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I have a Breville Espresso Express and its my first espresso machine, so I'm still learning how to operate it.Anyway, after i run the machine, i removed the portafilter to discard the coffee grounds, only to see that it was empty. When i look underneath, i see that the puck has gotten adheared to the machine. I let it hang there until it fell off on its own, as i didnt want to mess with it and risk pushing the wet coffee grounds into the tiny holes where the water comes out from. Took about a minute before it fell off.This has happened twice now.What could be the issue here?Thanks
by ChillingOnAHammock
45 Comments
Likely dose too large, and or too coarse, not tamping hard enough, or some combo of these!
mine does this frequently. slightly annoying but not a big deal otherwise.
It’s not an issue, just science. I think the scientific process at play is a combination of surface tension and adhesion.
It happens. You should clean your shower screen regardless from time to time.
G
Use your razor tool just before inserting to check your dosing level.
Use the Razor tool after tamping to check if your basket is adequately dosed. The top of the puck should just clear the Razor before brewing.
Get a puck screen
This happens to me every other day. Just use the portafilter to nudge the puck off, and once or twice a week unscrew the group head and clean it. You _need_ to be doing that anyway. Also, get something called a Puck Screen. I’ve just ordered the Normcore 53.3mm screen for Breville. Note that it is called a puck screen NOT a shower screen. With a puck screen this physically cannot happen.
Looks like you need more space from the top of the puck to the bottom of the shower screen.
We use a metal filter placed on top of the coffee bed, but it sits down from the lip of the PF.
Helps with group maintenance cause doesn’t allow coffee powder to get past the shower screen.
Mine stuck as well. I push a manual button for a second to release the pressure without too much water with portafilter inserted and it helps
Normal, my machine does this frequently. The 3-way solenoid sucks up the water to leave you with a dry puck– sometimes it takes the puck with it haha. Not indicative of anything wrong, just run some water through, or give it a little poke and it’ll fall off.
How many grams did you put in? Lower your dose on your next pull.
Coffee puck expands when wet. Probably it stuck to the top because you had too many grounds, it expanded and no where to go so it forced itself stuck onto the showerscreen
I use those thin paper disposable filters and mine sticks less
As others have mentioned, maybe your dose is too large or not tamped down enough. You could try using a puck screen which helps to keep the group head cleaner.
Not a big deal
Not unusual at all. Just make sure to purge after you’ve released the puck from the shower screen (a little jostle by re-attaching the portafilter’ll do it).
too much ground, or a wet puck, or a cracked puck (channeling)
Get the nomcore puck screen
Get a puck screen and/or remove the porta filter shortly after pulling the shot. It’s harder to stick if it is fresh and hot. Let it sit and cool down and get dry and it’s more likely to stick.
These machines build up a lot of pressure. When that pressure turns off there is a sudden reversal of water flow back to the drain pipe. This can suck up coffee grounds, or in this case, the entire pick up to the vent. This is why so many use a puck screen on top of the shot. Helps prevent coffee from shooting back up the water pipe. Still good to clean once a month or so though.
Get a puck screen. It is the best bang for buck accessory of them all. I never go without one. Will solve this and keep everything clean too
I use a puck screen and slightly smaller dose. Never happens to me anymore.
Reduce the dose, you are putting too much in. I wish the 18g dose wasn’t spread like gossip and people were taught to at least check the volume (and resulting headspace in the puck). Depending on the roast level and beans the same weight can have a drastically different volume, which would change your shot quite a bit including getting up to the group and just ruining everything.
Too much grounds.
You’re waiting too long to take it off. Pull the shot, get your cup out from under it, immediately pop it off, give it a little wiggle once the portafilter is loose from the head
Mine did it almost everytime when I first bought my Breville, after a few weeks it went away and only comes back on occasion now.
Will say when it does happen, make sure to run an extra rinse to get all the old grounds off after
Too much coffee. I reduce half a gram every time that happens.
This is atrocious, out of 40 comments i could only spot 4 that were actually correct about using too much coffee, reduce the dose. All the others are straight up making stuff up and saying oh this happens to me all the time. Like what?! Has the sub had a huge influx of new people coming in?
Use a puck screen – best investment.
You also don’t have to clean your shower head after every shot when using a puck screen.
Lower your dose
When this happens on my old BBE or my current bambino I just put the porter filter back up, give it a lil shake left and right and it falls back in the basket. Not biggie, no risk of clogging holes in the shower screen.
use a puck screen, it helps
I’d get a puck screen, I would have this issue on my barista pro, and i was having an issue with gross soupy pucks and a puck screen fixed both of those issues. I don’t really think it helps with extraction of channeling but it ended up being a big quality of life improvement.
I use a metal puck screen and have never had this. I have also never had this issue before using metal puck screen. Maybe you’re using too much beans? Either way as long as your coffee tastes good, doesn’t matter
Too much in the portafilter.
Lower your dose slightly.
After tamping put your portafilter in and take it out. If there’s a lil dent then you want to dose a bit less
Thanks everyone for the input.
I was using 18g of coffee beans per youtube tutorials
I may have let the PF sit for a while before i took it out, which might have contributed to this.
I will try slightly less coffee, faster removal, and possiblty the puck acreen if it keeps happening.
Thank you!
Mine does this every single shot regardless of dose. I just hold the portafilter underneath and give the puck a poke in the side with my finger. Drops out with zero fuss. Then a 1-2 second flush and it’s fine. 🤷
Too much grounds then compressed too much. Don’t force it. Weigh and level the grounds
Great setup
It happened to me a lot on my BBE.. Has never happened on my Rancillio SPX
Don’t wait to get it out after the shot is done. For my breville something like more than 5s would make the puck stick to the shower.
If it still sticks sometimes, just put the porterfilter back on and give it a little rain for 1s from the shower and it will come of easily.
It’s because you’re not pure of heart
Just wiggle the pistol directly after unlocking. I have a Breville Dual Boiler and that works for me.