Sage Barista Express

FileNotFound

Goose81 wrote: »

So I got the machine yesterday, not having much luck so far.

Watched literally hours of videos on how to use it with non pressure baskets.

I'm measuring out 17 grams of beans on a scale and grinding them in the machine so it's exactly that weight.

With the grinder set to its lowest setting of 1 I'm getting pretty much no pressure at all.

I took out the grinder and set it to 4, it was at 6. Reground 18gramd of beans and left the grinder at 1 and now I'm getting towards the pressure I want .

Am I doing something wrong, how is the grinder so badly calibrated from the factory that I'm having to adjust it straight out of the box, seem like leaving it at a setting of 6 would never work with any beans..

I'm wondering if it's faulty, like to get the full scale in the side of the machine to actually work I'm going to have to set the inside of the grinder to 1

Mine came at 6 and has stayed there. Works with side dial between 7-9

Lots of people mention grinder issues.

Just on thought. Why 17g of coffee in and 18g basket? How hard are you tamping?

FileNotFound

logistic wrote: »

Any recommendations on where to buy filters?

Velo have been good for me, Harvey Norman in a pinch.

skerry

Goose81 wrote: »

So I got the machine yesterday, not having much luck so far.

Watched literally hours of videos on how to use it with non pressure baskets.

I'm measuring out 17 grams of beans on a scale and grinding them in the machine so it's exactly that weight.

With the grinder set to its lowest setting of 1 I'm getting pretty much no pressure at all.

I took out the grinder and set it to 4, it was at 6. Reground 18gramd of beans and left the grinder at 1 and now I'm getting towards the pressure I want .

Am I doing something wrong, how is the grinder so badly calibrated from the factory that I'm having to adjust it straight out of the box, seem like leaving it at a setting of 6 would never work with any beans..

I'm wondering if it's faulty, like to get the full scale in the side of the machine to actually work I'm going to have to set the inside of the grinder to 1

Are you measuring out 17 grams of beans, or are you ending up with 17grams ground in the portafilter?

Goose81

I've tried it with both 18g and 17g, I have the grinder completely empty and I'm putting in the exact amount of beans and grinding till it's empty to ensure an exact amount.

Reading this thread from the start I'm not the only one having th we issues, I'm not dealing with sage for months like other posters so I might just return it to the shop

skerry

Goose81 wrote: »

I've tried it with both 18g and 17g, I have the grinder completely empty and I'm putting in the exact amount of beans and grinding till it's empty to ensure an exact amount.

Reading this thread from the start I'm not the only one having th we issues, I'm not dealing with sage for months like other posters so I might just return it to the shop

Have you tried filling the hopper and set it to grind out 18g? Its weird your getting no pressure at all. Are the beans roasted recently enough

Goose81

skerry wrote: »

Have you tried filling the hopper and set it to grind out 18g? Its weird your getting no pressure at all. Are the beans roasted recently enough

It's not the hopper I'm concerned about tbh,the way I am doing it should be more accurate than the machine will ever be . like I can mash 20g of beans in and I'm still only getting pressure with the internal burr set to 3 and the external set to 1. That means out of the box I'm going to to set the internal burr to 1 to get any sort of range, that can't be right for a 1 day old machine.

I used last night beans ground 21 Feb and today I just went up to Lidl to get some beans because I didn't want to waste good coffee. Surely no matter when the roast date you should still be getting pressure without having to go so low on the internal burr on a 1 day old machine.

skerry

Goose81 wrote: »

It's not the hopper I'm concerned about tbh,the way I am doing it should be more accurate than the machine will ever be . like I can mash 20g of beans in and I'm still only getting pressure with the internal burr set to 3 and the external set to 1. That means out of the box I'm going to to set the internal burr to 1 to get any sort of range, that can't be right for a 1 day old machine.

I used last night beans ground 21 Feb and today I just went up to Lidl to get some beans because I didn't want to waste good coffee. Surely no matter when the roast date you should still be getting pressure without having to go so low on the internal burr on a 1 day old machine.

You should be getting higher pressure with fresher beans all settings being equal. I never had to mess with the grinder apart from standard adjustment on the dial to get decent pressure. My shots generally come out around just over 20 seconds on setting 1 on the grinder so there is room for improvement. I just put the portafilter on a scale which is zero'd and set the grind quantity dial so I'm getting around 18g out of the grinder, never weighed the beans going in just filled the hopper and weighted the ground coffee coming out

alec76

My eyes hurt when reading this , what do you mean by “ getting no pressure “ ?
Your extraction is too fast or too slow ?
Can we get some numbers ie 40g Yield in 30s etc?

Goose81

As in when I pull a shot the pressure guage is reading no where near where it should be and the coffee is ground pretty much as fine as the machine can grind it so finer coffee should equal more pressure no?

My sister is actually over now and she worked in coffee shops for years, she reckons is ****ed. She said the grind is way too fine and how is it possible it's not over pressured not under .

alec76

Goose81 wrote: »

As in when I pull a shot the pressure guage is reading .

Oh, ignore this gauge , it is only a gimmick.
Only judge by the flow rate ie Yield in seconds.

Goose81

alec76 wrote: »

Oh, ignore this gauge , it is only a gimmick.
Only judge by the flow rate ie Yield in seconds.

Cool, I might post a video and maybe someone more experienced might be able to tell where I'm going wrong

alec76

Goose81 wrote: »

Cool, I might post a video and maybe someone more experienced might be able to tell where I'm going wrong

https://www.home-barista.com/espresso-guide-good-extractions.html
Good starting point
ps. There is always learning curve involved , you need more than 1 day of practice to pull decent shot.
As for the grinder on this machine , it is poor , but for this price you hardly could find better.
Good espresso grinder for home would cost €350-400 ( eureka mignon , baratza VARIO etc)
If this grinder of yours could grind fresh beans fine enough to choke machine altogether then I would say it is good enough. As for the settings, it is only reference, different for every grinder, they not calibrated at factory at all .

FileNotFound

As others have said, weigh portafilter grind in, reweigh (weight ground coffee). Then weigh the amount dispensed in 30 seconds.

alec76

Goose81 wrote: »

I just went up to Lidl to get some beans because I didn't want to waste good coffee.

Some of the LIDL beans are extremely low density, could be challenging to grind them fine enough, steer clear from oily looking beans btw .
Velo coffee range in Aldi not too expensive for experimenting (€4 for the bag) and decent coffee too .

fits

Yes I bought cheap beans from Aldi ( not velo) to experiment with and didn’t work at all.

ExMachina1000

People shouldn't count the pre infusion time as the shot time. They will be at least 6 seconds off the count

(This has nothing to do with the posters problem . I'm just commenting in general)

logistic

FileNotFound wrote: »

Velo have been good for me, Harvey Norman in a pinch.

Picked one up in harvey norman today. Anyone using non branded filters?

FileNotFound

ExMachina1000 wrote: »

People shouldn't count the pre infusion time as the shot time. They will be at least 6 seconds off the count

(This has nothing to do with the posters problem . I'm just commenting in general)

Really.... I had understood the opposite, mind you my understanding was from random comments on random threads etc.

What makes you say don't count pre infusion?

ExMachina1000

FileNotFound wrote: »

Really.... I had understood the opposite, mind you my understanding was from random comments on random threads etc.

What makes you say don't count pre infusion?

If your shot is 40ml or 50ml or whatever the pre infusion isnt counted in this.
The pre infusion is only basically wetting the coffee before the pump puts 8 bar through it.

You can hear the tone of the pump change. Once this happens that's when you start the count.

skerry

ExMachina1000 wrote: »

If your shot is 40ml or 50ml or whatever the pre infusion isnt counted in this.
The pre infusion is only basically wetting the coffee before the pump puts 8 bar through it.

You can hear the tone of the pump change. Once this happens that's when you start the count.

Damn, if that's the case the longest I can get a shot out in without choking the machine is around 25 seconds and that includes pre infusion in the time. I'm wondering should I experiment with the burr setting myself, havent touched it yet. I'm guessing an even finer grind = more pressure and at a setting of 1 on relatively fresh beans at the moment the pressure is towards the end of the gauge as it is

ExMachina1000

skerry wrote: »

Damn, if that's the case the longest I can get a shot out in without choking the machine is around 25 seconds and that includes pre infusion in the time. I'm wondering should I experiment with the burr setting myself, havent touched it yet. I'm guessing an even finer grind = more pressure and at a setting of 1 on relatively fresh beans at the moment the pressure is towards the end of the gauge as it is

I went and had a look online. You were right. I got it all wrong. It is part of the shot. Your 25 seconds is spot on. Its mine that are off!

Goose81

So I managed to pull an ok shot by moving the burr to 2 and having the outside adjuster to between 2-4 and tamping the crap out of the coffee.

My only concern is why these machines seem to be coming so badly calibrated out of the factory, the sage manual doesn't even mention adjusting the burr only the breville manual does which is 10 pages more. That's odd in itself.

I hope having the burr so low at 2 since the machine is a day old doesn't effect how long the grinder will last.

Seems to be an issue with the newer machines they need to address, this thread and YouTube are filled with people who can't get the machine to work without nearly maxing out the internal burr to its lowest setting, they obviously must not be making the machines as well as they did at the start or else there is wild inconsistencies in their manufacturing tolerance between machines.

FileNotFound

Goose81 wrote: »

So I managed to pull an ok shot by moving the burr to 2 and having the outside adjuster to between 2-4 and tamping the crap out of the coffee.

My only concern is why these machines seem to be coming so badly calibrated out of the factory, the sage manual doesn't even mention adjusting the burr only the breville manual does which is 10 pages more. That's odd in itself.

I hope having the burr so low at 2 since the machine is a day old doesn't effect how long the grinder will last.

Seems to be an issue with the newer machines they need to address, this thread and YouTube are filled with people who can't get the machine to work without nearly maxing out the internal burr to its lowest setting, they obviously must not be making the machines as well as they did at the start or else there is wild inconsistencies in their manufacturing tolerance between machines.

Simple answer is that in espresso machine terms these are cheap haha. Well the grinder is.

Good grinders cost as much as the BE

Look into ordering a shim kit - think that's what some people have mentioned

CWF

Best place to get the cleaning tablets?

caviardreams

Velo do them along with a the descaler. Grab some of the Ratnagiri Estate beans while you are at it :D

FileNotFound

Anyone have a recommendation for cafiza tablets.

Usually buy from amazon but with brexit just wondering if there are any providers in Ireland (maybe a coffee bean supplier)?

logistic

FileNotFound wrote: »

Anyone have a recommendation for cafiza tablets.

Usually buy from amazon but with brexit just wondering if there are any providers in Ireland (maybe a coffee bean supplier)?

I bought them from bluestarcoffee.eu

caviardreams

FileNotFound wrote: »

Anyone have a recommendation for cafiza tablets.

Usually buy from amazon but with brexit just wondering if there are any providers in Ireland (maybe a coffee bean supplier)?

Bell Lane do them so throw in some beans!
https://www.belllane.ie/products/cafiza-espresso-machine-cleaning-tablets-x-100

FileNotFound

Have Cloud Picker Sam blend at the moment and finding it quite different in the machine.

Higher pre infusion pressure, variable top end pressure and seems to channel quite a bit.

Not sure if it's just the beans, could get 20g of them in the basket, far more than the usual 18-18.5g dose.

FileNotFound

Ordered a new distributor/Tamper for the BE and have been using it for the last week.

So far very happy with it, fits well and has made prep a bit easier - for me at least.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BG2LY5Y/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

You can align the tamp side to be the same depth as the Trimming tool - then once you have the dose right it ensures no over tamp.

All in all made my coffee prep more consistent. Well so far.

Currently running cloud picker HENRY - 19.5g dose, 38-39g out, 26-29 seconds - been consistent with the above, not one bad one so far.

Going to change the presets now and see if i can skip manual stop altogether.