New member. Not sure where to post this. Found this forum and seems to be active!

Anyway I have NO idea about making shots of espresso.
Just here for maybe some help. I have a breville grind control 650BDS(I know). As of late it seems the grinder on it sounds labored. I always clean this machine. The only thing I can't clean is under the bottom burr. Does ANYONE know how to remove the bottom burr? I am assuming it removes like the grinder chute disc. If not, maybe someone can suggest me to a similar coffee maker of maybe better quality? I used to really like to grind my own but now that I'm older with a taxing job that I barely wake up for in time, I really prefer the grind and brew style coffee machines for convenience and counter space.

Hi Matthew,
Most of the folks on this forum are intense espresso nerds. Very few even own a combination grinder/drip maker or even a drip coffee maker (I'm guessing a bit here). At least if they own one, they don't talk about it. The Breville you have seems to rate as one of the best combination makers available. Breville might repair it for you for less than new.

If you wanted to consider a separate brewer and grinder, you could start with a Baratza Encore which is a very good grinder for brewed coffee from a company with stellar customer service. They have repair videos on their website and will refurbish your grinder if it ever needs it quite reasonably. I owned a Virtuoso for 7-8 years before it needed attention. If you had a separate grinder and machine, you wouldn't have to junk both if one item broke.

Then, if you had a good grinder, you could look for a nice drip maker which, as a separate item, are readily available and generally cheaper than the Breville combo.

Espresso nerds haha. I used to have a grinder about 7-8 years ago and actually liked to use my French press at work. I guess it's time to start looking to scrap this breville. It's a shame, it really makes good coffee and has a lot of good features and the grinder can be adjusted to accommodate any type of grind you'd like. the bottom burr seems to be integrated yet I can buy replacement top burrs. Is that even worthwhile to do on a machine with conical burrs or should they be replaced together?

The bottom burr is the impeller, the top burr is the grind stone, you can get away with changing just the upper or outer burr for several changes before having to change the pair, so long as you're talking about normal wear. Of course, changing the pair will ensure maximum speed and efficiency.

If memory serves me, they're like most conical burrs, the threaded shaft goes all the way through the lower burr and is topped with an acorn-nut. It is quite possibly a left-hand thread, depending on the direction of rotation, so be careful and try each direction with the acorn-nut, once it's loosening, you'll know which direction you're going.