I hear you both so I'm off to Simply Coffee tomorrow for some fresh beans.
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Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder
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As far as dosing by volume goes, the razor matches pretty well with the 5c test.
You should see an imprint of the shower screen on the spent puck. That is normal.
If you look to buying a tamper, you can't go past a Pullman one. Bit pricey but unrivalled in my view.
If you dose by volume, once you get to know how much to grind, once you have tamped, don't use the razor anymore. It roughs up the surface of the puck and retamping doesn't make it right again. It's a handy tool for learning but after that, put it away.
Alternatively, dose by weight. I'm too lazy for the extra process so I still just use volume. BCG820 has a timer for dose control.
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So I have some fresh beans, roasted exactly 7 days ago. Thoroughly removed and cleaned everything with vacuum and brush then reassembled and carefully ran the machine without the hopper.
The burrs just started to clash at the "ss" of espresso mark....bewdy. In went the medium roast beans, grind looked OK but shot was watery and only went to "4bar" on the gauge, puck was sloppy.
Gradually increased the to the finest possible but still no improvement other than gauge rising to "5.5bar" so I guess the grind adjustment is working.
Cleaned the grinder of the medium beans and put some dark roast, oily Costa Rica/Indian Tiger and at the finest grind it managed to choke the pour "9bar" with just a few drips in the cup after 30sec.
Backed it off 2 tabs and a watery mess, increased by 1 tab and a slight improvement...very inconsistent.
It appears to me there is possible wear in either the burrs, upper burr carrier or adjustment mechanism. Apparently there is a couple of screws on an internal grind adjusting gear that can be removed to enable even finer grind (I have already installed shims) so my next step is to completely dismantle it to get at the internals.
Interestingly after removing the medium beans and cleaning I could not get the burrs to clash again.
Valvster
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Are you using the tamper that came with the machine? How tight or loose is the fit in the basket? Water will find the path of least resistance, so if the tamper is not matched reasonably well to the basket, it won't be tamped as firmly around the edges and you will get what is known as channeling.
You could experiment with the single shot basket, as the tapered sides will help to reduce this effect, and see if you get a better result.
With the amount of shims you have used you should be able to choke the machine so something is not right somewhere.
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I think you are on the money....at this stage I have not strayed from the provided tamper and it is a loose fit in the basket. I noticed what looked like about 20mm of channeling around the edge of the basket so I tried the single basket and it choked.Originally posted by prydey View PostAre you using the tamper that came with the machine? How tight or loose is the fit in the basket? Water will find the path of least resistance, so if the tamper is not matched reasonably well to the basket, it won't be tamped as firmly around the edges and you will get what is known as channeling
I always planned on getting another tamper but decided to wait to see if the supplied baskets were up to scratch.
I purchased a pair of single wall baskets for the Breville ES800 I have but got a better result from converting the dual wall basket to single wall.
cheers....Valvster
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I had my Pullman tamper matched to the basket on my 900. When I got my 920, I found the double basket was too big and I was having similar issues although not to the same extent. I kept using the basket from the 900 at first but ended up buying a Pullman double basket. I actually bought a new base for my tamper as well, matched to the new Pullman basket, but as luck would have it, it was the same size as the one I had so I was able to return it.
I would highly recommend the same combo (Pullman tamper matched to Pullman or vst basket), although they are on the pricy side. They are made better than most others though.
Sorry for off topic rant.
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Does anyone know the internal and external dimensions (diameter) of the shims for the Breville BCG800? They are no longer available to order, but I'd assume are not unique to this grinder.
This is the little info I managed to find online about this kit (P/N BCG800/116.1):
1 x 0.2 mm thick shim
2 x 0.4 mm thick shim
1 x 1.0 mm thick shim
Thanks!
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