Posted Fri Jun 8, 2012, 5:41pm Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcome
Finally got my taxes filed... My wife let me get this as early father's day present... lots of amex points later... my breville dual BOILER and Baratza Preciso showed up today. I will be waking up to my first shot (or many practice shots) with newly roasted beans (roasted on 6/5) from Voltage in Cambridge.
Any one trolling the forums late tonight - I would love suggestions on what grind setting to start with for a double shot using the above equipment?
Posted Fri Jun 8, 2012, 7:11pm Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcome
nebber Said:
Finally got my taxes filed... My wife let me get this as early father's day present... lots of amex points later... my breville dual BOILER and Baratza Preciso showed up today. I will be waking up to my first shot (or many practice shots) with newly roasted beans (roasted on 6/5) from Voltage in Cambridge.
Any one trolling the forums late tonight - I would love suggestions on what grind setting to start with for a double shot using the above equipment?
I have a CC1 and the Preciso. Your grind setting will vary depdending on several things but particularly how your grinder is calibrated (the Barartza website has instructions on this). If it's calibrated for "finest" you will probably wind up at 4 or 5 for espresso (possibly 6 but I suspect not).
If it's calibrated otherwise, you may have to go to the 1-3 realm (in which case, you may want to recalibrate).
The correct grind is a bit finer that granualted sugar.
D4F Senior Member Joined: 15 Mar 2012 Posts: 1,189 Location: USA Expertise: I like coffee
Espresso: Gaggia Classic PID Grinder: Preciso
Posted Fri Jun 8, 2012, 7:42pm Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcome
A am using the Preciso with a 10 macro for espresso with a Gaggia Classic. Gaggia pressure set to 9.5 bar. The Preciso review suggests 10 macro as a start, and worked for me.
calblacksmith Moderator Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 5,652 Location: Riverside, Ca, U.S.A. Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Veneziano A1 Grinder: Many different commercial Vac Pot: 40s era Silex Drip: Milita, Bunn&Curtis... Roaster: Cast iron pan, gas burner
Posted Sat Jun 9, 2012, 1:03am Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcome
calblacksmith Said:
A voice of caution here. The BDB is VERY new and the manufacturer has a VERY bad reputation for quality. The first run of those machines had some issues but Brevelle did seem to handle the situation. It checks all the WOW boxes but at it's price point I can't help but see short cuts in components, the thin shell of the machine is one example.
Will it be a long lasting machine? Well, no one knows, it seems to be off to a good start but my personal money would not be invested as a beta tester, I am waiting a few years to see how it holds up over time before I can recommend it. There are several design choices they made such as not being able to descale it yourself, that I just can not agree with.
The owners of them here, seem to be very happy with them and you will hear hearty support for them from those owners.
Only you can decide if the BDB has proven it's self to your satisfaction but the consensus of most of the long time members here are taking a wait and see posture about this machine. Just a word of caution, something to think about.
Others have covered the grinder issue, the grinder is king and the machine plays a support role in the espresso equation.
Well, at least you went into it with your eyes wide open. I hope it all works out well for you. It will take a while for anyone just starting out to get to learn just what they are doing, hand in there and it will get better!
As to the grinder settings, all grinders are different and for the most part, anyones setting is good only for that particular grinder as the numbers are different for every grinder.
You will need to grind then see what the shot looks like and adjust from there. Enjoy!
In real life, my name is Wayne P.
Feed the newbs, starve the trolls and above all enjoy what you drink!
Posted Sat Jun 9, 2012, 4:13am Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcome
CalBlacksmith,
This is a short thread. You posted your views and everyone read them before. The OP decided not to follow your advice. Now you are quoting yourself just to make sure everyone knows what you think. Which is not at all objective advice about the machine.
You may or may be right about longevity as Peter says in his reply, but your way of stating it, which essentially denies the many reports of how well these machines work and instead, calls these valuable features "WOW boxes" is not a fair evaluation. Are they "WOW" features on a GS/3 or do you think they are useful to have on the GS/3 and just window dressing on the BDB? To keep repeating your concerns to the point of quoting yourself in a short thread is just weird. Do the rest of us need to come back and repost our earlier posts before giving advice on the grinder issue?
For Nebbers, just dive in and get grinds all over your kitchen. With the feature set on this machine, if you use fresh beans and just vary the grind till its right, you should have good results in a very short time.
There are quite a few folks on this forum who want to tell you that making decent espresso is a very difficult, dark art. At least with the BDB and its "WOW" features, this just hasn't been my experience.
Posted Sat Jun 9, 2012, 6:33am Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcomet
JJC,
Thanks for the encouragement. Did a bunch this morning. Got a lot of fast pulls at too low pressure. Finally got up to 7.5-8 bar, but still only like 15 seconds after the first drip (which is coming at 10 sec or so). I think I need to get finer - posted about it in the grinder forum. Will keep experimenting.
Good textured milk is easy - I even started playing with my latte art.
Quick question. When people talk about pull time - is that from start (so what I describe above is 25 sec)? Or is it from the first drip (so what I described above would only be 15 sc).
Posted Sat Jun 9, 2012, 12:24pm Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcomet
Definitely grind finer. The two symptons you posted (low pressure and fast shots) can both be indicators of that. And I concur with JJC that the timing should be at the first drop.
Keep up the experimenting! One day you're going to pull a shot that looks good and tastes even better, and then it's all gravy from there.
calblacksmith Moderator Joined: 25 Nov 2007 Posts: 5,652 Location: Riverside, Ca, U.S.A. Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: ECM Veneziano A1 Grinder: Many different commercial Vac Pot: 40s era Silex Drip: Milita, Bunn&Curtis... Roaster: Cast iron pan, gas burner
Posted Tue Jun 12, 2012, 7:51pm Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcomet
Jim, I didn't intend to gore your specific ox, if I did, I'm sorry.
The BDB will never be a GS3 no matter how much anyone would want it to be so. To keep using that machine as a bench mark is not fair to the GS3, the build quality of the GS3, puts the BDB squarely into the counter top appliance that Brevelle is so famous for.
I really DO hope things work out well for the OP, I do not want anyone to get burned and I hope no one is.
In real life, my name is Wayne P.
Feed the newbs, starve the trolls and above all enjoy what you drink!
SamTonin Senior Member Joined: 4 Feb 2009 Posts: 13 Location: Sydney, Australia Expertise: Professional
Posted Tue Jun 19, 2012, 11:56am Subject: Re: Moving to the bigger leagues, suggestions welcome
I understand completely what you're all saying and after spending some time with the Encore, I'm not as pleased with it as with the Virtuoso. The blades are designed to be less sharp and its very noisy.
True that you don't want to go cheap on a grinder, but the modified Virtuoso is pretty good value.
Congratulations on the machine mate!
Either grind finer, up the dose or increase the temperature.
Are 9 bars of pressure your target?
My micro roastery is opening soon, be sure to check it out: beanofatree.com
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