Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[nickoyang]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Phil,

I am a new user of BES900XL and I have the following concerns that need you advice, thanks.
1. Extremely high OPV pressure: I checked the inside wall of the machine after removing the water tank. The machine manufacture date seems to be week 35 this year (it reads as 1135). I assume all the units of BES900XL had been calibrated with blind filters in the production line already but I am wondering how my unit could get up to 12.5 bar gauge reading while extraction 35mil in 50 seconds? If the punk was over-dosing, I tried to grind the beans coarser to meet 9 bar reading and then the extraction time is around 10 secs only. I believed the OPV was acting during the extraction even the gauge hit 12 bar because there was lots of dirty water left in the tray. My grinder is pretty high-end conical blade type with infinite grids (Bezzera grinder). When the bean was ground sufficient fine (not to the grinders limit), the BDB cannot extract within 60 secs at all. Any comments regarding my units OPV setting?
2. The second issue was the PF burst-out in the fourth shot. I observed the high OPV could be one of the causes for the burst-out. Is the siliocn seal inside of the group head too soft? or the OPV pressure was set too high? I think both could be the cause. My unit seems having high sensitivities to pressure, so the fineness of the bean is also very sensitive to the quality of the shots. No matter how to tweak the dosing, it is very hard to get correct extraction time and volume without the risk of PF burst-out. Any comments on my findings?

Thanks

Nick OY

[rustic]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Any comments on my findings?

Somewhere in this thread someone had the exact same issue of the PF popping out during extraction.


I just came across this today and wondering if you might be able to reduce the brew pressure with this workaround:
http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1316828376/85#85

[>mcknightp]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Nick

10bar is the maximum you should see with a blind filter. If you get in contact with Breville USA customer support & ask for Kenji, tell him you were speaking to me & need your machine swapped for a machine with a calibrated OPV theyll look after you. I believe they will ship you a unit out the same day. PF popping out is generally only an issue for the first few uses. Just make sure you push it just a bit past the lock position to ensure very positive engagement.

Cheers, Phil

[nickoyang]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Phil,

Thank you for your quick reponse!
I live in Taipei Taiwan and the unit toke me a lots of effort to get it ship from US back to Taipei. I believe I should be the first and the only one in Taiwan using BDB.

For the PF falling off issue, I had read through many discussion in this forum before placing the order to the dealer in USA. I had experienced at least three times of the PF burst-out after confirmed the PF installation was quite firm onto the group head. The burst-out was quite astonishing and dangerous. I observed no matter how hard I screwed up the PF onto the group head, once the OPV readings got over 12 bar, it was quite easy to see the PF was spitting steam with coffee water and then burst off.
Definitely I know my unit is an orphan here in Taiwan for any kind of tech. support from Breville and the only way I can do is to follow some guys post to adjust the OPV on my own.
Now I cannot find an appropriate blind filter for the PF in Taiwan, any advice on which blind filter suitable for BDB PF?

May I order a blind filter from your company directly?

Thanks

Nick OY

[Pavoniboy]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

any advice on which blind filter suitable for BDB PF?

I just ordered a generic 58mm blind filter and it fits perfectly. I got it from coffeeparts (CS sponsor - over to the top left of screen) but you should be able to get one much closer to home.

[nickoyang]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Pavoniboy,

Thank you for telling me this. I will check how to buy one.
The BDB design is awesome for its pricing even though I went through some glitches.

Regards,

Nick OY

[nickoyang]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi Pavoniboy,

Did you buy this one from coffeeparts? Thanks

Item code: 521902
coffeeparts/accessories/blind-filters

Thanks

Nick OY

[nickoyang]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

PF popping out is generally only an issue for the first few uses. Just make sure you push it just a bit past the lock position to ensure very positive engagement.

Hi Phil,

In deed, I owned a Crossland CC1 twin model (the GEE machine) here in Taiwan and I did experience same PF leakage issue in the first new uses of it. It seems the friction between the PF and seal is too slippery. But the GEE uses a hard robber O-ring but not a soft siliocn seal O-ring. Not sure if this issue will be gone after more times of uses.

Regards,

Nick OY

[frangutz]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

...then the lack of pressure during extraction is, Im afraid, likely to be down to your technique.

If you have the correct dose, ie the firmly packed coffee is ~6mm below the top edge of the filter basket, then you need to grind finer.

With the shot clock on the LCD, you should not see espresso drop from the spouts until at least 10secs. Any sooner than that means you have under-dosed or ground too coarse. Depending on the coffee Im using & the espresso Im pouring I usually see espresso dropping between 11-14secs using the default PI of 7secs.

Let me know how you go.

Cheers, Phil

Well, new coffee and another lot of practice.... 9 Bar again!! WOw. I never realised how much a difference the coffee was going to make on the pour.

Oh well, saved me from bringing my machine back at least :-) Of course I now have Sunbeam grinder and Breville BCG800 grinder.... Maybe my mum would like the Sunbeam.

Thanks again for your help

-F.

[samhighley]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

unlike mine, some wholesale relationships include 15-17% rebates, marketing $s, demonstrators, and much more.

Yep, which is why places like "those guys who think they are not bad" often have "invoice cost plus 1%" sales, because "invoice price" aint necessarily what they end up paying for the product.

[samhighley]

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?

Try pressing and holding the "manual" button for a couple of seconds to run a short pre-infusion before you remove the portafilter. When you release the button itll then move into a full-pressure extraction, so tap it quickly again to stop it. I do this every time now and I never get a stuck puck, and the puck always releases cleanly from the portafilter as well.

[JAFO]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi All,

Like you Im the proud owner of a BES900DB and BCG800 after keenly following this forum and this thread in particular.

However, trawling through all the posts and not having a definitive answer to my question I decided to post here. I am having a bit of trouble  dialing in my dose and grind in the double filter basket for freshly ground beans. I either over dose or under dose but just cant seem to find the right balance.

I am planning to start from scratch (i.e.  1 bar into the more/less zone and #8 in the espresso range) by getting the dose first, approximately 19g, then adjusting the grind until I get the right pour rate/flow, around 30 ml in 25-30s or thereabouts. Would this be the right approach?

Thanks in advance......

[>mcknightp]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi JAFO

Thats the correct approach. The TAMPED coffee should sit 6-7mm below the top edge of the coffee basket. Use the cap on the top of the tamper supplied as a guide to this depth.

Once the dose is set, just adjust the grind size until you get espresso dropping no sooner than 10secs and not after 14secs. Use the shot clock as a guide. Hold the dose constant & only adjust grind.

Cheers, Phil

[rustic]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Get a blind filter. Its more effective.

Thanks for the tip.

Now I just need to order a blind filter

[Barry_Duncan]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

the only way I can do is to follow some guys post to adjust the OPV on my own.

Welcome here Nick,

I expect that Breville would like you to have your over pressure valve (OPV) adjusted by an approved technician. If this is not possible and you want to do it yourself, go to this site:
http://nic.steve-tek.com/?page_id=180

In the meantime, you can manually adjust the pressure while making coffee by opening the hot water valve *ever-so-slightly* as suggested by RAdams from the USA.

Go to:  http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1316828376/66    Reply 85.

Barry.