgiving especially when starting out.

You can use the single while dosing as I've mentioned above, however you can't then translate that grind setting to the double, while you can use the same grind setting for the single as for the double by adjusting the dose... wow that sounded complicated - it isn't, see this post to see a simple method on how to use the single.

[jaredw]

Thanks. Shall give this a shot tomorrow morning. Might just live with drinking a double in the morning until i can start to actually taste the coffee. Thanks for the advice.

[Barry_Duncan]

jaredw,

Welcome here. It’s a pity you are having some problems. I am sure that with some perseverance and practice, you will get there soon.

Leave the factory settings for pre infusion temperature etc to reduce fiddling to the minimum.

Read about dosing and tamping on page 24 of the Breville instruction book. To get an idea what 15 -20 kgs of pressure is, push the tamper down on bathroom scales.

When I dose and tamp I don’t do all the fiddling, swiping and poking you see on some videos. I just knock the portafilter down on a small wooden board, swivel the tamper in a circular motion to remove air holes and clumping and then push down. If the silver cap of the tamper cant push into the filter I remove some grounds so it will.

Tamping helps prevent channelling and uneven and watery extraction. I use a naked portafilter and can see when channelling happens, as it squirts in all directions. When all is ok, it flows strait like a rat’s tail with no squirts.

It is ideal to use a good and consistant dose and tamp. Then you can just adjust your grind to get the desired flow. Using preground coffee does not allow you to make the fine adjustments in grind as required. When grinding your own, use the single walled filters, either single or double shot.
I normally use the single shot filter basket. Many others only use the double.

You will find that everyone here has slightly different ideas, which is ok, it helps to make life interesting. Time, weight, temperature, grind can all be varied. It is the end result that matters. You must be able to brew your coffee how you like it.


Barry

[DavidW1960]

Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Stick with the double for the sake of consistency until you get it right and then try the single. I've given up on the single too.

Also, most importantly, there is no such thing as a one time for all time grind setting. Your grind will change every day as the coffee ages. Also make sure you grind just before you pull a shot. Adjust the grind to get the 60mls in 30 seconds and fill the PF as described above.

[brokenvase]

Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Tamping helps prevent channelling and uneven and watery extraction. I use a naked portafilter and can see when channelling happens, as it squirts in all directions. When all is ok, it flows strait like a rat’s tail with no squirts.

Kudos! I gave up on my naked PF. I use a VST 18g basket and can never prevent the squirting no matter what I do....

[brokenvase]

Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Thanks. Shall give this a shot tomorrow morning. Might just live with drinking a double in the morning until i can start to actually taste the coffee. Thanks for the advice.

I'm not the expert here. But I went through the same process. (almost) as you

I took a barista course and became a BDB and CS member pretty much a week after the course!

Anyway, my 2 cents:

1. Ultimately, you need to filter out all the advice and pick the ones that are practical to you and that you feel works.
2. For me, I settled on a routine that is easy, repeatable and fuss free.
3. Let taste guide you. Work out the variables that make a good cup for you

FWIW, my routine:
- Used a scoop to scoop the right amount of beans into the hopper. I use the BCG800, but somehow don't trust the dosing. So I make each shot my using the right amount of beans.
- in my case for the VST 18g I settled on 18g - 19g of beans.
- I settled on a tamp technique that I'm comfy with. Most likely around 15g of pressure. I found that I just settled on whatever that I like that is repeatable and doesn't give me RSI. Initially I was so hung up on this that I did gave myself RSI!
- I don't tap the PF like the barista course instructed. I do knock it on the kitchen bench once to settle the grind.
- I use my finger to level the grind. Usually if I scooped it right this is usually spot on with it levelling over the basket.
- I use the 18g double basket and do a "double ristretto" that means I cut off the pull early. Usually at 18-19s when it would usually be 30s for my single shots for myself.
- I do rely a little on the gauge to get my indicator if I did it right or not. That is why it concerns me when you said you have the gauge at 9bar but have inconsistent timing on pours.
- the only thing I adjust after all of the above is the grind finest. My BCG is shimmed to the max. I found that for decaf older beans it needs that super finest that without max shim I can't get it right.

I'm still struggling with the naked PF in that it squirts. I suspect it's my tamper. But I've parked that for now. I'm also experimenting with temperature and milk types now (I drink piccolos).

Enjoy your journey! It took me a month to get comfortable. Then I could venture to variations in my routine.

That's me

[Barry_Duncan]

FWIW, my routine:
- Used a scoop to scoop the right amount of beans into the hopper.

I too use a scoop to measure the beans into the empty hopper on my BCG800 grinder.

Some experts say we should grind with the hopper about half full. I don’t agree. I don’t want to store my beans there and I don’t want to have to empty it between sessions. It produces good coffee with an empty hopper. I try to leave the grinder completely empty between sessions.

For the single filter I have the grinder dose set on 2 shots and all 5 bars set on more. This often grinds just enough for the single shot filter basket. These hold close to 14 grams, twice the normally accepted single shot.

The BDB double shot filter basket also holds about double the normal double shot.

I and others here at CS use a naked portafilter most of the time. I use the normal portafilter when pulling 2 coffees with the double shot filter basket.

The naked portafilter lets me know how good my dose and tamp is. With an inadequate tamp, channelling will occur through the puck resulting with varying amounts of spurting in all directions.

When channelling occurs you get an uneven extraction resulting in weaker coffee. With a normal portafilter the channelling goes on unseen. I have worked on my tamping and now get little channelling and better coffee.

I don’t always get perfect coffee but I am trying to work towards it.

Barry

[jaredw]

Thanks everyone for your advice. I ditched the single shot basket and poured two doubles this morning. Far from what i would expect from any of my local cafes but much better than what i have been pulling. Will continue to play with the grind and dose and see what i can get.
Thanks again.

[brokenvase]

Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

The naked portafilter lets me know how good my dose and tamp is. With an inadequate tamp, channelling will occur through the puck resulting with varying amounts of spurting in all directions.

When channelling occurs you get an uneven extraction resulting in weaker coffee. With a normal portafilter the channelling goes on unseen. I have worked on my tamping and now get little channelling and better coffee.

I tried for over a week and consistently get squirting. I think it's worse with the VST basket that is less forgiving. Tried everything even WDT. I just decided for now the angst wasn't worth it every morning. So I stopped. Maybe I'll pick it up again. For now I'm quite happy with my pulls through the normal PF. I also think the bogav sniper with the metal to be used with our BDB is not the pest fit for the BDB. Some how there's a 1mm rim of gap I think that's causing the channelling. I know, I'm blaming everything else but technique :P

[brokenvase]

Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

"pest for for the BDB" should be "best fit for the VST". Sorry too early in the morning. Need more coffee!

[Barry_Duncan]

BV,

I too have a Bogav Sniper tamper. I find that the silver cap is shorter than on the Breville tamper and this encourages over dosing which makes it harder to lock in the portafilter.

Barry

[dr.a.j.pickering]

Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

The bcg 800 relies on there being beans flowing into the burs to maintain a consistent grind size. ie as the weight of beans decrease the grind will become more fine or more importantly less consistent

If you measure your beans into an empty hopper you will get popcorn-ing which results small amounts being chipped off prior to grinding which produces more fines or powder this makes the grind less consistent as well

You must remember the bcg 800 is small conical bur grinder not a flat planner burrs like most commercial grinders and not a large conical burr grinder like some top end commercial grinders in addition the burrs are mounted in plastic

So when some like Phil advises you to at least half full the hopper it's because he understands the grinder both it's good bits and it's limmitions.

[Barry_Duncan]

There is a discussion about the amount of beans in the grinder hopper at:

http://coffeesnobs.com.au/grinders/3...tml#post480321

Barry

[Iain]

Thank you for all your help

Back with my BES900, playing with the settings. I now realise why so many cafe/barristers do not get the coffer right. Yep, the beans, the grind, and head temp all make a difference. One question, any recommendations re training in the Sydney inner west?

[Barry_Duncan]

My main variable with my BDB is the coffee beans and grind. I roast my own and occasionally run out of sufficiently rested beans. At the moment I am using Bolivian Green Mountain Estate 12 days post roast. YUM.

Barry.