Help Please: Problems with a Breville 880 Touch

[jacob12]

Hi all!

First post so please be gentle if this is not adhering to the cultural norms on the forum.

I have an Breville Oracle Touch BES880. Lately, I have been having two problems, which I think might be related? First, I am getting poor extraction in terms of volume. Second, the shots are often room temperature.

Here are the things I have done:

I am using single sided baskets with fresh beans.
I have attempted to clean out the baskets by using a flame over gas stove and burning out of the old grounds.
I have descaled and went through the cleaning cycle multiple time.
My extraction setting has been modified between 12-17 with the same bean.

Any other recommendations?

Thanks!

 

[jacob12]

Hot water works and I can froth just fine.

 

[czcusco]

You can try turning the machine on and come back in 15-20mins before making coffee.

 

[TheTrend]

I will say that refer to the manual in details. I'm sure  you will be able to correct your problems.

I saw a discussion on Reddit also, please check:

reddit.com/r/Coffee/comments/bpjqza/breville_barista_touch_time_to_give_up/

 

[djoneda1]

Temperature and Flow BES880

Hi all!

First post so please be gentle if this is not adhering to the cultural norms on the forum.

I have an Breville Oracle Touch BES880. Lately, I have been having two problems, which I think might be related? First, I am getting poor extraction in terms of volume. Second, the shots are often room temperature.

Here are the things I have done:

I am using single sided baskets with fresh beans.
I have attempted to clean out the baskets by using a flame over gas stove and burning out of the old grounds.
I have descaled and went through the cleaning cycle multiple time.
My extraction setting has been modified between 12-17 with the same bean.

Any other recommendations?

Thanks!

I have only had the Barista Touch for a few weeks so I'm still getting used to it. However I have found a few things:

- Extraction volume was a problem for me at first because I had a very small grind setting, down around 7-8. There's a lot of conflicting advice on where to set this but what I eventually found was that a setting of 12-16 would give a smooth flow during brewing with a double-shot (not double-wall) basket and a firm but not excessive tamp. I think the extraction level is reasonable for this grind setting although I'm by no means an expert - I just like the flavour that comes out. At 7-8 grind I was getting low flow (mostly drips) and it took about 60 seconds to fill a 60mL cup, my normal drink. Now on 12-16 it takes somewhere between 22 and 30 seconds to fill the same cup. The Crema also seems better.

- At low grind settings I was also getting lower temperatures, possibly because of the lower flow rate, hence longer time to cool down. You could try pre-heating everything by running water through the machine in a "dummy" brew. I checked the brew water temperature using an accurate, low-mass temperature sensor borrowed from work and it does hit 90-95 degrees at the start of a dummy brew but drops off quickly to about 70 degrees. I suspect this might be due to a high flow rate for the water with no coffee present, the thermoblock probably can't keep up the temperature at high flow.

- I'm using the double-shot basket. I have tried the single-shot basket (single wall) and it is very hard to achieve good flow (although I might have to give it another go at the larger grind size).

- There is a cleaning tool with the machine for pin-pricking the steam wand holes, I believe the other end of that is a pin for cleaning the basket filter holes. Probably a better idea than burning over a gas flame. Also I believe a good soak in detergent like dishwashing liquid and then a light brush will help.