Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Breville Bambino Plus: looking for tips/hacks and mods to maximize shot quality

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • Breville Bambino Plus: looking for tips/hacks and mods to maximize shot quality

    Hello all,

    This is my first post on the forum in about 10 years (I lost my old email address). I've recently moved into a much smaller living space and so have had to scale down the size of my coffee setup so I purchased a Breville Bambino Plus and Breville Smart Grinder Pro, additional portafilter and 2 double shot single wall non pressurised baskets from Breville about 6 months ago. Thus far I've been loving the setup as I can place the grinder directly on top of the machine with no wobble whatsoever, thereby giving me an extremely small footprint in my tiny kitchen. Having the 2 portafilters means from a cold start I can pump out 2 strong lattes or espressos for me and my partner in the morning and have the machine and portafilters cleaned in under 150 seconds brewing at a leisurely pace. It's great for my time poor lifestyle at this point. I was wondering if there were any mods or additional equipment purchases Snobs and owners could recommend to maximise my enjoyment? I am happy with the results I'm getting but better is always better 😉

    Thank you in advance for any advice that anybody is able to provide 🙏

    B

  • #2
    Click image for larger version

Name:	IMG_2996.JPG
Views:	10316
Size:	225.1 KB
ID:	866638 Picture of how little space everything takes up for anyone curious that was despairing that they couldn't justify the space taken up anymore by a large machine and commercial grinder setup.

    Comment


    • #3
      Morning - probably need to give us some more information on what areas improvements could be made.

      How are your shots? Have you nailed the basics like dose in vs out (ie 16g in, 30 g out in 30 seconds). What does it taste like? Is it too sour or bitter?

      Always let taste be your number 1 guide to better espresso - everything else is secondary.

      Comment


      • #4
        Oh and one tip for existing owners, I forgot to mention, Breville retailers sell breville branded cleaning tablets in store for $16 for 8 tablets, the tablets pictured can be had for about twenty bucks and do a better job, IME.. highly recommended!
        Attached Files

        Comment


        • #5
          Hello, thank you for replying so quickly 😄

          When I weigh my beans and place them into the empty hopper dose in volume out is currently on point. Espresso tastes good to me, maybe not quite as good as the machine I'm coming from a 2007 Gaggia Classic with Auber PID but the basket is a touch smaller and Im only using the stock tamper which is pretty light. The difference is very minimal at best (my partner can't tell them apart in a blind taste test). Taste is definitely a hair better the first 50 shots I pull after using a cleaning tablet and I always meticulously clean the machine and portafilters immediately after pulling a shot.

          Comment


          • #6
            PS I have a bottomless portafilter for my Gaggia Classic and I enjoyed that. The comparison above refers to a standard Classic portafilter however.. The tamper I have for the Classic is solid heavy metal.. it provides a firm tamp much more easily.. Would seeking out mods of this nature possibly improve things. I should say that even when you add non pressurised baskets to the portafilter there is still a weird plastic section thats part of the Breville portafilter, its got an unusual pattern and this could be to give the appearance of the crema being richer than it is actuality for those using pressurised (and perhaps even the non pressurised?) baskets.

            Comment


            • jafa1970
              jafa1970 commented
              Editing a comment
              Pull the plastic piece out of the bottom of the portafilter, throw it away, clean pf vigorously, enjoy.

          • #7
            Hi everyone,

            I love this little machine and I am actually coming from a VBM Domobar junior. Was just tired of paying for service and maintenance required on the prosumer machines and I find this Bambino very capable, easy and consistent and if longevity is an issue happy to pay 400 bucks every 2 years for a new one worst case.

            Just want to share what I did to improve my extractions and to my palate I do notice a major difference. Just a disclaimer, some of the things I bought (like the tamper) may not give you a huge difference in taste but it does help with consistency.

            1. first I got rid of the double wall baskets and bough a single wall basket from the Breville site, same used by the Breville Barista Pro/express.
            2. I bought a Pullman tamper :-). It has a nice cover area and feels good. It is a major improvement over the stock tamper and thanks to its 53.34mm diameter it does help with channeling and consistency.
            3. Bottomless portafilter only to work on my technique but I also got a standard 2 spout portafilter from Breville. Again, same than the Barista Pro which I prefer over the stock one.

            Ok, here is where it gets interesting. Changing from the double to single wall basket was a major difference but I recently bought in Amazon a proper IMS competition basket made for these machines and improvement on my extractions has been even better taste wise for 2 reasons:

            1. Allows me to have a bigger dose.
            2. If using the same dose as the standard basket (around 19gr) I can go finer which for some coffees is ideal.
            3. These baskets are very well built and holes are all the same diameter which I believe helps too.


            For those who want this basket, the reference is “IMS precision 18-22g” There is a lower dose version as well sold by the same store. Make sure it is branded as verybarista as there are some imitations in Amazon. Do your research well before pulling the trigger as they are not cheap. The actual brand is IMS and the reference is IMS B62,52Th28E in case you want to google it.

            After getting these additional gear, especially the last basket I have been able to extract very tasty shots. Hope it helps a bit.





            Comment


            • #8
              I have ordered the lower dose IMS basket from amazon, should be coming some time this month. They also have an IMS shower screen available now that apparently fits the Bambino Plus which I am curious about. Not sure if it makes an actual difference on this machine.

              I have been experimenting with turbo shots lately. 15 grams in around 45 grams out in less than 20 seconds. I don't think the heating element in the Bambino Plus at this high flow rate has enough contact time with the water to get the temperature high enough for optimal brew but will keep experimenting.

              Currently using Coffee Alchemy Goodness Galileo blend.

              Has anyone had any success with lighter roasts?

              I definitely agree with the above post that getting an aftermarket tamper makes a big difference, I am using the normcore v3.

              How do you guys warm up the machine? What I do is run a manual shot in a single cup pressurised basket until it stops itself.

              Comment


              • #9
                Originally posted by Mochi View Post
                I have ordered the lower dose IMS basket from amazon, should be coming some time this month. They also have an IMS shower screen available now that apparently fits the Bambino Plus which I am curious about. Not sure if it makes an actual difference on this machine.

                I have been experimenting with turbo shots lately. 15 grams in around 45 grams out in less than 20 seconds. I don't think the heating element in the Bambino Plus at this high flow rate has enough contact time with the water to get the temperature high enough for optimal brew but will keep experimenting.

                Currently using Coffee Alchemy Goodness Galileo blend.

                Has anyone had any success with lighter roasts?

                I definitely agree with the above post that getting an aftermarket tamper makes a big difference, I am using the normcore v3.

                How do you guys warm up the machine? What I do is run a manual shot in a single cup pressurised basket until it stops itself.
                Yeah.. I think the thermojet system in this machine does not keep up the temperature well when the pressure is not built up enough and that’s perhaps why your turbo shots are not coming out right.

                The IMS basket does help with lighter roasts as it lets you grind finer however for me it is still not great. Medium to dark roasts are better.

                I programmed the single shot button with a 10
                sec shot to stabilise the temperature normally before each shot, I also warm up my cups and portafilter with hot water from a kettle. (Still faster than a n e61 espresso machine warm up :-))

                when lazy, I run a manual blind shot with the portafilter on for about 15 secs and still get good shots out of it.





                Comment


                • #10
                  Have had the IMS basket for two days now, one thing if you are thinking about getting it is that your grinder needs to be able to grind fine enough but also a high degree of adjustability at fine grind settings.

                  As I am using an Eureka Mignon E that has step less grind adjustment it makes it a lot easier to dial it in with this basket.

                  Comment


                  • Alarcilam01
                    Alarcilam01 commented
                    Editing a comment
                    True. I am using a Mignon Manuelle.. on the light roast side I need to grind super fine and my shots run for about 40 seconds. For this specific blend I have found it works well.

                • #11
                  Hey guys..

                  A tip for those who want to increase the brew temperature slightly. I found this allowed more extraction for the light roast I am trying in combination with very fine grind and longer shots.

                  1. Pull a blind shot to warm up the shower screen.
                  2. Activate the steam function for a while to the point it auto purges when it finishes.
                  3. Place the portafilter in with your puck prepared and pull the shot.

                  you’ll notice the change in the noise it makes due to the higher temperature and at least for me it did the trick.


                  Although my normal workflow is to pull the shot and steam second, for this lighter roast I changed it to achieve the above with very good results. 1. Prepare puck. 2.short blind shot. 3. Lock portafilter in (the IMS basket allows me to have a good gap between the shower screen and the puck, also the Bambino ShowerScreen doesn’t heat up which will not burn the coffee). 3. Steam my milk. 4. Let the auto purge do its job. 5.pull the shot while swirling my milk.

                  hope it helps.


                  Comment


                  • #12
                    Hi everyone!

                    Does anyone know how this Pesado basket compares to the IMS basket from Amazon? Commercial link removed as per Site Posting Policy

                    From the item description, the Pesado basket is also by IMS and there is a size designed for the Breville 54mm portafilters (both 18g and 20g sizes available). Seems like an equivalent/comparable basket to the Amazon one but cheaper?
                    Last edited by Javaphile; 14 August 2021, 11:19 AM. Reason: Commercial link removed

                    Comment


                    • #13
                      Apologies for including an external link in my previous post, I didn't realise this was prohibited. The Pesado basket I referred to is on the Australian Pesado website named Filter Basket (it's the only item in the Basket section of their shop).

                      Comment


                      • #14
                        Originally posted by ProfessorEgg View Post
                        Hi everyone!

                        Does anyone know how this Pesado basket compares to the IMS basket from Amazon? Commercial link removed as per Site Posting Policy

                        From the item description, the Pesado basket is also by IMS and there is a size designed for the Breville 54mm portafilters (both 18g and 20g sizes available). Seems like an equivalent/comparable basket to the Amazon one but cheaper?
                        Ohh.. they could be the same or too similar.. damn it is 50 bucks cheaper too.. If I knew I would have bought that one instead. If someone buys that one it would be good to know the reference.

                        Comment


                        • #15
                          I ended up buying the Pesado basket. There isn’t an IMS reference like the Amazon one, it just says “PSDBV18g by IMS” on one side and “Pesado 26 Made in Italy” on the other.

                          Comment

                          Working...
                          X