Breville BCG800 Smart Grinder

[Al]

My Smart Grinder has been serving me well for over a year now, I grind for Syphon / Aeropress / cold drip and go through around half a kilo a week. The only issues I've had are that on light roasts (pre first crack) it will struggle and jam if I grind fine, and if the grounds cup is around the wrong way it will back up, fill the grounds chute and jam.

But yesterday one of the kids dropped the top burr assembly and the plastic holder broke. From the Breville website it was easy to find part BCG800/110 for $36.31, and I was able to pick it up from a local Breville service centre for $25. I would have rathered to just get the plastic holder itself as the burr was still in good condition and now I have to break in the new burr, but it was not available. A pity such a good grinder is dependent on such a crappy piece of plastic, but at least it was easy to replace.

I've been trying to find a Smart Grinder in England for my brother in law with no success, but while I was in Ireland I saw the same grinder on sale as a Catler Automatic coffee grinder CG 8010 | Catler, looks like it's just rebadged and sold out of the Czech Republic.

[TheBoneRanger]

My wife and I bought a smart grinder a month or so ago. We went with the Breville over Rocky, only because the espresso machine I'd bought (a used Gaggia Classic) cost me virtually nothing, and since this was our first home machine, we were trying to keep the investment as low as possible.

The smart grinder has been fine since day one. No dramas to report. It grinds plenty fine enough, about five notches away from the finest setting (just to the right of the word "espresso".

Given the price and the warranty period, we were happy to take a chance on this machine, and, touch wood, everything is going swimmingly.

I thought I'd post this here, as I found it a little hard, while sifting through this thread pre-purchase, to figure out whether the new machines were still in need of shims, or at what point Breville had modified the grinders in the factory.

Hopefully this post is of assistance to someone.

Andrew

[J_Hutt]

Not having a good run here. Replacement grinder started loud clicking when grinding this morning - like a broken gear tooth type noise. Coffee grinding still ok (beans were roasted yesterday) but noise is a worry. Back to Myer....

[J_Hutt]

Grinder replaced, all good. In fact, better than good. The quality in the cup is quite noticable for same beans...which has me thinking; would this have been a case of the burrs being worn/blunt, over-working the coffee, heating it etc, making it clump, bind and not flow, eventually compress and harden? I wouldnt have thought 16 months of 2-4 uses per day would do that and they didnt feel/look worn...but am at a loss to explain what was wrong with the previous unit.

When would you expect to need to replace burrs?

[Steve82]

Update; Breville authorised replacement from place of purchase as it was within 24mth warranty. Cant fault that for service.

Excellent result Jabba

[J_Hutt]

Update; Breville authorised replacement from place of purchase as it was within 24mth warranty. Cant fault that for service.

[J_Hutt]

Have been using the smart grinder for 16 months without issue, except installing the shim kit in first 2 weeks. Beans have been a mixture of bought (Veneziano) or roasted myself. Grinder has worked flawlessly.

Just this week when grinding for 2nd cup of morning, the grinder started slowing down mid dose and then clicked a few times and stopped, nothing coming out. I typically clean weekly and had just done so that morning. I removed top burr, then bottom burr and fine coffee was caked in/around rotating 'gear' that pushes coffee into the spout. I cleaned all thoroughly, reassembled and then tried again. Dialed in with a few shots to get a good extraction. Then, next dose, the same thing happened. I am not grinding exceptionally fine - certainly not near the fineness possible. I tried a different bean, same thing. Now it happens every time - I get 1-2 doses and it clogs & jams until it gets cleaned.

There is nothing special about the beans - one batch is a little oily (the store bought) but the ones I roast are just on 2nd crack so CS9ish

FWIW, I emptied my EM0480 of decaf and tried it and it works fine with both batches of beans.

Any thoughts?

[rigs]

Thanks, Nicholas. I'll contact them

[Nicholas]

Whoops. Forgot to mention you get the shim kit directly from breville. They will post it to you directly.

[Nicholas]

I think you can still get shim kits. I have had a BCG800 for about 5 months with the batch code 1303. I have had no troubles with it. I usually have my grinder set to the second "s" under the word espresso on the LCD, although I do adjust it up a few notches if I am grinding a less dense bean. For example Monsoon Malabar Gold. You can always try ordering the shim kit.

[rigs]

Hi. I got this grinder about 6 months ago.
I use the finest grind setting, and usually pull a shot with unpressurised basket on my EM6910. However, this past week, I failed to get decent shots that way (indicator showed the pressure's too low) and no crema. The only way to get shots as good as before, is by using the pressurised basket.
I get the beans from Anomali Coffee (a local coffee roaster, as I live in Jakarta), bought 2 days after it was roasted.

My question is, is shimming still required with the recent BCG800s?
If it is, where in Sydney can I get the shim kit? (Since my sister lives there)

Thanks in advance.

[kirova]

just a quick update for anyone that cares

turns out my grinder is still within warranty (I thought it has a 12 months warranty, turns out to be 24) but only by a few days, it is now in the hands of the local Breville repair rep, will keep you gals/guys updated.

[Yelta]

Probably more useful to report the spammers than to quote them...

Your right.

[Dragunov21]

First post and without so much as a how do you do launches into a rap extolling the virtues of a product, at least it's a sponsors grinder.

Probably more useful to report the spammers than to quote them...

[prydey]

my grinder has a product code beginning with 12 and yet it still required shimming.

also, i'm no coffee expert, but these days i can usually dial a new bean in in 3-4 goes. if its a bean i've used before, i generally remember roughly where the start point was and can get it within maybe 2-3 goes. even if i use the same beans for 2 consecutive orders, it doesn't guarantee the start point will be the same for both either.

i agree the BSG is a great little domestic grinder but the other points aren't very accurate.