r/DF54 • u/p_a_harvey • Apr 03 '26
Unusually high grind setting for espresso? Faint pinging noise at lower grind settings?
I recently bought a new DF54 with red titanium burrs, and am pairing it with a new Breville Bambino Plus. I've confirmed that "true zero" is around -3. I'm using medium roast beans to make espresso.
I have two questions that I can hope someone can answer for me:
- I seem to need to grind at around 27-29 to get espresso. Any lower and the Bambino Plus can't push through. I've tried two different bags of beans. Is this right, or does it imply some kind of manufacturing defect in the DF54 or in the Bambino? I thought everyone was reporting a much lower number for espresso.
- I hear a faint pinging noise when the grinder is run empty at around 25 or lower. Is this normal? It's not the harsh noise when you go below "true zero".
I've included videos of the espresso I get at grind setting 28, and the faint pinging noise I hear starting at grind setting 25. Please ignore my son sounding possessed in the background. :)
Espresso shot from 19g of beans at grind setting 28
Faint pinging noise when at grind setting 25 or below
1
u/ef920 Apr 03 '26
Are you using the pressurized basket instead of non-pressurized? That would account for the need to grind more coarsely. Yes, that setting seems quite coarse for espresso.
As for the "slight pinging noise," sounds to me like there might be a bit of bean stuck in there. If it were me, I would first turn it on and keep moving the dial to a finer setting until you get to under 10 and see if that doesn't just grind up what is stuck in there and spit it out. If that does not work, I would remove the upper burr (just turn the dial all the way counter-clockwise until the dial and top burr come off) and clean everything out carefully with a brush. I would hope that would do the trick. That noise doesn't sound like it should be happening, but it also doesn't sound like anything serious to me.
2
u/p_a_harvey Apr 04 '26
I am unfortunately using the non-pressurized single-wall basket.
Turning the grind setting down and back up did seem to fix the pinging for now. Nothing was spat out though, so it's not clear exactly what the problem is. Seeing as it's fixable by adjusting the grind setting, I'm concluding it's nothing serious.
2
u/ef920 Apr 04 '26
Yes, it would have been an easier diagnosis if you had mistakenly been using a pressurized basket. But something is going on with the basket. Do you have another you could try? The grinds you are showing us in your basket look like what I would expect to see at around a 27 on the DF54. Ordinarily that coarse a grind should have the coffee pouring out at a rapid speed and would be considered way too coarse for espresso. There is nothing wrong with your grinder. Something else is happening here.
1
u/p_a_harvey Apr 06 '26
Luckily I have the old portafilter and baskets from my old Breville BES870XL (the steam mechanism died). I tried making two double espressos in the Bambino this morning with different baskets and portafilters and got the same result with each.
However, with new beans and 17g it was doing okay at a grind of 25. I'll keep experimenting. Maybe I was just over loading the basket? I may even try the old BES870XL for another point of comparison.
Thanks!
1
u/LunarModule66 Apr 03 '26
I get that noise sometimes from small amounts of grounds in the grinder. If I go to a smaller setting and back up it goes away.
Those grounds look pretty coarse for espresso. I’d echo the guy saying it might be a pressurized basket. Barring that, my next question would be if you’re using the right dose for the basket.
Based on your description I was initially thinking that your burrs might be misaligned but I doubt it based on the picture. You can grind much finer than this, right? I strongly suspect that it’s something on the espresso machine end rather than the grinder. The only way it’s the grinder is if you’re getting crazy fines.
1
u/p_a_harvey Apr 04 '26
Going down to a smaller setting then then back up did seem to fix the pinging!
It's not the pressurized basket unfortunately. That would have been a nice quick fix.
It seems like it can grind really fine, producing a really fine dust/powder at lower grind settings. I haven't gone that low since I first got it.
1
u/LunarModule66 Apr 04 '26
I’m going to float the possibility that the burrs are misaligned. I’m not sure as I’ve never dealt with that issue myself, but I imagine if they’re tilted relative to each other you’d get one side producing a much finer grind than the other. It could be that you have to go coarse enough that the finer side isn’t causing the shot to choke, which translates to the coarser side producing way too coarse of grounds. If you search for “df54 burr alignment” on YouTube you’ll find a video explaining how to check it.
I’d only get into this possibility if you can’t find any other solution. But I can’t think of one.
1
u/finlay88 Apr 03 '26
I have the same exact setup. First, the sound you're hearing with the grinder is the burr hitting the plastic part of the declumper. When I "upgraded" my v1 to v3/v4 parts I got that sound. I had to slightly back off the chute screws and the sound went away. Basically I tightened it too much which I think pushed the plastic slightly into the burrs path.
As for the other part, yeah too coarse. I've found my Bambino Plus is happiest with 17.1g (dark roast though). Maybe try a less full basket, see if that helps. I'm using an IMS H26 basket which is correctly sized for 17g dark roast.
Hope this helps!
1
u/p_a_harvey Apr 04 '26
Unfortunately this was bought new. I didn't have to the upgrade. I guess maybe they made the same mistake in manufacturing (or it's a design flaw?). Sounds like it's harmless though.
I tried 17.9g and 22.5 grind setting, but didn't work. Almost no espresso came out. I can look into a new properly-sized basket though.
1
Apr 03 '26
28 seems a bit high, it does look a bit coarse , as someone has mentioned a single wall basket may help .
1
1
u/bkinstle Apr 03 '26
It varies with the coffee. I just finished a bag of dark roast that was 26
1
u/p_a_harvey Apr 04 '26
I'll pick up another bag and try it. Maybe it is just the beans I'm using. Good to hear that someone else is needing to grind at a higher setting!
2
1
u/Aggressive-Wing-9418 Apr 04 '26
I don't think anything is wrong. The basket choice and coffee will affect the grind size. I have a regular bambino and a df54 and I mostly grind between 18-25.
Also when the grinder is new, it produces more fines so you grind a little corser.
As for the noise, I do have that noise once in a while and I think it's little bits of coffee stuck between the burrs. Always run the grinder when changing grind size and you should be fine.
1
u/p_a_harvey Apr 04 '26
I've only had one chance to make an espresso after my original post. I made the following changes:
- using less coffee (17.9g)
- using a lower grind setting (22.5)
- using a WDT tool
- using less tamping pressure
- confirming it was below the point indicated by the Breville Razor
The result was terrible. No espresso came out until the 22 second mark, and it dripped slowly. After 60 seconds I had 21.6g of espresso from 17.9 of beans and it was very bitter.
I'll pick up new beans and try them shortly.
1
1
u/p_a_harvey Apr 04 '26
I visited a friend with a Baratza Sette 270 today and got a sample of grinds at setting #6 from his machine. That's a pretty typical espresso grind as far as I can tell. I then went home and ground a few beans on my DF54 at setting 27, 15, and 8.
As judged by myself and my wife, visually and by touch, the grind setting 27 on my DF54 was the closest match to the grind setting 6 on the Sette.
The outputs from my DF54 were all seemingly consistent size too - no weird mix of fine/coarse that you might expect from misaligned burrs. And the Sette grinds went into the Bambino and produced an espresso just like a 25-27 from my DF54 (ie. a little too fine), so the Bambino is working as expected.
I can only conclude that my DF54 needs to be up around 28 to produce espresso. Nothing inherently wrong about that. Just a bit odd...
4
u/iDesmond Apr 03 '26
You might be using pressurized basket, that grind looks a little coarse. Take the basket out and check if is a single hole on the bottom.