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Espresso: Espresso Machines
Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

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Stuart
Senior Member

Joined: 9 Feb 2012
Posts: 113
Location: TX
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Breville Dual Boiler
Grinder: Baratza Vario
Roaster: Air Crazy popper

Posted Mon Jun 25, 2012, 5:12am Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

In my opinion, 10.5 bar on a blind basket (or a complete choker) is what it should be. The early production run were up at or above 13. And the Breville tablets are the ones that Breville endorses. But, that said, over on Coffee Snobs I found this advice, and have been following it: http://coffeesnobs.com.au/YaBB.pl?num=1312978609/1285#1285 This morning, I enjoyed my first pressure-profiiled shot. Brown Coffee Co.'s Finca Vista Hermosa "Edlina" microlot espresso roast; 18.5g in the stock double basket at 201F setpoint. I ran up to ~25 ml at full pressure, then cracked the water valve to back off the pressure to 5 bar for the remainder (up to about 50 ml). Compared with a "straight" shot of the same coffee, this was sweeter. I'm not sure how this compares to what others are doing, but I like the result.

STG
Senior Member

Joined: 5 Feb 2012
Posts: 24
Location: Edmonton, Can
Expertise: I like coffee

Posted Mon Jun 25, 2012, 11:59am Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

I fricken love my BDB. I've owned mine now since January. The naked PF is the tits. I don't know if this is a BDB problem but I didn't change my grind at all, and now all of a sudden my shots only pull at 1 or 2 bar and are quick as heck and just plain wrong! When the coffee comes out of the pf it is all damp and mushy and not compact like before. If I use my blank basket though it maxes out at 9 bar (I adjusted my OPV) so thats a good sign. Could my Virtuoso somehow have became a lot more coarse? Unless no one else has had this problem, I'm suspecting the grinder...

BubbaDude
Senior Member

Joined: 8 Jan 2011
Posts: 493
Location: Frisco Bay
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Breville Dual Boiler
Grinder: Baratza Vario
Vac Pot: Yama
Drip: Clever Coffee Dripper
Roaster: Hottop 2KB

Posted Mon Jun 25, 2012, 12:02pm Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

STG Said: I don't know if this is a BDB problem but I didn't change my grind at all, and now all of a sudden my shots only pull at 1 or 2 bar and are quick as heck and just plain wrong! Posted June 25, 2012 link Fresh-roasted beans naturally become faster day by day after they're roasted, so if you don't adjust your grind a little each day your shots will get faster. It's not a grinder problem, just a fact of life for freshly roasted coffee.

"I've Scaced many HX/E61 machines, seeing shot variances of up to 8-10F or more. [The BDB] stays within 1F." - Mark Prince

caramelcrema
Senior Member

Joined: 21 Jun 2012
Posts: 13
Location: Los Angeles
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: Breville Dual Boiler...
Grinder: Rancilio Rocky

Posted Mon Jun 25, 2012, 2:15pm Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

I have read almost ever page of this thread. Am I the only one that has found this design flaw? When running a cooling flush directly into the drip tray, water falls between the drip tray and the body of the machine. This leaves a little pool of water under the drip tray. Am I the only one that finds this to be a problem? I never has this problem with my Breville BES860XL "Barista Express".

klund
Senior Member

Joined: 31 Mar 2012
Posts: 71
Location: Southern MN, USA
Expertise: I like coffee

Espresso: Breville Dual Boiler
Grinder: Baratza Vario-W

Posted Mon Jun 25, 2012, 2:18pm Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

caramelcrema Said: I have read almost ever page of this thread. Am I the only one that has found this design flaw? When running a cooling flush directly into the drip tray, water falls between the drip tray and the body of the machine. This leaves a little pool of water under the drip tray. Am I the only one that finds this to be a problem? I never has this problem with my Breville BES860XL "Barista Express". Posted June 25, 2012 link Perhaps it is a flaw with your unit? I have run water directly into the drip tray a thousand times, and I have only had three or four times where there has been anything more than small drops of water under the drip tray. That's my personal experience, at least. Good luck! Kevin

-- klund Well then, you should see me without coffee.

old442
Senior Member

Joined: 24 Dec 2006
Posts: 54
Location: Frederick, MD
Expertise: I live coffee

Espresso: Breville DB, Europiccola,...
Grinder: Major, SJ, Rocky DL
Vac Pot: Yama
Drip: Chemex, Doppelwandinger...
Roaster: Behmor, Hearthware Gourmet

Posted Thu Jun 28, 2012, 5:52pm Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

You're not alone. I was used to doing cooling and cleaning flushes into the plumbed drip tray on my last machine. I found this issue pretty quick. If there is any water going onto the metal that forms the lip against the drip tray it will run UNDER the drip tray. I now use an old steaming pitcher to flush into after each shot to clean the screen.

BubbaDude
Senior Member

Posted Sat Jun 30, 2012, 3:08pm Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

old442 Said: If there is any water going onto the metal that forms the lip against the drip tray it will run UNDER the drip tray. Posted June 28, 2012 link I pre-flush every shot and I don't have this problem.

"I've Scaced many HX/E61 machines, seeing shot variances of up to 8-10F or more. [The BDB] stays within 1F." - Mark Prince

svideo
Senior Member

Joined: 21 Jun 2012
Posts: 3
Location: US
Expertise: I like coffee

Espresso: Breville Dual Boiler
Grinder: Baratza Vario-W

Posted Sun Jul 1, 2012, 10:56am Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

First, thanks to everyone in this thread - it's a lot to digest but has been extraordinarily helpful. I'm a complete espresso newb and I'm struggling to get a consistent, good double shot of espresso from my BDB. Extraction times are all over the place, and when running a double shot I've yet to have it result in more than 1.2oz of espresso. I'm grinding with a Vario-W which I had assumed would give me consistent dosing as I figure out what I'm doing but consistency isn't what I'm seeing. I've calibrated the W using the procedure outlined in the manual to set the bite point at 1L. I'm using the factory single-wall double shot basket. The manual indicates 18g, so I set the Vario and left it at 1L. The result was a couple drips of espresso and high pressure readings as if I was wildly over dosed, way too fine, or maybe over tamped. I've managed to get the extraction time to around 25 seconds with the Vario set around 3L. My bathroom scale is a digital model that makes it difficult to accurately judge, but I think I've got myself somewhere around 30 lbs. My shot volume however is still averaging around 1oz when pressing the double button. Any idea what I might be doing wrong here?

dagoat
Senior Member

Joined: 10 Dec 2004
Posts: 292
Location: santa barbara, ca
Expertise: I love coffee

Espresso: BDB (Breville Dual Boiler...
Grinder: baratza vario
Vac Pot: aeropress
Drip: manual
Roaster: cafe rosto

Posted Sun Jul 1, 2012, 11:52am Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

1) don't worry too much about tamping EXACTLY right. it doesn't make much difference. if you accidentally throw down a 40lb tamp when you meant to do 30lb, you won't even notice the difference. 2) weighing the dose is important, good on you for doing it. but if you want consistency and repeatability, you have to weigh the actual espresso you are extracting--especially before you've trained your eye to know when to cut off the pour. this is why i didn't spend the extra hundred dollars on the -W version of the vario. because i wanted to weigh my dose AND my extraction on the SAME scale. i do have a vario though, and LOVE it. but since you've already spent the extra money on the -W, no biggie. just get a cheap digital scale from harbor freight to weigh your shots. you won't lose much by having two different scales. 3) it's of little value trying to discuss with other vario owners, where your settings are based on where the lettering is painted on the grinder. micro-adjustables like the vario, or other stepless grinders make things like "1L" and "3L" nearly meaningless. you will simply have to adjust your grinder so that you get the weight of extracted espresso you want, in the time you want. you're on your own for that one. note, when i'm talking about extracted espresso, i'm NOT talking about ground coffee, i'm talking about the weight of the beverage itself. 4) if your shot volume is all over the place, it's due to the fact that you are not weighing your extraction. 20g of extracted liquid will be more or less the same volume, every time you do it. 4a) start with 18.0g of coffee, and pick a number between 18g and 34g, (18 being ristretto, and 34 being normale), for the final weight of beverage extracted. if you use a light roast like a lot of top-notch roasters make, you might need 19.0g instead of 18.0g, or else your pucks will stick to the screen. 4b) do NOT use the "one cup" or "two cup" buttons, (those are for experts moving quickly, making a lot of shots, who are able to spot a bad shot and dump it down the drain, and quickly make the right adjustment to fix it). use the "manual" button, and cut off the shot when it reaches the weight you wanted. the programmable buttons, (one cup and two cup), are subject to far too much variation in actual volume output based on many things. they are worthless to a newbie who is trying to learn, and worse, they will slow your progress. 5) take notes of the weights and timings of each shot you pull, as well as how they tasted. over time, this will make a HUGE difference in how well and quickly you learn. many experts, including phil mcknight himself still take extraction notes. once you have learned to quantify with numbers, and start coralling all your wildly fluctuating variables, you will be on the road to rapid learning. -peter

BubbaDude
Senior Member

Posted Sun Jul 1, 2012, 12:05pm Subject: Re: Breville Dual Boiler BES900XL Owners Thread

dagoat Said: use the "manual" button, and cut off the shot when it reaches the weight you wanted Posted July 1, 2012 link +1

"I've Scaced many HX/E61 machines, seeing shot variances of up to 8-10F or more. [The BDB] stays within 1F." - Mark Prince

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