Breville Oracle Owners Thread BES980XL

[cdhjrf]

I know what you mean . I had my Oracle for 5 weeks and it was wonderful.Then one day the the frother would not froth properly. It was steaming but left the milk heated only and was as thin as when it started .I rang the Oracle hotline and the guy was very good . Took me through all the usual questions, clean tip etc etc . He then said to get a glass of water and froth it using the froth switch on manual (pushed up). I did and it was very fine bubbles.(how it should be) He then said to do the same with the frother on auto. Exactly the same ,very fine bubbles only.(should be big bubbles )
When used on auto the frother uses an air pump as well as steam.it should have been emitting big bubbles from the air pump. It wasn't . Apparently my air pump was stuffed,after only five weeks.
He gave me a number and told me to go back to the shop and exchange the machine , which I did.Great service.

All was great for a few weeks , but now I am having your problem .
Yesterday I made some coffees and all had very poor froth.
I made one coffee for my wife this morning and it frothed perfectly ie started with big bubbles and settled into a nice silky froth.
I made myself one a few minutes later and I noticed no big bubbles to start. It did froth so the air pump was working but it was very thin and the froth vanished within seconds of pouring my coffee.The texture very thin and watery.
(Note: through all this it is extracting the coffee well ...also I have had the froth setting on exactly the same spot...just above halfway between "Flat white" and "Latte" ).
Thinking of ringing the Oracle line again but will watch what happens over the next few days .

Seems to be some sort of air pump issue where it works intermittently or not as well some times .
Anyone else having "frothing" irregularities ?

EDIT : this was in reply to Tessies question re frothing issues. I did not attach it to the quote as I meant to ..sorry.

BTW..I notice there is no longer an Oracle rep monitoring this site. Would be very helpful if there was .

I noticed you said the first pitcher of milk frothed fine and the second not so good.
If you have milk residue from the previous coffee in the pitcher it will reduce the quality of the milk foam for the next coffee. Try rinsing the pitcher clean before making your next coffee.
Other tips I've found for making good quality micro foam is,

Use only cold milk. (Colder the better)
Keep your clean pitchers in the freezer, ready for use.
Some different types of milk foam better than others.

Hope this helps.

[briscoffee]

I noticed you said the first pitcher of milk frothed fine and the second not so good.
If you have milk residue from the previous coffee in the pitcher it will reduce the quality of the milk foam for the next coffee. Try rinsing the pitcher clean before making your next coffee.
Other tips I've found for making good quality micro foam is,

Use only cold milk. (Colder the better)
Keep your clean pitchers in the freezer, ready for use.
Some different types of milk foam better than others.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the reply.
Yes I always clean out the pitcher in between frothing and do keep the pitchers in the fridge .
I always use the same milk as well . This milk has been foaming beautifully for a long time now (even with other machines).
I will keep monitoring this and see if I can figure if it is a procedural problem or mechanical ...or maybe some of both.

I have noticed that when using auto frothing it works really well when it blows big bubbles as it first starts and it then settles into small fine bubbles. If it doesn't blow the big bubbles early it seems to end up way too thin.This is why I suspect it is a case of some sort of variance in the air pump. Whether this is some sort of blockage or an electrical fault I don't know.(yes I have cleaned out the holes in the tip..they were clear anyway)
I guess I am very suspicious of the air pump quality as my last new machine had its air pump completely fail after only 5 weeks....and my brand new replacement machine is now having frothing issues as well.
I would be happy to find out it is something I am doing as it would be easier to fix than if it turns out to be another machine fault.

[cdhjrf]

Thanks for the reply.
Yes I always clean out the pitcher in between frothing and do keep the pitchers in the fridge .
I always use the same milk as well . This milk has been foaming beautifully for a long time now (even with other machines).
I will keep monitoring this and see if I can figure if it is a procedural problem or mechanical ...or maybe some of both.

I have noticed that when using auto frothing it works really well when it blows big bubbles as it first starts and it then settles into small fine bubbles. If it doesn't blow the big bubbles early it seems to end up way too thin.This is why I suspect it is a case of some sort of variance in the air pump. Whether this is some sort of blockage or an electrical fault I don't know.(yes I have cleaned out the holes in the tip..they were clear anyway)
I guess I am very suspicious of the air pump quality as my last new machine had its air pump completely fail after only 5 weeks....and my brand new replacement machine is now having frothing issues as well.
I would be happy to find out it is something I am doing as it would be easier to fix than if it turns out to be another machine fault.

From memory I believe their is a way of testing, adjusting, checking the pump in the maintenance menu. Although I could be thinking of something else.......

[bowser]

interesting you say the bubbles should be different for manual or auto frothing. My replacement machine is only a week old and with the setting on full froth it barely froths, well nothing like my old machine done.
I checked the bubbles and it does small/fine bubbles for both auto and manual.

[bowser]

can some other people heat a glass of water in manual/auto and give feedback if the bubbles are small or not?
thanks

[coffeepete]

can some other people heat a glass of water in manual/auto and give feedback if the bubbles are small or not?
thanks

Just made my first coffee this morning, so I checked this out for you on my machine. I get pretty small bubbles doing this. My frothing works fine as well. I usually keep it turned up all the way to latte, use very cold milk, and a very cold pitcher. Froth temp set to 150F/65C. Whole and Skim milk seem to produce the best and most consistent froth.

[bowser]

thanks, mine still hardly froths the milk. In the manual it has these settings which i'll play with over the weekend.

• Steam Temperature (StEA) – Adjusts the steam boiler temperature which directly affect the pressure of the steam. The default temperature setting is 275°F. This temperature can be adjusted down to 265°F or up to 285°F.
• Air Pump Delay (Air) – This delays the operation of the air pump during automatic milk texturing. The default time is 2 seconds. This can be adjusted down to 0 seconds or up to 6 seconds.

[cartnj]

HI Coffeepete,
Did you mean to say "all the way up to CAPP?

Just made my first coffee this morning, so I checked this out for you on my machine. I get pretty small bubbles doing this. My frothing works fine as well. I usually keep it turned up all the way to latte, use very cold milk, and a very cold pitcher. Froth temp set to 150F/65C. Whole and Skim milk seem to produce the best and most consistent froth.

[coffeepete]

HI Coffeepete,
Did you mean to say "all the way up to CAPP?

Sorry, Yes CAPP not Latte. I had the up part right...

[briscoffee]

Hmmm seems to be a problem for more than one person. This is where Breville need to be monitoring this forum to see what problems people are having. Maybe this is a very common problem and they don't want to admit it is a problem with the build ...a bit paranoid maybe , but I have a healthy disrespect for appliance manufacturers in general.
In this case however, when you have spent over $2000 on a product, it should work as advertised. This machine is meant to be a Premier home coffee machine.
When it works it is brilliant..and as I have said ,so far ,the coffee extraction is great...just need to get this frothing issue sorted.

[cdhjrf]

I've generally found mine to be ok at texturing milk, but what I have found is different brands / types of milk will perform vastly differently to each other.

[bowser]

I'll be taking my replacement machine back on Monday and attempting to get a refund. I cleaned it today with the steam wand cleaner (which it shouldn't need as it is only a week old) and it still fails to froth the milk. I did notice this machine does 4 air purges after doing the milk to clean itself. My old machine only done 3.
I also bumped the steam temp up to max (140) and didn't make a difference.

anyone suggest a suitable replacement machine around the 3k budget? I do love the easy to use nature of the Oracle

[bowser]

Machine seems to be getting worse

this setting





produced these

[briscoffee]

Bowser did you try putting the frother on manual (push lever up not down) and putting it into a glass of cold water? It should emit very very fine bubbles only .
Then get new water and put in frother wand on auto (lever down) . It should (if working) emit much more bubbles and they should be a lot bigger. This is because the air pump is working as well as the steamer .
If you are not getting the big bubbles on auto it is an air pump problem.
I also suggest you ring the oracle hotline (on the back on instruction manual) and speak to them. They were very good when I rang them and narrowed down the problem for me.
Those photos are fairly indistinct.Maybe a view from above as well ?

Edit : just saw you did try the manual and auto froth in water trick. Appears you have exactly the problem I had with my first machine....air pump not working .Ring the Oracle number and they will give you a number to take to your supplier for a swap .
Anyone else had problems with the air pump ?

[saroadie]

Thanks to Bowser, I got all motivated this arvo and achieved the exact same result making a naked PF from a spare PF. I have a BES920 but PFs are same. Had the same hole saw too. Slow and steady got the job done. Bit of a clean up with the die grinder and a flap wheel, a wash and voila! Works s treat.