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Advice reg Breville BES870 Barista Express

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  • #16
    Hi all
    Just looking for a bit of advice with this machine, and I am new to espressos in general.
    To try and get my shots as good as possible I have been weighing the coffee used and also the finished espresso.

    I have been using 16g of coffee for a double shot, trying to achieve a 32g espresso.
    However my espresso ends up more like 60g, even though my pressure gauge is in the ideal range at 12 o'clock.

    What adjustments should I be looking to do, to keep the pressure correct but reduce the weight of the finished espresso?

    Thanks for any advice

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    • #17
      Hello Aza,

      Welcome to CoffeeSnobs.

      Watch Phil McKnight from Breville demonstrate the machine on:
      the Barista Express

      Aim to get your pour to between 25-30 seconds. To reduce flow, grind finer.

      Barry

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      • #18
        Thanks Barry, I shall keep experimenting.

        Comment


        • #19
          Well, I decided to clean the grinder as per the manual. Easy to take apart and reassemble. Got every sneaky grind out and thought 'wow, this should be great!'... that was until I fired it up.

          I now cannot get a find grind, even on the max setting. I disassembled and reassembled again, carefully putting the grinder back as per the manual. Again, no fine grind, even on '1'. Just a lot of ugly gushers that meant I burnt through a fair bit of fresh beans.

          Any advice? Particularly from anyone who cleaned their 870's grinder? To be honest, nothing has happened that I can see, except the grinder is much cleaner. Prior to cleaning, I was using 1-2 with great success. Now I can't get a decent grind.

          Comment


          • #20
            Hi Guys

            Just wondering how everyone is going with this machine, I'm a new member and just purchased one and had a few attempts last night.

            I find with the single basket I need to dose on the lowest setting and it gives me 10g but I have tried several grind types and I can't seem to get the pour near 25secs+ more closer to 12secs.
            Is the 25secs for single and double basket??

            I've been watching a few youtube vids and I notice no one gets close to 25sec pours..
            Unfortunately I dont have a bathroom scale to test my tamp pressure but was wondering if I might improve by lowering my grind (currently 6) and increasing my dose for the single?

            Thanks

            Comment


            • #21
              Originally posted by dionysus32 View Post
              Hi Guys

              Just wondering how everyone is going with this machine, I'm a new member and just purchased one and had a few attempts last night.

              I find with the single basket I need to dose on the lowest setting and it gives me 10g but I have tried several grind types and I can't seem to get the pour near 25secs+ more closer to 12secs.
              Is the 25secs for single and double basket??

              I've been watching a few youtube vids and I notice no one gets close to 25sec pours..
              Unfortunately I dont have a bathroom scale to test my tamp pressure but was wondering if I might improve by lowering my grind (currently 6) and increasing my dose for the single?

              Thanks

              Firstly you'd be better off stating a new thread instead of hijacking a tired old thread.

              As has been mentioned many times on this forum forget the single basket, at least until you can perfect the double. I very rarely use the single, however, I find that 3 or 4 clicks coarser than with the double generally works with a single basket, but it's a pita switching between the two and it's not the greatest grinder for precision. anyway.

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              • #22
                Welcome Dionysus.

                I would have thought that the post was in exactly the right thread, which is neither old nor tired, or hijacked.

                There are hundreds of duplicate threads on CS, started for no useful reason but which make collation and searching more complex.

                Brevillista is correct tho' in saying that 'single dose' filters are cantankerous and seldom used.

                A lot of CS's put their blind filter for back flushing in their single spout p/f.

                Why not introduce yourself here:

                http://coffeesnobs.com.au/off-topic/...o-easy-me.html ?

                Comment


                • #23
                  The BES 870 Barista Express should have its own owners thread imho as it's quite a popular machine and any information on this model is all over the place in his forum.

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Thanks guys..

                    Last night I think I had a break through, made a coffee using Goodness Galileo beans from Coffee Alchemy with the double basket while manually dosing and took my time to try get it perfect. Previously I was trying to get the silver ring of the tamp just inside or level with the porta filter but since my pours were coming up short and I thought my grind was good I filled the basket a little more so that you could see the silver tamp ring just above the porta filter after tamping slightly harder.

                    Result was a 28sec pour with great crema, after pouring my milk I had a taste and it was probably one of the best coffees I've ever had (maybe I need to buy my coffees from a new cafe). It really opened my eyes to what this coffee should taste like as I definitely tasted the choc and nuts described with this bean.

                    Now the hard part is replicating this every time.

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Originally posted by dionysus32 View Post
                      Now the hard part is replicating this every time.
                      insert....."the fun part"!! :-D ;-)

                      Doesn't come much better than a coffee epiphany!

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                      • #26
                        Another thing I've found with this machine is that when you double dose and set the dial to 12-1 oclock you would think that it grinds too much bean, what I have found though is if you shake the porta filter up and down while it's dosing it fills a lot better and it easier to distribute and require less tamping pressure.

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Originally posted by ElShauno View Post
                          Well, I decided to clean the grinder as per the manual. Easy to take apart and reassemble. Got every sneaky grind out and thought 'wow, this should be great!'... that was until I fired it up.

                          I now cannot get a find grind, even on the max setting. I disassembled and reassembled again, carefully putting the grinder back as per the manual. Again, no fine grind, even on '1'. Just a lot of ugly gushers that meant I burnt through a fair bit of fresh beans.

                          Any advice? Particularly from anyone who cleaned their 870's grinder? To be honest, nothing has happened that I can see, except the grinder is much cleaner. Prior to cleaning, I was using 1-2 with great success. Now I can't get a decent grind.
                          Hey man! I had the exact same problem, ans I have no idea how to fix it. I was wondering if you managed to fix the problem and have any ideas on how to help me?

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Give Breville a call and ask them to send you a pack of shims for the grinder.

                            Remove the upper burr and install the 1mm + 0.1mm (or whatever the thinnest one is that they give you) shims.
                            Test it out, you should be able to grind fine enough for a good shot on 3-4 on the grinder dial. Adjust shims accordingly to get to a point close to that.

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              I don’t think you can use shims on the BES870 to make it grind finer. I had a BES860 with grinder problems.

                              I understand that BES870 is the updated BES860 therefore the insides will be similar.

                              There is discussion about adjustment of the grinder earlier in this string and also at:
                              http://coffeesnobs.com.au/brewing-eq...tml#post514684

                              Barry

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Nah they're pretty different. Key difference is that the 870 uses the grinder guts out of a Smart Grinder and so adjustments are the same as you would perform on a Smart grinder.
                                Remove upper burr and install shims, exactly the same as the Smart Grinder. I spent half my life adjusting 860 grinders so i'm glad Breville changed it on the 870.

                                Other changes from the BES860 include proper low pressure preinfusion, hot water tap, improved heat up time and performance and improved reliability of the solenoids.
                                The 860's blow the pump outlet o-ring and crack the high pressure side of the 3 way solenoid. Also, the mating of the nylon hose into the steam control block was not brilliant so it leaked a small amount, enough to corrode and ensure that you will never get the hose out without breaking it.

                                The 870 has resolved pretty much all of these and seems to be a pretty reliable and well thought out machine. The 870 is what the 860 should have been, but like all first models and revisions from appliance manufacturers, there are many problems.

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