Hey Peter,

I actually did flip them! Still have to replace the o-rings up top, so haven't been able to test it yet. I more just want to load up on some standard maintenance parts so that I'm prepared for the future when they invariably wear out.

I have an old US model BES900...it is a 2013-refurb warranty replacement for a 2010 machine. The original machine died just out of warranty and Breville sent me a refurb machine no charge anyway.

Over the years, I have manually descaled the boilers with Dezcal every few years.
Also replaced the leaking steam boiler. Took months to get that part from ereplacement.
And, a new 3-way solenoid. I went with an easier to obtain Rancilio Silvia Sirai solenoid.
I use the machine every morning for one latte and the machine works fine.

But, I've exceed the shot counter and have had the "Service" message for more than six months.

Anyone know the secret menu options to reset the "Service" message?

I do not. Yours is only the second I have heard this happening for. But there are some Breville techs over on the Aussie board. I will ask over there.

Do you know about the maintenance/diagnostic menus? There are menus that allow you to access all kinds of stuff like flow meter data and group heater and temp data. Maybe the service reset is in there somewhere?

-Peter

I have an interesting and slightly maddening issue to present in case anyone else has a similar experience or fix. Last night I decided to perform the slayer mod on my machine. I followed all of the instructions verbatim and everything went well and mostly works as advertised. My issue is that even though everything is technically functioning, I have virtually no granular control over the flow of water. As shown in the video, the dial is essentially functioning as an on/off switch. Turning the dial to just 5-10% of the range delivers more than 90% of the output I get at full open. Also, this may be normal, but I get a few scattered droplets coming through the screen even when fully closed.

My machine is brand new and was purchased in August 2020. Everything on the interior of the machine looked identical to every video and photo I have seen. Has anyone else experienced this? Do you have any idea what could be happening? Please feel free to ask me any follow-up questions that might help get to the bottom of this. Thanks!

Hey Nolan, heads up that I'm not experienced as I just recently did the mod, but wanted to let you know from my perspective, this is normal. I think what would help you is to move your tape measure as far right on the nob as you can, and to place something adjacent on the machine to indicate fully closed. Then you have your reference point for just how far open the knob is. I'll attach a picture of my not-so-elegant-but-nevertheless-effective setup.

I followed the guide here: https://qporzk.github.io/BDB-Slayer/PullingShots/ to measure my output at various needle positions to find 1.4ml/s and then marked it. It ended up being only 2mm from fully closed. When I'm pulling slayer-style shots, I have the knob started at the 2mm mark, then once the puck is fully saturated I start to open the valve. Also, I get full shot pressure very, very quickly after opening the knob. I haven't measured how far that is, but it is certainly in line with what you're experiencing. The jist of it is that the needle valve is very sensitive, so you'll only be moving it a very small degree. Additionally, I have been playing with fully opening the valve throughout the body of the shot and then bringing it back to the 2mm mark towards the end, versus just opening it enough to get full shot pressure, and haven't noticed much difference yet. The shots have been some of the best coffee I've ever tasted, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

Hope that's helpful.

It has been well documented that the effective range of "Slaying" is extremely small. From fully closed, a slight crack will get a dribble of 1.5mL / sec or so - which is a typical Slayer-type preinfusion. While some have installed aftermarket needle valves for slightly less sensitivity, I didn't feel the modest improvement would be worth the hassle and so am quite happily using the stock valve.

With the valve fully closed you shouldn't get any flow at all, especially on a brand new machine.

This ^^^ Just a crack open is all you need for the gold standard 1.5ml/s flow rate for low pre infusion. But you might be surprised how far you have to open it to get actual full flow. It's definitely a narrow range, but does not require superhuman dexterity of a surgeon. I never did calibrate mine with tape and markings. I do it all by feel.

I am one who went to a different, less sensitive valve. But even at that, it's still more sensitive than you think. A quarter to an eighth of a turn for low pre infusion.

As for dripping when closed, with the pump running. It shouldn't do that, though there's little harm in it either because you will always have it open from either a crack all the way to whatever pressure you want to extract at. Still if you want to fix it, The knob fits on a stub with a bunch of small splines. You might try removing the knob and putting it back on, one or two splines counter clockwise, so that you can get a little more closure before you hit the hard stop.

-Peter

Thank you all for the advice and feedback. I added markings and tried again and I was able to roughly replicate what I saw in Peter's demonstration video. I was able to pull a pretty nice shot (although slightly bitter) of La Cabra's Burundi Gatakuza following the steps mentioned in that github guide. The only difference was that in both of the shots I pulled, my machine only ever hit 7 bars instead of 9 even when opened up. I'm not too bothered by that since I used to run my last machine at 7 bars of pressure exclusively, but I'd like the range to go up to 9. There weren't obvious signs of channeling, but I'm guessing that I need to grind finer and maybe tighten my ratio or lower the temp to offset the slight bitterness. I'll keep messing around in the morning, but I feel empowered to keep exploring. Also, I closed down the knob more firmly instead of just gently bringing it to the stopping point and it's not leaking with the pump on now. I do occasionally get a drip or two from the water spout even though I installed a tight silicone disc inside. It doesn't seem to be a problem though. Thanks!

pcrussell50 wrote:I never did calibrate mine with tape and markings. I do it all by feel.

I took a cue from Peter who guestimates his flow rate while adjusting it while preheating the cup. I don't use any markings either and adjust the flow while grinding. It really doesn't seem critical to have an exact flow rate. FWIW, I preheat a cup for milk drinks by steaming a few ounces of water to near boiling, then dump and pull the shot. When adding the milk steamed at 135º-140º, the drink is hotter than lukewarm which I prefer. However, for straight shots I generally use room-temp cups, as I feel the lower temp shots taste better.

nolans wrote:Thank you all for the advice and feedback. I added markings and tried again and I was able to roughly replicate what I saw in Peter's demonstration video. I was able to pull a pretty nice shot (although slightly bitter) of La Cabra's Burundi Gatakuza following the steps mentioned in that github guide. The only difference was that in both of the shots I pulled, my machine only ever hit 7 bars instead of 9 even when opened up.

Awesome!

So... long pre infusion... why do we do it? What can we expect? Should we always do it?

Segue'ing off the bit of your post I quoted. Long pre infusion pre softens the puck. So with that, a pre softened puck might not ever reach 9 bar. And it sounds like yours played that way too. A lot of us get 7 bar pulls after a long pre infusion.

Also your bitterness... It may very well be that your coffee, (which I am not familiar with), is not improved or is made worse, by long pre infusion. In a gross oversimplification, long pre infusion tends to increase bitterness. But why would you want that? Well, if you are using an extremely light roast, which tend to be sour. Since bitter is the opposite of sour, with a sour bean, you want to increase bitterness. Typically more medium and darker roasts are bitter enough as is, and do not benefit or are made worse, by long pre infusion.

That said, almost all shots are made better and sweeter if you tail back the pressure over the last half of the shot. Most shots try to speed up as the puck erodes. This tends to reduce sweetness. But With your knob, you can dial it back as the puck erodes so that you don't get the flow speeding up and going clear too soon.

The first eight posts here should be bookmarked and are a must read for any flow profilers: [url Lelit Bianca Review][/url] (You can skip post 4)

-Peter