What’s on your coffee bench?

[fmradio516]

Originally Posted by jkbrwn

The duo temp pro and up come with both pressurized and non pressurized baskets. The Bambino plus and down come with pressurized from reading the breville site. Anyway, details, details!

I didn’t meant to dunk on it, btw. At that price point maybe, but I think most people recommend spending a bit more as far as entry level motorized espresso grinders go. Have you considered hand grinding or is that out of the question? I cannot recommend the 1ZPresso JX-Pro enough if you would consider it. It’s literally so great and cheaper than the SGP. Takes no longer than 30 seconds to grind an 18g shot and it has like 280 points of adjustment I think.

I mean its not out of the question, I just dont know how i feel about spending all that money on a hand crank grinder... but its something to think about for sure! Thanks for the suggestion.

[echappist]

Based on the following photo, I assume that something's quite off with my prep?



Lots of cracking across the surface. ~16 g in a double basket.

I should mention that preinfusion on my V3 Rancilio Silvia just made things worse. The divots were more frequent when I used preinfusion (see below).



Lastly, the beans I use also produce these light-brown specks. Are these normal?

[glepore]

The light specks are just chaff left on the beans from roasting. Its too soft to grind and just usually passes through.

I doubt its the machine. It looks like you have voids in the puck. You need to try to settle the grounds before tamping, maybe. I keep a hockey puck on the counter and tap the portafilter on it a couple times to settle and level the basket before I tamp.

[glepore]

The light specks are just chaff left on the beans from roasting. Its too soft to grind and just usually passes through.

I doubt its the machine. It looks like you have voids in the puck. You need to try to settle the grounds before tamping, maybe. I keep a hockey puck on the counter and tap the portafilter on it a couple times to settle and level the basket before I tamp.

[echappist]

Thanks for chiming in

How do you hit the portafilter? Do you place the portafilter on your bench and tap its rim with the puck; or do you do the tapping while holding the portafilter in your hand.

Also, is this amount of chaff normal? Don't recall seeing this level from previous roasters I've used.

[scoobydrew]

Have you had a chance to try 18g in the Rancilio triple basket as previously suggested?

It really looks like you're overstuffing the 16g into the double basket. If it's too full and there's no headroom (you can see the screw imprint in the middle), the puck can crack which essentially negates all the effort you put into your puck prep.

FWIW, I had the same divot issue on my Silvia when I had ~16g into the Rancilo double basket.

Edit: Here's an old pic I dug up showing the divot. At this time, I had the flat screw shower screen mod, so the screw imprint isn't as apparent. But you can see the ring along the edge of the puck from the showerscreen.

[froze]

Originally Posted by jkbrwn

Literally what are you on about? Breville is Australian. Nothing about this has anything to do with Italian's other than fmradio's FIL being Italian.

I thought Breville was Italian...Never mind then!

[echappist]

Originally Posted by scoobydrew

Have you had a chance to try 18g in the Rancilio triple basket as previously suggested?

It really looks like you're overstuffing the 16g into the double basket. If it's too full and there's no headroom (you can see the screw imprint in the middle), the puck can crack which essentially negates all the effort you put into your puck prep.

FWIW, I had the same divot issue on my Silvia when I had ~16g into the Rancilo double basket.

Edit: Here's an old pic I dug up showing the divot. At this time, I had the flat screw shower screen mod, so the screw imprint isn't as apparent. But you can see the ring along the edge of the puck from the showerscreen.

I did try the 18 g into the triple basket, but ended up with underextraction.

Btw, would you happen to know the reason for the divot/depression on the left side edge of your portafilter? I get something like that relatively often, and that's another issue i'd like to resolve.

[jkbrwn]

Originally Posted by froze

I thought Breville was Italian...Never mind then!

Hehe - they have sub brands such as Creatista, Inissia and Virtuo. Maybe these fake Italian words are what made you think that

[glepore]

I get some amount of chaff depending on the type of bean and the depth of the roast ( I home roast). I wouldn't sweat that.

I tap the spout of the portafilter on the puck a couple times just to settle things.

I agree that you're likely overfilled, and I've found that headspace is often critical-ie your 18g in a triple basket may not have been enough, and 16 in the double might be a quarter to a half gram too much...

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by echappist

Based on the following photo, I assume that something's quite off with my prep?



Lots of cracking across the surface. ~16 g in a double basket.

I should mention that preinfusion on my V3 Rancilio Silvia just made things worse. The divots were more frequent when I used preinfusion (see below).



Lastly, the beans I use also produce these light-brown specks. Are these normal?

Maybe you should try this technique https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIexlhxP0Ig

How's the flow out of the shower screen? Maybe it's plugged and only flowing at the divot?

Also, a bottomless portafilter will show if you have chanelling problems.

[kingpin75s]

Originally Posted by echappist

Based on the following photo, I assume that something's quite off with my prep?

As a Sylvia owner of 14 years, I can support a couple of comments here.

- Overfilled based on hole in the middle and grounds look to be pushing through the gasket and over the top.
- In addition to giving the protafilter a tap, and for a better tamp, I have gone to keeping a toothpick next to my Mazzer and use it at half full and full on my basket. Pick, tap and tamp and it has made a difference.

[rwsaunders]

Originally Posted by froze

If you just got the machine from the manufacturer I wouldn't take it apart, it probably would void the warranty, so I would contact the manufacturer and let them warranty it.

You can take it apart to clean it and align the burr.

How to clean Breville coffee maker grinder / How to clean Breville coffee grinder

Un-lock the bean hopper.
Empty any residual beans out into a container.
Return the hopper back in place (lock it).
Run a normal grind cycle until there are no grounds coming out.
Un-lock the hopper once more and set it aside.
Using the handle at the top of your outer burr, proceed to turn the burr in the direction of the “ALIGN” arrow. This unlocks it to allow you remove it.
Brush any grounds- use a cleaning brush- from the crevices (of the burr) and the top of your lower burr.
Reinstall the outer burr then lock your bean hopper back properly in place. You should not, however, replace the coffee beans yet.
Next, clean the chute- just slide your cleaning brush in to the ground s chute and move it in/out in a spiral motion. This releases any grounds still clinging inside your chute.
Now replace the coffee beans in your hopper.
Resume use of your espresso machine.

https://machinelounge.com/breville-b...nder-problems/

[schwa86]

If you PM me your address, I will send you 3 inoculation loops you can stick in the end of a wine cork to make your own WDT. I personally use a funnel when grinding into Portafilter so I can give a good stir with the wdt, I also bought a leveling tamper knock off on Amazon that gives a nice even surface for tamping for $25 or so. A little fussiness goes a long way IMO tho gives my kids something else to make fun of me about.

[scoobydrew]

Originally Posted by echappist

I did try the 18 g into the triple basket, but ended up with underextraction.

Btw, would you happen to know the reason for the divot/depression on the left side edge of your portafilter? I get something like that relatively often, and that's another issue i'd like to resolve.

The divot went away after I switched to the larger basket. When I was having that issue with the smaller basket, I thought the issue was showerscreen or water dispersion related. I cleaned the dispersion plate, dispersion nut, and showerscreen completely with Cafiza, but the divot was still there. I then rotated the screen 90 degrees to see if the divot tracks with it, but it had no effect.

Regarding the underextraction with the larger basket, did you adjust your grind size? You'll need to play around with it since there's more headroom.