Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

[borrie869]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

hmmm.... very close to making a buy on one of these.

Features are very handy and from what I read it will retain less grinds than my sunbeam so less overall wastage at home.

Any comments on noise? (the em480 is pretty loud I think).

I guess the unknown is how much difference in the cup I will see. Bit of a blind leap but the reviews of this suggest it is batting above its weight.

i have just taken this path and upgraded from my sunbeam to the breville, to answer some of your questions i find the breville to produce maybe half the noise of the sunbeam and about 95% less grinds on the bench overall grind quality on mine is excellent and seems the shims have been set perfectly in the factory. as for differance in the cup its very noticable, im putting this down to the fact that the brevilles adjustments are no where near as steep as the sunbeam, one click on the breville seems to me to produce around 2 secs change at the group compared to about 9 secs on the sunbeam, much easier to dial in. overall im extremely happy with the breville grinder and have no complaints so far

[mgrobins]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Ordered one.... will see how it goes. Good price at a time where I cant stretch for a model that may be nicer.

[chrislng]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I used my brother in laws with his Oscar. The thing is awesome and not just because of the price. Love the interface and was a sinch to dial in. Took me 2 minutes to get his Breville dialled in; took me an afternoon to get my mini-e dialled in. Go Figure!

[herbie]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

We have spent one and half days of this weekend carrying out Barista duties at the Finley High School 50th Reunion. We made a total of 220 coffees using WOW roasted beans and our Breville Smart Grinder. [smiley=thumbsup.gif] The grinder never missed a beat. We were complemented on the great tasting coffee. Thanks Breville and Andy. ;D

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Hey all,
I recently got one of the newer versions of this with "Less - More" on the amount rather than "Weaker - Stronger". It easily grinded fine enough to choke my EM5900, but I get nothing but gushers on the new Oscar, even at the finest setting (Ive also ground fine enough on it to choke a La San Marco commercial machine). I start getting some annoying clumping when I grind that fine, and I know others have said they only get clumping when grinding too fine. (I know the baskets on these are renowned for this so am investigating new ones...)
So im thinking about getting a shim kit, but have some reservations... at the moment, if I turn the grinder on on its finest setting with no beans in, it sounds like the burrs are touching, and there are some marks on the top grinder already (see my photos on reply #664).
But even if I wanted to get a shim kit, I cant seem to get the bottom burr off!
Any thoughts?

[artman]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

If you are choking other machines than it looks like you Oscar has too high a brew pressure. Check and fix that first before you consider shimming it.

Dont forget the nut on the bottom burr is left hand thread.

Cheers

[samhighley]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I cant seem to get the bottom burr off!

Its a reverse thread.

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I cant seem to get the bottom burr off!

Its a reverse thread.

Should have given more info...
I can get the nut, lock washer and standard washer off, but the burr wont move, no matter how hard I pull by hand. Im not heaps keen to try pliers...

[mgrobins]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I received my grinder yesterday.

Took some messing around to get dialled in well enough to drink the results.

My machine is a Giotto Premium Plus. The standard portafilter spout is too long to fit the bracket holder so I manually hold the pf (and have a shorter spout on order).

Initial observations:
1. slower than my EM0480.
2. a LOT quieter than the EM0480
3. Required a change in my technique to get a decent result.

My first attempts were immediately dark black followed by rapid blonding so I figured too fine or overdosing resulting in channeling (I ussually updose as this worked on my EM0480). Taste - absolutely terrible.

Eventually settled on a coarser grind setting of 5, level the PF and tamp to 30lb using my ezy tamp.
This results in a well balanced espresso without too much on the front or back of the palate (assuming I dont let it run too long).

It also means a more constant system for me as level is easier than a mound.

Ill tinker with the dosing to see if fine tuning helps but I suspect other variables like bean freshness etc will account for constant variance any way.

Now to get the automatic dose amounts dialled in and I should be well set.

My new double spout will be accompanied by a naked PF too...I bit the bullet on this as I want to get the best from my Giotto.

[artman]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

The naked will be a great diagnosing tool. I always use the naked PF now.

Once you get the dosing right by experimentation, the BSG makes it easier to keep the dose consistent.

Cheers

[Pete39]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Bought one of these two days ago after much research and thinking. Am quite impressed! cf with the emo480, bit quieter, much tidier, and most of all, definite improvement in shot quality on the em6910. Nice to be able to leave the pf in the grinder, hit go and get the milk out of the fridge. Still sorting out the dosing - am used to weighing the beans and grinding till the hopper is empty. Would like to be able to just use the dosing capability and no weighing.

A question - does anybody leave their beans in the hopper between uses?

[headinclouds]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

with blends i put a couple of days worth of beans in the hopper and leave them there.

for single origin i put less in, but thats because i mix my blends and then put them in the hopper so ive put a cup or two or three different roasts into a mix, rather than one cup of the single origin.

i understand that probably reduces the freshness of the beans a bit, but it makes life easier.

[seadog]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Hi all,
new member just dipping my toe into the world of coffee. Up until now have been using a Vietnamese cup-top stainless filter with commercial ground coffee.
Have just bought the Smart grinder and a clever dripper along with some beans. I have no scales and was wondering if anyone can tell me what setting I would need to grind 20 grams of coffee. I tried the one cup +2 bar setting but seemed to be way under the required amount for the nice strong cup I prefer.
My intention is to eventually move up to an Espresso machine but decided to learn a little about grinding and coffee in general before lashing out.

[mgrobins]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Im really enjoying the ease of use of this grinder.

It seems to hold fewer grounds than some other grinders I have looked at - an important factor for me as a home user.

THe magnetic tray is excellent and I am finding significantly less mess on my benchtop c.f the sunbeam.

Rather than using the "2 shot" setting for a double basket I am using "1 shot", tap PF to settle grounds, then another shot. This makes for more even distribution for me with less channeling or other issues. with the grind setting I have this seems to be the right balance of coffee to level the basket with very little wastage.

I now have a naked PF and am working on eliminating a small dead spot in the centre (using a convex tamper in the standard Giotto double basket).

I bought a shorter profile double spout too so I can now use the PF in the holder. The standard Giotto one is about 41mm long and wouldnt fit the holder.

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Saw a car with the number plate "BCG-800" today. Tried to get a photo of the plate but couldnt, shame.
Was a classic, I got a bit too excited.

Could not believe my luck when I was walking along the road and saw this parked...