Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[roscoes2]

hi...

Got my favourite beans delivered yesterday....."Coffee Labs" house espresso blend so was very interested in the BDB performance. While I'm certainly no expert, I've run quite a few kilo's of the beans thru my old Italian girls.

The BDB performed faultlessly.......the ease of which the shots were repeatable was awesome and very slight grinder adjustments were immediately obvious in the pour.

This is certainly a machine I am enjoying.....It is super frugal with beans because the set-up from grinder...machine...to great shot is so simple. The single basket is a delight to me, easy to dose and producing espresso the way I like it.

Should have brought one long before now!

Ross

[blend52]

. The single basket is a delight to me, easy to dose and producing espresso the way I like it.

Should have brought one long before now!

Ross

Interesting?.. you are one of few who use the single basket.
..how much ( gms) are you using for the single ?

[RaymondParker]

Interesting?.. you are one of few who use the single basket.
..how much ( gms) are you using for the single ?

I use 13 Grams in the single basket. Less coffee (I know, 7 Grams would be the correct figure according to the unwritten codebook) cannot be tamped as the single basket is to large for 7 Grams. 13 Grams result in a perfect espresso in 30 seconds (including 5 seconds pre-infusion) with about 35 ml with excellent crema.
Given fresh beans the shots are 100% perfect repeatable.

[roscoes2]

hi....

Raymond and I are brothers........just run the grinder and dosed the basket as "normal" to check.......exactly 13 gramms!. Shot time is 26-28 seconds for 30ml(including crema) in a "lab" beaker. The pour is very consistant. Easy release of the puck.....some "gentle" marking of the shower screen visible on the top of the puck with a reasonably "light" tamp and 1/2 turn "polishing" twist.

I only use the manual mode button....not a great fan of "auto" shot modes.

I have used two different types of beans at the same dose......CPR "Accelerator" that are 7 days off roast and Coffee Labs "house Blend" that are two days off roast. The only difference to achieve the same pour is the "fresher" beans required a fraction coarser grind.

I don't drink "milk" coffees so am generally not too far off "...whats a reasonable quality shot..." but then again I make them as I like them!

regards
Ross

[roscoes2]

hi...

I was just trawling through the old posts and found this.......

"mcknightp wrote on 20. Aug 2011 at 07:14:Wally, I get the best results with the single basket when I up-dose it with ~13g of coffee. Dont worry about it touching the dispersion screen. I also get better results with the single when I have the pre-infusion pressure duration set to ~10secs instead of the default 7secs for the single. Let taste be your guide to dose amount, flow rate and length of extraction. Personally I like to set dose for a particular coffee based on origin, degree of roast & its age, then holding dose & tamp pressure constant, adjust grind size to optimise flavour. You should have a level tamp with pressure at least 15kg. Try not to get hung up on the outdated principles of 25ml in 25secs etc. Even the WBC have relaxed these words to allow taste to be the dominant factor.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 This is a post on the topic by Phil from Breville on this thread."

I think anyone who has done their apprenticeship with a single boiler/non OPV/single walled basket machine will find the BDB a piece of cake to operate..........if you can produce the elusive "god shot" with full 15 bar pump pressure and develop dosing techniques that eliminate channeling and blow holes etc while managing temp. surfing you will find Mr BDB very pleasant company indeed!.

Ross

[Jimmytheboot]

A single basket that needs 13g is a single basket in name only

[roscoes2]

hi

The single basket could be called "Wanda" for all I care........the BDB is just another tool aimed at achieving the desired outcome for the owner/operator. If some people achieve that outcome by giving "Wanda" 13 grams of freshly roasted beans then "Wanda" is going to have a smile on her face........because she's going to be getting it on a regular basis.

Ross

[Barry_Duncan]

I too mainly use a “Wanda” with about 13g to brew with my BDB, unless I am making multiple coffees for friends. This makes my coffee dose strong enough and I am not going to pour half of my coffee down the sink.

I normally make about 6 drinks a day. My naked portafilter shows me when all is not well with dose and tamp by spurting in all directions.

Barry

[WiredArabica]

My naked portafilter arrived today - have only had a chance to pull a three shots but it's fascinating to watch. The last showed obvious channeling (and a jet of espresso firing out the side) - the very last of a batch of beans, one of those "it is what it is" kind of shots.
Certainly a useful diagnostic tool, can't wait to the weekend to play some more.

[frangutz]

Yeah, mine failed and was replaced quickly by the Breville guys. It went spontaneously as yours did. I would've thought they'd go progressively...

Good luck getting it back soon - drip filter....arrgghh!

I had the same issue a couple of weeks ago (see an earlier post I put up). Well.... I got my machine back. Pressure back... though still not up to 9 when using it tonight. Now that could be because of the beans I'm using. I wasn't impressed with them from the beginning.

But, I'm still getting some leaking of water/coffee on the sides of the PF. Also on a couple of test shots, I had pressure leak. I am guessing my group head O ring is a little shot :-) I asked the Breville service agent to take a look/replace it.... but I guess that was too hard.... or they didn't do the best testing to notice it<sigh>

Anyhow the Breville agents did say that they had lots of machines returned (They allocate 1 day per week to repair them) - due to the faulty internal O rings. From what he said to me, there is a new designed system that fixes the issue. My machine must have been the early build machines - so now I have "Rev 2" of the machine.

I'll order my group head O ring and replace it. see how the coffee goes then. Hopefully the leaking stops.

WHen I first got the machine I gave it a 9/10. Now I'd give it a 6/10 (assuming that the group head issue I am still experiencing is due to user errors - perhaps over tightening it).

=F.

[WiredArabica]

Glad to hear the main issue is sorted.

I had the same issue a couple of weeks ago (see an earlier post I put up). Well.... I got my machine back. Pressure back... though still not up to 9 when using it tonight. Now that could be because of the beans I'm using. I wasn't impressed with them from the beginning.

But, I'm still getting some leaking of water/coffee on the sides of the PF. Also on a couple of test shots, I had pressure leak. I am guessing my group head O ring is a little shot :-) I asked the Breville service agent to take a look/replace it.... but I guess that was too hard.... or they didn't do the best testing to notice it<sigh>

What pressure do you get with a blind and does the leaking occur then? It's just that this is also symptomatic of an overdose...

[RaymondParker]

What pressure do you get with a blind and does the leaking occur then?

I get 9.5 bar with the blind and no leaking - I have the 900 only for a few days now.

[Barry_Duncan]

WiredArabica,

When ther earth shakes in Christchurch, does it effect the vibe pumps in your BDB?

How are you going with your naked PF?

Barry

[WiredArabica]

WiredArabica,

When ther earth shakes in Christchurch, does it effect the vibe pumps in your BDB?

How are you going with your naked PF?

Barry

Haha! Yeah it makes the vibe pump run faster... oh the one in the BDB - I'm sure it does too, but that's ok cos it brings the burrs in the mazzer closer together so it cancels out...

Alas didn't have time to play with the new toy this morning, can't wait to get home tonight!

Steve.

[snypa762]

Well, after enjoying my BDB for about 9 months. This morning it stopped pumping out water. Only A tiny trickle comes out. I have always been OCD when it comes to cleaning my machine and backflushing etc. I dont know why this is happening, The pump runs but only a trickle comes out.

Looks like Il have to return it to Hardly Normal. Its so irritating...does anybody else have this problem ?