Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[shapeshifter]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

So people with 22g synesso and VST bakets are working fine with this portafilter? the baskets fit but I wasnt sure if there was enough room left over for a shot to extract correctly.

Roz Ive just done a shot with a 22 gram Synesso, video of actual shot and photos of result of shot and the pf.  Ive just got to go and do a few things for a few hours, the video has to upload as well (that will take ages ) then Ill pop up a link.

Tony you can get them from Pullman

Tony if you arent an axe murderer I could let you try mine, Im not far from you...

[shapeshifter]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Ok guys here is the uploaded information about using the Synesso basket.

http://nic.steve-tek.com/?p=246

Remember I am on the learning curve to so there is lots wrong but at least it answers some questions for people

[Homerlovesbeer]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Just picked up a BCG800 Beville Smart Griner for $165 and having a crack at my first coffee with this grinder. Any suggestions on initial settings to work from?

Also why are people removing the black plastic from inside the head?

Cheers

[TC]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Love it that that I can buy one retail for less than I can buy them wholesale...

Even after their biggies rebate (which we dont get), they still sell them at a loss- and thats before they factor in any operating costs.... Go figure :

Homer- the black bit is in the group handle, not the grinder.

[Dennis]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Love it that that I can buy one retail for less than I can buy them wholesale...

I used to buy them wholesale and sell them retail.

Then I started buying them retail and sell them wholesale.

Now I dont sell them.

[rustic]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Also why are people removing the black plastic from inside the head?

Makes it easier to clean and allows more space for a bigger filter basket. See Phils post (Reply #66) for removal instructions.

On another note, Im having trouble performing a proper backflush for my end of day cleaning.

Ive tried the double wall single basket and the silicon disc as suggested in Phils youtube video. The machine seems to reach 7 bars of pressure before water is released out the spouts below the group handle. The only time "backflush" water (5 - 15mls max) is released in the tray when I let go of the 2 cup brew button after holding it in.

It seems as if I am not building sufficient pressure to perform a backflush.

[Homerlovesbeer]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Love it that that I can buy one retail for less than I can buy them wholesale...

I used to buy them wholesale and sell them retail.

Then I started buying them retail and sell them wholesale.

Now I dont sell them.

Love it that that I can buy one retail for less than I can buy them wholesale...

Even after their biggies rebate (which we dont get), they still sell them at a loss- and thats before they factor in any operating costs.... Go figure :

Homer- the black bit is in the group handle, not the grinder.

Yep thats what I meant, inside the group handle. So why are people removing that bit of plastic?

The store I went to price matched a receipt I got hold of apparantly sold at a loss but because I am a good customer just went ahead and did it.

EDIT: Ah ok so just easier to clean then. Not important to keep I guess.

[KatieMarie]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

I have two queries about my BDB, if you can help.
1) When I have finished making the coffee and I want to remove the portafilter and empty it, the coffee (or puck??) is all stuck to the roof of where the water comes out? It is v frustrating as it takes numerous attempts at putting it back in and out to get it to hold so I can empty it. Where am I going wrong?

2) To get a coffee which I like, I have to use the double cup button and then the single one straight afterwards to get a strong enough coffee. I use a single filter  and use a Smart Grinder for a measured single dose but the coffee is very weak. I use freshly roasted coffee from a sponsor here (buying online due to geographics) that it one of their best sellers. Any clues?

[mtm]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

1) Puck suction is responsible for the coffee getting pulled up. After the pressure is released it gets sucked up. I suppose it indicates a solid puck which is good.

2) Do you use the 2 cup (large) filter basket? A larger dose will be stronger.

And is your coffee coming out either 30/60mL in 30 seconds depending on whether you use thebsingle/double basket? Because if its under extracted it will be weaker also.

[Pavoniboy]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

The only time "backflush" water (5 - 15mls max) is released in the tray when I let go of the 2 cup brew button after holding it in.

Thats how it should be. The backflush happens when you stop the brew water under pressure and the solenoid opens to waste letting the pressure drain back through the group and waste water path into your drip tray. Whilst the brewing is still happening, any over-pressure is released by the OPV back into the tank, not the waste water path into your drip tray (but youre not reaching over pressure with the rubber disc anyway).

The idea of backflushing is you bring the brew pump up to pressure (7 for you if youre using the rubber disc) and release the button to get a backflush into your drip tray (only a small amount) and repeat about 5 times.

[RAdams]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

The coffee puck sticking to the shower screen is in part caused by the angled walls of the Breville basket. The angled wall of the basket facilitates knocking the spent puck out, but this easy-out shape unfortunately facilitates the suction of the pressure release (after extraction) to hold it to the screen. You may try a more "straight sided" basket to see if that helps keep it in the basket until you knock it out.

I have found that dose also affects whether or not the puck sticks, or even knocks out in a solid disk - or only partially knocks out. 16.9 grams is the magic number for my setup (bean+grind+ammount+tamp). If I go a few grams lower, the puck breaks up and I have to bang it a few times to get it all out. A few grams higher and it sticks to the screen. So, I use a small digital scale with .1 gram resolution to weigh my coffee before dumping in the basket. (cost was only $12 US)  Perhaps with a Smart Grinder, a second or two of grind time will make the difference. And why this minute variation makes such a difference in the behavior of the puck... I dunno But it does.  So now if I dose precisely a weighed 16.9 grams, the puck never sticks to the screen and it pops out of the basket easily and in a very solid block. I barely need to wipe the basket after. And... the shower screen is quite tidy as well.

Now, if you are not getting sufficient shot volume from the 2 cup setting, simply reprogram that button to give you what you want. The dosing of the programmed buttons depends on the puck as well. FIner grind, more tamp, different beans... will all affect the shot volume. The factory setting means nothing really, its just a starting point. The volumetric dosing really is affected by your setup (again, beans+grind+ammount+tamp).  So dont think that the 2 cup setting should come properly set, because it cant. Check the manual, its very simple to reprogram the shot volume. And, once you do, so long as you dont change your bean+grind+ammount+tamp... youll always get the same volume you programmed in. It would also be good if you could use a measured shot glass while you are programming your presets to get the volume just right.

But remember, you cannot properly program the shot volume with an empty basket. It has to be programmed during a typical extraction.

V/r
Rod

[shawty]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

1) When I have finished making the coffee and I want to remove the portafilter and empty it, the coffee (or puck??) is all stuck to the roof of where the water comes out? It is v frustrating as it takes numerous attempts at putting it back in and out to get it to hold so I can empty it. Where am I going wrong?

I dont have this machine but this used to happen when I underdosed. (i.e. not enough coffee in the basket)
More coffee will make it taste stronger too!

[Pavoniboy]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

To get a coffee which I like, I have to use the double cup button and then the single one straight afterwards to get a strong enough coffee. I use a single filter

Use the double filter for a start to get more coffee in the basket and thus stronger coffee in the cup, as mtm states above.

A lot of people seem to judge strength of coffee by bitterness. So many people who have come to my house for coffee note that the coffee tastes awesome, very sweet but not strong enough for them. However 15 mins later are complaining that they feel over-caffeinated. So there was heaps of flavour, heaps of caffeine, but they initially felt it wasnt a strong coffee because there was no strong bitter taste that they have become accustomed to when they order strong coffees elsewhere.

I cant help but think if you are pulling a triple shot from a single basket you are over extracting (a lot) and getting that bitterness that some equate with strength. I may be wrong. However, I seriously cannot imagine a good, sweet, balanced espresso coming from a triple shot extracted through a single basket!

Try the double basket and double shot, and focus on flavours and balance on the palate and try to ignore any lack of a strong bitter flavour - good coffee does not have a strong bitter flavour, even though a lot of cafes serve up a bitter coffee when its ordered strong.

[Homerlovesbeer]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Well things are starting to do my head in. I got the single basket close last night with the new smart grinder but I wanted to make two cups of coffee this morning using double cup basket and this is where things went horrible.

Far too much ground coffee came out simply from pushing the "amount" button from 1 to 2 shots. Coffee so high on the portafilter it just couldnt fall any more and this was with dose set 2 stops to the left of normal. Finally it stopped so I pulled it out thinking "what a waste of coffee", tipped unwanted coffee into a zip lock bag, tamped with about 15kg and poured.

Well it was horrible, far too quick and all over in about 20 secs. The dose calculated by myself seemed about right going by Phils videos, so I was not really impressed, especially as the grind was nearly fully fine on the smart grinder.

Tried again at fully fine, lowering the dose but again ground coffee way out of control looking like a Mt Warning peak with a scree slope letting go on one side. This was with the dose set at 4 stops to the less side only 1 short of minimum so Im a bit miffed at the massive quantity coming out on these settings. Again I put excess in the zip lock bag, tamped nice and firm and poured.

Again flow was a bit too fast but better, however the pour stream towards the end was not creamy or the consistency of honey but more like a watery hot chocoloate.

Im just not sure what is going on here. Ive had the packed dose to the point where I can harly fit the portafilter in the grouphead and Id assume with that much coffee in basket that the flow would be pretty slow, so that just leaves the grind.

At fully fine the Breville smart grinder doesnt seem to grind as fine as my Sunbeam EM0480, which Ive been told was barely adequate, set at about 6, so what gives??

Ive pulled the BSG apart and checked that the burr is seated correctly and it appears it is.

Do I have a faulty Smart grinder? The only way I can show u is with pics and video the next time I make a coffee.

What is with the wildly inaccurracte dosing? Im using the supplied Breville single wall 1 and 2 cup baskets.

*Sigh* I dont mind getting this right but Im not really happy with the amount of money wasted on beans to do so. Another 250g bag is nearly gone in just over 2-3 days :-(


EDIT: Just a note, Im using single wall baskets not double wall as Breville manual says to use single wall when using freshly ground beans.

[TC]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Homer,

Singles and doubles need different grind and/or dose, so your observations are exactly what youd expect.

The best thing you can do with the single is to assign it to the bottom draw. Use the beginning of the double or alternately let half go to the drip tray or perhaps even use it for iced coffee.

You will very rarely find a barista interested in a single and after all, coffee is the amongst least expensive components of this whole process.