Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder
Couldnt handle the wait for my new grinder (k3t) as the guys are on holidays till next week so was interested to see if it was a grinder problem, so I popped into a local coffee roaster (amore coffee in moonee ponds) and got them to pre grind 250g of their royal espresso, for my machine the Oscar whilst i await its delivery.
Anyway just ran a few shots, first pull, under extracted, but i didnt fully load the basket up, next loaded it up and levelled off, tamp, pulled the shot, perfect, and the same again.
Next decided to do a hard tamp, ... choked the machine and super heated the water
therefore i can conclude it was the smart grinder not grinding fine enough as i tried the last setting and it would easily under extract the coffee. At the moment the pre grind may be even a tad too fine as it takes a light tamp, but you would expect that buying pre grind for the first time (not going to be a future issue once i get the grinder again)
Its a shame as i really liked the look and the features and also the cleanliness of the smart grinder, if only it would grind fine consistently it would be a winner for me. Yes i know there is a shim kit, but what happens when the shims wear? it would be good if there was a more concrete solution than shims, ie. use the shims as a last resort after years of use to get that little bit extra out of the conical burrs, shim, use it more then replace the burrs without the shims.
Auto dosing was ok, although it did overfill so i had to dial back 1 or 2 stops from centre of the strength scale, probably further evidence that it wasnt grinding fine enough.
If Breville could address this issue in their production process, maybe change some qc testing, or improve burr clearance/tolerances, this grinder would be absolutely fantastic. If this was to be addressed, i would not hesitate to recommend this grinder, yes it hasnt worked out for me, but i wouldnt mind trying one again if the need came about after a little more development and actual real world use.
Sounds like i just got one of those strays released in the wild, i hope Breville can avoid this stigma associated with may of the appliance brands.
If this issue can be properly addressed without the use of shims, Breville will have a very very big market share for the home user and even light cafe use.
Please dont take this post as a Breville bashing post, it was only a reflection of my experience given my amateur status of coffee making! Hopefully it was constructive and taken on board.
Couldnt handle the wait for my new grinder (k3t) as the guys are on holidays till next week so was interested to see if it was a grinder problem, so I popped into a local coffee roaster (amore coffee in moonee ponds) and got them to pre grind 250g of their royal espresso, for my machine the Oscar whilst i await its delivery.
Anyway just ran a few shots, first pull, under extracted, but i didnt fully load the basket up, next loaded it up and levelled off, tamp, pulled the shot, perfect, and the same again.
Next decided to do a hard tamp, ... choked the machine and super heated the water
therefore i can conclude it was the smart grinder not grinding fine enough as i tried the last setting and it would easily under extract the coffee. At the moment the pre grind may be even a tad too fine as it takes a light tamp, but you would expect that buying pre grind for the first time (not going to be a future issue once i get the grinder again)Its a shame as i really liked the look and the features and also the cleanliness of the smart grinder, if only it would grind fine consistently it would be a winner for me. Yes i know there is a shim kit, but what happens when the shims wear? it would be good if there was a more concrete solution than shims, ie. use the shims as a last resort after years of use to get that little bit extra out of the conical burrs, shim, use it more then replace the burrs without the shims.
Auto dosing was ok, although it did overfill so i had to dial back 1 or 2 stops from centre of the strength scale, probably further evidence that it wasnt grinding fine enough.
If Breville could address this issue in their production process, maybe change some qc testing, or improve burr clearance/tolerances, this grinder would be absolutely fantastic. If this was to be addressed, i would not hesitate to recommend this grinder, yes it hasnt worked out for me, but i wouldnt mind trying one again if the need came about after a little more development and actual real world use.
Sounds like i just got one of those strays released in the wild, i hope Breville can avoid this stigma associated with may of the appliance brands.
If this issue can be properly addressed without the use of shims, Breville will have a very very big market share for the home user and even light cafe use.
Please dont take this post as a Breville bashing post, it was only a reflection of my experience given my amateur status of coffee making! Hopefully it was constructive and taken on board.


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