NickH Senior Member Joined: 1 Sep 2009 Posts: 49 Location: New Brunswick, Canada Expertise: I live coffee
Espresso: La Pavoni Europiccola Grinder: Breville Smart... Drip: Aeropress
Posted Sat May 28, 2011, 2:12pm Subject: Re: Does anyone have a Breville Smart Grinder?
The "basically" part is because the smart grinder sets upper and lower limits - in other words it limits how close the burrs can get to each other. That said, you can add shims (as I have done, they're free from Breville) to get the burrs closer together. It's a 5 minute thing, takes very little effort.
I use the Breville twice a day for espresso and I've yet to have a problem. I also use it for aeropress and cold brew (very coarse grind) and it takes all of 10 seconds to reset it to espresso grind.
Posted Sat May 28, 2011, 3:21pm Subject: Re: Does anyone have a Breville Smart Grinder?
One thing to keep in mine is that NickH is grinding for a lever machine which uses a much coarser grind then a pump machine which is using normal (non pressurized) baskets. As I mentioned in the original S/G thread I picked one of these up with the intention of using it as a travel grinder for syphon & espresso but ended up returning it. If you are only going to use it for brew grinding I think the Breville is an excellent choice & a steal at the $160 they can be bought for. As an espresso grinder I'd say it's probably not bad for $160 but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I knew for that use.
Shimmed for lever (Microcasa) use the output wasn't too clumpy & the shots were tolerable but disappointing taste wise. When I shimmed it to grind fine enough to work with a pump machine the grounds coming out resembled dense little coffee turds that required quite a bit of WDT to make presentable. Even when I'd done the prep & was getting nice looking pours the resulting shots were close to undrinkable. The Breville would turn really good espresso blends & S/Os into what I considered undrinkable swill (IMO). Shimmed for pump espresso the Breville is extremely slow & labors as it really is under powered.
My advice is save up for a Preciso or better yet pick up one of the Pharos grinders from OE. For only $250 you get a grinder that uses the 68mm conical burr set found in commercial grinders selling for $1200-$2500. Of course you provide the power. Lots of info on the Pharos here: Click Here (www.home-barista.com)
psychobrew Senior Member Joined: 19 May 2011 Posts: 93 Location: Maryland Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Sun May 29, 2011, 11:49am Subject: Re: Does anyone have a Breville Smart Grinder?
JVBorella Said:
One thing to keep in mine is that NickH is grinding for a lever machine which uses a much coarser grind then a pump machine which is using normal (non pressurized) baskets. As I mentioned in the original S/G thread I picked one of these up with the intention of using it as a travel grinder for syphon & espresso but ended up returning it. If you are only going to use it for brew grinding I think the Breville is an excellent choice & a steal at the $160 they can be bought for. As an espresso grinder I'd say it's probably not bad for $160 but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone I knew for that use.
Shimmed for lever (Microcasa) use the output wasn't too clumpy & the shots were tolerable but disappointing taste wise. When I shimmed it to grind fine enough to work with a pump machine the grounds coming out resembled dense little coffee turds that required quite a bit of WDT to make presentable. Even when I'd done the prep & was getting nice looking pours the resulting shots were close to undrinkable. The Breville would turn really good espresso blends & S/Os into what I considered undrinkable swill (IMO). Shimmed for pump espresso the Breville is extremely slow & labors as it really is under powered.
My advice is save up for a Preciso or better yet pick up one of the Pharos grinders from OE. For only $250 you get a grinder that uses the 68mm conical burr set found in commercial grinders selling for $1200-$2500. Of course you provide the power. Lots of info on the Pharos here: Click Here (www.home-barista.com)
Not what I wanted to hear but the advice is appreciated.
Do you have any experience with the Ascaso i-Mini or Gaggia MDF? I know the Gaggia needs to be modded for best use in the espresso range, but the i-Mini does use commercial burs found on much more expensive grinders (and the coffee grind collection inside the unit seems to be a common problem). This would be dedicated to espresso (for now anyway, but decent drip grinders can be had for cheap).
Sorry, but I've never used either one. The pricing for the i-Mini 3 is close enough to the Preciso to make it a wash $$ wise. Here's a review OE did: Click Here (www.orphanespresso.com)
psychobrew Senior Member Joined: 19 May 2011 Posts: 93 Location: Maryland Expertise: I like coffee
Posted Sun May 29, 2011, 4:04pm Subject: Re: Does anyone have a Breville Smart Grinder?
JVBorella Said:
Sorry, but I've never used either one. The pricing for the i-Mini 3 is close enough to the Preciso to make it a wash $$ wise. Here's a review OE did: Click Here (www.orphanespresso.com)
I just noticed that Baratza is listing refurb Precisos for only $229: http://www.baratza.com/products.php?id=43
JDolezal Senior Member Joined: 3 Nov 2011 Posts: 4 Location: Upland, IN Expertise: I love coffee
Espresso: Expobar Office Control Grinder: Breville BCG800XL
Posted Mon Nov 28, 2011, 9:24am Subject: Re: Does anyone have a Breville Smart Grinder?
For those using the machine as a multipurpose (espresso, drip, press) grinder, have you found any problems switching between grind sizes? I find that when I switch to coarse grinds for a press from an espresso grind, I get a lot of fine grinds mixed in with the coarse - resulting in espresso grinds in my otherwise tasty french press coffee.
Do I need to completely disassemble the burrs & clean them every time I switch grind sizes to prevent this cross-size mixing?
Posted Mon Nov 28, 2011, 9:39am Subject: Re: Does anyone have a Breville Smart Grinder?
JDolezal Said:
For those using the machine as a multipurpose (espresso, drip, press) grinder, have you found any problems switching between grind sizes? I find that when I switch to coarse grinds for a press from an espresso grind, I get a lot of fine grinds mixed in with the coarse - resulting in espresso grinds in my otherwise tasty french press coffee.
Do I need to completely disassemble the burrs & clean them every time I switch grind sizes to prevent this cross-size mixing?
You have to turn the grind size dial when unit is in process of grinding. You cannot turn it while unit is not grinding.
Len
"Coffee leads men to trifle away their time, scald their chops, and spend their money, all for a little base, black, thick, nasty, bitter, stinking nauseous puddle water." ~The Women's Petition Against Coffee, 1674
For those using the machine as a multipurpose (espresso, drip, press) grinder, have you found any problems switching between grind sizes? I find that when I switch to coarse grinds for a press from an espresso grind, I get a lot of fine grinds mixed in with the coarse - resulting in espresso grinds in my otherwise tasty french press coffee.
Do I need to completely disassemble the burrs & clean them every time I switch grind sizes to prevent this cross-size mixing?
If you only switch grind sizes once in a while, you can simply do a quick clean of the machine. I tend to grind for V60 and Siphon and my grind is almost identical - minor tweaks here and there. If I am making a big switch from my drip grind to a french press grind, I simply remove the outer bur, take the grinder, and turn it upside down over a garbage can. I get most of the residual grinds out this way. Then I use the provided brush to loosen up any dust that has collected and do one more flip over. I've been doing this for about a year and it works very well.
As Len said, you need to turn the grind dial when the grinder is running.
Posted Sun Oct 21, 2012, 10:16pm Subject: Re: Does anyone have a Breville Smart Grinder?
I picked up the breville and really like the simplicity of it. Of course I have only used it for my V60 and Asropress so far. Grinds seem to be consistent and little retention. I haven't used it for espresso yet but I fear it won't do well and it is also underpowered. It's pretty good value though if you get one on sale. Aesthetically speaking its also nice and my wife can also use it whereas she doesn't even have a clue on how to use my Mazzer or Pharos.
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