EM6910 2 different filter baskets

[scottwright]

Thanks guys!

[LeroyC]

VST baskets are great, but they are expensive and a bit more unforgiving to use. They rely on you having a good grinder and some patience to get it all dialed in properly. Baskets make by IMS are another excellent option and are usually a little bit cheaper and easier to use. You can also pick them up branded as Pesado or Pullman. Baskets known as ‘Precision’ baskets are cheaper and easier again. I’m not sure that they’re much better than the stock Sumbeam ones which are actually pretty good as long as you’re using the single walled ones. If you do grab an aftermarket one my recommendation would be the 16-18g IMS basket.

[Jackster]

Get a vst basket if you have a quality grinder

[scottwright]

Hi guys, old thread resurgence once again. I am a long time owner of the EM6910 but now only recently getting into properly using it! (I service it along the way dont worry). Is there a recommendation to purchase 'better' baskets for the Sunbeam? I was reading this review and they mentioned replacing the basking with an Italian 58mm 14g basket made the coffee taste better. Commercial link removed as per Site Posting Policy

What are your thoughts and recommendations?

[TampIt]

Unfortunately I'm on the other side of the country in Canberra. Appreciate the offer though. Besides, I need a perm solution. For the right price would you be willing to let go of one of your pf's that you know will fit a VST basket?

As far as I grinder goes, I've got a SB EM0440 that I've shimmed to get a finer grind. I seem to get a good fine grind about 1/2 way down the scale now.

G'day cammo77

Sorry 'bout the delay - been one hell of a busy week at my end.

Please advise me (via PM) where I can send one of my spare naked p/fs and I will check my shed out. Hopefully it will be a brass one (warms up a lot faster). Now that I am getting out of my SBs I have a lot of spares stored / have had a few friends "raid" my stash. Please let me know if you need any other bits.

FYI, I had 5 6910s and 1 7000 not that long ago, down to 1 6910 as of yesterday when another family member requested my last "spare" 6819 as his Silvia broke (again, leaking everywhere, again). So later this week I will be packing it up and I will be going through all my spares anyway so it is no extra effort at my end.

So I am down to using using my original 6910 as a milk frother / party machine and a DE1 (not high volume, will not froth and shoot at the same time) as my coffee toys nowadays.

TampIt

[cammo77]

I have about 8 or 9 6910 portafilters, mostly brass (preferred by me) plus three stainless. One of my stainless ones is larger in diameter than the other two. No VST is a good fit in that P/f - as you described so clearly.

Where are you? If you are in WA you can borrow one of my spare 6910 p/fs - that they do fit properly.

TampIt
PS: I have been using VSTs for every "non testing purpose" in my 6910s and 7000s for years. They are a big step up if your grinder can cope.

Unfortunately I'm on the other side of the country in Canberra. Appreciate the offer though. Besides, I need a perm solution. For the right price would you be willing to let go of one of your pf's that you know will fit a VST basket?

As far as I grinder goes, I've got a SB EM0440 that I've shimmed to get a finer grind. I seem to get a good fine grind about 1/2 way down the scale now.

[TampIt]

Has anyone else had the problem of purchasing an aftermarket filter-basket to find that it sits higher in the portafilter and prevents you from being able to lock off the portafilter properly in the group-head collar?

I got myself a new VST filter basket to find I had this issue. Not sure how to resolve it. Modifying the portafilter means it'll be useless for the smaller filter basket that came with the machine. I'm not sure if I ditch the new VST basket or get a second portafilter that I can modify to accommodate it.

Thoughts?

I have about 8 or 9 6910 portafilters, mostly brass (preferred by me) plus three stainless. One of my stainless ones is larger in diameter than the other two. No VST is a good fit in that P/f - as you described so clearly.

Where are you? If you are in WA you can borrow one of my spare 6910 p/fs - that they do fit properly.

TampIt
PS: I have been using VSTs for every "non testing purpose" in my 6910s and 7000s for years. They are a big step up if your grinder can cope.

[cammo77]

Has anyone else had the problem of purchasing an aftermarket filter-basket to find that it sits higher in the portafilter and prevents you from being able to lock off the portafilter properly in the group-head collar?

I got myself a new VST filter basket to find I had this issue. Not sure how to resolve it. Modifying the portafilter means it'll be useless for the smaller filter basket that came with the machine. I'm not sure if I ditch the new VST basket or get a second portafilter that I can modify to accommodate it.

Thoughts?

[eddy79]

Tampit,

The problem has essentially completely stopped except for the odd grain. I think it was just everthing aligning at the time. Having a look it appears that there may be 1 or 2 holes that are slightly larger so will have a good look at which ones it's occurring to and see if it's the same holes over and over again.

The Sunbeam basket is tapered so cant get the tamper in that far but have used various multi tamp, skewer, leveling techniques and don't believe that to be the issue.

Will start another new coffee today so guess I will see if there is a issue then. Will try some of the ideas if I get any issues.

Cheers for your help
Ed

[TampIt]

Tampit I have used both baskets but decided I liked the taste from the new basket better. It was happening with both baskets. I have the breville smart grinder pro. I changed coffee the other day as I ran out of the last lot and it seems to have stopped so maybe it was just a combination of variables at that time that was causing it.

Unfortunately with limited fund's this grinder is it for a decent while especially as this is not my only hobby and the wife enjoys neither hobby. Next upgrade I think will be a tamper as it seems there's a lot of play in the basket around the standard one.

G'day again eddy79

Basket grains - if you wish to troubleshoot further, mark the basket on the outside "out of the action areas" (a texta will do). Mark the p/f holder so you can use the same alignment for a few coffees.
Does it always do it at the same spot?

a) If not - you probably need to work on your distribution technique (look up Weiss, Staub, Nutating etc). A better tamper can really help here, however it is not a definite requirement. Also, it is worth giving a gentle (i.e. levelling) initial tamp at the "2mm or so coffee in the basket". Evens out a lot of distribution hassles.

b) If it is always the same spot, turn the basket 180 degrees and try again. Objective: Is it the basket or the p/f holder / group head mechanism?

PM me if you are still scratching your head with this one...

Have fun playing with your toy.

TampIt
PS: FWIW, despite the more "S" variants of "CS" on this site, my take is that a properly working smartgrinder will be fine until you get a lot more experience.

[eddy79]

Tampit I have used both baskets but decided I liked the taste from the new basket better. It was happening with both baskets. I have the breville smart grinder pro. I changed coffee the other day as I ran out of the last lot and it seems to have stopped so maybe it was just a combination of variables at that time that was causing it.

Unfortunately with limited fund's this grinder is it for a decent while especially as this is not my only hobby and the wife enjoys neither hobby. Next upgrade I think will be a tamper as it seems there's a lot of play in the basket around the standard one.

[TampIt]

Thanks for all your help guy's. Have just stuck with the stock basket atm as I already have this one working well. Only issue now is I seem to be getting single grains of coffee stuck in the holes which is causing spurts while using the naked pf. No evidence of channeling and a good solid puck to and bottom just blocked holes when knocked out. Any ideas how to help with this would be appreciated.

G'day again eddy79

I bow to noidle's superior knowledge about 6910 baskets - I scrapped both my stock sets "almost immediately" as I use VST's almost exclusively. I only played with the stockers for a while to see how they compared with a few other aftermarket / retired machines baskets I also have laying around. FWIW, they were about middle, so I reckon it is not worth upgrading unless you do a big jump up the quality ladder.

I noticed my older 6910 16g basket (i.e. the 15g double+ a smidge extra from SB) always had a few grains stuck in it. A quick check with a magnifying glass showed a few larger holes right where the grounds were sticking... Didn't affect that shot's flavour noticeably, other than making maintenance a PITA. Be aware it would probably mess the next shot up. My newer 6910 and my 7000's baskets did not have that issue, nor did the majority of my friend's setups. Just lucky I guess.

Which basket were you using? Have you tried the other one? What happened?

Without knowing which grinder you have I would not presume to suggest any aftermarket basket as an improvement at this time.

Enjoy your cuppa.

TampIt

[eddy79]

Thanks for all your help guy's. Have just stuck with the stock basket atm as I already have this one working well. Only issue now is I seem to be getting single grains of coffee stuck in the holes which is causing spurts while using the naked pf. No evidence of channeling and a good solid puck to and bottom just blocked holes when knocked out. Any ideas how to help with this would be appreciated.

[noidle22]

Basket on the left is a current basket as used by Sunbeam since the second generation EM6910.

Basket on the right was found in the EM6900 and early EM6910 models.
A key difference is the sealing surface on the top of the basket. The old basket uses a rolled lip as used in commercial machines whereas the new basket uses a flatter surface with a smaller sealing lip.

As to which one is better, no idea, never done a side by side comparison. Give each of them a go and see if you get a better taste from one of them.

[MrJack]

The one with more holes will be fractionally more prone to channeling because there are more routes for water to find a way through

Do you have evidence to back this up?

but - if you have a great grinder, channeling won't be an issue and the basket with more holes will allow the coffee puck to do more of the work in holding the pressure back, allowing more mouth watering body to ooze out below.

How does it do this exactly?

So, keeping things super super simple, if your grinder can support it - the basket with more holes should provide a better body in your shot.

Again, how exactly?

Interesting thing though - a single basket will display greater highlights from a bean than a double basket will - the difference being that the single basket has a narrower base with fewer holes than the double. By this logic, the double basket with less holes should provide more highlights and complex flavour profiles specific to your bean.

By this logic, we should all be using single hole baskets...

Please remember that those machines will take about 3 shots to stabilise after their initial 20 minute warm up to give consistent results

Really? Curious to hear the explanation of this...

Perhaps it's just me, but there appears to be a fair amount of misinformation in this post (or at the very least, incomplete, unsubstantiated theories presented as fact).