Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[dr.a.j.pickering]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

oh in case skeptc**k is reading the only thing I have to do with Breville is my purchases the rest of the time I spend delivering babies

[pcrussell50]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

hate to keep piling on poor old skeptic here, but my take so far is that i have not read overly favorable reviews of the BDB on here, but more that it is so far just delivering what was expected of it, (consistency, through microprocessors).  we have yet to see how it stands up durability-wise, how well Breville backs it, even when it it hurts them to do so, and how well it stacks up against other "establishment" machines when the top guns of the online barista world inevitably perform their comparison tests.  IOW, a handful of rapt new owners does not make them shills for Breville.

I should add that Phil (from Breville) participation here with tech help bodes very well for them. it reminds me of the vario grinder, which was a whole new idea (lkke the BDB), a couple of years ago), where kyle, the engineer for the vario, was avaialble on coffeegeeks.com in the big vario owners thread over there. he was HUGELY hellpful. its part of what made the vario such a success over here in the states.

too bad the vario is so expensive for my aussie mates. i think a lot of you would have liked it. it was a game changer here in the states, partly because it is only $425USD, and nothing could touch its grind quality at that price. $650AUD is waaay too much though, so i hear youz.

-Pete

[adjiland]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

For what its worth for any skeptic


The guys from Breville are up front with anything they post on this site.

The sponsors from this site that sell the Breville machine also state that they sell the machine as well when they post,and for a number of years the posts that they have made on this site have been about lots of machines not just the Breville and their opinions and knowledge is in my opinion the most honest and accurate about any appliance that I have ever read and dont for one minute think that Chris from Talk Coffee would say anything that is not spot on about a coffee machine if you do you are kidding




If you are interested you could read Mark Princesreview on this Machine it will confirm what has been said on this site.

I have no affiliation with Breville or the Sponsors I have spoken about i just think what has been said is innacurate about these guys who certainly know their stuff about what they post on this site about coffee machines and their advice would stand up anywhere in the world

Thats my 2 bobs worth.

Tony

[Barry_Duncan]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I am now totally biased as I can rarely get coffee anywhere as good as my home brew.

I put my money where my mouth was and bought my machine as an early adopter. Good on ya Dennis.

Of course as with any machine I have to get the beans, roast, grind, dose and tamp right. I dont make it perfect every time.  They are not all god shots but they are good shots.

What other machines under $1500 makes it so easy to make great coffee by such accurate temp and pressure control as with the BDB?

So many small things make this machine a delight to use, such as the light that lets me see the tide level in the easy to fill water tank.

Barry

[disguy]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

We purchased for the in-laws a BDB and BSG combo on Saturday and had it on the bench and running in no time at all. Unfortunately, the grinder didnt have the shims and on the finest grind setting was getting extraction times of around 14s. A quick email to Phil this morning, and the shims were sent out to us.

To get by in the meantime, I installed the double wall basket, which gave nice crema, and decent flavour. However, it still makes the coffee taste like it came from a very cheap SB machine. (Missing all of the subtle aromatics that the Cimbali and La Spaziale deliver for me). I will report back when I get the full range of use out of the BSG and can give a full comparison to the commercial Italian workhorses!

[emmanuel]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Anyone else having to really underdose on the BCG800 settings for a BES900 double basket?

Im turning down the dose all the way to the left.  I have the 58mm PF holder in the grinder so should recognise the correct basket size.

When you have it turned down all the way, are you getting the correct dose & the correct rate of extraction??

Can you do me a favour & turn the grinder upside down & there should be a number stamped into the base. It will be 1028 or 1102.

Cheers, Phil

Hi Phil

Thanks, Hard to tell if its 19 grams as I dont have scales. Just trying to get the 6mm down the basket with a constant tamp pressure. Though I seem to have sorted out the dose by grinding a bit finer so perhaps I was just too coarse for the timing zone. And its number is 1102.

Cheers

[Roz]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

water backflush each night and a chemical backflush monthly or depending on your usage, the machine will request a clean when 200 shots are done (past 7 seconds apparently)

Mine is going great guns, cant wait for a naked portafilter.

[avsv63]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Guys
Just bought this machine and Ill give it 9/10 !
Is the simple fresh water back wash as shown on You Tube enough or do we need to do a chemical back wash with a blank filter to clean it properly ? (if so how do we do it on the Breville ?).
Cheers Angelo

[samhighley]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

do we need to do a chemical back wash with a blank filter to clean it properly ? (if so how do we do it on the Breville ?).

The instructions are in the manual. You put the single basket into the portafilter, followed by the silicon cleaning disk with a cleaning tablet (supplied) in the little hole in the aforementioned disk. Then you select the cleaning mode from the LCD menu.

[avsv63]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Thanks Bud

[coffeemum]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi all,

I know Phil is the Breville go to guy but I dont know his handleso cant pm him - I am sorry for being so newbie?!?! Wasnt sure if the Breville link are the people to ask either and also thought that potential buyers reading this thread might want to know the answer to my qs.

I have seen "Manufacturer refurbished" machines available and I was wanting to know if I cant trust this as genuine - I know one cs has taken back a dodgy machine, I assume if that machine was fixable Breville would have done so and therefore it would make it onto the market as a refurb.

Has anyone bought refurbs?

I cant consider after sales support in my purchase as I live rurally so any contact that needs to be made would be a huge pain and I am happy to get advice and find info online regarding use of a machine.

I am considering taking advantage of a refurb simply because it is a bit cheaper - hubby was only primed for the cost of a Silvia... :

[pcrussell50]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

here in the states, there are laws about refurbs that are sold by the manufacturer that protect the consumer.  i bet its the same or similar in oz.  i would not be worried about buying a refurbished BDB as long as i bought it from Breville.  in fact, so much do i believe in buying refurbs from the manufacturer, i thank you for turning me on to the possibility.  when the BDB arrives here, i will look for a refurb first.  i would not buy a refurb from an unofficial source, however, because of the "dodginess" factor.

-pete

[quickling]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I am considering taking advantage of a refurb simply because it is a bit cheaper - hubby was only primed for the cost of a Silvia... Roll Eyes

How much is a bit cheaper? I wouldnt pay more than 1k for a refurb.

A new one has already been spotted in the wild for much less than $1500... ($1000 is rumoured, but a misprice apparently). See the posts in this thread.

On the other hand, if the refurbs are from people returning them because of an airlock in the boiler then the machine is as good as new right...

[TC]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

A new one has already been spotted in the wild for much less than $1500... ($1000 is rumoured, but a misprice apparently)

Yep- there are a few companies out there which have been desperate to sell at a loss. Sadly, it appears that some of them have realised that its not a good way to stay in business. 

I hit up one of the majors for some grinders as I am out and their sell price had been quoted at well under wholesale. Though they had stock, they werent interested in losing some more money for me... :

[erkle]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi all,

Could anyone confirm whether the  VST 18g baskets will fit the Breville DB