First time espresso maker here; just got a DF54 + Bambino in today after years with a Nespresso and lurking this sub for a bit. I picked up some beans from my local roastery today and got after it. Any tips/advice after looking at this extraction?
This was my 6th and best attempt today. Had to grind finer (lol) on the DF54 and spend more time on distribution. This is on 18g in, 36g out, in about 30 seconds.
My two main observations:
1. It seems really dark at the beginning. Am I grinding too fine?
2. Despite all my efforts, I am still getting a bit of spray with the bottomless portafilter. Is this just poor puck prep?
Also relevant, I think: the beans are also pretty fresh: 4 days after roast.
Let me know what you guys think!
by Glad-Astronaut-2956
15 Comments
Need to WDT to help cut down the spray
Yeah beans are too fresh, but how’s the flavor?
Just got my df54 too same setup with bambino I’m getting a lot of spraying I’m thinking it might be fresh beans they are from December 2nd I believe
https://preview.redd.it/21f410hma36g1.jpeg?width=624&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=f292ae2f6e36095335a1f1a545f4ee1a1f31e200
This flow chart has helped me for dialing in flavor more. In general, if it’s pulling too fast, grind finer. If it’s making a mess, WDT and check your gasket (not a problem for brand new machine though). If it pulls in 20-30 seconds, has crema and tastes good, then just enjoy it 🙂
What basket are you using? Is it adequately dosed by volume? 18g may not be a good fill.
Is the basket for 18g? Also, I think a little distribution would be good to help spray and a water screen on top as well. I have the same machine.
G
G
Have you tried it with the regular portafilter? Beans do play a massive factor so make sure you try different types. It took me over a month and countless youtube videos and hours of reading this sub before I figured it out. But I learnt so much during this time so don’t be in rush to pull great shots straight away.
It looks great, just maybe wdt to avoid channeling and I would grind a little finer.
Is the DF54 known for being a high quality grinder? Does it have any drawbacks?
Breville bambino is a 52 mm when other espresso machines are 58 mm
You could fill up your puck more to 19 or 20 grams and dial in to that 19 to 20 range, grinding a little coarser and see if it gives you better results with your grinder setup
Beans are definitely too fresh. Give it at least a week post roast before dialing in. Also I tend to have a bit more success with a 17g dose on my bambino stock basket, but that’s dependent on beans and roast level. Maybe try grinding a notch finer but if it tastes good then who cares! And if you get sick of cleaning the spatter then just switch back to the stock portafilter.
You might need to grind finer and distribute better, there’s quite a bit of channeling and spraying
I also have a Bambino. In my op u are in a good range. 2:1 ratio in around 30 secs (including 8-10 sec preinfusion). Great result taking in consideration u have the machine and the grinder only a couple of days 😉
I would not recommend u to grind finer!!! This dogma of always grinding finer that u will read thousand of times in the posts made me waste so many beans as I started using my espresso machine… Grinding finer will only lead to higher channeling risk. U are already in a good range and that is why I would just play with the dose depending on your basket and the head space of the Bambino (with an IMS 26H basket I use between 18,5-19,5 depending on the beans and roast level) and with the ratio (bit longer if sour or shorter if bitter). For the head space Breville has the razor tool which can help u to check (after finishing puck preparation!) with new beans if u are using the right volume.
The machine operates better with mid or dark as with light roasts. This is due to the bad temperature stability of the Bambino. For light roasts I get acceptable results with a double preinfusion (10 sec+10 sec).
The machine heats up fast so temperature will ramp up after around 30 seconds which can lead to astringent and bitter shots. That is why I try to keep the shots in a length of 30-35 secs.
Before pulling a shot purge the machine. Let the machine run for about 4-5 seconds till the steam stops coming out. You don’t need to preheat portafilter. I only preheat portafilter when using light roasts. Breville designed the machine to run with a bit higher temperature as it should in order to compensate that the average user will not heat up portafilters and as the group head does not heat up.