Breville might not be building up pressure (pt 1)
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Although we sell some pretty epic Rancilio equipment here at Heat & Anger, we are always happy to help out where we can, regardless of what type of machine you have.
A common question I get asked is "why isn't my Breville building up pressure anymore?" My first response to this question is always "have you adjusted the grind recently?" I've noticed that most of the time people tend to be shocked by this question or proudly proclaim that they have not.
Grind coarseness has a massive impact on how your shot will pour and how much pressure your Breville will build up.
As a rule of thumb- for an espresso, your grinds should be finer than sand but coarser than salt.
So.. if you are having issues with pressure- check your grind..
You don't need to go crazy with the adjustment, usually a notch or two will be enough.
Make sure that when you have done an adjustment on the dial, that you grind a sacrificial shot and throw it away before running a test shot through your machine. This is because the grinder will always have some residual grinds (which would have been ground before you did the adjustment) in the chamber, so if you run this shot, it will not properly reflect the adjustment you have just done and you might find yourself stuck in a cycle of trying to adjust the grinder for all of eternity.
Ok so now that you have adjusted your grind, what happens if you still aren't getting pressure? Watch the video below to see the effect that old coffee beans might be having on your machine:
And if that still didn't help, stay tuned for the next post where we talk about internal burr adjustment on a Breville.
-Heather