Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

[kingaboy]

Hi all, I just ordered this grinder and notice there is still some very recent talk about the shims still. This Youtube video leads me to believe the Shim kit issue is resolved at factory by default now?

Crew Review: Breville Smart Grinder - Redux! - YouTube

[prongs386]

Hey,
I got the BCG800 from Myer a couple of weeks ago and mine did not grind fine enough on the finest setting. I phoned up Breville customer support and got the shim kit posted. Installation was easy, added the large washer and two small ones as the recommended setup wasn't enough. But my grind still isn't fine enough, I'm getting < 20s for both double and single shots. With the current shim setup the max I can turn the fineness to is the last but one position. Presumably one more turn would push the burs completely together, so it seems like there isn't enough precise control between fully closed and too course..
I know plenty of other people can choke their machines with this grinder so it might just be bad luck.. I'm also running through some vittoria supermarket beans so hopefully when I get some freshly roasted that will help.

[prongs386]

So my grinder was obviously faulty as I never got a fine grind with the shims and the fineness control got locked up and I couldn't adjust it anymore even after dissembling and cleaning.
I took it back to Myer to get a replacement and they tried to give me my money back because they didn't have any in stock. I insisted that they replace it under warranty and they ended up just giving me the smart grinder pro (BCG820).
This has worked out really well, initially not fine enough but adjusting the upper bur to a setting of 4 (default 6) results in a 30 second pull at fineness setting 4. Really happy now!

[ibiza888]

Got my BCG800 1 year ago and feeling not right as it's not grinding fine enough for single wall double basket with fresh beans, but Kurps single filter seems just marginally ok. Then I survived for a year with single filter, wasting time to brew multiple cups with it. Until last Wed heard about the shim kit for 800 here, sent email to Breville and got replied on Thur and received the Shim Kit on Friday, how nice! installed 1x1mm plus 1 x 0.4mm as instructed, then Bingo! Spot On! pulling lovely crema now, still have 3-4 steps up to finest setting.
Thank you John from Breville customer service.

[AlexCharchar]

I've been a long time lurker and have learned a great deal from the community here. But today I'm hoping to get a problem resolved -

I've had my smart grinder for a few (3?) years now. It's always been an ok grinder (even with the shim kit it's very rare that I'll get a shot that approaches even 25 seconds), but recently it's been acting increasingly strange.

A few days ago, towards the last seconds of grinding a shot, grinds stopped coming through - the burrs were spinning but no coffee came out. The next shot I tried to grind, absolutely nothing came out of the chute even though I could hear the burrs spinning and the coffee being knocked around.

I get grinds come through when in the courser settings, but when I adjust the grind so it's entering the espresso range, the coffee simply stops coming through. First it clumps (which hasn't happened in the past), but as I go finer it stops all together. The coffee appears to be grinding, as when I remove the hopper and look at the burrs, I can see a decent amount of ground up coffee in amongst the beans.

I've cleaned it as thoroughly as possible (removing burrs and brushing everything I can), and have even run rice through it –*this removed quite a bit of coffee I couldn't get to in the chute. Even on the finer grind settings the rice would come through, though slower than I would expect and almost in spurts. There's no grinding sound, no funky metallic smell, nor have I seen any of the felt I know some people have mentioned.

In the mean time I'm using a hand grinder which is fine, though laborious (but the results are outstanding! When dialed in, the results are better than what I've ever gotten with the smart grinder, which is slightly heart breaking) - but I'm not sure what to do? Is it advisable to pull the thing apart, or should I simply try to find a way to get it serviced?

Apologies if this has come up before and I've somehow missed it. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

[herbie]

Hi AlexCharchar ,
Welcome to the Forum.
Further to my post above, the good result with my grinder was short lived and the problem with the blocked exit chute reappeared shortly after.Fortunately mine was still in warranty and Breville replaced it (again). I had also replaced the felt washer under the cog below the bottom burr.
The plastic cog was slightly worn on the tips of cog teeth and this is the only possible explanation I can think of.It is possible to see the tip of the supplied cleaning brush through the gaps between the cog teeth when the brush is poked up through the exit shute from underneath guaranteeing that the shute is not blocked.They are a great grinder when working properly.
Herbie.

[AlexCharchar]

Thanks for the reply Herbie

The plastic cog doesn't look like it's been particularly worn, but maybe that's the problem. I can push the brush all the way through and see the tips of it come through, but whats really interesting to me is that the platform that the plastic cog sits on is full of coffee and no brushing seems to get it out. I'm guessing there's only one opening on that platform which leads to the coffee shoot, towards the front of the unit. No amount of brushing or running the machine seems to dislodge it - just move it around some, but not out the shoot.

I heard back from Breville and they aren't really able to help out other than suggest getting it looked at (which they admit will probably be costly), or buy a new one - at least their support being as good as it is, they offered to sell me one directly, though I'm not sure if I'll take them up on it or not.

For now I think I'm going to pull the whole unit apart and see what I can find!

Thanks again Herbie!

[Brewster]

Just wondering if anyone can advise the approx life of burrs for this grinder before they need replacing? It has been used for grinding espresso for the BES900 using freshly roasted beans. I put this question to Breville but they were unable to answer. I thought there might be a grind count or some other way to know.
Thanks
Mal

[wilko23]

Hi, just wondering if anyone else has issues with the smart grinder trying to be too smart? I get really frustrated when im dialling it in and making grind adjustments (coarser in this case) and im literally just about to get it right (one click away from a spot on shot) but then all of a sudden the dose changes (without changing the knob) and there is less ground coffee in the basket. Of course there is not enough coffee in the basket now to match my grind! So i have to now start again... Is this part of the grinder being smart? because it is a pain in the butt! More often than not when changing to new beans it is a fairly simple few clicks left or right and sometimes a twist one way or the other on the knob but every now and then im chasing up and down the settings (wasting so much fresh coffee) because it decides to automatically adjust my dose by so much that it throws the whole thing out.

[artman]

It's a time based dose. The finer the grind the more grind time required to get the same volume of ground coffee. That's what I found in my experience. So when tweaking the fineness, you might need to tweak the dose by a bar or so.

Cheers

[noise36]

BCG800/BCG820 what settings are people using with the EM7000 in a double shot portafilter?

I am currently grinding for 17 seconds on 9 fineness, and a fairly strong temping.

Not far off stock setting I suppose.

[wilko23]

That doesnt really match what is happening in my case... I was adjusting coarser so by what you said i should be getting more in the basket not less all of a sudden... Its almost like on that final adjustment that i have turned the dose knob down one or two clicks to lower my dose.. cheers anyway artman!

[brew]

I've had a 2 smart grinders BCG800s for 4 years. One has recently started to fail with the same problem many have described- slows down then beans jam and the clutch starts slipping with a ratatatatatat noise. This is different to when I've had hard beans/stones stuck in them, where the clutch suddenly slips and it fixes by simply removing the hard bean.

I also took both burrs out, and below the inner burr there is a plastic cog that sweeps the grinds out the hole at the front, down the chute. That cog looks to be worn down and I'm sure it has failed. I'd like to replace it witha a new one but haven't heard back from Breville about it yet!

So in the meantime, I bought the heavily discounted BCG820 in the boxing day sales- I note that the sweeping cog is now stainless steel metal!. Has anyone managed to get one of those sweeping cogs replaced? it would seem a simple fix.

cheers.

[HotShot]

I have been using the BCG800 for around 18 months but it stopped working properly recently, with the dreaded whirring sound and no grinds coming out. The motor is perfectly OK, it's just that there's no action at the grinder itself. Since I live in Singapore and Breville doesn't support this part of the world, I pulled the machine down and found that the white plastic grinder main gear has been worn down in one spot and I will need to replace it. I checked on line and it seems to be part no BCG800/130. Does anyone know where I can buy one of those? Any help would be much appreciated. BTW, I also have a dual boiler espresso machine which is out of service - that's my next project... Thanks.

[flaviocc]

Hy guys, my name is Flavio and Im from Brazil, Espirito Santo, great region where produce good coffee !

In my recent trip to USA, I bought, after a research and read a few reviews, the Breville BCG800XL Smart Grinder.

Back to home, install the machine, everything looks like ok, but I read the we need a shim kit to grind finer. Its really needs to install the kit ?

But I have another question: when turned the dial to espresso setting / grinder, the dial turns hard to move....it's normal or I have to do any adjustment ?

Thank you so much and happy new year for everyone.

Best,

Flavio