mrjag wrote:The Breville Smart Pro is basically what the Oracle has integrated, so if you are looking for the same characteristics then that's the way to go. I prefer the grind quality on the Baratza Sette or Vario, but that bumps the price point up a tad higher.

Thanks. I did buy the Smart Pro and indeed getting same results.
While I am at it, probably a stupid question: I was intrigued to see if the Oracle could turn mediocre coffee beans into a decent espresso. I bought some McDonald dark roast espresso beans (I tolerate their drip coffee when there is nothing else around) and after about a dozen of attempts changing various parameters I am getting pretty awful tasting brew. Little crema and very bitter whether I under extract or over extract. Question: is a good machine pretty much a catalyst of the bean quality and it will highlight even amplify how bad (or good) beans are? Reminds me of high end audio where a great system turns mediocre recording into terrible music. Is there any industrial coffee quality (read available from supermarket or mainstream coffee chains) that can produce decent brew in the Oracle?

I have the Oracle's more manual cousin. There is nothing special it has that can make bad coffee good. I'm going to guess that the Oracle doesn't either even though it does have more fancy gizmos.

-Peter

Audiofils wrote:Thanks. I did buy the Smart Pro and indeed getting same results.
While I am at it, probably a stupid question: I was intrigued to see if the Oracle could turn mediocre coffee beans into a decent espresso. I bought some McDonald dark roast espresso beans (I tolerate their drip coffee when there is nothing else around) and after about a dozen of attempts changing various parameters I am getting pretty awful tasting brew. Little crema and very bitter whether I under extract or over extract. Question: is a good machine pretty much a catalyst of the bean quality and it will highlight even amplify how bad (or good) beans are? Reminds me of high end audio where a great system turns mediocre recording into terrible music. Is there any industrial coffee quality (read available from supermarket or mainstream coffee chains) that can produce decent brew in the Oracle?

I'd say your best bet in a mass market bean is one of the more accessible European brands like Illy. While most domestic (US) beans need to be used within a few weeks, the euro beans can handle sitting on a shelf for a bit without destroying the flavor profile. Check out the Coffees subforum for more info.

Here's a thread to get your started: Italian Coffees. Lets talk about Kimbo, Danesi, Lavazza, Caffe motta, Illy

Thank you, good read and something to experiment. I grew up on the other side and Lavazza Rossa was the usual poison for many espresso owners. It didn't taste bad back then on a $200 espresso machine.

Posted in wrong spot.

shoebox303 wrote:UPDATE: After over an hour of the machine sitting unplugged, I dumped the water and added fresh just for the heck of it. I made sure that water exited the reservoir when I pushed the plunger in (it does). Then inserted and locked the water reservoir. I turned the machine on. I started loudly humming as I expected, and the temperature started steadily climbing until it hit about 150 degrees. Then it just stayed there. The humming never stopped. The power button is flashing. I hit the "2 cups" button and it beeped three times but did nothing else. I hit the "hot water" button and it started dispensing hot water as I expected it would. I could see the water level in the reservoir dropping, so it seems to be getting at least SOME water moving through the system. I pushed the steam lever UP and it did nothing. I pushed the steam lever DOWN and it beeped three times.

After an hour, the loud buzzing/humming was still there and the temperature was 162. I have turned it off again and have no idea what to do. Breville has no customer service until Monday. I bought it online from a reputable seller, so I can't just take it back and exchange it today, unfortunately.

Unless anyone else has ideas, I guess I'll wait to try to reach Breville on Monday.

I just got mine. 4 day weekend. Customer service closed until Tuesday. Same EXACT issue as you. Stuck at 160 and irritating pump runs forever. Reset and off and on...running hot water...doesn't fix it. First impression...terrible.

While the steam fill pump is trying to fill, open the steam drain screw, (the one on the right) and with the grate removed, wait until you see some water pumping into the drip tray. Then close the screw back up. The pump should stop running a couple of minutes later when the steam boiler is full. If that was the problem, it was a nothing burger and you're done. No need to contact Breville. Report back.

-Peter

shoebox303 wrote:UPDATE: After over an hour of the machine sitting unplugged, I dumped the water and added fresh just for the heck of it. I made sure that water exited the reservoir when I pushed the plunger in (it does). Then inserted and locked the water reservoir. I turned the machine on. I started loudly humming as I expected, and the temperature started steadily climbing until it hit about 150 degrees. Then it just stayed there. The humming never stopped. The power button is flashing. I hit the "2 cups" button and it beeped three times but did nothing else. I hit the "hot water" button and it started dispensing hot water as I expected it would. I could see the water level in the reservoir dropping, so it seems to be getting at least SOME water moving through the system. I pushed the steam lever UP and it did nothing. I pushed the steam lever DOWN and it beeped three times.

After an hour, the loud buzzing/humming was still there and the temperature was 162. I have turned it off again and have no idea what to do. Breville has no customer service until Monday. I bought it online from a reputable seller, so I can't just take it back and exchange it today, unfortunately.

Unless anyone else has ideas, I guess I'll wait to try to reach Breville on Monday.

I was able to get it working by opening and closing the descale drains, letting it drain and refill. I did that twice. It filled I think what was the second boiler. It went to temp, and works fine now.

pcrussell50 wrote:While the steam fill pump is trying to fill, open the steam drain screw, (the one on the right) and with the grate removed, wait until you see some water pumping into the drip tray. Then close the screw back up. The pump should stop running a couple of minutes later when the steam boiler is full. If that was the problem, it was a nothing burger and you're done. No need to contact Breville. Report back.

-Peter

Thank you, Peter! I just saw your post, after reposting what you just said. Figured it out last night around 10pm. That is def the fix. I was worried I had a defective thermostat or boiler. Thanks again.

Good news. Actual defects are rare on this platform.

What you will face going forward, (and this applies to any machine you may one day have in your espresso journey): Any machine that deals with hot, pressurized water, in the presence of electricity, is going to have certain maintenance requirements. There are generally two philosophies in dealing with this. Preventative maintenance, and "fix as you go". Breville is very much a "fix as you go" type of company, and thankfully, waiting until something breaks rarely comes with any kind of serious damage on this platform. The only pitfall is a psychological one... By not doing preventative maintenance, things will break. And when things break, people tend to think their Breville machine is junk and seek something else. Then they spend four or five times as much for a La Marzocco or such, where you do expensive yearly PREVENTATIVE maintenance, so that things don't break. And guess what? Then people are even more certain their Breville is junk. But this is a big logical mistake of course. And leads to incorrect conclusions and beliefs about the durability of these machines.

The biggest preventative maintenance thing you can possibly do? Do not rely on descaling. In fact, things have been known to go wrong during descaling these machines. It is the biggest source of failures and reliability issues I can think of on this platform. No other high end machines have descale functions. Use scale free water instead (no calcium or magnesium). Water with other minerals is fine. Just no calcium or magnesium. The simplest thing you can do is take distilled water and add half a gram of baking soda (or potassium bicarbonate if you are into home brew or home wine making), to every gallon.

Good luck with your journey. And don't be afraid to ask for help in the "Breville Dual Boiler Five Years On" thread if you get no love in Oracle threads. A lot of the basic systems overlap.

-Peter