Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Thanks for the link - it did help. But Im beginning to think my grinder isnt grinding fine enough.

[Barry_Duncan]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

David,

Welcome to CoffeeSnobs and the BES900 club.

To see how your pump and over pressure valve is performing block up the filter with the method described above by Toasty.

If the gauge shows around 9 bar pressure it is working normally. If it is, then I suspect that your grind is not fine enough, provided that your dosing and tamping is as recommended.

I use a Breville Smart Grinder and had to use shims provided to fine up the grind.

I have adjusted other grinders by lifting the lid and altering the gearing of the burr setting.

I don’t know anything about your grinder.

I hope you can sort things out soon.

Barry

[nickoyang]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi All,

Just off the topic for this time but want to know any of you is watching the breaking record match between Nadal and Djokovic at this moment.

Nick

[howser999]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Might seem like a silly question - but does someone have a diagram of how the group head goes back together? Its the 2nd time ive taken mine apart to clean, and cant seem to remember how it came out?

Also, I have put a blind filter in the machine to do a clear water backflush, but the OPV only pops when I stop the shot? Is this correct, or should the OPV pop and let run freely when the pressue gets to high?

[DavidW1960]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Well an update - I took the grinder back and they showed me that I actually didnt have it adjusted fine enough - the way it is set on this grinder it takes a LOT of force to move it and I didnt want to break it - but it seems it is looser now and I am now getting good pressure. Still some adjustments to make but you were all right that it was the grind that was the problem.

[ryguy76]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi,

Just got my BDB tonight.  Love it, but am having some trouble and cant figure out if its me, the machine or a setting.

I cant get more than 1oz outta the 2 cup mode.  I even reset the factory settings to see if that would solve it.  Even if I run water through the grouphead with no filter, it cuts out really quickly. 

I tried using the manual mode and held the button for 7 secs to replicate the default settings and got first drip at 14 secs, but it blonded by 18- secs....  almost 2 oz.

Im using Phils recomendations for dose and tamp pressure.

I thought Id decrease the grind due to the 14 secs, but its only hitting 7-8 BAR, (this is a new, recalibrated unit, i believe) and it tasted a little sour....   confused.

Any advice?

*edit*  Just installed a 1mm shim as I was at the end of the scale with my testing, it only came equipped with a 0.4mm.  The first shot I pulled, I expected to choke it, which i did, saw a couple dribbles around 20 sec, but the BAR gauge only registered 9, and didnt bury the needle as I would have expected.  Preinfusion doesnt ever register on the gauge...Defective unit?


Thanks,
ryan

[Pavoniboy]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

but the BAR gauge only registered 9, and didnt bury the needle as I would have expected.

Thats because the OPV is set to 9. You went to over-pressure, the OPV opened and held it at 9 as its supposed to do.

I cant get more than 1oz outta the 2 cup mode.

You can set how much you get from the button - read the manual and it will tell you how.

cant figure out if its me, the machine or a setting.

Not enough water is a setting - one you can change.

Only going to 9 when you choked it is the machine - doing what its supposed to do.

I suspect the other problems are either the beans youre using or your technique or both.

[Pavoniboy]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Also, I have put a blind filter in the machine to do a clear water backflush, but the OPV only pops when I stop the shot? Is this correct, or should the OPV pop and let run freely when the pressue gets to high?

I think you are talking about the 3-way solenoid. And yes it should only pop when you stop the shot.

The OPV is before the group and opens to drain water from the line back to the tank when pressure is greater than its setting.

The 3-way solenoid on the other hand is at the group and opens to a waste water path into your drip tray to release waste water at the end of a shot - and the one that allows backflushing with water or espresso cleaner to clean out the inside of the group.

[ryguy76]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

You can set how much you get from the button - read the manual and it will tell you how.

I understand it can be set differently, but the default says to expect double the amount than Im getting.

Also, I was expecting the needle to jump past 9 and then settle back to 9 as the OPV did its job. In this case, it slowly ramped up to around 9... Just wasnt what I was expecting...

[Banjo.au]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hello Ryan,

Resetting to the default settings doesnt reset the cup volumes.  See page 18 in the manual for what gets reset, assuming the BES900XL gets the same manual we do.  Im not certain how the 1- and 2-cup volumes are retained when set, but the function doesnt seem to be entirely electronic.  You will have to reset the shot volume as shown on page 15.  If using an empty basket, dont count the pre-infusion volume and let it run slightly over 2 oz.  This should get you in the ball park.

If youve read through most of this thread youd be familiar with the early problems of OPVs set at very high pressures.  Mine, bought a week before Christmas, wavers between 9.25 and 9.5 bars with a blind filter, just occasionally getting to 9.75 bars.  With a grind and tamp that results in first drops appearing around the 13 second mark, the gauge will juuust get to 9 bars, then drop away slightly as the shot progresses.  Often it only gets to 8.5 bars.

So long as youre getting first drops between 11 and 14 seconds as recommended by Phil, and your gauge is above 8 bars youre probably OK.  You still want 2 oz in about 34-37 seconds, all assuming standard pre-infusion. 

I know ste shot pressure should be 9 bars, but slightly lower pressure is a lot easier to deal with than 11 or 12 bars.

See how you go.

Cheers, Andrew

[ryguy76]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, Andrew. My manual says the shot volume is part of the factory default reset. Could be a difference with the XL as speculated.

Tried new beans today, slightly better results...

[howser999]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Thanks Pavoni boy, that explains it!

[howser999]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

RE: the re-assembly of the group head components, can someone please advise which sides go up?

[Banjo.au]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

The screw holding the shower screen and water distributor has a countersunk head, and the downward side of the water distributor is countersunk to match.

The flat side of the seal goes up.

Cheers, Andrew

[howser999]

Re: Breville BES900 Dual Boiler - Owners thread

Thanks for the response banjo. so in photo 1, the show screen goes on top. And in photo 4, the seal goes up so the ridges are facing downwards?