New Breville BCG820 "Smart Grinder Pro"

[barri]

Hey Matt
Time for a Compak perhaps.
Drew

Absolutely

[DesigningByCoffee]

Yeah, sounds like a wider issue.
Sorry to hear it!
Matt

[Milooper]

G'day everyone. I've posted the below intro with machine related questions in the BES920 owners thread.

So, about three weeks ago, I posted in the "new member" thread, saying I bought a superauto DeLonghi etc. I've since got rid of it (died as luck would have it) and I have swapped it out for a BES920 with the Breville Smart Grinder thrown in. I also bought the knock box while I was at it.

First impressions are really positive. I can't believe I even bought a superauto in the first instance when all I wanted was great tasting coffee! I'm not getting great coffee and I actually enjoy the ritual of creating a nice cup of coffee.

So, like most newbies to coffee etc, I have a few questions and would love some help in understanding what I am doing right and wrong with this flash machine. Please bear with me if I'm using the wrong terms for things and please, don't hesitate to correct me in that case.

Grinder related questions:

1. I see in previous posts that people have their grinders set quite high on the burr (5 or 6) and at about 6 on the LCD and are getting nice shots. When I had mine set to this, my shots were running through like they were water and under next to no pressure. Is it the type of beans (darker/lighter roast) allowing a good shot from these settings?

2. I have my grinder set to 17 seconds, 1 on the LCD and 2 on the burr which is giving me about 13g of ground coffee in the single shot, single walled basket. I'm tamping quite firmly but I'm getting a nice tasting coffee from it and the puck is dry and coming out in the basket every time (33 seconds). From what I understand it's pretty much a matter of "if you're getting good espresso, don't stress too much about how you get it" but by all accounts, I have the grinder set very fine to achieve this. Again, is it the type of beans I'm using (which by the way are Coffee Snobs Espresso Wow, but are getting a bit old).

3. The grinder has clogged twice since I changed the burr setting and has been a mission to unclog both times. To unclog it, my understanding is that you need to get the upper burr out but you can't get it out while there are still beans etc under it. How are others clearing obstructions?

Thanks in advance for your patience and help. I'm looking forward to becoming a part of the group and feeding my growing addiction!

Tai

[level3ninja]

1. I see in previous posts that people have their grinders set quite high on the burr (5 or 6) and at about 6 on the LCD and are getting nice shots. When I had mine set to this, my shots were running through like they were water and under next to no pressure. Is it the type of beans (darker/lighter roast) allowing a good shot from these settings?

The bean, the roast, the age of the bean, the humidity and amount of beans in the hopper will all combine to give you a different grind size requirement. Not to mention anything on the machine side of things (tamping, pre-infusion, etc.) Unfortunately due to this comparing your numbers with someone else won't be helpful unless you have the exact same beans roasted on the same day, and even then it will be a bit different.

2. I have my grinder set to 17 seconds, 1 on the LCD and 2 on the burr which is giving me about 13g of ground coffee in the single shot, single walled basket. I'm tamping quite firmly but I'm getting a nice tasting coffee from it and the puck is dry and coming out in the basket every time (33 seconds). From what I understand it's pretty much a matter of "if you're getting good espresso, don't stress too much about how you get it" but by all accounts, I have the grinder set very fine to achieve this. Again, is it the type of beans I'm using (which by the way are Coffee Snobs Espresso Wow, but are getting a bit old).

As the beans age they will need to be ground finer and finer to get the same results in terms of shot time etc. How old are we talking?

3. The grinder has clogged twice since I changed the burr setting and has been a mission to unclog both times. To unclog it, my understanding is that you need to get the upper burr out but you can't get it out while there are still beans etc under it. How are others clearing obstructions?

My 820 has never clogged. My 800 clogged 1 or 2 times in the 2.5 years I had it. All I can remember is forcing the upper burr to the unlock position (i.e. crushing the beans under it). I can't recommend trying this.

From the sound of it most of your problems might be the age of the beans. I know I had issues like that a couple of years ago for a while that couldn't be solved, until I got fresher beans. My understanding is that as bean age they lose their "spongeyness." So basically when you tamp fresh beans the grinds all smush into each other and fill in the gaps/reshape to fit each other. This causes the water to have to force between/through them, which extracts the oils. Older beans will form harder grinds that don't smush into each other as well and don't reshape to fit each other so much. So the water can get through much more easily and doesn't extract as much of the oils. This leads to us grinding finer to achieve a good flow rate, and can lead to problems when you have super fine and super fine grinds which are quite good at clogging grinders etc. Under normal circumstances your grinder shouldn't be clogging, so if it's happening regularly it suggests something is wrong.

[Milooper]

As per my other questions you answered, thanks for your response level3ninja. I really appreciate it.

The beans are 24 days old today, so pretty old. I think I'll stop stressing until I get some new beans and work with what I have. I'm going through beans like there's no tomorrow with all this experimenting!!

Cheers,

Tai

[astormsau]

Ive had 2 BCG820 smart grinders and a Dual boiler 920.
Neither of them has needed a burr adjustment from the standard setting of 6 out of the box. Usually grinding anything from 4 days old to supermarket Lavazza beans on a setting of 8-14 on the dial with no issues. I can easily choke the dual boiler (and see the guage go to 10.5-11 where the OPV kicks in) on a grind of about 6.
Drew

[Milooper]

Thanks astormsau. My inexperience must be really showing hey!

[CamB]

I have a BCG820 that I acquired this week as a warranty replacement for my failed 23 month old BCG800 - see post on BCG800 thread.

As I said in that other post, credit where it's due to Breville customer support for quick and responsive service.

I started with the out-of-the-box burr adjustment (6 from memory). Have now ended up at the finest burr setting AND the finest grind setting on the digital display, and it's still not fine enough. I can't achieve any more than 15 second pours from my Silvia - whereas my BCG800 with the shim kit fitted could easily choke the Silvia.

The other thing is that the BCG820 sounds like it is really labouring at the finest setting (perhaps understandable) - more so than the BCG800. I can't see the motor or gears lasting even as long as they did in my last grinder if it has to work that hard.

Does anyone know (including any Breville people who might be reading this....) if it's possible or advisable to fit a shim kit to the BCG820 ??

[bokka]

I have a BCG820 that I acquired this week as a warranty replacement for my failed 23 month old BCG800 - see post on BCG800 thread.

As I said in that other post, credit where it's due to Breville customer support for quick and responsive service.

I started with the out-of-the-box burr adjustment (6 from memory). Have now ended up at the finest burr setting AND the finest grind setting on the digital display, and it's still not fine enough. I can't achieve any more than 15 second pours from my Silvia - whereas my BCG800 with the shim kit fitted could easily choke the Silvia.

The other thing is that the BCG820 sounds like it is really labouring at the finest setting (perhaps understandable) - more so than the BCG800. I can't see the motor or gears lasting even as long as they did in my last grinder if it has to work that hard.

Does anyone know (including any Breville people who might be reading this....) if it's possible or advisable to fit a shim kit to the BCG820 ??

I'm actually finding something similar with my Gaggia Classic. I'm struggling to choke the machine no matter what grind setting I'm using even with the burs set to 1.

[BeanThere889]

Hi All,

Following on from bokka's post, I was hoping if someone can give me some ideas on the various settings on the BCG820 (time, shot number and grind setting) to work with my Gaggia Classic.

I am using a Rancilio single wall double basket (40-100-102) but I have been struggling to get the correct dose from my grinder. I noticed that there are lots of posts where people have referred to the dosage by grams - I don't have a coffee scale and have no way of correlating the grams of coffee dosed by the grinder relative to the time/shot number/grind setting on the BCG820. I am still trialling the various settings on the grinder (at the expense of a lot of coffee beans!) but invariably after tamping, the basket is too full and I can't even engage and lock in the portafilter into the group head on the Gaggia. I have not changed the factory burr settings on the grinder and use freshly roasted beans.

Can anyone share their experience with the settings on the BCG820 (by time/shot number/grind settings) to get a decent espresso shot with a Gaggia Classic with the new Rancilio double basket?

Cheers!

[CamB]

Update to my last post -

It seems that it was my particular BCG820 which was at fault.

At around the time of my last post, I contacted Kat Brazier from Breville to ask about a shim kit, and she arranged for someone Breville customer service to contact me. They said that they wanted to get my BCG820 back so they could examine it, and arranged for another one to be sent to me.

I received the new one on Friday, and from the first grind it was apparent that there was definitely something wrong with the first one. The new one is performing as I would hope and expect.

I was not optimistic that the new one would be any different - so when I received it, I adjusted the top burr setting even before I did the first grind. I dropped it down from 6 to 3, and I set the grind size setting on the digital display to 8. Then I ground the first shot - and it just about choked my Siliva. So I backed the top burr setting off to 4, and that still seemed excessive, so I have now adjusted it back to 6 - which is the setting it comes with out of the box. There is ample room left for adjustment - and I would never expect to go anywhere near the finest settings.

I think someone else in this forum has said that their BCG820 worked fine straight out of the box with the standard top burr setting of 6 - and that is essentially my experience.


Even at a setting of 6 on the top burr and with the grind size kept at 8 on the digital display, the espresso grind is as fine as it needs to be - and the flavour extraction is as good as you could expect. Much, much better than the first BCG820 I had.


In addition, the new one doesn't sound like it is working anywhere near as hard as the first one. The first one sounded as if it was labouring, and I was not optimistic that the gears or motor would last long. The new one sounds as if it is easily handling the work - whilst at the same time producing a finer grind.

The earlier failure of my BCG800 and the problems with the first BCG820 have together been a major inconvenience - but so far I'm very happy with the performance of the second BCG820.

Again, credit where it's due to Breville customer service. Ideally, their products shouldn't be failing in the first place - but at least they are quick to rectify problems. And given how they have taken my first BCG820 back to examine it, they are obviously trying to improve.

[dipstick]

My first post and just bought my a BCG820. Thing is so expensive where I'm from, compared to how much you get it in Australia. Almost double. Been reading the BCG 800 thread and almost bought the 800 not knowing that the 820 has been released. Good thing I called the local distributor before I pulled the trigger. In any case, just to make sure to get a finer grind for Espresso, I already set the burrs finer to around 4. I haven't had a chance yet to use it for Espresso, but did use it for my drip this morning and found it to be finer than usual. (Used to own a cheap Krups "burr" grinder). Can any of the 820 owners share their usual settings for Espresso and Drip? After reading this forum, I will probably try to put the burr setting back to as it came out of the factory that way.

Another thing is I came from using a Ascaso mini which is a stepless grinder. The tough thing with the stepless is unless you like experimenting with so much beans, its pretty tough to get right and pretty impossible to shift from drip to espresso. Are the steps between settings sufficient to get a proper grind size in with the 820?

Hope to get your inputs.

[dipstick]

So ill just answer my own questions as a guide to whomever may need it.

So far, am happy with the grinder. Best thing about it is that its so tidy. As mentioned in my earlier post, I used to have separate grinders for drip and espresso requirements. Now I decluttered my counter with only one machine which also creates much less mess in terms of grind. All the grinds just shoot perfectly into the grounds container for drip and into my portafilter for espresso. and the very few grounds that sometimes go astray just fall on the removable drip tray. My ascaso would normally have grounds coming out after grinding and my krups when I remove the container for cleaning. There is also hardly any need to purge out any grounds in between setting or bean changes so saves you a lot in beans.

I'm also now able to change in between settings easily from different grind types and still get consistent shots.

A stepless grinder may perform better for people who have the patience to experiment in dialling their shots and have a few cups a day, but for me, who just pulls 1 or 2 shots a day and also loves dabbling in drip, pour over and cold brew, using this machine is a joy and well worth the money.

Btw, no problems with fineness. I reverted back to 6 on the burr settings and am getting 25-30 second shots on number 7 fineness using an espro tamper. So I still have lots of room if I need to gp finer.

[bentkalec]

I've had the new BCG820 for a couple of months now. Ground 2-3 coffees a day, every day and it performs well. A one click adjustment has proven to create approx 2-3 secs of change shot time. If I've gone too fine and caused bitterness, one click coarser usually solves the problem. Just wondering whether it is possible to remove the lower burr to aid in cleaning out underneath? Or is this an impossibility for a 'kitchen appliance' type grinder? Cleaning could be worse, but it would be nice to be able to get every old grind out once in a while...
Regards,
Ben

[artman]

You should be able to remove the nut and then the lower burr. Note left hand thread. Put on a socket and bar and give it a quick tap to crack it loose. Be careful of any washers (shims) on the shaft or stuck in the burr recess so you don't loose then. The 820 may not have these as the top burr is adjustable for height.

Cheers