Breville Smart Grinder

Brett_H

Muscles wrote:

When the wife came home with some brown decaf beans and Bodum plunger yesterday I kicked myself for selling the BCG800 only a month ago. 🙁 But all was not lost... I sold mine 2nd hand for $200 and bought a brand spanker today for $169 from TGG - now I don't have to worry about wifie touching my SJ 😃

Nice price Marc! I'll send you some Mecican BAD roast and you can test the warranty... ;D

Muscles

LOL! They must be some seriously hard baked beans to stall the grinder but then again the gearing/drive mech in the smart grinder has to have been built (down?) to a price and what a price it is :🙂 I had no complaints with the last one once shimmed, see how this goes but I suspect it will be fine enough for plunger.

Kelsey

It might be bad, but it tastes oh so good.... still got the bag sitting there. Keep looking at it thinking "surely I can pull out the bad beans one by one...."

Brett_H

The bad beans might be the bit that tastes great. Used some at work today as a plunger and it was great. Use a choppy grinder on it or a mortar and pestle and have a great long black French press 😉. Feed the poor little Smartie the good stuff and dont risk it! I agree completely Marc... What a price!

Kelsey

No the BSG is fine! It choked on Brett's flavoursome 'burnt bean Mexican' roast, thus discovering the limits of the motor on the BSG. In fact, in choking it actually loosened the bottom burr's top nut and I needed to pull the whole thing apart for cleaning just o get it dialed back in again. Still tempted to pick out the bad beans.

Brett_H

You should have tried cleaning the grinder with rice. :o I read that on the interweb somewhere. I'm sure like my BAD roast that rice cleaning is great advice also. I was going to try it to clean out my Rocky but don't have any in the cupboard. Do you think curry would work just as well? Or perhaps just a garlic naan! For those of you who think I'm serious do me a favor and clean your grinder with rice but ensure that you cook it first. Don't clean your grinders with rice. Dr Google is not always correct.

Koffee_Kosmo

Brett H wrote:

Don't clean your grinders with rice. Dr Google is not always correct.

Never use rice to clean your grinder The best and fastest way is Remove the top burr carrier with blade and wash it under the tap Brush the bottom burr and vacuum Easy as that KK

Brett_H

What about pasta?

Kelsey

I had heard the 'rice rumour' but wasn't willing to give it a shot. Vacuum it is next time. And Brett - I just can't bring myself to throw those beans out. BAD or not, that's a damn tasty brew. Maybe there's a Spong in my local op-shop just waiting to be discovered... 😉

Kelsey

So after my first KKTO roast I ran into the same issue - under-roasted beans jamming the grinder. This is a serious shortcoming of the BCG800, although presumably the intended market will only be using professionally roasted beans, it's a shame it doesn't have the chomping power of its nearest competitors.

Brett_H

Kelsey wrote:

So after my first KKTO roast I ran into the same issue - under-roasted beans jamming the grinder. This is a serious shortcoming of the BCG800, although presumably the intended market will only be using professionally roasted beans, it's a shame it doesn't have the chomping power of its nearest competitors.

Oh dear...my Lux grinder at school had the lions share of the "bad" beans and chomped through them with no problems. It is basically a dumb version of the Smart but has lots of oomph. They are a bit more expensive at ~$300 so I'd be looking for a second hand Rocky. Surely this issue must be limited to your unit because these were pushed very heavily at coffee snobs who tend to play with lighter roasts and different roast profiles. AM may have som answers.

Kelsey

Well.... it wouldn't be the first time Breville has marketed coffee equipment at enthusiasts, only to be pulled up short by actual real-world usage. Still, if AM has any thoughts I'd love to hear them.

Brett_H

The beans that Kelsey had were only two days old at the most when he experienced the issue. We have since surmised, possibly incorrectly, that the smartie had a cut-out/protect feature that triggered when it hit a particularly hard bean. Ie... Blame the roaster not the grinder :pan FWIW that roast was particularly delicious and demonstrates that even when you think it's bad, don't automatically feed it to the roses... Give it a try! Look out 3rd Crack... Here we come!!!

Lacehim

Brett H wrote:

FWIW that roast was particularly delicious and demonstrates that even when you think it's bad, don't automatically feed it to the roses... Give it a try! Look out 3rd Crack... Here we come!!!

I agree with that. Sometimes it's best to just leave that bag for a week or two or three to mature too if they didn't hit the spot the first time. 🙂 If that doesn't work, then put them on your roses. Or grind them up and put them in your worm farm! Makes them horny! hehe :thumb:

Kelsey

Freshness certainly isn't a problem for me! Apart from a complimentary bag of Neil's delightful Nehemiah blend, my BSG hasn't seen a commercially roasted bean since early December. Even before that I only used beans with a 'roasted on' date! I've only needed one of the small shims to get the BSG to where I need it. The espresso setting is typically 2 - 3 notches from the finest setting, but I also suspect the OPV could go just a hair lower allowing me to perhaps grind a little coarser. Then again, sink shots have become vanishingly rare for me on this setup, but I'm willing to concede that my sub-standard palate may be partly responsible for that!

Springbok

So after all this how does the Breville match up to the Rancilio Rocky? I have a delonghi kg100 ( $180) ( no sarcastic comments please - Im a stove top person) which has been pretty good - but am thinking of upgrading and buying a Sylvia - do I really need a new grinder to go with it?

Lacehim

The Rocky is old hat these days. Look at a something like a Compak K3, or touch or similar. Personally I love my Vario but they do increase the budget a bit. I think your KG100 will struggle with a Silvia, keep it for your stove top in my opinion. What's the reason for the big change? I guess you aren't into milk based much. The siliva should be fine for your needs if that's true. Plenty of other machines in that league, Lelit, Bezzera BZ02 (I think that's what Kelsey's is)

Kelsey

Springbok wrote:

So after all this how does the Breville match up to the Rancilio Rocky? I have a delonghi kg100 ( $180) ( no sarcastic comments please - Im a stove top person) which has been pretty good - but am thinking of upgrading and buying a Sylvia - do I really need a new grinder to go with it?

I've continued to use the Breville without incident. As AM will attest, I grind way, way too fine and could probably get away without the single thinnest-possible shim I have in there. Anyone who says they can't grind fine enough is someone most likely using stale supermarket beans. I've had no further troubles - but I've not had to grind under-roasted beans since either. I'm happy with the Breville. As to the Silvia - they're a de-facto standard for the serious single-boiler crowd, but there are better machines out there for the money. You can't get my Bezzera BZ09 in the country any more, but the construction of it leaves the Silvia for dead, particularly in the temperature stability stakes. I'm also thinking of upgrading, so might be persuaded to sell.

Brett_H

Anger Management wrote:

The Rocky has pros and Cons VS the Breville 1: The BSG is a tad easer and maybe less mess 2: The Rocky will out last the BSG Thus depending on Cost and What usage etc, either would do fine. But the BSG does smell and feel plastic; but 110% on the KG100. I am not a fan of the K3

My thoughts exactly! Well said!! The Silvia is a fine one machine also and at the price some of them are going for new, great value for money. Just make sure your routine looks after your boiler and you can't go wrong.

askthecoffeeguy

Picked up a BSG today from the factory seconds shop on Smith Street for $169 - ill get to have a play with it today so ill let you know how it goes!

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