New Breville BCG820 "Smart Grinder Pro"

[level3ninja]

I am getting a lot of clumping from my BCG820. Is this par for the course with this grinder, or indeed any grinder? I've not much experience with these things...

And more importantly, what can I do to improve the situation?

That's par for this grinder. Not for all, but for most in this price range. To improve I use a toothpick for a few seconds to break up the clumps. Usually takes between 5-10s.

[zeezaw]

Clumping

I am getting a lot of clumping from my BCG820. Is this par for the course with this grinder, or indeed any grinder? I've not much experience with these things...

And more importantly, what can I do to improve the situation?

[level3ninja]

I was trying to show them the numbers on the burr so i took it out and all they said was "this is so you can clean it" and then we went back to square one.

As though he wasn't even aware that the 820 existed? Always encouraging!

[jooi312]

I contacted Breville and they gave me a reference number to bring it to one of the service shops in Perth to get it checked out. The people at the service center didn't quite understand what I was telling them so that took awhile, I was trying to show them the numbers on the burr so i took it out and all they said was "this is so you can clean it" and then we went back to square one. Hopefully they'll be able to find something or maybe get a replacement grinder, fingers crossed.

[prydey]

should I be contacting Breville first or contact the shop i got it from?

i contacted breville first. they noted my complaint, agreed to give me a new one, and gave me a reference number to give to the shop (good guys). good guys took some convincing but i eventually got through to them that the decision to exchange it had already been made by breville, and that it didn't need 'testing' by them.

[jooi312]

should I be contacting Breville first or contact the shop i got it from?

[prydey]

This seems to be a common problem.
For other Breville grinders (BCG800 and BES870XL) there's a shim kit. I quick search shows you can adjust the burrs for the BCG820 to grind finer than stock settings --> http://coffeesnobs.com.au/documentat...ind-finer.html

He/she has already done this. There is no other option but to contact breville and hope for better luck with another machine. My first one was the same. I reached the limit of adjustment with fresh beans. My second one I was able to achieve a good extraction with the same beans and leaving the top burr on it's factory setting of 6. Obviously there is a consistency issue with manufacture, or a bad batch of grinders out there.

[charzy]

anyone know if breville will do a replacement if ii cant find the receipt for my breville smart grinder? I got it as a gift last year in june so its still under warranty i believe, i just don't have the original receipt.

I've had to drop my inner burr to a "1" and around 3-5 on the LCD screen to get a decent shot which leaves me not much room to play around which makes me wonder if mine is a bit faulty since i've seen people say they left it at the factory settings and it worked fine. I've got BES920 to pair with it.

This seems to be a common problem.
For other Breville grinders (BCG800 and BES870XL) there's a shim kit. I quick search shows you can adjust the burrs for the BCG820 to grind finer than stock settings --> http://coffeesnobs.com.au/documentat...ind-finer.html

[prydey]

if you paid via card, you may be able to find proof of purchase on your bank statements. not sure if that would be enough, but it would prove the product was within warranty. some shops also have a record, so you may be able to go back to where you bought it and see if they can print you a new receipt.

at the end of the day, you can only ask the question. the worst that can happen is they say no. in my experience, breville are pretty good.

[jooi312]

anyone know if breville will do a replacement if ii cant find the receipt for my breville smart grinder? I got it as a gift last year in june so its still under warranty i believe, i just don't have the original receipt.

I've had to drop my inner burr to a "1" and around 3-5 on the LCD screen to get a decent shot which leaves me not much room to play around which makes me wonder if mine is a bit faulty since i've seen people say they left it at the factory settings and it worked fine. I've got BES920 to pair with it.

[prydey]

If you read back through this page, you'll notice i had a similar issue with mine. Rang Breville and got it swapped over under warranty. Next one was much better, and still going sweet.

I'd recommend contacting Breville and talking to them. They are pretty good.

[NmBeasy]

Hey guys,

Just wondering if someone could help me out also,

I have a breville dual boiler and smart grinder pro. Im roasting my own beans but I'm finding even on finest setting, burr setting 1,2 or 3 even and on LCD 1 shot at times still can run too fast for my likes. I haven't yet chocked the machine either so not sure whats going on.. I'm also using 20-23 grams in the basket and tamping pretty firmly.

Also how big are the stock baskets that come with the dual boiler? is between 20-23 grams suitable

Any ideas?

[d0sr]

Picked up my new grinder today. First impressions is it seems to be much more in keeping with most other people's experience. left the top burr on its factory setting of 6, and got a good result on a grind size of 5, so early signs are its much better.

I could adjust the top burr down to 5 so that i'm not so far up the fine scale on the knob, but at least i still have plenty of adjustability left. happy days.

Same experience this end with our BCG820 Pro, with fresh beans, (Witham's Coffee #4 blend, roasted 1-7 days prior), I began on the default setting which IIRC was 10. After switching to a 3 week open 1kg bag of Lavazza (supermarket coffee) I now grind on 12-13 (for the BES920 dual boiler). Nowhere near the end of the scale in either case- so far so good.

From this very small amount of experience, either a fresher coffee grinds coarser or a larger bean. For sure the bean size is the biggest factor, so be careful with that when changing coffee or altering the factory adjustment of your BES grinder.

Using the double shot basket with the dual boiler OTOH seems to require one notch finer than the single, so I'm clearly still getting the hang of it!

[2muchcoffeeman]

There are plenty of cafes using big grinders and having them dispatched by very light roasts (read up about ek43 shear plates as an example).

I'd reckon Breville designed their grinder to work with roasted coffee, not for green coffee with a slightly brown exterior. I think you will find that you keep killing Breville grinders as they're not designed for a duty cycle of this nature...

Options are to buy a better grinder or some coffee which has been roasted, not warmed.

[Beantheregroundthat]

Hi all

Bought one of these a few weeks ago and it's been jamming on very lightly roasted beans...the clutch kicks in.

I've fixed it by blending the lightest roast with my darkest but Breville say they'll take it back but it has to go via Myer and the refund will take a couple of weeks.

Should I buy another of these or upgrade. I do like it.

I'm using a 920 machine and make mostly espresso and lattes.

Cheers