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Advice reg Breville BES870 Barista Express

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  • #31
    Noidle, I was unaware of what changes were made between the 860 and 870.

    I had an 860 and changed the grinder to grind finer by taking the lid off and adjusting the cogs.

    I now use a BES900 and Smart Grinder and have added a shim.

    To add a shim you have to remove the lower burr. The nut holding the lower burr in has a left hand thread. Turn it clockwise to remove it.

    Grinding your coffee fine enough makes all the difference to the flavour.

    Enjoy your coffee.

    Barry

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    • #32
      Originally posted by Brevillista View Post
      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.
      I agree, unless I search the thread title only I get sooooo many results its not worth looking through.

      Originally posted by dionysus32 View Post
      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.
      +1 Gently jiggling the portafilter as the dose is falling really helps a lot.

      Originally posted by dionysus32 View Post
      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 portafilter 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 portafilter after tamping slightly harder.
      Interesting you say that as I found that I had too much in the basket and that my tamper now sits with the top black edge (were it starts to taper up to the tamper handle) being flush with the basket after tamping.

      The way I worked to this conclusion was: Dosing, tamping then using the razor to adjust the amount (I saw a video that said to use the razor after you tamp). After amount was adjusted I sat the tamper in the basket and it was level to the top edge of the tamper.

      I now aim for this without having to use the razor. Shots were more consistently in the optimum range on the gage. I was skeptical of the razor but It is surprisingly useful as it has been designed for this specific machine.

      Also I had good results with single and double basket!

      Will post the video if I find it again.


      Last edited by waza; 1 January 2015, 04:37 PM. Reason: Added video

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      • #33
        Originally posted by waza View Post
        The way I worked to this conclusion was: Dosing, tamping then using the razor to adjust the amount (I saw a video that said to use the razor after you tamp). After amount was adjusted I sat the tamper in the basket and it was level to the top edge of the tamper.

        I now aim for this without having to use the razor. Shots were more consistently in the optimum range on the gage. I was skeptical of the razor but It is surprisingly useful as it has been designed for this specific machine.

        Also I had good results with single and double basket!
        Since then I've tried 2 other types of coffee beans and unfortunately I have learnt each bean is unique as the other beans I tried required different grind setting and hence different dose and tamps.

        I haven't tried the razor.

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        • #34
          Yes I should receive my sample pack today from coffee snobs so I too will probably have to play around a bit more. All part of the fun I guess.

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          • #35
            I just bought this BES870 too,,,as far as the shots wise single or double its been really good, i don't have problems as long as we use fresh coffee beans ( i find it supermarket coffee beans is hideous even tho i bought the 250gr). But I never used the automatic dosing as I always dosing it manually. the reason is so i don't create a lot of mess of coffee ground. After that I used the razor to create a good shots too, and off course the right tamping. I use 4 or 5 level of fine.

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            • #36
              I've had one for 8 months. I find the beans make the most difference - decent fresh beans, grinder set to three and gently tamped produce a great coffee.

              my top tip is to manually operate the extraction - hold the button down for the low pressure extraction until the coffee dribbles, then let go and let the pressure go up to about 3/4 of the range.

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              • #37
                Hello Everyone,

                I just recently bought a BES870 Barista Express since I wanted to start making coffee at home. I read the reviews and found that it's pretty good machine for its price range. I dont have much experience in coffee making. The only experience I have is an accredited barista school certificate and they pretty much taught me that I have to balance between the grinder setting, tamper and the amount of grinded coffee bean to get the best brew within 30 sec - 30ml.

                Since this is a different machine from school, I read the manual and it said that i should start the grinder at 5 and the amount dispensed is at 3 o'clock. It said that for one shot, it should be between 10g - 12g, have at least 15-20kg of pressure when tamped and the shot time should go between 25-35 sec and should start at like 5-7 sec.

                I used the default setting and to no luck, It was still under extracted so I tried changing the grind setting to make it finer, but I still yielded the same result. I changed it to the most finest/coarse setting and its still doing nothing, its still under extracted. Is it the coffee bean? I've noticed that when tampered, its still powdery. What can I do? What's wrong? When I went to the coffee school, when I tamped it, it felt so compact.

                I also have a problem with the dosing, why does it give out so much at the lowest setting? When I do the double shot, its literally overflowing. Whats wrong? I'll try to take a picture aand update you guys as soon as I can.

                Anyways, any help woud be nice guys.

                Comment


                • #38
                  Bought the same machine as a Chrissy present for myself. I've been keeping a spreadsheet re settings and coffee. I tried using the recommended settings and had problems.

                  I found that I needed the grinder on 3 and the dose almost all the way anticlockwise to the "less" mark to get close to the mark so I decided to manually measure the beans and grind grams so I could get the grind, pressure, time and coffee delivered correct, then go back and set the dose control.

                  I found the 18g is ideal for the beans I'm using (put in 18g beans and it delivers 18g of grinds - within 0.2g)

                  I have the grinder set on 3, I measure in 18g beans to the hopper and manual grind into the 2 cup filter until all beans are ground - just hold the portafilter in to keep the micro switch depressed. I tamped and checked with the Razor (I now have it so no coffee grinds are removed with the razor and it just touches the surface). I get approx 9 secs from hitting the 2 cup button until the coffee comes out and get a total delivery time of 29 to 31 secs. The pressure gauge sits at 12 oClock (6th division on the gauge scale) and I get a great delivery with a lovely crema.

                  Now I know 18g is the correct amount for this bean, I'll start adjusting the dose control to get 18g.

                  I'm hoping that the automatic dosing is consistent once I have it set correctly.

                  good luck- it's a great machine.
                  Last edited by lappa; 15 January 2015, 10:20 PM.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    Forget about the doser it always over doses, even on the minimum setting. Hence lots of waste and your beans will and stale in the hopper with the heat too.
                    Weigh your beans, I use 18 grams for the double basket, then tamp at the same pressure for each shot and you only have the grind setting to change.

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                    • #40
                      Originally posted by lappa View Post
                      I found the 18g is ideal for the beans I'm using (put in 18g beans and it delivers 18g of grinds - within 0.2g)

                      Is that for a dual short or a single? Plus what coffee beans do you use?

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Originally posted by RustyTheCorrosion View Post
                        Is that for a dual short or a single? Plus what coffee beans do you use?
                        Thats in the 2 cup basket and then the 2 cup delivery button selected. I use Sumatran beans
                        Last edited by lappa; 15 January 2015, 10:20 PM.

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Originally posted by RustyTheCorrosion View Post
                          Hello Everyone,

                          I just recently bought a BES870 Barista Express since I wanted to start making coffee at home. I read the reviews and found that it's pretty good machine for its price range. I dont have much experience in coffee making. The only experience I have is an accredited barista school certificate and they pretty much taught me that I have to balance between the grinder setting, tamper and the amount of grinded coffee bean to get the best brew within 30 sec - 30ml.

                          Since this is a different machine from school, I read the manual and it said that i should start the grinder at 5 and the amount dispensed is at 3 o'clock. It said that for one shot, it should be between 10g - 12g, have at least 15-20kg of pressure when tamped and the shot time should go between 25-35 sec and should start at like 5-7 sec.

                          I used the default setting and to no luck, It was still under extracted so I tried changing the grind setting to make it finer, but I still yielded the same result. I changed it to the most finest/coarse setting and its still doing nothing, its still under extracted. Is it the coffee bean? I've noticed that when tampered, its still powdery. What can I do? What's wrong? When I went to the coffee school, when I tamped it, it felt so compact.

                          I also have a problem with the dosing, why does it give out so much at the lowest setting? When I do the double shot, its literally overflowing. Whats wrong? I'll try to take a picture aand update you guys as soon as I can.

                          Anyways, any help woud be nice guys.
                          I had the same problem with a particular bean, try dosing slightly more so when you tamp the silver ring is just above the basket, if you still have an issue tamp a little harder.


                          As for it dosing too much I jiggle the handle up and down and side to side to even our the dose then as the basket gets full I tilt it slightly backwards so it doesn't spill out.

                          This normally works when grinding on 2-3 and dose on 12 o'clock on double.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Hi guys,

                            Thought I would check with other 870 users... I am having a problem with my double basket getting stuck up under the group head when removing the porta-filter from my machine.

                            It's not every time but it happens enough that its starting to annoy the heck out of me.

                            It's worse when it happens after pulling a shot and if not carefully removed it can leave a big mess as you can imagine!

                            Any one else having the same issue?

                            Must admit the single basket hasn't gotten nearly as much use as the double but I haven't experienced it with the single.

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              Originally posted by Brevillista View Post
                              Forget about the doser it always over doses, even on the minimum setting. Hence lots of waste and your beans will and stale in the hopper with the heat too.
                              Do you think this is something Breville should be looking at fixing. It seems everyone is having this issue...

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                There well may be things that need "fixing" on Breville machines, however I would suggest that it would behoove Breville users to make themselves familiar with their machines idiosyncrasies and learn to work with them, instead of expecting the machine to nurse them through the process from beginning to end, it simply ain't gonna happen.

                                All espresso machines have peculiarities, them that learn to live with them make great coffee, them that cant adapt are destined to a life of coffee mediocrity.

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