Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

[Maxey]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Gonzo
Hi Just not sure what you mean about the mid point  I can get to the finest setting ok I get some faint  :noise about 2 clicks from the end when running

[gonzob]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Hi Maxey.

The reason I wound the knob to the midpoint after fiddling with it is so that I dont want to start the grinder on the finest setting, just in case it damages something. I then sneak up on the fine settings to see if it makes nasty noises in the process. I only do this just after Ive added shims.

Sorry if I confused you.

Gonzo

[drovers-sunrise]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I bought this grinder this time last year. Have loved it for the most part. Just got an EM6910 tho, and am finding that the grinder wont go fine enough. I assume this is because I need to get the shims? I called Breville and organised them yesterday. But just wanted to know if others had paired this grinder/machine together and had the same issue?

[Rusty]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

But just wanted to know if others had paired this grinder/machine together and had the same issue?

Once I got the shims the Smart worked very well indeed with my EM6910

[fowlerd303]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Mine arrived yesterday. Tonight Ill have a go and see if my Delonghi lespressi can pour a decent coffee.

[fowlerd303]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Well Ive spent a bit of time with it this evening. My GF was given some beans from work, Grinders Giancarlo, so I used those. Being very much a beginner I just went with what I learned at the tafe course and what I have read here when setting the grind and watching the pours.

I popped some beans in and didnt really know how fine to go so I set the indicator just under the espresso "o" and worked from there. Now I guess my baskets are smaller than normal as the mound just grew and overflowed by quite a bit! Ive ended up setting the amount dial to 3 bars less and it seems to be about right. I decided to pour into a shot glass so I could see what was happening and have an idea of 30mls. After tamping and starting the pour the flow is very slow...not a steady flow but drips and the machine seems to struggle. I assume that means I need a courser grind. That being said, seeing the crema form was a good feeling. So I tried a few more grinds a little courser and with lighter tamping. Still getting drips so I still need to fiddle with it a bit more to find the sweet spot. Part of the problem could be that my espresso machine is old and low end too.

Even with the way its pouring now the taste is much improved over the preground supermarket stuff I am used to using. Not bitter! This grinder seems to be a good start for my journey!

[gonzob]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I can now report that Im getting excellent results with the BCG800 and my Silvia. I was having difficulty initially, but I worked out that Id over-roasted the beans. As soon as I put in properly roasted ones the grinding was fine. With the over-roasted beans I was producing 10 sec shots no matter how fine the grind.

I ended up with 1.2mm of shimming, and the indicator on the "O" on espresso.

Very happy with it.

Gonzo, I like a nice grind.

[drovers-sunrise]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Hi everyone

My shim kit just arrived in the mail

While i am comfortable removing the nut and burrs from the grinder, can someone please tell me how I know which shims are the 0.4mm and the 1mm ones? (is it the thinest and thickest in the pack?!).

[muppet_man67]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I just read this thread. I have to say buying a grinder that then needs to be modified from the outset sounds like a pretty poor deal. My first grinder was an Iberital Challenge it retails for a little under $300, I have never heard of them having issues like this.

To follow that, any grinder worth being called an espresso grinder should be able to choke any coffee machine using a severely under dosed shot of stale burnt decaf. People, dont blame your coffee when your grinder is junk.

Further more, imo if you can hear the burrs touching, and yet you are not getting a fine enough grind, that to me indicates that the burrs are misaligned, or have simply been manufacture to tolerances that should not allow it to advertise as an espresso grinder.

This presents problems when it comes to the quality of your grind. The size of your grinds are going to vary immensely if on one side it is grinding to dust while on the other giving woodchips big enough to result in gushers.

I dont see why you all just dont save your money for an extra week or so and get something good.

[Barry_Duncan]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Like many others here I am getting great results with my Smart Grinder.

I will never put stale, burnt or decaf beans into my grinder. However with one shim added; I can choke my machine with my good beans without the burrs touching and I have plenty of adjustment to get a good pour.

Adding shims is a pretty simple operation.

No need to upgrade.

Barry.

[Interwood]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Works for me too!  And the money I saved ... paid for my Behmor

Like many others here I am getting great results with my Smart Grinder.

I will never put stale, burnt or decaf beans into my grinder. However with one shim added; I can choke my machine with my good beans without the burrs touching and I have plenty of adjustment to get a good pour.

Adding shims is a pretty simple operation.

No need to upgrade.

Barry.

[Dom_Collopy]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Bought a SG yesterday and have put it through its paces a bit this afternoon, with positive results.

Started by weighing some single shots across the last 3 espresso settings, for both a regular dose and fully adjusted (5 bars) dose.

I weighed each dose and then ran these as single espresso shots on the Silvia.

I was deliberately using old coffee beans as I was more after a general guide and didnt want to waste good beans!

Anyway, finally got around to some Colombian , about 3 days post roast. Couldnt be happier!
Here are the details:

grind setting 23
2 shots with an adjusted dose at 2 bars
ground directly into a 14g basket (love the hands free, take note Rocky) - I didnt weigh the dose but I reckon about 14-15g)
pulled a 25g espresso in 28 seconds

A very nice, clean shot.

Think Ill have another one!
;D

[drovers-sunrise]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Hey guys, i read that there were supposed to be 2 shims already installed. Well, i went to install more on top of the two that i put in a few days ago and found that thats all that was in there...

[Duffybeers]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

I have had an experience similar to the posts below. I returned it today and received a grinder that grinds much finer, but the burrs still rub on the finest setting. I am going to keep the grinder, but I will not recommend it to anyone and I am quite disappointed with phils response of it being normal for burrs to rub.

IMO either spend more and get an italian or spend less and get a em0480. If I was doing it again I would buy a rocky or stretch to a mazzer mini.

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.

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.

Kinda like this??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X2YNL2Fcbko&list=UUoD6VGzVQ1ooL4o0xxELHpg& index=1&feature=plcp

Any comments of bur contact like this being "normal" is rubbish as far as I am concerned unless its in the context of grinders manufactured with a poor QA process.

Yeah that was my feeling when Phil replied to me and said that the burrs rubbing against each other was normal... it just didnt sound right or fair. Before contacting Phil I called Breville with my first grinder and spoke to the customer service person and explained that the burrs were rubbing against eachother. She obviously didnt know much about the product cause shes a contact for all Brevilles stuff, but she seemed to think that shouldnt be happening - it makes logical sense that the shouldnt rub.
Really keen to hear the outcome, I too dont want to keep taking the grinder back until I stumble on to one that works properly.

If it is rubbing it cant be grinding evenly either and would surely produce more fines??

Yep it could produce more fines, but what I reckon it is doing is:
a) prematurely wearing out the burrs
b) creating oscillating in the burrs so that grind size is not even
c) crushing the coffee instead of cutting it (like an aldi grinder), creating grinds that do not extract well

This is just an assumption though, I could be totally wrong - people with actual expertise and experience would have more idea!

Bottom line - either way its not good, and the manufacturing tolerances and quality should be such that we can get one that works without rubbing

[cyberhuey]

Re: Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

Ive picked up one of these BCG800s @ $175.00

Im finding that im not maxing out the grind fine scale at all, i just under the E for Espresso notch, and ive checked my series stamped underneath and it has 1214 on mine.

Perhaps breville have fixed the shim issue....

I find if i got any finer on the Double Shot Single Wall filter on my BES900 it clogs up, im doing single shot coffee into the basket, banging it, and then adding another shot banging it on the board on the bench, leveling the powder and then tamping it.