Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

what are my chances of returning or exchanging at a major for this issue????
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Just take the BSG back to where you bought it from and tell them it doesnt grind fine enough, even with the shims provided from Breville. Check the series number on the bottom of the grinder though, cause if you get another one of the same series and have the same problem then talk to Breville directly.

I know some folks here on coffee snobs have had the same issue and was hopeful you could provide assistance.

Hey mgrobins. I have the same issue with mine. I needed to install 3 shims to get it to grind fine enough, and it only grinds fine enough when its at least 1 notch finer than where the burrs start touching. Id be interested to know how many others have this issue too!

I already have one bcg800 at home that works perfectly.

By this do you mean you already had a BCG800 that worked well - as in grinded fine enough without the burrs touching... and the one you got on Friday is your 2nd one where the burrs touch?

[mgrobins]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Dannok I would suggest you check your tamping and dosing. It may not be the grinder if you can get it fine enough to choke.

How fine is the grind?

what is the coffee puck like after you have pulled your shot and tap it out of the portafilter?

perhaps start a thread for advice on what works well/best for the BDB.

[dski]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

bought my BDB and BSG last week super excited to be making good espresso at home but alas I had a grinder that needed a shim kit fast forward to today my shim kit is now installed (1.0 + 0.4 + 0.1) but cant get fine enough without the grinder choking

Testing with some fresh coffee just below where I hear metal-on-metal yields a very coarse grind so its not due to the burs being set too close together.

Yep!  I took my first one back in the hope that a newer model would work better. Its a lovely grinder except for one fatal flaw - it does not grind finely enough.

I would prefer to have the grinder working, but at this point I think I just want my money back and be done with it.

[dski]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Haev pmd Dave from Breville and will share more if I can work out exactly what is causing it.

Id be keen to hear what your result is.

[Dannok]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Dannok I would suggest you check your tamping and dosing. It may not be the grinder if you can get it fine enough to choke.

Its the grinder thats choking not the BDB.

Check the series number on the bottom of the grinder though, cause if you get another one of the same series and have the same problem then talk to Breville directly.

On this... would anybody here who has BSGs that grind fine enough out of the box care to post what series number they have on theirs?

[dski]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

On this... would anybody here who has BSGs that grind fine enough out of the box care to post what series number they have on theirs?

I dont know if this is helpful, but...

I have a 1149. It is my second try of the smart grinder. Out of the box it ground too course, and with a shim added to bring it just short of the burrs touching, It still does not go fine enough. Its visibly quite a course grind.

My first was a 1027 (Not 100% on this). This did not go fine enough out of the box, and with shims added, it would just choke frequently.

I have done many tests of freshly roasted beans from a reliable source, as well as on a few machines, frequent cleaning etc. I was happier with my second hand EM0480 until it broke.

I know its considered a very cheap grinder in the greater scheme of things, but still.

There is only so much you can updose and tamp...

End rant.

[Bames]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I have a 1149. It is my second try of the smart grinder. Out of the box it ground too course, and with a shim added to bring it just short of the burrs touching, It still does not go fine enough. Its visibly quite a course grind.

Mines an 1149 as well. Phil from Breville told me its fine for the burrs to touch, cause pretty much all concicals under $500 do. Im not convinced, as again my old EM0450 didnt touch and ground fine enough, and my Lux grinds fine enough and doesnt touch.
That being said, the features are great and the grinds from the breville are more uniform, but due to the touching of the burrs theres way more clumping, which unless you spend a good couple of minutes very carefully WDTing every 5 grams that go into the basket, you get channelling due to clumps leading to poor extractions. Its very frustrating cause in the end, all the features in the world cant make up for grind and extraction, which is the core purpose of the grinder.

[FNQ]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder


I have a 1201 series and it worked very fine(pun intended) straight out of box. (about 3rd-4th from extreme fine on expresso scale)

[Dannok]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Mines an 1149 aswell.

Have 4 shims installed (what appear to be 1.0 2x.4 & .1).

Managed to grind on the finest setting without it getting stuck and making that horrid ratcheting or gear slipping noise after removing the burrs,cleaning, re-installing and adding the beans in small amounts after I have started the grinder.

I can now see the marks on the upper burr mentioned earlier, not enthusiastic about this... does this mean ill be replacing the burrs every couple of months?

no luck with pulling a 30 sec shot still... atm they are running 60ml in about 8-10 seconds plus pre-infusion. tried upping the dose but theres only so far you can go. no ristrettos for me

Im out of beans now, so off to get some fresh beans tomorrow, hopefully ill see some improvement.

[greg-g]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Mines an 1149 also. Works well on its 3rd finest setting straight out of the box.
The burrs dont appear to touch.

[Croc]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

couple of days i got myself smart grinder (1129 serial on the base)
runs quite good i think.
im dialed in on notch right under 2nd S in espreSso so about half way in espresso range
quantity dialed to -3 and getting nice double basket shot at ~32sec for 60ml, not a bad drop too.

changing to finer grind almost chokes machine (got maybe 10ml on 80sec extraction) and i still have few notches to go finer so im guessing even some old and ugly supermarket beans should be fine with that.

no odd noises coming out of grinder as well even on super fine setting
happy camper now

best part is mess, or lack of it compared to sunbeam 480

[shadow745]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I have a 1149. It is my second try of the smart grinder. Out of the box it ground too course, and with a shim added to bring it just short of the burrs touching, It still does not go fine enough. Its visibly quite a course grind.

Mines an 1149 as well. Phil from Breville told me its fine for the burrs to touch, cause pretty much all concicals under $500 do. Im not convinced, as again my old EM0450 didnt touch and ground fine enough, and my Lux grinds fine enough and doesnt touch.
That being said, the features are great and the grinds from the breville are more uniform, but due to the touching of the burrs theres way more clumping, which unless you spend a good couple of minutes very carefully WDTing every 5 grams that go into the basket, you get channelling due to clumps leading to poor extractions. Its very frustrating cause in the end, all the features in the world cant make up for grind and extraction, which is the core purpose of the grinder.

Im calling BS on what Phil is saying. My first "real" grinder was a Capresso Infinity and it ground in a true espresso range no problem with the burrs nowhere close to touching. Furthermore, I tested that grinder with several home machines and 2 on a commercial level, so it was cranking out a good solid espresso fineness.

Its OK for most flat burrs to touch with no damage and still grind quite well, but based on conicals Ive seen up close, touching could be disastrous. I know that definitely wouldve been the case with the Infinity I had.

[mgrobins]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Still no response from Dave at Breville.

Yes I have one BCG800 at home that works just fine with 2 shims. I can go finer than my giotto prmium plus requires and not choke the grinder or have burs rubbing.

The NEW grinder has a definite metalic sound on grinding side by side with the other and the marks appearing on the top bur. It is not a constant rub but almost pulses so I query if there is an allignment problem in the upper bur or the motor/spindle.

Having one working suggests to me that there has either been a design configuration change or Breville has insufficient control over manufacturing tolerances.

I would very much appreciate a response from a Breville rep on this.

I called Breville Australia and got told to speak to the retailer. An exchange may be a solutionvia retailer RMA but Id prefer direct Breville support as the replacement may well be the same.

How many people are using these that do not think there is an issue? If it were my first grinder I may not know or expect different.

[Croc]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

How many people are using these that do not think there is an issue? If it were my first grinder I may not know or expect different.

i have two grinders, sunbeam 480 and smart grinder, as long as it grinds same way for next 2 years i will be very happy with my unit.
I dont get any metalic sound even on the finest setting and beans cant choke my grinder on the finest end and it is fine enough to choke my espresso machine so as is i got unit that out of the box works like dream and needs no shims.

[Dannok]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Im out of beans now, so off to get some fresh beans tomorrow, hopefully ill see some improvement.

So I got some fresh beans from a different roaster today...

and im having some success at last, I think the last batch of beans I had werent very good hence the choking etc.

Grinds much smoother now (still not sure about the burrs touching though)

Im getting ~27 second pours,first drops at 10 sec (inc 6 sec preinfusion) with the grinder set 2 steps from finest (with 4 shims), great crema and great taste.

Im super happy now, and buzzed . Really goes to show how important using good fresh beans is, I thought I was before but obviously not...

Also big ups to breville for their support! Really good to see how committed they are to the consumer