I know it is not the machine that many if not most on here would buy for a whole host of reasons, but when I bought mine over a year ago after owning a Gaggia for years, it was being offered at a price for a dual boiler machine that was impossible to resist, but more importantly, was what I could afford and still allowing me to at the same time to upgrade to a Niche grinder, both of which I thought I would never be able to afford. So far I have no complaints. The tweaks available on it such as adjusting water temp, pre-infusion timing, timing of shot etc all work as they should and I have no trouble to get it to produce a shot at 9 bar, especially with the adjustability of the Niche on grinding duty. Even steaming milk is a doddle and if I don't get the foam just right, it is down to user error and not the fault of the machine. So, overall I am very pleased. Admittedly, I do not go into the minutia of coffee making many on here do and I never will, as I just don't think I have the ability to taste the difference or capture the nuances that those sorts of tweaks can make. However, I do want to get the best out of my machine (without having to pull it apart and retro-fit it) so if anyone has any tips that may be worth me trying I'd be grateful for your advice. I like to try a variety of beans from either Rave or a local Roaster near me in Malton North Yorkshire called Roost Coffee. I usually use Tesco Ashbeck but recently have been using water from Waitrose only because it was mentioned on here. But to be honest, I can't taste any difference and whether or not it is better for my machine I don't know. As Frasier would say…. thanks for listening.

I don't think the SDB is a bad machine, my concerns were always around right of repair. Probably the best thing to do is explore different coffees. Another checkpoint would be to try your coffee (and your grinder) on a different machine, if a member is near you. If there is an improvement, what caused it…if there isn't…happy days.

> @"Pompeyexile"#p26643 I know it is not the machine that many if not most on here would buy for a whole host of reasons, You like it and do not regret it! That’s’s all matters!! > @"Pompeyexile"#p26643 However, I do want to get the best out of my machine (without having to pull it apart and retro-fit it) so if anyone has any tips that may be worth me trying I’d be grateful for your advice. Difficult without knowing 1) how you use the machine, 2) settings, 3) puck prep and 4) roasts you like! I have no idea how this machine works and don’t have a clue about its’ temperature stability. However, I would tweak the following - based on the roast profile and taste. - shot temperature (default is 93). Assuming it has a default 10C offset, you don’t want to leave it at default. Perhaps, 88-90 for dark / medium dark and 90-92 for medium and 93-94 for light. Be prepared to change based on how they taste. - pre-infusion duration : I aim 5-6s and not more than 10s after the lever is locked. -pre infusion temp - they suggest 55-65C. My first thought, which could be wrong, is this is too low a temp for PI. Not sure, if this is good. Someone like Dave will know. - You have a very good grinder. A great choice. Edit Btw, If I am not wrong, I think you had some issues with your NAS in the past. Did you sort them out? :-)

Thanks for your replies chaps. No, I don't regret it, because as I say it was what I could afford at the time. As for being happy with it. Yes I am, and although the Gaggia had a lot going for it, it obviously had its limitations compared to a dual boiler machine, so it was definitely an upgrade as far as I was concerned. I just wondered if I was getting the best out of my Sage. Thanks for the tips LMSC. I do adjust the shot temp according to how light or dark a roast I am having. Will adjust the pre-infusion down a bit as you suggest. Yep the Niche grinder was a real game changer for me. It is so easy to adjust/tweak it and re-set it as and when required. Exploring coffees Dave is what I love best about going down the 'real' coffee rabbit hole. My tastes do err on the side of less acidic. As for my NAS issue, I had to start all over again and have added extra security and more importantly, external back-up on a weekly basis. I am in the last throws of re-copying all my 2000 plus CD's onto the Nas (been doing this on and off for about 5 months now) and it is surprising when doing something like this how you come across some you haven't listened to in a while and so re-visit. Thanks again as always for your help and advice. World's best non-commercial coffee forum… does exactly what it says on the tin.

@"dfk41"#p26650 Don't know if it's just me, but your pasted pictures show as [upl-image-preview url=https://i.imgur.com/HMFZIYZ.png] boxes. @"LMSC"#p26651 I think it's the longest it will accept - it should not be kept as the PI time, but it gives enough time for the pump to get to peak pressure, and thus calibrate the pressure/grind combination

Sage Dual Boiler... Any tips?

dfk41

I have owned several over the years. The following is the best tweek I have seen and comes courtesy of Gary Dyke
Change pre-infusion to 60 seconds and reduce pump power in 5% increments until you are hitting 9 BAR with your desired grind
Just hold down the up and arrow keys until this shows

Attachments
•
•
• ..and change it to something like 60 seconds.
Then press menu , this will show (with a different number )

Attachments
•

Change that to 95 , exit to confirm, and see if the max reached now is 9BAR. If not do the process again but reduce it to 90 and try again

If you use the blank disk and leave it running long enough the gauge will eventually creep all the way to what the OPV is set to 10.5BAR.

I would do it with coffee at the grind setting which is currently causing 10.5bar .
This is the link where you can follow the instructions and pictures
https://www.coffeeforums.co.uk/threads/sage-db-is-this-acceptable.32158/page-2

LMSC

dfk41 Change pre-infusion to 60 second

Mate, why does this machine needs 60s PI? Just curious! :-)

CoyoteOldMan

dfk41 Don’t know if it’s just me, but your pasted pictures show as

boxes.

LMSC I think it’s the longest it will accept - it should not be kept as the PI time, but it gives enough time for the pump to get to peak pressure, and thus calibrate the pressure/grind combination

CoyoteOldMan

LMSC Because they are two different things - what dfk41 is suggesting is a way to calibrate the pump power so that it hits 9 bar when it’s extracting (“max pressure”) on a given grind/bean combination.

What Sage is recommending are parameters for setting the PI time and pump power (and/or temperature? You mentioned 55-65 °C above as well) for the actual pre-infusion phase.

LMSC

CoyoteOldMan Ah. I see. If this is the case, why does sage recommends PI of 5 - 15s and PI power of 50-65. I am not sure if these are different.

dfk41

I posted the link to the thread……the bits I extracted are on page 2. I am sure Gary explains what and why but I just remember being blown away by the first shots I had after doing his mod. The link also shows the pictures. It takes seconds to do and is fully reversible.

DavecUK

It’s come up as Gary *****, what was the second name, so I can edit the filter. Word filter obviously designed by Barbara Castle.

CoyoteOldMan

DavecUK D y k e

DavecUK

CoyoteOldMan Which explains is, the naughty word filter won’t allow me to use the term old ****, old fart is OK though. It’s a very strange world.

CoyoteOldMan

DavecUK I suppose ‘fart’ is more gender neutral, and thus more politically correct in the eyes of the creator of the naughty word list…

To think that I used to live in D y k e Road in Brighton. Leading to Devil’s D y k e - meaning ‘ditch’ or ‘trench’.

Pompeyexile

Same as I have to say I live near the city famous for Richard Turpin.

Blimey! 60s PI? And I’ve just reduced mine from 10s to 5. Oh well, I’ll give it a go.

Thanks again

dfk41

Pompeyexile When I did this, I did not understand what on earth was going on, but…….the first espresso had more fruit in it than a can of fruit cocktail! I had been drinking it for ages getting nothing out of it. Let us know matey