No brew pressure? What am I doing wrong? Bezzera BZ10

#1: Post by **sallegarnier** » October 1st, 2021, 6:19 am

Hi everyone

I just purchased a new Bezzera BZ10 and a Eureka Mignon Silenzio to go with it. After a frustrating few hours, I can't figure out why my brew pressure reaches a maximum of 3 bars about 5-6 seconds after activating the shot. The coffee comes gushing out around the 6 second mark.

I'm using the stock 20g basket and dosing 18 grams of coffee in it + using WTD. My coffee was roasted on Sept 1st, one month ago. I've tested the pressure with a blind basket and it reaches 11 bars with no issues.

I keep turning the dial finer on the Mignon but that doesn't seem to make a difference. I've attached a photo of the wet puck at the end of this post, does my grind setting look wrong/too coarse?

I am completely new to espresso but it did seem very, very fine when feeling the coffee grind with my fingers. Could the coffee roasting date be a factor? 1 month should still be fine, no?

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated!

#2: Post by **Smo** » October 1st, 2021, 6:37 am

When I bought my first coffee machine, I cried for a week.
The date of roasting and the quality of the grain are also important. The water used also matters
Feel free to go to fine grinding.
Better yet, deliberately grind too fine. And then go for the optimal.
Adjust the grind only when grinding beans to avoid ruining the grinder.
18 g usually fits well in a double basket.

#3: Post by **sweaner** » October 1st, 2021, 9:35 am

Grind MORE finer!!

#4: Post by **DeGaulle** » October 1st, 2021, 12:34 pm

These days apparently the BZs come with huge baskets compared to the 14 gram one that mine came with. If it is rated for 20 grams, start by dosing at 20 grams. Underdosing by 2 grams requires that you grind way finer than what is shown in your picture. Better perhaps: get an 18 grams VST basket and dose accordingly.

#5: Post by **henri** » October 1st, 2021, 12:48 pm

Yes, judging by the photo you definitely need to grind much, much finer. By how much have you tried adjusting the Mignon? In order to go from something suitable for drip coffee (which is what the photo suggests to me) to the espresso range on the Mignon you may need to rotate the dial by more than 360 degrees.

It should be no problem to grind one-month old coffee fine enough to choke the machine, so I'm thinking the equipment is most probably ok, and you just need to adjust your grind fine enough to build the desired pressure.

#6: Post by **Smo** » October 1st, 2021, 1:08 pm

It is possible that the dose is too small and the tamper has rested against the edges of the basket.